In his inauguration speech, President Donald Trump announced ambitious plans to expand America’s territory to Mars, proclaiming, “We will plant the American flag on Mars.” He emphasized ambition as key to national greatness, echoing sentiments from billionaire Elon Musk, who advocates for direct Mars missions over lunar exploration. Polls indicate mixed public opinions on the importance of Mars missions, with many disapproving of sidestepping the moon. Concerns from Congress persist about the potential cancellation of the Artemis program, which has faced significant delays. NASA’s Artemis II mission has been postponed to April 2026, while Artemis III is now targeted for mid-2027.
President Donald Trump has made bold promises to expand America’s territory to the very outskirts of the world.
Trump, speaking at his inauguration ceremony on Monday, promised to launch American astronauts to Mars.
“We will pursue our manifest destiny toward the stars,” he said, “and we will plant the American flag on Mars,” adding, “Ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation.”
Elon Musk was standing in the crowd and gave a thumbs up as soon as he heard there would be an American flag on Mars.
Musk, who became friends with the president through his campaign, has long advocated for NASA to shelve efforts to send humans to Mars and return to the moon.
“We’re going straight to Mars,” the billionaire wrote to X earlier this month. The moon is a distraction. ”
President Trump’s oath was a call for the United States to see itself as a growing nation.
“It increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries our flag to new and beautiful horizons,” he said.
This is a developing story…more updates to come
President Donald Trump has made bold promises to expand America’s territory to the very outskirts of the world.
Trump was officially sworn in as the 47th president of the United States shortly after 12:00 p.m. ET.
His enthusiasm for sending astronauts to Mars is shared by some, with polls showing that about three U.S. adults think sending astronauts to Mars is “very Roughly one-third said sending astronauts to Mars was “moderately” important, and four in 10 said it was “not very important.” or “Not important at all.”
But the US Congress has already expressed concern about Mr Musk’s ambition to bypass the moon and go to Mars.
The plan would mean canceling the $93 billion Artemis program.
“We’ve already invested a lot of resources into Artemis, and NASA needs to complete this mission,” former astronaut and Arizona congressman Mark Kelly said last week.
Republican Brian Babin, chairman of the House Space Committee, was also present, stressing that it would be a mistake to bypass the moon.
However, in his inaugural address, President Trump did not explicitly say that the Artemis program would be cancelled, nor did he mention a return for the United States to the moon.
NASA’s Artemis has suffered several delays, which NASA blames on technical issues.
Elon Musk was standing in the crowd and gave a thumbs up as soon as he heard that the American flag would be raised on Mars.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced in December that the Artemis moon mission would be postponed due to safety concerns with the atmospheric reentry vehicle.
In 2022, the Artemis I mission completed an unmanned test of the capsule and discovered that the heat shield protecting the spacecraft during reentry was unexpectedly scorched.
However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the Artemis II mission, which was supposed to send astronauts into lunar orbit, has been postponed from September 2025 to April 2026 at the latest.
Similarly, the Artemis III moon landing has been postponed from 2026 to mid-2027 at the earliest.
