Donald Trump: Nasa needs to have another Moon landing in next five years

27 March 2019

Trump and the moon. — Image caption,
Donald Trump wants American astronauts to head back to the Moon

US President Donald Trump is speeding up his plans to put astronauts back on the Moon.

He wants them there in the next five years and it's been suggested that the next American on the Moon could be a woman.

In a speech about the mission, US Vice President Mike Pence said that the US is in a space race - just like it was with Russia in the 1960s - but this time with China.

He piled the pressure onto Nasa saying that America should be the leader in space and more urgency was needed.

More on the Moon

What was the space race?

How to build a house on the Moon

Nasa wants astronauts to live on the Moon

Speaking at the National Space Council, Mr Pence announced that the US want to put astronauts back on the Moon within five years. That's four years earlier than previously planned.

Nasa confirmed that the destination of the first manned mission would be the Moon's South Pole, a region believed to hold huge amounts of ice.

Let me be clear, the first woman and the next man on the Moon will both be American astronauts launched by American rockets from American soil"

— Mike Pence, US Vice President

Why does the US want to go back to the Moon?

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses next to the U.S. flag July 20, 1969 on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission.

NASA

Buzz Aldrin was part of the Apollo 11 crew - the first manned mission to land on the Moon in 1969. Apollo 17 was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program in 1972.

Mr Trump first made the announcement that he wanted to return to the Moon last year.

Originally Nasa set a timetable of 2028, but now the President wants it to be sooner.

VP Mike Pence said "That's just not good enough. We're better than that. It took us eight years to get to the moon, the first time, 50 years ago, when we had never done it before". The new deadline is 2024.

David Wolf (CenterL), former NASA astronaut, and Buzz Aldrin (Center R), former NASA astronaut and second man on the moon, watch with others before US President Donald Trump signs an executive order about space exploration in the Roosevelt Room at the White House June 30, 2017 in Washington, DC

Getty Images

Former Nasa astronauts David Wolf and Buzz Aldrin were there when President Trump told Nasa to go back to the moon. Can you spot them here?

Nasa has wanted to return to the Moon for a long time but it's very expensive and experts haven't been convinced that there's enough to learn to justify the costs.

Now, however, the Moon is being seen as a possible pit-stop on the way to Mars.

Scientists have spoken about building a base on the Moon that can be used to help get astronauts to the red planet.

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