President Donald Trump's tweet that appeared to criticize his administration's plan to bring humans back to the moon has done "nothing" to change NASA policy, according to administrator Jim Bridenstine.
Trump tweeted last week: "NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon" since the agency landed humans on the lunar surface 50 years ago. Instead, "They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!"
"Some people have tried to read more into this than there is," Bridenstine said at a town hall meeting at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, according to The Verge. "But here's the thing: We're going to Mars. The Moon is a waypoint. We need to learn how to live and work on another world."
The president signed a directive in December 2017 calling for NASA to put humans on the moon again. He later asked Congress to grant NASA an additional $1.6 billion in order to expedite the process.
"If you read his tweet, he talks about going to Mars, and he says in parentheses that the Moon is a part of that," Bridenstine said. "In other words, we're going to the Moon in order to get to Mars."
"So, yes, we're going to Mars," he added. "The Moon is the way to get there. And we've got a lot of very exciting activities going on Mars right now."
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