U.S. President Donald Trump¹ on Monday signed his administration's first space policy directive, formally directing the U.S. space agency NASA to send astronauts back to the moon and eventually Mars.

 

美国总统特朗普周一签署任职后第一份太空政策指令，正式要求美国宇航局NASA将宇航员重新送上月球并最终到达火星。
 

 

"This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint," Trump said at a White House ceremony.

 

"We will establish a foundation for an eventual² mission to Mars, and perhaps, someday, to many worlds beyond," he said.

 

Trump offered no specific timeline during his four-minute speech.

 

The Space Policy Directive 1, as it's called, was based on recommendations of the National Space Council, which Trump directed to reestablish in June to advise and help implement³ his space policy with exploration as a national priority.

 

The council was first created in 1989 during the administration of President George H.W. Bush but later disbanded in 1993 under President Bill Clinton.

 

It marked a return to the vision of President George W. Bush, whose Constellation⁴ program aimed to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 and then go on to Mars. 

 

However, Constellation was cancelled in 2010 by then-President Barack Obama, on the grounds that Americans "have been there before" and that "there's a lot more of space to explore."

 

Instead, Obama said the United States should start by sending astronauts to an asteroid⁵, a controversial plan known as Asteroid Redirect Mission, which was scrapped⁶ earlier this year by the Trump administration.

 

"Since the beginning of his administration, President Trump has taken steps to refocus NASA on its core mission of space exploration," Deputy White House Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement earlier Monday.

 

"He will change our nation's human spaceflight policy to help America become the driving force for the space industry, gain new knowledge from the cosmos⁷, and spur incredible technology," Gidley said.

点击收听单词发音