President Donald Trump called on NASA to focus on sending astronauts to Mars instead of the moon with a parenthetical that left Twitter users puzzled.
“They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!” Trump said.
For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon – We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2019
Many latched onto the “Mars (of which the Moon is a part)” line from the tweet.
Earth’s moon is a part of Mars now? https://t.co/pAFRCc97ar
— Jacob Pramuk (@jacobpramuk) June 7, 2019
Breaking news about the solar system https://t.co/TCvigvP6XG
— Timothy Cama (@Timothy_Cama) June 7, 2019
Wow a lot of talk about acquisitions these days but I did not see a Mars/Moon merger coming tbh https://t.co/aAWlIhF181
— Alex Byers (@byersalex) June 7, 2019
including Mars (of which the Moon is a part),
including Mars (of which the Moon is a part),
including Mars (of which the Moon is a part),
including Mars (of which the Moon is a part),
including Mars (of which the Moon is a part),
including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), https://t.co/jUKz8ZZUxr— Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani (@AdrienneMahsa) June 7, 2019
Pretty sure if gravity assist is planned for getting to Mars, we’d use Earth, not the Moon, but I’m also really skeptical he knows what gravity assist is to begin with, and so I have no idea what he means by (of which the Moon is a part) https://t.co/nMz53Zg0YB
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) June 7, 2019
Congrats to Mars on acquiring the Moon in the lunar transfer window https://t.co/7veTC9NEyl
— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) June 7, 2019
Many commentators misinterpreting this. POTUS is not disregarding moon mission. In fact, it’s the opposite. He wants a *more aggressive* program. Moon will be a testing ground for a planned Mars mission. NASA has laid out plans here:https://t.co/2GW1tBkojEhttps://t.co/ExVswUTq8M
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) June 7, 2019
Turned out there was a possible explanation for the bizarre tweet. Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz noted the tweet comes shortly after a comment by Neil Cavuto on his Fox Business show about moon missions.
When Trump starts tweeting about a weird thing for no apparent reason…
Left, Fox Business, 12:26 p.m.
Neil Cavuto: NASA is “refocusing on the moon, the next sort of quest, if you will, but didn’t we do this moon thing quite a few decades ago?”
Right, Trump, 1:38 p.m. pic.twitter.com/oRTPu4TWEm
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) June 7, 2019
Actually, Trump’s “Mars (of which the Moon is a part)” line is probably referring to the NASA flack’s point that going to the moon would help us get to Mars later on. pic.twitter.com/z4wmL6ZKmb
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) June 7, 2019
CNN’s Brian Stelter noted Trump has been focused on going back to the moon for some time. Trump also tweeted previously about going “back to the Moon.”
Trump has been moon-focused up until now. Yesterday I published an interview with Apollo 11 astronaut @AstroMCollins criticizing Trump for not focusing on Mars: https://t.co/RiIOmyAQ3d https://t.co/9rjIV9tWu4
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 7, 2019
Trump wanted to go to the moon 3 weeks ago https://t.co/DddjIOsJLl pic.twitter.com/KFY3QNhBia
— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) June 7, 2019
[Image via Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images]
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