Space

Trump Wants To Get Humans To Mars ASAP

President Trump called the ISS to congratulate Peggy Whitson on her record time in space, but the subject quickly turned to Mars.

Trump Wants To Get Humans To Mars ASAP
The White House
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"Who's ready to go to Mars up there?"

That's the question President Donald Trump had for astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer, who are aboard the International Space Station. Trump called to congratulate Whitson on breaking a space record

But the video conference quickly turned to Mars and questions about when the astronauts thought humans would make it to the red planet. 

"Well, as I think your bill directed, it'll be approximately in the 2030s," Whitson told Trump.

"Well, we want to try and do it during my first term, or at worst, during my second term, so we'll have to speed that up a little bit, OK?" Trump said.

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It's unlikely humans will make it to Mars by 2024 — the last full year of Trump's possible second term. But Trump's not the only one hoping to reach the planet by then. That also happens to be the year Elon Musk says he wants to launch SpaceX's first manned mission to the red planet.