Scientists from NASA are wondering whether Trump plans to handle Mars colonization. John Grunsfeld, an astronaut, astronomer and former associate administrator of NASA, was in Manhattan to promote Mars exploration through a series developed with the help of National Geographic TV. Rumor has it that if Hillary Clinton had won the elections, then he would have been named to the list of people who would have led the space agency.
- Since Trump has won the elections, NASA scientists are concerned about their plans.
- They are wondering if the new presidency will support Mars colonization.
- On the other hand, Trump’s associates asked NASA leave aside costly exploration, taking care of climate research.
He argued that NASA never had an astronomer as administrator. Unfortunately, Donald Trump did not mention much about Mars colonization or anything related to the space program during his campaign. He promised to “make America great again,” but will he? The Apollo moon landings were a sign of America’s greatness back then.
There is no proof which attests that the Congress will ever give any more money to NASA to develop its space plans. Earlier this month, Christopher Shank, the policy director for the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, but also the first member of the transition team of Trump, went to NASA headquarters bound to analyze the agency.
Shank did not accept the invitation to an interview, and no one on the team has publicly commented on the matter. Bob Walker, a former advisor to Trump campaign regarding space, claimed that NASA should focus on basic exploration and science, finding more data concerning climate change. This statement concerned climate researchers, categorizing this proposal as a naïve one.
Walker had also claimed that the new Vice President Mike Pence would be bound to reinstate the National Space Council to coordinate and supervise military and civilian space efforts. Pence will also decide how much NASA could rely upon space entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to support their rocket load.
Last summer, Michael Griffin, NASA’s former administrator together with many others gathered around to cheer the first woman ever to conduct a spaceship mission, Eileen Collins. During the Republican National Convention, she pointed out that it passed only five years since an American astronaut set off in cosmos from US ground.
She declared that America represents the nation of explorers, being able to also lead the world if they managed to lead the frontier. Back in 1962, since John Glenn orbited our planet, the US space program has been through a series of promising starts and stops.
Image source: wikipedia
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