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Tribune News Service

Forget the moon, the US is going to Mars, maybe.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he wants to “top” President John F. Kennedy and send astronauts to the Red Planet.
“We’re looking at Mars, by the way,” Trump told lawmakers during a Friends of Ireland lunch on Capitol Hill.
Trump, who only days ago proposed an interplanetary “space force,” was applauding Kennedy’s vision of reaching the moon during the “space race” of the 1960s when he promised to go where no man has gone before.
“Trying to top [Kennedy],” Trump said. “We’re going to get there. It’s moving along pretty good. A lot of things have happened … Way ahead of schedule.”
The US became the first country to send a manned mission to the moon in 1969, six years after Kennedy was assassinated.
But Trump isn’t just competing against the past.
Possibly reigniting a brand new “space race,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to beat the US to Mars and said Moscow will launch an unmanned mission to Earth’s neighbour next year.
“Very soon, in 2019, we’re going to launch a mission toward Mars,” Putin said in a new documentary film that was posted on Russian social media Thursday.
Trump, in turn, said Tuesday that the US will make it Mars “very soon,” telling a crowd of Marines at the Miramar military base in California that he joked about creating another defence branch to deal with threats from the cosmos.
“Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air and sea,” Trump said.
Trump has also talked about returning to the moon and has recently praised the accomplishments of the private SpaceX company and its founder, Elon Musk.
Last month Musk’s brainchild succeeded in the maiden launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful rocket in the world.
Two of the rocket’s three boosters returned to Earth simultaneously, landing side-by-side on concrete pads just a few kilometres away from where the rocket launched.
“Rich guys, they love rocket ships,” Trump said last week, pointing out rocket models he had placed on a table before him.


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Space

By the way, says Trump, I’m going to ‘top’ Kennedy by sending astronauts to Mars

US President Donald Trump looks over an EA-18 Growler as he tours Boeing with Boeing Chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg (centre) and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (left) in St Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

epa05925494 US President Donald J. Trump (L-2), his daughter Ivanka Trump (L-3) and NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins (L), during a video conference with NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington DC, USA, 24 April 2017. The conference call was organized to personally congratulate NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson (not pictured) for her record-breaking stay aboard the International Space Station. According to NASA, Whitson officially set the US record for most cumulative days in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS), surpassing the 534 days record of astronaut Jeff Williams. EPA/MOLLY RILEY / POLARIS POOL

This image provided by NAS shows the plant Mars. President Barack Obama sought Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, to reinvigorate his call for the U.S. to send humans to Mars by the 2030s, showcasing budding partnerships between the U.S. government and commercial companies to develop spacecraft capable of carrying out the extraterrestrial mission. (NASA via AP)

A trip to Mars with Space X could cost the same as buying a house in the U.S.

Elon Musk. Photo: Asa Mathat/D: All Things Digital

China to build first Mars simulation base

Desert in Haixi prefecture in Qinghai province where the Mars village will be built. Photo: Alamy

This artist's rendering provided to China's Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016 by the lunar probe and space project center of Chinese State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, shows a concept design for a Mars rover and lander. According to Chinese state media, China plans to launch an orbiter that will deploy a lander and rover onto the surface of Mars in 2020. (Xinhua via AP)

China’s Mars base plan revealed ... and covering 95,000 sq km, there’s certainly plenty of space

Scientists investigate the Mars-like conditions in the Qaidam Basin, which is set to host a US$61 million scientific and tourism base. Photo: Xinhua

Crew emerges from eight months in Mars simulation, desperate for some fresh fruit

In this 2017 photo released by the University of Hawaii Mission Specialist, Information Technology and Outreach of Mission V, Laura Lark, shows bread inside the university’s facility Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) at the Mauna Loa volcano, Big Island, Hawaii. After eight months of living in isolation on a remote Hawaii volcano, six NASA-backed space psychology research subjects will emerge from their Mars-like habitat on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. The participants are in a study designed to better understand the psychological impacts of a long-term manned mission to space on astronauts. (University of Hawaii via AP)

This 2017 photo released by the University of Hawaii shows crew members walking around the university’s Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) on Mauna Loa volcano, Big Island, Hawaii. After eight months of living in isolation on a remote Hawaii volcano, six NASA-backed space psychology research subjects will emerge from their Mars-like habitat on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. The participants are in a study designed to better understand the psychological impacts of a long-term manned mission to space on astronauts. NASA hopes to send humans to Mars by the 2030s. (University of Hawaii via AP)

In this photo released by the University of Hawaii, Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, HI-SEAS crew members, Laura Lark, Mission Specialist, Information Technology and Outreach, and Ansley Barnard, Engineering Officer eat fresh fruits and vegetables after emerging from their habitat, after eight months of living in isolation in a Mars-like habitat in Mauna Loa volcano, Big Island, Hawaii, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. The six NASA-backed research subjects were studied by researchers to understand better the psychological impacts of a long-term manned mission to space would have on astronauts. NASA hopes to send humans to Mars by the 2030s. (HI-SEAS V crew/University of Hawaii via AP)

This photo released by the University of Hawaii shows the HI-SEAS crew after emerging from their Mars-simulation habitat on Sunday on Mauna Loa volcano. Photo: AP

Elon Musk expects SpaceX to launch Mars spaceship in 2019

Elon Musk, founder, CEO, and lead designer of SpaceX, expects to test his Mars rocket ship as early as 2019. Photo: AP

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US President’s casual remarks came on same day that Vladimir Putin announced unmanned Russian mission to Mars next year
