Donald Trump Wants To Send Men To The Moon

Ever since NASA made the announcement of sending manned crew aboard the Orion spacecraft in its first ever Exploration Mission 1, there has been many speculations regarding the underlying reason of this sudden change in plans. It seems like the change in plan was suggested by the White House.

It is no secret that Donald Trump's equation with climatologists and environmentalists is in a very bad shape. He has been making contradictory statements on the fidelity and importance of climate research and wants to shut down the funding for climate change research projects. Surprisingly, it looks like he has separate plans for space research programs.

According to the National Post, President Donald Trump wants to do something bold in space research and set new benchmarks. Perhaps this is why the Trump administration wants to speed up the long planned manned mission to the Moon. He wants to accomplish this much awaited feat during his presidency, which according to experts may be his plan on getting re-elected.

As per the original plans of NASA, the feasibility of Orion spacecraft in sending astronauts to the Moon was to be tested in the Exploration Mission 1 originally scheduled for November 2018. However, President Donald Trump's newfound interest in the mission is likely to reschedule the Exploration mission to the early 2019, during which the changes necessary to accommodate astronauts may be integrated in the Orion spacecraft, Smithsonian reported.

Though NASA has made it clear that if in fact astronauts are sent in the Exploration Mission 1, the safety of astronauts will be their first priority. In an official statement made by NASA, William Gerstenmaier, the Associate Administrator of Human Spaceflight Division of NASA, said, "Our priority is to ensure the safe and effective execution of all our planned exploration missions with the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket."

Furthermore, NASA has also made it clear that if NASA experts deem the manned mission in 2019 to be too risky, then NASA will stick to its original plans of first checking the feasibility of the Orion capsule in carrying astronauts to the Moon. Only after this would a manned crew be sent in 2021.