💭   How Trump Can Save NASA

Politics

In 2017, when President Trump took office the first time, U.S. space policy was adrift. Major projects had run wildly over budget and the goals of the country’s manned space program were fuzzy. No U.S. astronaut had been beyond low Earth orbit since the final Apollo mission in 1972. The first Trump administration made major policy changes. It pushed Congress and NASA to unite behind a plan, dubbed Artemis, that aims to return astronauts to the Moon—and eventually send them on to Mars. Trump reorganized orbital military operations under the U.S. Space Force, freeing NASA to focus strictly on civilian missions.

City Journal     Feb 28, 2025