WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump directed NASA on Monday to send Americans to the Moon for the first time in decades, a move he said would help prepare for a future Mars trip. “This time we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint,” Trump said at the White House as he signed the new space policy directive. On July 20, 1969, US astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the newly revitalized National Space Council, have previously vowed to explore the Moon again, but offered few details. The first manned Mars mission is planned for sometime in the 2030s.

Source: New Strait Times December 12, 2017 01:18 UTC