While speaking at the Lincoln Memorial on Thursday evening ahead of his Independence Day celebration, Salute to America, Donald Trump promised that the U.S. will once again make it to outer space and “plant the American flag on Mars.”
During his speech ahead of his personally planned Fourth of July festivities, Trump reveled in a plethora of American accomplishments over the course of its 242-year history, including the moon landing more than 50 years ago with a promise that the U.S. would visit the moon once again “very soon.”
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“We are going to be back on the Moon very soon, and someday soon, we will plant the American flag on Mars,” Trump said during the rainy celebration.
“We are going to be back on the Moon very soon, and someday soon, we will plant the American flag on Mars,” President Trump said, speaking at his Fourth of July event in Washington https://t.co/hfBhbCyxoF pic.twitter.com/JxChqON76l
— CNN (@CNN) July 4, 2019
The “promise” didn’t go over well with many on social media, especially since past research from NASA has declared the planet an even more “inhospitable Antarctica” with its unbreathable atmosphere that National Geographic notes is less than two percent of is found at Mount Everest’s summit.
Naturally, his comments and those about his “Space Force” planting the U.S. flag on the planet, Mars, did not go over well with those well-educated in the field of astronomy and keeping updated with NASA findings.
“He should be the first to go there. And stay,” wrote one Twitter user, while another echoed the sentiment adding: “Maybe he volunteers to go and plants the flag himself.”
Trump just said one day a flag will be posted in Mars…How soon Donnie?. pic.twitter.com/jaZmkx0XYQ
— michelle saks (@sedition481) July 4, 2019
Let’s send Trump on the Mars flight! How about tomorrow? pic.twitter.com/cyY55t88BI
— Kelly Lynn Maxfield (@maxfieldkl) July 4, 2019
“Moon is part of Mars “ space force commander Donald J Trump
— bbq (@yugeshrimp) July 4, 2019
Trump previously proclaimed we are going to the moon only to then say never mind. Skip the moon. Focus on Mars. President says now again we are aiming for the Moon. https://t.co/u5JCLv3g7a
— Greg Angel (@NewsGuyGreg) July 4, 2019
Trump’s speech is wild. You’d think America was the only country on the planet, he doesn’t know that Tibet did suspension bridges centuries before anyone else, he suddenly cares about civil rights, the US is going to Mars, and there are flyover breaks.
— Georgia Lewis (@georgialewis76) July 4, 2019
Donald Trump will be dead before a human steps foot on Mars. Taking bets.
— Almagest (@CriswellWJ) July 4, 2019
“Martians will welcome us with flowers too,” wrote another user.
Additionally, past research shows how heading to Mars would be at least a year, round-trip. Moreover, and without research backing up clear facts, Mars is a planet that is far away, hard to visit with the resources available by the U.S. government and costs a lot of money.
Though Trump has high hopes, last month he surprised Americans and the world when he tweeted how the moon was part of the planet, Mars.
“For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon – We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!” he wrote in the tweet.
Trump’s declaration stunned many Americans, space enthusiasts, scholars, children, and those around the world as the moon has not traditionally been regarded as part of Mars.
Photo credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
