Mike Pence Tells NASA To Accelerate Human Missions To the Moon 'By Any Means Necessary'

Today at the fifth meeting of the National Space Council, Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump administration is committed to sending humans back to the Moon by 2024, four years earlier than NASA's previous target of 2028. The Verge reports: Pence, speaking at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, noted that the administration will meet this goal 'by any means necessary.' He called on NASA to adopt new policies and argued that the space agency would need to embrace 'a new mindset that begins with setting bold goals and staying on schedule.' To do that, he said the administration may consider ditching some of NASA's current contractors -- which are currently developing new vehicles to take humans into deep space -- and using commercially developed rockets instead. 'If commercial rockets are the only way to get American astronauts to the Moon in the next five years, then commercial rockets it will be,' said Pence. 'Urgency must be our watch word.'

However, Pence offered few clear recommendations and changes that would help to accelerate NASA's return, apart from potentially switching rockets and contractors. 'It was rhetoric about 'by all means possible' and 'we'll provide the resources necessary' and 'leadership is essential,'' John Logsdon, a space policy expert at George Washington University, tells The Verge. 'I mean, they're all good words. But the devil's in the details.'

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