Trump recognizes anniversary of Apollo 11 by meeting its astronauts

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump marked the 50th anniversary of the first human steps on the moon at an Oval Office meeting Friday with former Apollo 11 astronauts.

Flanked by Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and the family of mission commander Neil Armstrong in the Oval Office, Trump was briefed on his administration’s plans to send astronauts back to the moon and onto Mars, as well as advances in commercial spaceflight and the reusability of space systems.

“We are bringing the glamour back” to the space program, Trump said Friday, at the event where he was joined by first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

“NASA’s back,” Trump said with retired astronauts Aldrin and Collins. “We’re having rich guys use it and pay us rent.”

The space agency NASA recently announced it would allow “private astronauts” to pay to visit the International Space Station.

The U.S. lost its domestic capability to put humans in orbit after the shuttle program was shut down in 2011 without a replacement, and Trump has waffled on NASA’s priorities. In December 2017, he directed the space agency to return astronauts to the moon by 2025.

But in June he said in tweets that NASA should forget about the moon, saying “We did that 50 years ago.” NASA should instead “be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars,” Trump said.

“We don’t know what we’re going to find on Mars, but it’s certainly a trip that’s going to be very interesting,” he said.

Trump directed Bridenstine to listen to the “other side” of his Mars exploration plan, referencing concerns by some that the most efficient way to the red planet doesn’t begin with a lunar visit. NASA’s current plans include a moon as a celestial steppingstone to Mars.

Aldrin told Trump he was disappointed that even more advancements haven’t been made in space over the last decade.

Aldrin and Armstrong, who died in 2012, made history when they landed on the moon 50 years ago Saturday, as Collins orbited overhead in their command module.

Pence is set to mark the anniversary Saturday with a speech at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Pence said that “within the next year” American astronauts will return to space on rockets launched from U.S. soil.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, right, chats with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday as they commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

Associated Press The U.S. Postal Service on Friday issued these stamps to mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.