US President Donald Trump declares moon a part of Mars
You guys remember the moon, right? That white globe that emerges in the night sky? Earth's only natural satellite? The one that lovers promise to pluck from the sky to attest their love (but never do)? Of course, you know about the moon! Anyone who graduated kindergarten would. But, apparently, the one man with the "biggest nuclear button," United States President Donald Trump, doesn't.
Rewrite your textbooks 'cause moon's a part of Mars now
Infamous for giving us our daily dose of 'WTF did I just read?' Trump, on Friday, castigated NASA for planning lunar missions. So far, so good. Just basic Trump tomfoolery. Then he went ahead and wrote this: "They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!"
Here's Trump's actual tweet so you know we ain't lying
Moon's a part of Mars? Or is humanity collectively stupid?
Now, I want you to take a moment and visualize the beauty of this tweet. It's not a mistake. He went out of his way to specify that the moon is a part of Mars- the planet that's about 57.6 million kilometers away from Earth.
Of course, Trump's declaration broke the internet
And news reporting delivered with a very relevant fact check
Very, VERY relevant fact checks
Obviously some people disagreed with the US President
But others just accepted it the way it is
NASA to build base on moon for future Mars missions
NASA plans to build a sort of base camp on the moon- the Gateway- to launch further missions to Mars. NASA says "exploration of the moon and Mars is intertwined" and the Gateway will help "test new tools, instruments, and equipment that could be used on Mars." Why are we telling you this? Because it's important to understand where Trump's tweet came from.
A gracious Twitter user helped us with an explanation
Previously, Trump had promised to fund the same mission
Surprisingly, in the past, Trump had promised to fund NASA's exploration of the moon. In December 2017, he signed Space Policy Directive 1, directing NASA to develop a base on the moon and later move further to Mars. Last month, the White House had also requested $1.6bn in next year's budget for the mission. Guess he just changed his mind?
