President Donald Trump just delivered the longest State of the Union address in recorded history, a speech filled with examples of America’s leadership in the world, but he omitted one point that could have made him prouder. It didn’t even mention NASA’s upcoming Artemis 2 moonshot, the first U.S. astronaut flight to the moon in more than 50 years.
President Trump’s speech on Tuesday night (February 24) lasted more than 107 minutes, breaking the record he set last year. By about 8 minutes. But even if NASA’s Artemis 2 astronauts were there in person, there wasn’t much of interest for space fans.
“This is a different force than we had years ago when we were fighting to break it,” Trump said about 90 minutes into Tuesday’s speech. “It’s a great force. I’m very proud of it. Look at the Space Force. The Space Force is my baby, because we did it. My baby has become so precious.”
He then mentioned the U.S. military’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last month. Apparently it’s the Space Force. played an important role The mission was known as “Operation Absolute Resolve.”
There was just one more mention of the final frontier on Tuesday night’s SOTU, the second term of President Trump’s second term. It happened near the end, when President Trump began waxing poetic about what he had accomplished in the first 250 years of American history.
“Together, we conquered the world’s most powerful industry, shattered the great oppressions of history, and liberated millions of people from the chains of fascism, communism, oppression, and terror,” President Trump said. “Americans lifted humanity into the sky on wings of aluminum and steel, and we launched humanity into the stars. rocket It is sustained by the pure will of the American people and the unwavering pride of the American people. ”
The president ended his speech without mentioning NASA. artemis 2 A mission to launch four astronauts into the surrounding area month April 1st at the earliest. This will be the first manned flight beyond low Earth orbit. Apollo 17 Back in 1972.
This omission is somewhat surprising. Artemis 2 astronaut — Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of NASA, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency attended SOTU. mike johnson guest (R-Louisiana), Speaker of the House of Representatives.
and, artemis programThe goal is to establish one or more bases near the Moon’s south pole over the next five years or so, another of Trump’s babies, established in December 2017 during Trump’s first term. At the time, the president said he wanted to land the Artemis astronauts. month He envisioned that by the end of 2024, which would be the end of his second term.
Of course that didn’t happen. The program has experienced multiple delays over the years, including one announced last weekend. NASA was preparing to launch Artemis 2 as early as March 6, but something went wrong with the mission. space launch system The rocket forces team members to roll the rocket off the launch pad for troubleshooting.
that rollback, it happens on wednesday (February 25), the launch of Artemis 2 has been postponed to April 1 at the earliest.
The Artemis 2 quartet went into quarantine on Friday (February 21) to prepare for their flight, leaving the next day, but they didn’t get much screen time during Tuesday night’s speech. The only Space Flyer we saw on TV was a U.S. senator on NBC’s broadcast. mark kelly (D-Ariz.), four people flew. space shuttle NASA astronaut missions.
By the way, the Trump administration has recently blamed Kelly The former Navy fighter pilot, who flew 39 combat missions, was criticized for his participation in a video urging U.S. service members to disobey illegal orders. Kelly is sued the Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for his condemnation campaign.
Last year’s State of the Union address had a slightly more spatial feel. During his speech, Trump said about Americans:pursue our manifest destiny Launch American astronauts to plant American flags in the stars Mars. ”