Space Council Chooses the Moon as Trump Administration Priority

Vice President Mike Pence announced on Thursday a fresh push to put Americans in space, including on the moon, at a meeting of a reinstated National Space Council.

CHANTILLY, Va. — Standing before the space shuttle Discovery in a voluminous hangar outside of Washington, Vice President Mike Pence announced on Thursday a renewed focus on putting Americans in space and making a return to the moon.

“We will return American astronauts to the moon, not only to leave behind footprints and flags, but to build the foundation we need to send Americans to Mars and beyond,” Mr. Pence said during a meeting of the National Space Council.

The council, a group of senior federal officials that coordinates policy between NASA, the Defense Department and other agencies involved with space, was disbanded in 1993, but President Trump signed an executive order in June to reestablish it. (The meeting, which was held at the National Air & Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, was streamed live on the internet).

Council members include Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao; Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross; General H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser; and Mike Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Mr. Pence did not lay out a timetable for when American astronauts would step on the moon again or propose a strategy for getting there, much less broach the topic of a price tag.

In his introductory comments to the council, Mr. Pence described the United States space program as in decline, and leveled sharp criticism of the Obama administration. “Rather than competing with other nations to create the best space technology, the previous administration chose capitulation,” he said.

“Have we fallen behind as we believe?” Mr. Pence asked private sector aerospace executives speaking at the session. “Is that your judgment from the outside?”

The executives largely sidestepped the question.

“I would say, first of all, that is very important today, that it is an imperative,” said Marillyn A. Hewson, chief executive of Lockheed Martin. She said that there was a need to be “vigilant” about protecting communications and intelligence satellites from attack, but then pivoted to talking about the economic, educational and inspirational benefits of the space program.

She and Dennis A. Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing, both said there was a need for consistent financing and steady commitment to achieve long-term objectives in space.

Officials from newer space companies, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeffrey P. Bezos’s Blue Origin, called for public-private partnerships rather than traditional government-run programs and called for streamlining the bureaucratic process of licensing launches.