Planting the Stars and Stripes on the Red Planet would manifest the US’s “destiny into the stars,” the new president says
US President Donald Trump pledged to send American astronauts to Mars during his inaugural address on Monday.
Colonization of the Red Planet is an important goal, given that “ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation,” Trump asserted.
“We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” he said.
The message appeared have garnered the approval of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who was seen raising two thumbs up over the Mars remark, which also won an applause from the audience. Musk has been a longtime proponent of colonizing Mars and has repeatedly promised to send humans there at some point.
During Trump’s election campaign, Musk used Mars colonization as one of the talking points to back the Republican nominee, arguing that “we will never reach Mars” if Joe Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, were to win the November election.
Late last year, Musk gave his estimates on when SpaceX could land on the Red Planet, while admitting that American astronauts may not make it to Mars during Trump’s presidential tenure.
“Uncrewed Starships landing on Mars in 2 years, perhaps with crewed versions passing near Mars, and crewed Starships heading there in 4 years are all possible,” he wrote in a series of posts on X.
Musk also argued against representative democracy for the Red Planet, suggesting that those who colonize it should choose another form of governance. “The Martians will decide how they are ruled. I recommend direct, rather than representative, democracy,” Musk suggested.
