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speaks after being sworn in at his inauguration in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Image credit: Kenny
Holston-Pool/Getty Images) innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers. The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts," Trump says.
President Donald Trump wants to lead the United States to Mars.
After taking the oath of office to be sworn in as the 47th U.S. president on Monday (Dec. 20), Trump laid out his vision for the next four years in an inauguration speech that called for a return to American expansionism and exploration.
A philosophy of manifest destiny in the 19th century drove the American expansion across North America to settle what is now the United States.
Trump's comment takes that concept and aims it into space.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk cheers as US President Donald Trump speaks after being sworn in as the 47th President in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Image credit: SAUL LOEB/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who attended the inauguration, gave a huge smile and thumb's up in reaction to Trump's Mars comment.
To that end, SpaceX has launched seven test flights so far of its massive Starship rocket, the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle, the most recent of which occurred on Jan. 16.
That Flight 7 test flight included the successful landing and capture of the Starship's huge Super Heavy booster, but the Starsip vehicle exploded during ascent.
An FAA investigation into the anomaly is underway.
NASA has picked SpaceX's Starship to land its Artemis astronauts on the moon on the Artemis 3 mission no earlier than 2027, after years of delay.
Musk has said SpaceX could attempt to launch its first uncrewed Starship to Mars in 2026.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of the private space company Blue Origin, also attended Trump's inauguration just days after Blue Origin successfully launched its own huge new rocket, called New Glenn, into orbit for the first time.
NASA has tapped New Glenn to launch its next robotic mission to Mars, a double spacecraft mission called ESCAPADE.
Trump's inauguration on Sunday marked his return to Oval Office after being elected as the 45th U.S. president in 2016. In 2020, Trump lost reelection to now former President Joe Biden.
In his speech, Trump pledged a sweeping rollback of Biden policies in his first days in office, including declaring a national emergency at the country's border to curb illegal immigration and measures targeted at transgender rights, among others.
Trump, who was convicted of 34 felony counts related to falsifying records during his first campaign, is the first felon to serve as U.S. president.
During his first administration from 2017 to 2021, Trump gave substantial support to U.S. space security and exploration. He founded the U.S. Space Force as a new branch of the military to safeguard U.S. interests in space.
Trump also resurrected the National Space Council, led by then-Vice President Mike Pence, to push NASA and other U.S. space projects forward.
The Biden administration continued the National Space Council under the leadership of then Vice President Kamala Harris, who attended NASA's first attempt to launch its first Space Launch System megarocket to the moon during the Artemis 1 mission in August 2022.
Trump's current Vice President J.D. Vance, who was also sworn in on Sunday, is now expected to lead the National Space Council, should the new Trump administration keep it going.
Trump has tapped billionaire Jared Isaacman, who has flown to space twice on SpaceX rockets on missions he personally bankrolled, as his nomination for the next NASA Administration.
The agency's current chief Bill Nelson, a former Florida senator, announced his retirement Monday.
Trump said he hopes the next four years will mark a turning point for the American people.
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