Japan Astronauts to Soon Join U.S. in Trip to Mars, Trump Says

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Bloomberg

The U.S. and Japan will “dramatically expand” their cooperation in outer space, with missions to Mars and the moon coming “very soon,” President Donald Trump said, as his administration challenges China for dominance beyond Earth’s orbit.

“Japan will join our mission to send U.S. astronauts to space,” Trump said during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Monday. “We’ll be going to the moon, we’ll be going to Mars very, very soon. It’s very exciting. From a military standpoint, there is nothing more important right now than space.”

Trump spoke while on a four-day state visit to Japan, two months after his Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. will return astronauts to the moon within five years, possibly using commercial rockets. The U.S. and China are in a race to explore Mars and beyond.

While the U.S. hasn’t landed an astronaut on the moon since 1972, China became the first country to land a spacecraft on its far side. It’s now planning further missions to return samples to Earth before assessing the feasibility of a lunar research base.



Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-27/u-s-and-japan-to-expand-outer-space-partnership-trump-says?srnd=premium

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May 27, 2019, 2:48 AM MDT

[dalton99a]

1. Yeah, very soon

Put his lying fat ass in the rocket and send it to Mars

[Ohiogal]

2. I had the same thought

Let Dumpy be the first one to go.

Tell him it's a great honor and that the Martians are all ready to give him a fawning welcome ceremony where he gets to stand on a platform.

[tanyev]

3. Yes, Dear Leader must have the great honor of going first.

[LibDemAlways]

29. As if....

Even the thought of Trump in an oversized astronaut suit strapped into a capsule crying for his mommy while wetting his pants and with his combover standing straight up is funny. He'd be the last one to sign up for something remotely dangerous.

[George II]

12. From Dr. Strangelove, at about 1:50....

[dalton99a]

13. +1. He's too chickenshit for that.

You'd have to use a strap

[LibDemAlways]

4. He just makes shit up as he goes along.

A Japan/U.S. manned mission to Mars is about as likely as a bunch of pigs flying over my house today. He has no clue how ridiculous he sounds.

[Botany]

6. So onto Mars?

[Botany]

5. Outside of not having the engineering, infrastructure, or the ways to keep the astronauts and ...

.... or samurai-nauts from being cooked by cosmic radiation on their trip to and from
Mars this sounds like a good plan.

[secondwind]

7. No AIR on Mars, no WATER. what's the point? this man is insane.

[left-of-center2012]

8. We may put astronauts on the Moon again in 2024

... to Mars by the 2030s.

https://www.space.com/nasa-moon-rush-accelerating-human-mars-mission.html

[B Stieg]

9. Moonraker?

Bad film, bad idea(s).

[Perseus]

10. He saw "The Martian", that is how the idea came up

He gets "his" ideas from TV

[RedParrot]

11. Let's send PM Abe and Trump to Mars

Mars needs a golf course at Perseverance Valley, where rover Opportunity finished its mission.

[xxqqqzme]

14. At 72 it is easy money

he will be long gone before anyone goes to Mars.

[cstanleytech]

15. There we go setting stupid goals again and I do mean stupid.

Frankly I think our first goal should be developing the tech to be able to lift far more weight from the gravity well of our own planet into orbit at a lower cost than the current rockets allow before we even think of going somewhere else in our solar system.
After that then we should look at either building a truly major space station in orbit or look at building a major base on the moon and only then should we make the leap to other worlds.

[JDC]

16. To infinity and beyoooond!!!!!

He is a complete clown.

[Kid Berwyn]

17. Soon, just after Infrastructure Week.

Bankrupt Unstable Moron doesn’t have to do a thing, just snarl and look snarly.

[paleotn]

18. Oh, no. Not this again....

Embarking on another bigger dick contest. We abandoned serious space exploration in the 70's because in essence that's really all it was. Go to the moon a few times with some sciency doodad for legitimacy, beat our chests and then go home for good. That was fine to get the ball rolling, but the more hopeful among us wished we'd evolved beyond that by now. You know, the less inclined and more brutish among us finally recognizing the immense value of technological achievement and scientific understanding, helping make Earth a better place for all of us, but apparently not. It didn't take in the 70's and still hasn't. So if we go to Mars, we'll plant the flag of our measly little earthly provence, beat our chest, shake our dicks at those other guys, return to earth and......do nothing else on Mars. At least while we're there we can do more Mars science in a leisurely martian afternoon than all unmanned probes have done to date. If the Chinese, for some bizarre ass reason, put a legion of sardaukar terror troops on the martian surface, all bets are off. Bigger dicks will come into play once again.


Oh... and orange dumbass....outside of earth orbit, the military doesn't give a rats ass about space. Other than neos there's nothing there to fight. Nothing for light years in all directions! Ugh! Go back to the 60's, shit for brains.

[zipplewrath]

27. If...

If we had stayed on the path we were on in '69, we'd have large space colonies by now in orbit. We'd know in detail what it took to build and maintain large ecosystems, not to mention create fossil free power on a large scale. We'd unfortunately probably also know more about the rapid spread of contagious diseases in a closed environment. We could be dealing with migration problems we are currently experiencing by transporting some of them to colonies built specifically for them, integrating their culture into the designs.

And there would be no argument on Earth about our effect on global warming because of course we'd know in great detail about how ecosystems worked. And we'd have technologies to address what we have done to the planet, and we stop doing much of what we are doing to the planet.

But I'm sure you're right. It was just all about big dicks.

[jgmiller]

19. Broken record

All he does is use the same words to surround whatever he's trying to pitch. It's really a broken record and people just keep falling for it. What drives me more crazy is the way the media will report what he says as if it's something that is real. So tonight there will be news broadcasts (not all Fox) that will report this as if it's some new decision by him or mandate. It's not even worth reporting.

[yaesu]

20. I'm 100% against manned space missions to any planet, remote vehicles I'm fine with

Spending billions just to keep humans alive is not exploration, its stupidity when we have roads, bridges, schools that need rebuilding, people in poverty.

[jmowreader]

21. Dear President Trump...

There's no oil on Mars. Why do you want to go there so bad?

[Jedi Guy]

22. Isn't it obvious?

Trump Tower Mars! He wants to be the first hotelier to set up shop on another planet.

Part of me thinks that the reason all these rich folks are pushing for space exploration has nothing to do with broadening humanity's horizons. They want to make sure they have somewhere to run when the societal unrest cranks up, whether from climate change or whatever other cause. It's the ultimate panic room.

[Aussie105]

24. coming "very soon"

Add this to Trump's list of 'soon-ness' events:

The Wall.
Denuke North Korea.
Infrastructure.
Global warming avoidance.
Affordable Health Care for all.
Honesty in Government.
Space Force!
Trade balance.
Making farmers happy.
Trump's 2020 re-election.

Trump: Man of Bigly Ideas, feet of clay, reverse Midas touch.

Takes a certain type of person to accept that these things are going to happen.

[Kablooie]

25. Hey Trump. You'd be the greatest president in history if you were the first to go to Mars.

So go! As soon as you can and be great!

[LudwigPastorius]

26. The math doesn't add up.

W Bush fucked us (for the remainder of my lifetime, at least) with his War On Terra™ and Great Recession.

Even if we could surmount the technical barriers in keeping a crew alive and returning them, we simply don't have the money to go to Mars, even with Japan kicking in.

[Aussie105]

28. Trump is an ideas man.

He comes up with bold, grandiose ideas and stands back expecting others to jump in and make them real.

When that doesn't happen, he moves on to the next idea.

Someone needs to write a book on Trump's big ideas.
One per chapter. Explaining the uniquely Trumpian logic behind each idea, and why the idea was impractical, illogical, and the product of a decaying intelligence.

Lots of chapters, adding new ones daily.

It's no way to run a country. Bankrupt it, maybe.

[Sapient Donkey]

30. very very very soon...

That's probably a surprise to a lot of the folks working on plans for a Mars mission. I wonder if he'll tell them to use steam catapults to launch the astronauts toward mars.