President Donald Trump launched another salvo of chaos and drama into social media Friday. The president tweeted that NASA should look beyond the moon to Mars, after his strategy for exploring space came under criticism from a former astronaut.

Talking about NASA’s ‘Moon to Mars’ mission that proposes to make the moon a lunar gateway to other planets and constellations, the president said the space agency should be thinking bigger. ‘They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part),’ he said.

For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon – We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2019

There are those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome that naturally assumed that the President didn’t realize Mars’ astronomical relationship to the moon.

woah mars is part of the moon? bro i love science so many new facts daily whoawhoawhoa — Alanah Pearce ???? E3 (@Charalanahzard) June 8, 2019

Legal Insurrection readers know that the President is well versed in science and technology, as we reported in 2017. Trump’s tweet was likely sent to yank the chain of a former astronaut who assumed Trump was ignorant of planetary science.

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins told CNN this week that NASA should prioritize a Mars landing — and said he has doubts about Trump’s leadership on the matter. “I don’t think he’s too much aware of Mars. Maybe he doesn’t understand that there is a planet Mars,” Collins said in an interview for the new CNN podcast “Apollo 11: Beyond the Moon.”.

Collins might want to consider getting more of his news from Legal Insurrection than from CNN in the future.

Trump’s tweet appeared following a Fox Business appearance by Jeff DeWit, NASA’s chief financial officer, who was interviewed by host Neil Cavuto. The agency has just presented its low Earth orbit commercialization plans, and Cavuto asked why the Moon was the focus instead off something more ambitious.

“I thought we would advance beyond that,” Cavuto says. “I thought either we would target Mars or… Why this? Why now?” The comment was first noted by Media Matters for America, a media watchdog group. “What we’re doing now is enabling a sustainable presence on the lunar surface,” DeWit responded. “We still need to drive that innovation and complete those technologies that will allow us to have a sustained presence on Mars.” …A White House official, speaking on background, argued that Mars has always been the long-term goal of the administration. “We have asked Congress for additional resources to get to the Moon by 2024, which will enable us to get to Mars roughly a decade after creating a sustainable presence on the lunar surface,” the official said

Actually, Trump’s “Mars (of which the Moon is a part)” line is probably referring to the NASA flack’s point that going to the moon would help us get to Mars later on. pic.twitter.com/z4wmL6ZKmb — Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) June 7, 2019

The NASA Administrator concurs that is the long-term plan for the agency.

As @POTUS said, @NASA is using the Moon to send humans to Mars! Right now, @MarsCuriosity and @NASAInSight are on Mars and will soon be joined by the Mars 2020 rover and the Mars helicopter. pic.twitter.com/Br1sTYfNzd — Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) June 7, 2019

The plans covered in today’s media are consistent with all the news and developments related to NASA that we have covered since Trump’s inauguration.

Looking at the social media drama, I can only say: One small Tweet for Trump, one large Tweetstorm for #TrumpHaters.



