President Donald Trump ring the International Space Station ( ISS ) yesterday to chat to the astronauts up there about various thing , including how happy he was that he did n’t have to pledge his own recycle urine . While congratulate ISS commander Peggy Whitson for her record - setting number of days in low - solid ground celestial orbit , he also asked her a rathercuriousquestion that , bizarrely , only he could serve :

“ Tell me , ” he began . “ Mars : What do you see a timing for actually sending humans to Mars ? Is there a schedule and when would you see that happening ? ”

“ Well , I think   as your bill directed , it ’ll be roughly in the 2030s , ” Whitson pointed out .

That , however , was not the most eccentric part of his astronomically strange exchange with the ISS . In response to Whitson explaining that it ’ll be a hard endeavor , and one that requires both nice measure of support and support from other countries around the world , Trump said this :

“ Well , we want to taste and do it during my first term or , at worst , during my 2d term , so we ’ll have to speed that up a little piece , okay ? ”

Hopefully , he ’s not being serious here – but then again , who knows ?

No single space representation on Earth is quick for a manned missionary post to Mars the right way now , not NASA , not SpaceX – nobody . Even if they suddenly left right this very moment , it would take eight month to get there , before spend several months in orbit or at the surface , and then eight months back again .

Trump ’s first term will finish in just over three years , and his hypothetical second in seven . A mission planned and launched in even as many as seven class would almost certainly send its cosmonaut to a very distant , cold , and dusty grave .

Sure , JFK famously declared that NASA would go to the Moon in 1961 , and eight year later Armstrong and Aldrin were bouncing across the surface . Mars , however , is a lot further away and it ’s a far harsh environment to search .

A recent Jet Propulsion Laboratorystudyclaims that we could get to Mars by 2039 , provide NASA builds a base on the moon of Phobos by 2033 – and that ’s sure as shooting challenging .

To her credit , Whitson return as upright an response as she could to the odd request . “ We ’ll do our best , ” she said .

[ H / T : Washington Post ]