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President Donald Trump may be a fan of human spaceflight, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to visit the final border himself.
During a conversation with NASA chief Jim Bridenstine on Friday (April 24), the president, whose administration has led NASA to land astronauts on the moon by 2024, expressed a clear lack of interest in flying aboard. from Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft.
Bridenstine was visiting the White House to brief Trump on some of NASA’s contributions to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, including a new fan designed and built by agency engineers Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California At one point, the conversation turned to galactic virgin, which is wrapping up the test drive for its new SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity.
As I told @POTUS earlier today in the White House, rocket scientists do amazing things even when they work from home. Watch this video clip from @NBCNews of today’s meeting to learn about our workforce innovation to fight the coronavirus and learn more at https://t.co/Bqck6e7gxQ. pic.twitter.com/nItZzJZG58April 24, 2020
After Bridenstine explained what it would be like to fly aboard VSS Unity, Trump asked him, “Would you do it?”
“I absolutely would. Are you kidding? In the blink of an eye,” replied Bridenstine, a former Navy fighter pilot who conducted combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I will pass,” Trump replied.
But perhaps the President is just waiting for an orbital experience. We will have to wait to hear your thoughts on taking a trip on SpaceX Dragon Crew Capsule, which is slated to launch astronauts into the International Space Station for the first time on May 27.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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