U.S. President Donald Trump listens to questions during a meeting with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 13, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
May 13, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Monday asked Congress to increase NASA spending next year by an extra $1.6 billion to accommodate the accelerated goal of returning Americans to the surface of the moon by 2024.
The increased funding request, announced by President Donald Trump on Twitter, comes nearly two months after Vice President Mike Pence declared the objective of shortening by four years NASA’s timeline for putting astronauts back on the moon for the first time since 1972.
(Reporting by Joey Roulette in Washington; Editing by Steve Gorman and Leslie Adler)