On December 11, 2017 President Trump signed Space Directive 1 in a signing ceremony at the White House. The Directive made one change to the National Space Policy of 2010 that replaced the paragraph beginning “Set far-reaching exploration milestones” with:

“Lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities. Beginning with missions beyond low-Earth orbit, the United States will lead the return of humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations;”.

Here are some highlights of the talking points release prior to the event:

• Instructed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to pursue manned extraterrestrial exploration.
• Space Policy Directive – 1 instructs NASA to return American astronauts to the moon.
• At its inaugural October meeting, the National Space Council unanimously agreed to lead commercial and international partners above and beyond previous U.S. space policy:
• Return United States astronauts to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization
• By refocusing our space program on feasible goals, President Trump will create incentives for private industry that spur 21st century space capabilities.
• The Moon is of interest to international partners and is within reach of America’s private space industry.
• Under the new Space Policy Directive, the United States will help drive the burgeoning domestic space industry, bring new knowledge from the cosmos, and spur incredible technology.

The Moon Society is a non-partisan organization and as such applauds any effort to return humans to the moon permanently and to develop lunar resources for use on Earth and in space.

Details on program changes and funding priorities will begin to become clearer once budget requests begin to be released in February and March. The text of the Directive can be found here:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-memorandum-reinvigorating-americas-human-space-exploration-program/