川普總統下令恢復美國載人太空飛行計劃
Pledging that “America will once again reach for the moon,” President Donald Trump Monday ordered the National Air and Space Administration to revive the manned space exploration program that was suspended in 2011.
“(This) marks an important step in returning American astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972 for long-term exploration and use,” Trump said. “This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint, we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars. And perhaps, someday, to many worlds beyond.”
Surrounded by several astronauts and former astronauts in a White House ceremony, Trump paraphrased Neil Armstrong, who famously said “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” when he first set foot on the lunar surface in 1969. “This is a giant step toward that inspiring future and reclaiming America's proud destiny in space,” Trump proclaimed.
Among those attending the event were two of the 12 humans ever to have walked on the moon, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, who touched the surface shortly after Armstrong's historic step, and Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, who did it as a crewmember of Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the moon in 1972.
Trump noted that the signing ceremony came exactly 45 years to the day after Schmitt's moonwalk with Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan.川普總統星期一命令美國航空航天總署恢復2011年暫停的載人太空探索計劃，並宣佈美國宇航員將再次踏上月球。
川普說：“這將是1972年以來第一次美國宇航員重返月球的重要一步，將進行長期探索和利用。這一次，我們將不僅插上國旗和留下足跡，還將建立一個最終用於探索火星的基地。或許將來有一天，會探索更多的星球。”
川普總統邀請幾位宇航員和前宇航員出席了白宮簽署指令的儀式。川普借用了阿姆斯特朗1969年第一次踏上月球時所說的名言：“一個人的一小步，人類的一大步。”他說：“這是朝着激勵未來，重新回到美國在太空應有位置的一大步。”
參加簽署儀式的包括全人類曾踏足月球12個人中的兩個人 –埃德溫· “巴茲”·奧爾德林和哈里森·“傑克”·施密特。奧爾德林在阿姆斯特朗邁出歷史性一大步之後也踏上月球表面。施密特是1972年阿波羅17號的機組人員之一。那是美國最後一次登月飛行。
川普總統說，簽署儀式正值施密特和阿波羅17號指揮長尤金·賽爾南1972年登月的45週年之際。
