---
title: "Former Astronaut Blasts Trump For Lying About NASA"
description: "In a recent tweet on Wednesday, president Donald Trump claimed that \"NASA was Closed & Dead until I got it going again.\" The space community wasn't happy."
date: "2020-08-06"
modified: "2020-08-06"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/former-astronaut-blasts-trump-for-lying-about-nasa"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "donald trump"
  - "NASA"
  - "SpaceX"
---

# Former Astronaut Blasts Trump For Lying About NASA

![In a recent tweet on Wednesday, president Donald Trump claimed that "NASA was Closed & Dead until I got it going again." The space community wasn't happy.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/former-astronaut-blasts-trump-for-lying-about-nasa.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

In a [much-criticized tweet](<https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1290956691488612358>) on Wednesday, US president Donald Trump claimed that "NASA was Closed & Dead \[sic\] until I got it going again."

A link to a [*NASASpaceflight* tweet](<https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1290799617882431488>) detailing SpaceX's [successful launch of its Starship prototype](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-hops-full-scale-starship-prototype>) accompanied the tweet — which is a striking accomplishment for Elon Musk's space startup, but only obliquely related to NASA.

In fact, the tweet raised the question of whether Trump had accidentally confused SpaceX's Starship with last month's Crew Dragon spacecraft flight to the space station, which was much more closely coordinated with NASA.

The categorically false claim drew widespread ire from the space exploration community, with news outlets like [*Space.com*](<https://www.space.com/trump-says-nasa-was-closed-and-dead-fact-check.html>) and [*Business Insider*](<https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/trump-falsely-said-nasa-was-closed-and-dead-before-he-was-president-and-appeared-to-take-credit-for-a-private-spacex-launch/ar-BB17BQ7Y?li=BBnbcA1>) stating the obvious: NASA never "closed" and it was never "dead."

In fact, many of its recent successes are due to decades of hard work long preceding both Trump and in some cases even the Obama administration.

In [a searing reply](<https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/1291120718483091456>) on Twitter, veteran NASA astronaut Scott Kelly also entered the fray: "Great leaders take blame and pass along credit."

Many others in the space community piled on.

"The Starship test the president is retweeting has nothing to do with NASA; it’s a private effort by SpaceX," [tweeted](<https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1290968266920402945>) Jeff Foust, a senior writer for *SpaceNews*.

"Curious where all the NASA employees came from if they agency has been closed for so long," [tweeted](<https://twitter.com/lorengrush/status/1290972301387759617>) *The Verge* senior science reporter Loren Grush.

"This does a disservice to the nearly 17,000 dedicated women and men of NASA," former SpaceX employee Phil Larson [wrote](<https://twitter.com/philliplarson/status/1291026668258070532>).

SpaceX's recent success returning astronauts safely inside its Crew Dragon passenger spacecraft dates back to the establishment of the Commercial Cargo Program in 2006, about a decade prior to Trump's election. The program's development grew substantially during Obama's first term.

NASA's [recent launch of its Perseverance rover,](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-perseverance-mars-launch>) destined for Mars, also builds on decades of work, with development of its instruments dating back to 2013, as *Space.com* points out.

To his credit, Trump did [attempt to increase](<https://www.space.com/nasa-2021-budget-request-aims-at-moon-mars.html>) NASA's budget over the last few years, although it's [still unclear](<https://futurism.com/congress-budget-denies-nasa-full-funding-for-moon-missions>) how much the agency will end up getting from Congress next year.

**READ MORE:** [Trump says 'NASA was Closed & Dead' before he took charge. That's not true.](<https://www.space.com/trump-says-nasa-was-closed-and-dead-fact-check.html>) \[*Space.com*\]

**More on Trump:** *[Microsoft Offers to Buy TikTok Following Trump Crackdown](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/microsoft-offers-buy-tiktok>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)