---
title: "NASA Head: Trump’s Moon Tweet Doesn’t Change Anything"
description: "NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has stepped up to clarify what President Donald Trump meant by his confusing Moon tweet."
date: "2019-06-11"
modified: "2019-06-11"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-head-trump-moon-tweet"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Moon"
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "donald trump"
  - "moon"
  - "NASA"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA Head: Trump’s Moon Tweet Doesn’t Change Anything

![NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has stepped up to clarify what President Donald Trump meant by his confusing Moon tweet.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/nasa-head-trump-moon-tweet.png>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Moon Tweet Beat

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump gave NASA an order that left much of the space-loving community — [Futurism included](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-moon-tweet-nasa>) — [scratching their heads](<https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jun/07/trump-moon-is-part-of-mars-tweet-nasa>).

"NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon," he asserted in [a tweet](<https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1137051097955102720>), before charging that the agency should instead be focused on "Mars (of which the Moon is a part)."

Now, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has [stepped up to clarify](<https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-head-talks-trump-moon-tweet-nothing-has-changed/>) what the president was actually ordering the agency to change about its focus: nothing.

## Stay the Course

On Monday, Bridenstine appeared before employees of NASA's Glenn Research Center for a town hall-style discussion.

When asked by the moderator if Trump's Moon tweet meant the White House no longer supported NASA's [Artemis mission](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-moon-program-name>), Bridenstine denied the interpretation.

"Nothing has changed," he told the audience, [according to *CNET*](<https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-head-talks-trump-moon-tweet-nothing-has-changed/>). "Some people have tried to read more into this than there is."

## Interpreting Trump

As we posited in our coverage of the tweet, Bridenstine seems to believe Trump was trying to ensure that the agency stays focused on the ultimate goal: putting humans on the Red Planet.

"The Moon is valuable because it's a proving ground for how to get to Mars," Bridenstine said Monday. "And that's exactly the case that the president made."

**READ MORE:** [NASA head responds to Trump moon tweet: 'Nothing has changed'](<https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-head-talks-trump-moon-tweet-nothing-has-changed/>) \[*CNET*\]

**More on the Moon tweet**: *[Trump: “NASA Should NOT Be Talking About Going to the Moon”](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-moon-tweet-nasa>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)