Rhianna Benson
The Middle East and Greenland aren't the only places Donald Trump has planned to take over, with the US President reportedly setting his sights on a destination much further afield.
Ahead of the upcoming Artemis II launch date (1 April), which will see humans sent by NASA to the moon for the first time in 50 years, White House officials have outlined plans to 'stay' remain there.
A cryptic social media post shared on the official X account of the Trump administration included a photograph of the moon, along with the caption: "The goal is not just to reach the Moon, but to stay."
The message was shared in response to a tweet written by NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, who attempted to outline how this goal would be fulfilled.
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"To return Americans to the Moon, NASA is shifting to an iterative, execution-focused approach – just as we did during Apollo," Isaacman had written.
"We are standardising rocket architecture, embedding NASA expertise across industry, and increasing launch cadence to support sustained lunar operations. We are sending a demand signal for crewed missions beyond Artemis V, with at least two providers capable of bringing astronauts to the surface every 6 months."
He added: "The goal is not just to reach the Moon, but to stay. America will never give up the Moon again."
NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch will journey to the moon for a 10-day mission later this week, along with the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen.
Their trip, a free-return trajectory around the moon and back down to Earth, follows lengthy delays in February and March.
Apparently, despite the group's planned return this time around, Trump hopes it'll serve as a trial run to ensure that flights to the moon will become much more frequent, and possibly, permanent.
NASA has already made arrangements for the 2028 launch of Artemis IV, the third crewed mission, and the first lunar landing.
A spokesperson for the space agency previously outlined: "Artemis IV will be one of the most complex undertakings of engineering and human ingenuity in the history of deep space exploration, exploring the lunar South Pole region.
"The astronauts’ observations, samples, and data collected will expand our understanding of our solar system and home planet, while inspiring the Artemis Generation."
As reported by Indy100, the arrangements for two years' time consist of a three-step plan, whereby rovers and instruments that can advance 'mobility, power generation, communications, navigation, surface operations, and a wide range of scientific investigations' will be sent skywards.
Apparently, a semi-permanent infrastructure will then be implemented, along with regular logistics, before a final phase will provide the moon with long-term infrastructure needed for a 'continuous human foothold'.