american astronauts to the moon, and from there to lay a foundation for a mission to mars. today s action by president trump makes that recommendation official national policy for the united states of america. as everyone knows re-establishing american presence on the moon is vital to achieve objectives and the objectives outlined by space counsel. in pursuing these objectives, mr. president, we will enhance our national security and our capacity to provide for the common defense of the people of the united states of america. we will also spur innovation as the space program has always done, mr. president, you ve reflected on it often and we ll see jobs created that we couldn t even imagine could be created today. we ll also ensure lastly that the rules and values of space exploration are written with american leadership and american values.
and thank you for the honor to be here today. in my capacity as chairman of the national space counsel which i believe is a momentous occasion in the history of american space exploration. to all of the extraordinary leaders who are gathered with us today to members of congress and the pioneers of space exploration who are gathered here, we thank you, and we thank you for all you ve done to serve our nation and expand the horizons of human knowledge and advance american leadership in outer space. mr. president, in signing this space policy directive you are ensuring that america will lead in space once again. to guide this new era of american space leadership president trump has relaunched the national space council and at the inaugural meeting in october we unanimously approved to instruct nasa to return