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VP Mike Pence to speak next month in Colorado Springs at Space Symposium

By JOEY BUNCH 03/12/2018 | updated 7 years ago

Vice President Mike Pence will speak at a symposium for people in the space race next month in Colorado Springs, as the White House takes a slimmer view of NASA’s budget.

Pence will give a noontime address as part of the April 16 opening ceremony for the 34th Space Symposium at The Broadmoor resort.

The three-day conference attracts professionals from the commercial, civil and military space programs. The gathering is put on by the nonprofit Space Foundation.

“The vice president’s participation at the symposium indicates the priority this White House is placing on America’s position in space,” Space Foundation CEO Thomas E. Zelibor said in a statement.

The Trump administration’s record, however, is mixed, and his intentions could use Pence’s explanation.

The president has said he wants to send astronauts back to the moon, while his proposed budget would defund the International Space Station by 2025.

The administration wants to turn the space station over to private business interests.

The Union of Concerned Scientists also has called out the president over proposed budget cuts to other space programs.

The current NASA budget shows a $370 million increase over last year, but that amount is expected to fall out of next year’s budget, then the administration intends to maintain the $19.6 billion budget for the agency through 2023.

In October Pence told the first meeting of the newly reinstated National Space Council that the U.S. would “win the 21st century in space.” Pence chairs the council, a White House advisory committee on long-range goals made up of leaders from civil and military space programs.

“Our past triumphs draw us onward and upward to begin new journeys of exploration of our own, and reclaim our destiny as the vanguard of humanity’s great adventure into the outer reaches of space,” Pence said, according to Space.com. “What we choose to do in space, like every frontier, plays a vital role in the lives of our people and the future of this nation here on Earth. It accelerates scientific discovery, spurs groundbreaking innovations, fuels our businesses, serves as the eyes and ears of America’s war fighters and, quite literally, creates the jobs of the future.”

 
Nati Harnik
JOEY BUNCH

Reporter

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