V.P. Pence tours NASA, speaks on future of space exploration

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Vice President Mike Pence spent Thursday morning in Mountain View, visiting the NASA Ames research center.  The vice president toured the facility and spoke to about 200 employees about their role in the future of US space exploration. 

“Just as NASA Ames has been at the center of American leadership in space in years past, let me assure you, NASA Ames will be at the center of American renewed leadership in space for decades to come,” said Pence. 

The facility will help develop a lander needed for NASA’s Artemis program, which promises to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024. Mr. Pence said it won’t just be a quick visit. “Long term exploration and use not only to plant our flag and footprint, but to establish the foundation for an eventual mission to Mars,” said Mr. Pence. 

The visit was met with a handful of protestors outside the gates at Ames.  The groups “Refuse Fascism Bay Area”, “Vigil for Democracy”, and others called Pence a science denier and the administration, misogynistic. “I don’t think that it’s possible for someone who is such a restrictive, conservative Draconian to use against women in the workplace in the world to be responsible for putting a woman on the moon,” said Roxy Chaney from San Francisco. 

This was the last stop on the vice president’s quick trip to California. He had stops in Monterey and Huntington Beach for private fundraisers.