BAFFLING: Moon a part of Mars, says Trump telling NASA to think bigger

In his latest baffling statement which has expanded his very evident lack of geographical knowledge beyond Earth and into space, US President Donald Trump has tweeted saying that the Moon is a part of planet Mars, adding that NASA should go further than just restarting landing missions on the Moon which the space agency had planned to reboot by 2024.   

"For all the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago," Trump tweeted from Air Force One while returning from a visit to Europe.

"They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!" Trump added.

Trump's tweet indicated that he wished the space agency to put greater goals such as undertaking voyages to Mars ahead of Moon missions which have already seen success in the past. 

Experts and scientists have expressed doubts over being able to meet the deadline to return to the Moon by 2024, a date that was earlier announced by Vice President Mike Pence. 

"The Moon provides an opportunity to test new tools, instruments, and equipment that could be used on Mars, including human habitats, life support systems, and technologies and practices that could help us build self-sustaining outposts away from Earth," NASA wrote on its website. It also said that "the exploration to Moon and Mars were intertwined".  Notably, NASA has undertaken six manned Apollo missions to the moon between 1969 and 1972. 

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine in April had said that their mission to the Moon in the future aimed to stay on it rather than just paying a visit. "We're not going to leave flags and footprints and then come home and not go back for another 50 years," he had said.  

Vice President Pence, who handles matters of the NASA at the administrative helm, is known to focus more on military aspects of the creation of a 'space force' whereas President Trump usually maintains distance with the space agency and does not take to social media to talk about them.    

Trump's last tweet about NASA came on May 13 where he indicated that NASA was going to be restored to greatness under his administration and missions to Moon followed by missions to Mars would take shape. 

Trumps's gaffes when it comes to wrongly labelling places was last a talking point in February when he called Nepal and Bhutan- 'Nipple' and 'Button' respectively. The scale of his latest blunder has not gone unnoticed by the netizens:

Here's a mock impersonator of the US President:

Someone has sent him a pictorial representation:

Another netizen has played Trump against himself:

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