President Trump: I made possible private sector space exploration

President Donald Trump at the Makato, Minn. airport. (Jim Mone/ AP file)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:15 PM PT – Monday, July 12, 2021

President Trump has taken credit for the latest plans to advance space tourism by prominent billionaires. During an interview Sunday, the 45th president said his administration was focused on increasing the role of private sector in space exploration.

Trump added the private sector could lease space ports from the U.S. government, which would generate billions of dollars in revenue. He said the latest space flight of Richard Branson and similar plans by Jeff Bezos happened because of his policies.

There are no words to describe the feeling. This is space travel. This is a dream turned reality https://t.co/Wyzj0nOBgX @VirginGalactic #Unity22 pic.twitter.com/moDvnFfXri

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 12, 2021

Trump said America is now leading in the space race again, thanks to him.

“They were closed, or essentially closed for the most part. So I said, hey look, if Elon wants to stand up a rocket, let him do it. We’ll charge him some rent. Let him do it,” he explained. “…We’re seeing advancement now that I don’t believe we would have ever seen had we done it the old-fashioned way.”

Trump went on to add the U.S. government is also continuing its own space program with NASA, but the private sector is becoming more and more helpful.