The last time the United States government launched astronauts into space from U.S. soil was more than five years ago.
Would a President Trump change that? Eileen Collins, retired NASA astronaut, seems to think so. Collins spoke Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention, though Collins never once mentioned Trump. Oddly enough, her prepared remarks mentioned Trump once at the conclusion of her speech, but that mention was absent from her delivered remarks.
“Nations that lead on the frontier, lead in the world,” Collins said. “We need that visionary leadership again: leadership that will inspire the next generation to have that same passion. We need leadership that will challenge every American to ask, ‘What’s next?’ We need leadership that will make America’s space program first again. We need leadership that will make America great again.”
That was when Collins was supposed to say “That leader is Donald Trump,” according to the prepared remarks. But instead she said, “I want to thank all of you. Thank you for what you’re doing. God bless America.” The rest of her speech seemed to follow the prepared transcript nearly word for word.
Collins first became an astronaut in 1990 and was involved in various space missions until 2006.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
