President Trump is said to have offered NASA “all the money you could ever need” if they could land on Mars by the first term of his presidency.
The idea was brought up during a video call to the International Space Station in April last year to congratulate astronaut Peggy Whitson as she became the American who has spent the longest amount of time in space.
After being told by Ms Whitson that it “would be in the 2030s,” Mr Trump said “I think we want to do it in my first term or at worst in my second term.”
The details were revealed in Team of Vipers, a book by Cliff Sims, a former communications official for Mr Trump during his presidential campaign and in the West Wing, Intelligencer reports.
Despite some people thinking Mr Trump was joking, however Mr Sims claimed that the president told him: “We don’t capture imaginations anymore.
"We used to do big things – incredible things. No one could do the things we do.
“You have to inspire people. They went to the moon.”
Ahead of the call with the International Space Station, Mr Trump asked Robert Lightfood Jr, the acting NASA Administrator about the country’s plan for Mars.
He asked: “What if I gave you all the money you could ever need to do it?
"What if we sent NASA’s budget through the roof, but focused entirely on that instead of whatever else you’re doing now. Could it work then?”
In March last year, Mr Trump signed a bill that guaranteed funding for the space agency for the next financial year.
The bill included money to go towards a manned mission to Mars, NASA’s next big goal.
The budget for 2018 is $19.1bn (£14.7 billion.)
