The US will 'plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond,' Trump tells Congress

President Donald Trump told lawmakers that U.S. astronauts will one day carry the American flag to Mars and beyond during a speech before the joint session of Congress late Tuesday (March 5).

"We are going to conquer the vast frontiers of science, and we are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond," Trump told Congress during his speech to a joint Senate and House of Representatives on Tuesday night.

"And through it all, we are going to rediscover the unstoppable power of the American spirit, and we are going to renew unlimited promise of the American dream," Trump said.

The U.S. president gestures at a podium in a blue suit with maroon tie. — President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress in the Capitol building's House chamber on March 4, 2025 in Washington, DC. During the talk, he called for astronauts to plant the U.S. flag on Mars. (Image credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Trump's comments, which closed a nearly two-hour speech to Congress, echoed his past calls to send astronauts to Mars on the campaign trail. He also celebrated the space feats of SpaceX and its founder Elon Musk during his election night victory speech in November, and hailed the Red Planet again during his inauguration, when he said the United States would pursue its "manifest destiny into the stars."

Musk, who is overseeing dramatic federal cost-cutting efforts for Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), attended Tuesday night's speech and waved as Trump recognized him for his DOGE efforts. The SpaceX CEO has long said sending astronauts to Mars is a primary goal for his spaceflight company. SpaceX currently flies NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station and is building the giant Starship megarocket to land Artemis astronauts on the moon by 2027.

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During Tuesday night's speech, Trump also called on Congress to approve the funding needed for a new missile defense shield to defend the country against future threats.

"As commander in chief, my focus is on building the most powerful military of the future," he told Congress. "As a first step, I am asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art golden dome missile defense shield to protect our homeland, all made in the U.S.A."

Such a missile defense system could be similar to the Iron Dome system Israel uses to defend against incoming ballistic missiles. Trump said a new "golden dome" system for the United States would realize the missile defense goals of the so-called "Star Wars" program proposed by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.

"Ronald Reagan wanted to do it long ago, but the technology just wasn’t there, not even close. But now we have the technology. It’s incredible, actually," Trump said. "This is a very dangerous world. We should have it."

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Tariq is the award-winning Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001. He covers human spaceflight, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He's a recipient of the 2022 Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting and the 2025 Space Pioneer Award from the National Space Society. He is an Eagle Scout and Space Camp alum with journalism degrees from the USC and NYU. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.