President Donald Trump made a bold promise to America minutes after taking the Oath of Office: pledging that an American flag would be planted on Mars.

In his prepared remarks, Trump, a longtime backer of U.S.-led space exploration and exploitation, singled out Mars and left the moon hanging.

Trump said the U.S. would pursue its “manifest destiny into the stars” by sending astronauts to plant the flag on Mars. His remarks were met with enthusiasm from SpaceX founder Musk, who gave a thumbs-up to the cameras.

President Trump vowed to send American astronauts to the planet Mars in his inaugural address, envisioning a moment when the U.S. flag is planted on Martian soil. “We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars,

President Donald Trump set a bold new goal in his inauguration speech. He wants to go to Mars—and space stocks Rocket Lab USA, Intuitive Machines, Redwire to the moon. Details are thin, but the aspiration should benefit Elon Musk’s SpaceX and a bevy of publicly traded commercial space stocks.

Billionaire and SpaceX owner Elon Musk was front and center during Donald Trump's inauguration after donating around $200m to get him elected as outgoing President Joe Biden warns of an oligarchy forming.

In his inaugural address on Monday, new US President Donald Trump spoke about sending humans to Mars. "We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,