Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday called for landing astronauts on the moon within five years, an accelerated pace that would aim to put Americans on the lunar south pole. Now, the earliest possible landing on the moon by NASA isn't until 2028, Pence said. Pence warned that if NASA can't put astronauts on the moon by 2024, "we need to change the organization, not the mission." More recently, President Barack Obama targeted Mars as astronauts' next big destination, while President Donald Trump has favored the moon. It took just eight years for NASA to accomplish everything to put astronauts on the moon in July 1969.

Source: ABC News March 26, 2019 18:30 UTC