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By Margaret Talev and Josh Wingrove

July 19, 2019 at 4:31 PM UTC

Updated on

July 20, 2019 at 4:11 PM UTC

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President Donald Trump pledged to re-establish U.S. dominance in space, a day after he welcomed the surviving Apollo 11 astronauts to the White House to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.

“Sustained exploration that extends from our Earth to the Moon and on to the Martian surface will usher in a new era of American ingenuity,” Trump said in a message on Saturday, which he declared Space Exploration Day.