Vice President Pence presents 'Cape Canaveral Space Force Station'
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Vice President Mike Pence is in Cape Canaveral on Wednesday.
He arrived at about 11:47 a.m.
He spoke outside of Air Force Two, discussing the Space Force and the space accomplishments of the Trump Administration. To close, he announced that Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will now be called 'Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.'
In addition, Patrick Air Force Base will be called 'Patrick Space Force Base.'
Vice President Pence then went to the Eighth Meeting of the National Space Council at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday afternoon. He spoke about the future of space travel and NASA’s Artemis program.
"We're going back to the moon and then we're going to Mars and beyond," he said.
LIVE UPDATES BELOW
NASA has started assembling the Artemis Space Launch System, marking an important milestone ahead of future missions to the moon.
RELATED: NASA starts assembling Artemis Space Launch System rocket
“At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers lowered the first of 10 segments into place Nov. 21 for the twin solid rocket boosters that will power the first flight of the agency’s new deep-space rocket,” NASA said in a statement. “Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight to test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon with the Artemis program.”
The space agency said the booster segments arrived by train in June from Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility in Utah.
The aft segments of the Space Launch System solid rocket boosters for the Artemis I mission prepare to move from high bay 4 inside NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for stacking on the mobile launcher inside hi
“Stacking operations began Nov. 19 with engineers transporting a booster segment from the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility to the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building,” it said.
RELATED: Florida makes 'strong case' to be new headquarters for US Space Force
The Artemis I mission is scheduled to take place in 2021.
NASA’s Artemis program aims to return astronauts to the moon in 2024. However, a recent report from the NASA Office of Inspector General described the 2024 timeline as overly ambitious.
Tune in to FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.