The Press: Mr. President,
what did you think?
The President: It's
incredible - the
technology, the power.
I'm so proud of the people
at NASA - all the people
that worked together,
public and private.
When you see a sight like
that, it's incredible.
The power of that machine
and the danger - no matter
how you figure.
When you - when you hear
that sound, and you hear
all of that - the roar
- you can imagine how
dangerous it is.
When you feel the shake -
and we're very far away,
but you feel the shake
over here - it's pretty -
pretty amazing.
A beautiful sight.
A beautiful ship, too.
That's really a beauty.
Considered a beauty.
I would say it's a beauty.
So they have a long way
to go, but that's a very
dangerous part of
it, right there.
That's a big part of the
danger, what you just witnessed.
So we're very
honored to be here.
The Press: Have you
talked to Elon Musk?
The President:
Yes, I have.
I spoke to Elon.
The Press: Today?
The President: Well,
I won't get into it.
But, yeah - but I speak
to him all the time.
Great guy.
He's one of our
great brains.
We like great brains.
And Elon has done
a fantastic job.
But that was a beautiful
sight to see, and I hope
you all enjoyed it.
And we're going to be
saying a few words inside,
so I'll see you
inside, okay?
Thank you very much.
A very great honor
to have you here.
The Press: Did you
speak to the astronauts
beforehand?
The President: I did.
I did.
The Press: What
did you tell them?
The President: Just
"God bless you."
Nothing else you can say.
God bless you.
They have a
lot of courage.
More credit, more courage
than - I don't know, even
our congressmen, I don't
think they have - our
senators, our congressmen.
I don't know,
would you do that?
Leader?
Would you do that?
I don't think so.
I don't know.
He might.
You know who would do it?
Brian would do it.
Representative
Mast: Hell yeah!
Leadre McCarthy: I'd
be the first one.
If it was legal, Elon, to
give us a ride, we'd go.
The President: You
would do it, too.
I know you.
Representative Mast:
I take up less space.
(Laughter.) The President:
An amazing honor.
You know, four years ago,
this place as essentially
shut down.
The space
program was over.
The shuttle
program was dead.
One of the Secret Service
men said they were here
with the past
administration - I won't
tell you who - and they
were here to shut down the
facility.
And now we're the leader
in the world again.
And this is just
the beginning.
They're going to Mars.
They're going to the Moon,
but they're going to the
Moon in order
to go to Mars.
It's a platform.
Jim, would you say that's
a correct statement?
Administrator
Bridestine: Yes, sir.
That's right.
The President: Jim, I
want to congratulate you.
I want to congratulate
the Vice President.
(Applause.)
We have the governor of Florida, as you know.
Governor,
congratulations to you.
Thank you for everything
you've done, for the program.
(Applause.) And you
know Rick - Rick Scott.
And Marco is
here someplace.
(Applause.) Rick - Rick
was a great governor, now
he's a great senator.
We appreciate
you being here.
Marco is here someplace.
And we appreciate
everybody being here.
But this was a
tremendous sight to see.
I had no idea when you -
you know, I said, "Would
you hear anything?"
Because we're quite
a distance away.
And then, all of a sudden,
you hear that roar, and
it's incredible,
the power.
You wouldn't that machine,
as big as it is - it looks
small from here - could
have the kind of power,
that kind of - make that
kind of sound or that vibration.
But it's really
something special.
So I'm going to be saying
a few words to you inside,
so we'll see you in
a couple of minutes. Okay?
The Press: Given
everything that's
happening in the country
right now - the protests
that we've been seeing,
the deaths from the
coronavirus - why did you
feel like it was important
for you to come
here today?
The President: I think
because it's such a great
inspiration for
our country.
Our country is doing well.
It's going to do
fantastically well.
We think next year is
going to be one of the
best years we've ever
had, economically.
We suffered something
that was terrible.
It should have
never happened.
It should have never come
out of China, but it did.
They didn't stop it.
They were unable,
probably, to stop it.
They should have
been able to stop it.
We would've helped them,
and we would have helped
them very effectively.
But they didn't, and it
spread to Europe, it
spread to the
entire world.
It spread to the U.S.
It should have
never happened.
Now, that's one of the
reasons I wanted to be
here today.
I thought it was so
important to be here today.
And I think any one of
you would say that was an
inspiration to see what we
just saw - the genius, the
money, the -
even the economy.
Ron, this - what this
adds to your economy is
incredible, right?
Governor DeSantis:
Yes, sir.
The President:
This is incredible.
And real talent,
real genius.
Nobody does it like us.
So it's great to have this
whole program back, and
it's just the beginning.
It's just the beginning.
We have many more
things to come.
It's a lot of jobs.
It's a lot of technology.
You know, we have
Space Force now.
And thank you very
much for being here.
We appreciate
it very much.
(Applause.) Number one.
You know, one of the
things we've done is
created the Space Force.
First program in - if you
look, I guess it's 74
years now.
It was 72, and
now it's 74.
And time flies.
But since the Air Force.
So we have a major branch
of the military, Joint
Chiefs of Staff,
everything.
Full - full honors.
It's called the
Space Force.
We did that during the
Trump administration.
Mike Pence was so helpful.
Everybody here was
helpful, frankly.
Needed lots of votes,
and we got them.
And, really, it wasn't
that hard, once we started
explaining what
it's all about.
But space will be one of
the most important things
we've ever done.
I think so.
Administrator
Bridestine: Amen.
The President: I think
space will be one of the
most important - I put it
up there with 280 federal
judges, 2 Supreme
Court judges.
I think space will be one
of the most important
things we've ever done.
(Applause.) So we'll see
how it all works out.
Thank you very
much, everybody.
I'll see you inside.
