Pledging full funding, VP Pence says NASA's 'best days yet to come'

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Calling himself "like a kid in a candy store", Vice President Mike Pence came to the Johnson Space Center with an unequivocal message -- NASA has been charged with multiple bold missions and will have the money to get them done.

"It is now the official policy of the United States of America that we will return to the moon, put Americans on Mars and once again explore the furthest depths of outer space," said Pence to an auditorium filled with NASA workers.

Calling NASA and its people a "national treasure", Pence promised rock solid support from the Trump administration for a permanent outpost on the moon and a dramatic reversal of Obama-era cutbacks which crippled America's push into space.

"The most important work and the best days for the Johnson Space Center are yet to come," said Pence.

They were comforting words for a scientific community rattled by program cancelations and whittled down by force reductions.

During today's visit, the Vice President doubled down on a game changing pledge.

"Very soon American astronauts will return to space on American rockets launched from American soil," said Pence.