Surrounded by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, President Trump signed a $19.5 billion bill Tuesday to fund NASA programs and reaffirm what he called a "national commitment" to "human space exploration"
Trump also hailed the nation's "heroic" and "amazing" astronauts, including those "who have lost their lives" over the decades.
"America's space program has been a blessing to our people and to the entire world," Trump said.
The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 authorizes funding for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
Last week, the Trump team proposed a budget that would reduce NASA to $19.1 billion for the year after that.
Among the items in the bill passed by Congress: money for continued support of launches by commercial companies and deep space exploration, as well as the International Space Station and initial planning for the Mars mission.
During the ceremony, Vice President Pence said Trump has asked him to chair the National Space Council, and that the United States will start "building and leading to the stars.
The Oval Office crowd included two former Republican primary rivals of Trump, senators from states heavily invested in NASA: Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas.
They and other members of Congress praised the plan. Also included in the ceremony was Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who traveled into space in 1986 aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
"We have the commercial companies going to and from the International Space Station and we have NASA going out and exploring the heavens," Nelson said during the signing ceremony. "And we're going to Mars."
Cruz noted that this is "the first time in seven years we've had a NASA authorization bill," and he jokingly played off Trump's comments about the challenge of being an astronaut.
"You could send Congress to space," the Texas senator said.
"We could," Trump replied. "What a great idea that could be."
