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Jun 5, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Trump campaign removes ad that violated NASA guidelines by showing astronauts

Rashaan Ayesh
Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft launches on the Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley

The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft launches with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley. Photo: SpaceX via Getty Images

The Trump campaign removed an ad this week that violated NASA guidelines by featuring images of astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who launched to the International Space Station last week, Bloomberg reports.

The state of play: NASA doesn't allow the likenesses of its astronauts to be used in advertisements, and an agency spokesperson told Bloomberg it was unaware of the video until it had been posted.

  • Karen Nyberg, a retired astronaut and Hurley's wife, tweeted, "I find it disturbing that a video image of me and my son is being used in political propaganda without my knowledge or consent. That is wrong."

The big picture: Trump has made increased space investment and exploration a focus of his administration — and attended the launch in Florida.

  • His administration also made the Space Force the newest branch of the military.
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