Asked if he thought the US space agency would achieve the goal during his second term, Trump said, “Oh, we have a shot at it.”

“I mean, we don’t like to say ‘definitely,’ because then you say, ‘oh, we failed,'” he added.

But “I think we have a good shot,” the Republican president emphasised while welcoming to the Oval Office the four Artemis II astronauts who recently returned from a trip around the Moon.

The four astronauts – Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen – who carried out that mission earlier this month travelled further into space than anyone before.

It was also the first crewed journey around the Moon in more than 50 years.

The United States is targeting a lunar landing in 2028. But experts have voiced skepticism that the lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin – companies owned by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos respectively – will be ready in time.

Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman, who was at the White House for Wednesday’s event, told Trump that “we have an achievable plan to go back to the Moon.”

China is forging ahead with its own effort, targeting 2030 to put astronauts on the lunar surface.

Trump on Wednesday meanwhile jokingly asked, “is a president allowed to go up on one of these missions?”

“We can get working on it Mr President,” Isaacman replied.