CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — President Donald Trump is expected to speak on Friday afternoon at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, making his first trip since the midterm elections to a technology showcase where NASA is unveiling its next generation of experimental aircraft.
Trump is expected to appear at about 5:30 p.m. during the UP.Summit technology showcase, summit founder Cyrus Sigari announced on Thursday night. The White House confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that the president would attend the event at the space center.
The summit is an invitation-only gathering on Friday of hundreds of investors, officials from cutting-edge transportation companies and government officials from around the world, held in and around a 50,000-square-foot hangar along the space center's former shuttle landing strip. Attendees are greeted by a SpaceX Falcon 9 first-stage booster and the upper stage of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman unveiled the X-70 Fractal, a reconfigurable experimental aircraft, at the summit on Wednesday, and another X-plane announcement is expected on Friday when the president visits, according to aviation trade reports.
The summit opens to the public on Saturday and Sunday as part of NASA's Max Power aerospace showcase, which will feature an Air Force Thunderbirds air show, the agency's quiet supersonic X-59 research jet, electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, delivery drones and robots.
Flight restrictions for presidential travel are in effect from Friday through Sunday over Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, where he is expected to spend the weekend after leaving Cape Canaveral.
