Video: US election 2012: Newt Gingrich calls for US moon base "We want Americans to think boldly about the future," Mr Gingrich said as he addressed a crowd in the state synonymous with America's history of space exploration. The former House speaker, resurgent in the race for the Republican nomination after taking victory in the South Carolina primary, outlined a policy initiative that would cut Nasa's bureaucracy, expand on private-sector space programmes championed by President Barack Obama and ultimately deliver the moon. "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American," Gingrich said as he wooed voters ahead of the Florida primary at the end of January. Given the parlous state of US finances and the retirement of the country's shuttle fleet last year, the presidential hopeful may raise a few eyebrows with his ambitious plans, but that did not seem to interfere with Mr Gingrich's grandiose vision for a moon colony as America's 51st state. "At one point early in my career I introduced the northwest ordinance for space and I said when we got - I think the number is 13,000 - when we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon they can petition to become a state," Gingrich said. And I will as president encourage the introduction of the northwest ordinance for space to put a marker down.