Mitt Romney On China Space Program: 'Take A Look At Our Flag' On Moon (VIDEO)

Mitt Romney hopes the Chinese get a good look at the U.S. flag when they visit the moon.

According to ABC News, while campaigning in Florida Tuesday, the Massachusetts Governor told a crowd that he believes America is "still the greatest nation on Earth" and took aim at China's burgeoning space program:

“I know that China is planning on going to the moon, and I hope they have a good experience doing that... I hope they stop in and take a look at our flag that was put there 43 years ago!”

Recently, China has been ramping up its space program. In June it completed a formidable 10-day mission that carried three astronauts to an orbiting space laboratory, making it the third country after the United States and Russia to complete a manned space docking. That mission also saw China's first woman in space—astronaut Liu Yang conducted medical experiments aboard the orbiting Tiangong-1 laboratory.

NASA, on the other hand, has seen better days, with a proposed budget that includes deep cuts to planetary science and Mars programs in particular.

Romney continued his speech with a reference to the successful Mars rover landing earlier this month: "I know there are people around the world who are always critical of America, have something negative to say, say our greatest days are in the past. Baloney! We just won more Olympic medals than any other nation on earth. We also just landed on Mars and took a good look at what’s going on there.”

The Mars landing has been called "Very political,"—President Obama called JPL Monday to congratulate the program staff.