
NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars on Feb. 18, and the people of Twitter teased that it had a surprise travel buddy: Ted Cruz. The Texas senator left behind his state that is currently suffering a power crisis amid a bizarre winter storm to jump on a flight to Cancun on Wednesday night, Feb. 17. But instead of landing in Mexico that night or returning to Texas the next day (his actual plans), Twitter users joked that the Conservative politician was actually catching a ride to outer space.

Hello, world. My first look at my forever home. #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/dkM9jE9I6X
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 18, 2021
There was another running joke that Cruz should’ve actually been given a ticket to Mars. “We’ve made history. #NASAPerseverance has landed on #Mars2020 Now can we bring Matt Damon home & send Ted Cruz there, please?,” one person teased, referring to Damon’s character in the movie The Martian who gets stranded on Mars. Another person had a similar thought, tweeting, “I can’t believe we launched something to Mars and didn’t put Ted Cruz on it.”

NASA landed on Mars before Ted Cruz got back to Texas
— Grace Parra Janney (@GraceParra360) February 18, 2021
While Twitter had fun with Cruz’s temporary disappearance from Texas, most were furious at the Texas senator for ditching his state. Texas was hit with an unexpected winter storm that has caused millions to lose power and burst pipes, leaving people without drinking water. Cruz’s controversial flight to Cancun drew criticism across Twitter, and even Meghan McCain — who is Republican herself — compared Cruz to Marie Antoinette. Cruz tried to explain that he left the state to be a “good dad.”
