Congress – Spaceflight Now

Commercial space companies say cut red tape or U.S. will lose its lead in spaceflight

October 19, 2023 Will Robinson-Smith

Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic representatives all called for improvements to the regulatory framework that governs spaceflight operations during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023.

Nelson cites China’s growing space prowess, calls for sustained NASA funding

May 19, 2021 William Harwood

Holding up a photo taken by China’s new Mars lander, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson warned Congress Wednesday that his agency faces increasingly stiff competition on the high frontier and that sustained funding for a new moon lander, infrastructure upgrades and other critical programs is vital for America’s space program.

NASA lays out $28 billion plan to return astronauts to the moon in 2024

September 21, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA officials released a nearly five-year, $28 billion plan Monday to return astronauts to the surface of the moon before the end of 2024, but the agency’s administrator said the “aggressive” timeline set by the Trump administration last year hinges on Congress approving $3.2 billion in the next few months to kick-start development of new human-rated lunar landers.

NASA chief still hopeful to get more money for moon landing effort

July 9, 2020 Stephen Clark

House lawmakers this week proposed to fund NASA’s human-rated lunar lander development program at less than one-fifth of the level the Trump administration wanted, but NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Wednesday the House budget bill is just the “opening salvo” in an appropriations process that now goes to the Senate.

Lawmakers question NASA’s plan for a 2024 moon landing

October 18, 2019 Stephen Clark

Amid questions from lawmakers about the cost of the Trump administration’s proposal to accelerate a human return to the moon’s surface to 2024, the chairman of the House subcommittee responsible for helping write NASA’s budget said this week he favors keeping to the space agency’s earlier schedule for a crewed lunar landing by 2028.

NASA still looking for new human spaceflight chief

September 19, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA hopes to have a new leader for the agency’s human spaceflight directorate by the end of the year to replace Bill Gerstenmaier, who held the post for nearly 14 years before his reassignment in July amid the Trump administration’s push to land humans on the moon by 2024, a NASA official said Wednesday.

Commercial crew capsules still beset by parachute problems

May 9, 2019 Stephen Clark

A malfunction during a drop test over Nevada last month for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon program has engineers re-examining the crew capsule’s parachutes, and Boeing has also encountered parachute failures during testing for its commercial crew capsule, a senior NASA official confirmed Wednesday.

NASA wrestles with what to do with International Space Station after 2024

May 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

Lawmakers last week questioned the Trump administration’s proposal to end direct U.S. government support of the International Space Station in 2025, citing concerns about the economic viability of commercial outposts in low Earth orbit.

New name for Space Launch System gets backing of lawmakers

May 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

A push to give NASA’s Space Launch System a new name is garnering support from lawmakers, who have written into legislation provisions that would order NASA to rename the heavy-lift rocket through a competition among schoolchildren.

House bill backs exploration at the expense of Earth science

May 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

A draft policy outline passed on a party-line vote by a House committee last week calls for redirecting funding from NASA’s Earth science programs into the space agency’s heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew capsule programs, an outcome NASA’s administrator said will set back climate change research.