White House – Spaceflight Now

Biden administration renews mandate for National Space Council

March 30, 2021 Stephen Clark

President Biden will renew the National Space Council, a space policy group revived by the Trump White House after 25 years of inactivity, to assist in “generating national space policies, strategies, and synchronizing America’s space activities,” an administration spokesman said Monday.

Biden to nominate former Sen. Bill Nelson as NASA administrator

March 19, 2021 William Harwood

Former Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, a longtime space advocate whose district included the Kennedy Space Center and who flew aboard the shuttle Columbia in 1986 as a congressional observer, is President Biden’s choice to serve as NASA’s next administrator, the White House announced Friday.

Biden backs Artemis moon program; watchdog says it’ll cost $86 billion

February 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

The Biden administration supports continuing NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts back to the moon, the White House said last week, without stating whether it will back away from the program’s already-in-doubt schedule for a lunar landing by the end of 2024.

Trump to visit Kennedy Space Center for crew launch

May 22, 2020 Stephen Clark

President Trump plans to visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida next week to view the first launch of astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil in nearly a decade, according to White House officials.

Trump administration requests funding boost for NASA’s Artemis moon program

February 10, 2020 William Harwood

The Trump administration is requesting $25.2 billion for NASA in fiscal 2021, a 12 percent increase that includes $3.3 billion to kickstart development of a human-rated lander for the Artemis moon program. Nearly half of the budget request, $12.3 billion, is devoted to new and ongoing projects focused on the return to the moon and eventual flights to Mars.

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.

Surveillance photos reveal apparent explosion on Iranian launch pad

August 30, 2019 Stephen Clark

A day after commercial satellite images revealed a smoke plume over an Iranian launch pad, President Trump tweeted a remarkably high-resolution aerial photograph of the remote satellite launch facility Friday — apparently from a classified satellite or airborne drone — and denied U.S. involvement in the accident.

Trump reauthorizes U.S. Space Command

August 29, 2019 Stephen Clark

President Trump reestablished U.S. Space Command in a White House ceremony Thursday, setting up a unified combatant command previously dissolved in 2002 that Trump said “will defend America’s vital interests in space” amid growing threats to space assets and services.

Pence delivers a promise, and a warning, to NASA and its contractors

July 22, 2019 William Harwood

Despite appearances and a presidential tweet suggesting otherwise, the United States is “100%” committed to sending astronauts back to the moon in 2024 and establishing a long-term, sustainable presence there as a stepping stone to eventual piloted flights to Mars, Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview with CBS News.

Trump adds $1.6 billion to NASA budget request to kick start ‘Artemis’ moon mission

May 13, 2019 William Harwood

The Trump administration is adding an additional $1.6 billion to NASA’s $21 billion 2020 budget request to kick start plans to return American astronauts to the moon in 2024, four years earlier than previously planned, NASA announced Monday.