WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Coalition for Deep Space Exploration applauds Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Johnson and the members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee for holding today’s thoughtful and substantive hearing on the need for stability at NASA, especially during the upcoming presidential transition. The witnesses and Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle made clear that the last thing this country needs is any disruption of NASA’s exploration program. We applaud the Members for their strong words of support, their call for a constancy of purpose in our exploration goals and their shared commitment to ensuring the successful progress on America’s return to deep space.
The next two years are a critical time for our nation’s space exploration program with the 2018 launches of the Orion crew vehicle, carried aboard the Space Launch System on Exploration Mission-1, as well as the James Webb Space Telescope. The Coalition supports all efforts to ensure that NASA has the resources and support to maintain this progress and continue work towards the first crewed mission on SLS and Orion in 2021.