Expedition Space: Space Launch, Events, News

by Brian Berger NASA astronauts (from left) Jessica Meir, Joseph Acaba, Jessica Watkins, Matthew Dominick and Anne McClain discuss being part of the Artemis Team of astronauts after the Dec. 9. 2020, meeting of the National Space Council. Credit: NASA TV O n April 2, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower called on Congress to form the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Soviet Union was succeeding in the space domain, and President Eisenhower knew it was imperative the United States win the space race or face severe national security consequences. Congress met that call 12 days later when both the Senate and House of Representatives introduced legislation that would create today’s NASA. Almost a decade after President Eisenhower made that initial call to action, Neil Armstrong was taking his giant leap for all mankind.   We have now entered a new space race for the moon and beyond. Russia and China have stepped into the arena, with both countries recent...

by Jeff Foust WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s nomination of former senator Bill Nelson as the next administrator of NASA has won widespread support from both members of Congress and the broader space community. The White House announced March 19 its formal intent to nominate Nelson, a Democrat who served three terms in the Senate from Florida, as NASA administrator. The announcement confirmed weeks of rumors that Nelson was the leading candidate for the job . “Most every piece of space and science law has had his imprint, including passing the landmark NASA bill of 2010 along with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison,” the White House said in its statement, a reference to the 2010 NASA authorization act that Nelson and Hutchison, a Republican from Texas, authored after the Obama administration canceled the Constellation program. That bill instructed NASA to develop a new launch vehicle, the Space Launch System, and continue work on the Orion spacecraft, while also authorizing the commerci...