Legislative Checklist of Major Space-Related Legislation: 118th Congress is a free SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that identified and tracked major legislation concerning the U.S. space program (civil, military and commercial) introduced in the 118th Congress (January 3, 2023-January 3, 2025).

Information includes bill numbers, dates of action taken by congressional committees, report numbers when bills are reported from committee, and public law numbers for those signed into law. The fact sheet was updated throughout the 118th Congress. This final edition is dated December 30, 2024.

Legislative Checklist for the 117th Congress: Major Space-Related Legislation is a free SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that identified and tracked major legislation concerning the U.S. space program (civil, military and commercial) introduced in the 117th Congress (January 3, 2021-January 3, 2023).  Information includes bill numbers, dates of action taken by congressional committees, report numbers when bills are reported from committee, and public law numbers for those signed into law including the FY2022 and FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the 2022 NASA Authorization Act. The fact sheet was updated throughout the 117th Congress. This is the final edition, dated January 3, 2023.

Our popular “What’s a Markup?” fact sheet was refreshed in September 2019.  It explains basic congressional terminology and the legislative mysteries involved in making a bill into law. It is not meant to be a comprehensive treatment of lawmaking, but a beginner’s guide for those interested in following space policy developments in Congress.

Legislative Checklist for the 116th Congress: Major Space-Related Legislation is a free SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that identified and tracked major legislation concerning the U.S. space program (civil, military and commercial) introduced in the 116th Congress (January 3, 2019-January 3, 2021).  Information includes bill numbers, dates of action taken by congressional committees, report numbers when bills were reported from committee, and public law numbers for those signed into law.  This final version is dated January 8, 2021.

Legislative Checklist for the 115th Congress: Major Space-Related Legislation is a free SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet.  During the 115th Congress (January 3, 2017-January 3, 2019), it identified and tracked major legislation concerning the U.S. space program (civil, military and commercial).  The final version of this checklist reflects action through noon on January 3, 2019, when the 115th Congress ended.

NASA, NOAA and other departments and agencies in seven of the 12 appropriations bills were shutdown as of that date because Congress and the White House did not agree on funding for President Trump’s border wall.  That is in the Homeland Security appropriations bill, but the six other bills, including Commerce-Justice-Science that funds NASA and NOAA, were politically intertwined with it.

This fact sheet is being retained for historical purposes.  Information includes bill numbers, dates of action taken by congressional committees, report numbers when bills are reported from committee, and public law numbers for those signed into law.  Historical checklists are also available on SpacePolicyOnline.com for the 111th, 112th, 113th and 114th Congresses.  A checklist for the ongoing 116th Congress (January 3, 2019-January 3, 2021) is also available on SpacePolicyOnline.com’s Fact Sheet page.

NASA Administrators and Their Professional Backgrounds a free SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that briefly summarizes the professional backgrounds of all 11 men who have served as NASA Administrator so far.   President Trump’s nomination of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) to be the next NASA Administrator has raised questions about the qualifications needed to serve in that position.  Some media sources are asserting that all previous NASA Administrators have been scientists, engineers or astronauts, but that is incorrect. Neither James Webb (1961-1968) nor Sean O’Keefe (2001-2005) had degrees in science or engineering or were astronauts.  Bridenstine would be, however, the first politician to serve as NASA Administrator.

NASA’s FY2020 Budget Request is a free SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that tracked the FY2020 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as it worked its way through Congress.  President Trump’s original (March 11, 2019) FY2020 request for NASA was $21.019 billion.  He submitted a budget amendment on May 13 for an additional $1.6 billion to pay for the Artemis Moon-by-2024 program, yielding a new total request of $22.616 billion.

This is the final version of the fact sheet and is dated February 25, 2020.

NASA’s FY2019 Budget Request is a free SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet that tracked the FY2019 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as it worked its way through Congress.  President Trump requested $19.892 billion for NASA in FY2019, but Congress appropriated $21.500 billion, a significant increase.  The fact sheet was updated throughout the budget process.  This is the final version, dated February 25, 2019.