House Committee Plans Artemis Hearing Next Week

The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee said today it will hold a hearing on NASA’s Artemis program next week. Artemis is designed to return U.S. astronauts to the surface of the Moon for the first time since Apollo, but its future has become the subject of intense speculation since President Trump took office. The program is years late, over budget, and Trump confidant Elon Musk is a critic, although his company, SpaceX, is an Artemis major contractor. The hearing does not include any witnesses from the Trump Administration, however.

“Step by Step: The Artemis Program and NASA’s Path to Human Exploration of the Moon, Mars, and Beyond,” is scheduled for February 26 at 10:00 am ET and will be webcast. House SS&T chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) said in a statement that he looks forward to “valuable insights” from the two witnesses: Scott Pace, Director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, and Dan Dumbacher, Adjunct Professor at Purdue University.

Without any witnesses from the Trump Administration, the hearing seems to be more of a “how we got here” discussion combined with personal views on what should happen next.  Pace and Dumbacher are no longer in government, but both played important roles over the past two decades trying to get astronauts back on the Moon.

President George W. Bush proposed a return to the Moon in 2004, resurrecting his father’s 1989 Space Exploration Initiative (SEI).  SEI didn’t get very far because of funding challenges. The younger Bush’s program, Constellation, ran into the same problem especially when the change of administrations coincided with the 2008-2009 Great Recession and new President Barack Obama concluded it was unaffordable.  In 2010, Obama canceled Constellation, proposing instead to skip the Moon and focus on getting humans to Mars using an asteroid as a steppingstone.

Congress, which had expressed strong support for  Constellation on a bipartisan basis in the 2005 and 2008 NASA Authorization Acts, was furious at the abrupt change especially because of the workforce impacts. Bush had canceled the space shuttle program and the workers were going to transition to Constellation. Now they had nowhere to go. Consequently, Congress passed the 2010 NASA Authorization Act requiring NASA to build a new big rocket and a crew spacecraft anyway: the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion, which was retained from the Constellation program.

Congress continued to strongly support SLS and Orion even as costs grew and the destination — the Moon, an asteroid, or Mars — remained murky. The effort got a boost in the first Trump Administration when Vice President Mike Pence, as chair of the White House National Space Council, directed NASA to put astronauts on the Moon by the end of 2024.  That’s the program now known as Artemis, although the date for the landing has slipped to 2027.

Pace and Dumbacher were key players throughout those years. Pace was Executive Secretary of Pence’s National Space Council, and NASA’s Associate Administrator for Program Analysis and Evaluation when Constellation was underway.  Dumbacher had a long career at NASA including Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development leading the SLS, Orion and Exploration Ground Systems programs until 2014. Prior to that he held high level positions at Marshall Space Flight Center that included developing the Ares rocket for the Constellation program.

They have extensive knowledge about the evolution of Artemis. Babin, who represents NASA’s Johnson Space Center,  said “it is vital that we continue down this path.” Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL), a new member of Congress who represents Kennedy Space Center and chairs the House SS&T space subcommittee, added that “America is in a race with China” and Artemis “is our ride to this important milestone.”

Their support for the current program seems clear, but the pressing question is what the White House is planning. Boeing’s announcement that it soon may lay off 400 SLS workers heightened concerns that the Saturn V-class rocket may be a target for White House cutbacks or elimination. Jim Free’s departure from NASA is adding to the chatter that Artemis is about to undergo major changes. A firm defender, he led the program for several years before becoming Associate Administrator.

Musk is a harsh critic of SLS not only because it is years late and extremely expensive, but it’s not reusable like the Starship vehicle he’s developing.  Supporters point out, however, that SLS has actually flown around the Moon already on the uncrewed Artemis I test flight in 2022 while Starship hasn’t even attained orbit yet.  SLS also can send Orion with a crew of four directly to lunar orbit. Starship must be refueled in Earth orbit before heading to the Moon or elsewhere. Orbiting fuel depots don’t yet exist, nor has transferring cryogenic propellants in microgravity been demonstrated.

If getting U.S. astronauts back on the lunar surface before Chinese taikonauts arrive is a driver, the surer bet may be on SLS although Starship is needed, too.  NASA chose Starship as the Human Landing System for that first return to the lunar surface mission, Artemis III, through a Public-Private Partnership, a procurement method it’s using for other aspects of Artemis as well.  Whether the Trump White House agrees on the need to get back there before China, how they plan to do it, and where the money and expertise will come from as they slash government spending and fire government workers are the fundamental questions right now. Those answers may not come until the White House submits its FY2026 budget request.