New Space Subcommittee Chair Backs Moon First, Then Mars

Congressman Mike Haridopolos (R-FL), the new chair of the House space subcommittee, is fully behind the current plan to return astronauts to the Moon before going to Mars. President Trump’s inaugural declaration about sending people to Mars and his close association with Elon Musk has spurred a lot of chatter that the Administration might eschew the Moon and focus only on Mars, but Congress has long championed a return to the Moon first and that does not appear to be changing.

The freshman Congressman represents Kennedy Space Center, succeeding Bill Posey who retired. The long-time Space Coast resident and former president of the Florida State Senate introduced himself to the commercial space community today at the annual Commercial Space Conference sponsored by the FAA and the Commercial Space Federation (CSF). He chairs the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.

Building on Trump’s mantra that this is a Golden Age for America, Haridopolos said it is a Golden Age for space. Although he wasn’t alive in 1969 when Americans first walked the Moon, his parents told him it was the most exciting time of their lives.  “We’re going to do that again and we’re going to Mars and beyond and I can’t wait to get started.” China is determined to “beat us in space” and “we must face them head on just like we defeated the Soviet Union in the race to the Moon.”

“I do think we should go to the Moon first. I know there’s been some discussion about that. There’s a lot of possibilities because when you go to the Moon you can get some of those materials from the Moon that are so important. … But it’s just the beginning.” — Rep. Mike Haridopolos

No Democratic members of Congress spoke at the conference, but Pamela Whitney, the space subcommittee’s minority staff director, said during a panel discussion that “Congress has been very consistent on Moon to Mars — a stepping stone approach in terms of exploration.”

Haridopolos was somewhat critical of NASA, though, saying he’s had many conversations with KSC Director and Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro, “a good friend of mine” who lives in his neighborhood, about the cost overruns and delays in the Artemis program. “They need to perform” and launch Artemis II next year.

Artemis is NASA’s program to return astronauts to the Moon. The uncrewed Artemis I test flight took place in 2022 and the crewed test flight, Artemis II, was supposed to happen in 2024, but slipped to 2026.

Haridopolos praised the commercial space sector, with shout-outs to SpaceX, Blue Origin and L3Harris, for transforming the Space Coast into the active hub it is today after the space shuttle program was terminated in 2011. They did with their own investments plus those he championed from his position in the Florida Senate. Commercial space can drive down costs and ensure the United States is the “dominant world power” even as federal spending is cut to reduce the debt.

He’s optimistic Congress will be able to pass a new NASA Authorization Act and a commercial space bill now there’s a “trifecta” with Republicans in control of the House, Senate, and White House, although he “would like to think that space is a bipartisan issue.” House SS&T Chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) “wants to move this ball.”  Babin and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, are “passionate” about it. (Both spoke earlier in the day.) One major issue will be expediting FAA licensing of commercial space launches. That includes transitioning to the new “Part 450” regulations, which is supposed to be completed next year. Babin and House SS&T Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren are asking the Government Accountability Office to review the implementation of those regulations.

This was the 27th annual Commercial Space Conference.  While much of Washington is reeling from the flurry of Executive Orders from the White House, Musk’s DOGE activities, firings of Inspectors General and other government officials, federal worker buyouts or reductions-in-force, and a myriad of other actions by the new Administration, the ambience seemed little different from those in prior years. Many companies provided updates on everything from space launch (300 U.S. launches are expected this year), to commercial space stations (Vast is confident it will launch the world’s first commercial space station next spring), to commercial space science (Rocket Lab made the case that it can conduct the Mars Sample Return mission for $4 billion) and much, much more. That includes the fun fact that when Intuitive Machines launches IM-2 at the end of this month, three lunar landers — all commercial — will be on the way to the Moon simultaneously for the first time ever: Firefly’s Blue Ghost, ispace’s Venture Moon, and IM-2.

But commercial space relies on the government to be a customer and fund early technology development. Public-Private Partnerships are just that, partnerships.

Petro closed out the day in a fireside chat with CSF President Dave Cavossa talking about NASA’s long standing relationship with industry that led to today’s commercial cargo, commercial crew, and commercial space station efforts along with the Human Landing Systems (HLS) and other parts of Artemis including the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

“I will say up front that Artemis is not just limited to SLS and Orion. It is a big tent … and our eventual goal is going to Mars. … We have a lot of support and industry partners helping us get back there” with the two HLS systems from SpaceX and Blue Origin and the CLPS robotic landers.  “There’s a mutual benefit to both of us working together. We learn a lot from our commercial partners like the speed of business and the sense of urgency.” For its part NASA brings “60 years of experience of exploring space” and the result is “mutually beneficial.”  NASA will continue to do the “really hard things that maybe have never been done before” where there’s no business case, and when there is a business case and industry is willing to step up, “that’s going to get us further, faster.”

Speaking to reporters afterward, Petro said NASA right now is focused on implementing Trump’s Executive Orders and executing the agency’s Programs of Record, including Artemis II and Artemis III. Any changes will wait until the new NASA Administrator is confirmed. She also said processes are in place to ensure no conflicts of interest exist with representatives of Musk’s DOGE team that will be looking into how NASA spends its money, as they are at other agencies.