Horn, a Democrat, chairs the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics where the bill was first heard Wednesday. House Science Committee ranking member Frank Lucas, R-Oklahoma, is a co-sponsor of the legislation.
“I believe what we crafted enables the administration to fulfill their goals of going to the moon by 2024, and on to Mars,” Lucas said Wednesday.
The bill gives NASA flexibility to complete most or all of its mission before the end of a possible second Trump term in office, he said. Doing so, he added, would let the United States beat China in the modern version of the space race.
“Not since (Presidents) Kennedy and Johnson have we had any two chief executives care as much about this as President Trump and Vice President (Mike) Pence,” said Lucas. “If we don’t use this opportunity to get there, I don’t know that the next, or the next two, or the next three, or the next four administrations will care any more about this than the people who came between Jack Kennedy and Donald Trump.”
Both Horn and Lucas praised the bipartisan nature of the bill and negotiations, a sentiment Bridenstine shares. Specifically, he said there is broad support for plans to the moon-to-Mars agenda.
“That’s positive because a lot of the technologies that we need to build to go to the moon are the same technologies we need to get to Mars,” Bridenstine said.
That includes the Gateway project to place a station above the moon. The station would be a transit point for moving equipment to the surface and returning resources, like fuel and oxygen, that can be produced with lunar water.
As the bill moves through the committee process, Bridenstine said he wants to add more flexibility in lunar projects like resource-gathering, and more flexibility to let a private company develop and retain ownership of the crewed lunar lander.
