Author: Rice County Republicans

Dazzling and breathtaking movement is afoot in the newly reconstituted National Space Agency. The past twenty-four months have seen a renaissance of the American space program with vision cast by President Trump and now, under the capable leadership of Vice President Mike Pence as Chairman, to once again be the global leader in human space exploration. On October 5th, 2017, the National Space Council convened for the first meeting in a quarter of a century. It was hosted by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. Since that  meeting, remarkable cooperation and coordination between the Department’s of Transportation, Commerce, Defense and Energy, NASA with its revitalized leadership under Jim Bridenstine, our civil, military and commercial partners, have charted the course for this exciting new chapter in mankind’s history-the goal of returning human astronauts to the moon in 2024.  NASA shortly thereafter, will then be establishing the lunar outpost Gateway, with its focus to support  deep space exploration,and landing human astronauts on the red sands of Mars.  The “Artemis Project”, recently named, (she is the twin sister of Apollo from Greek mythology) isn’t merely a repeat of the 1960’s lunar missions that set American astronauts on the moon. The cornerstones of the National Space Council’s vision are:  Space Policy Directive One charts the course for sustainable missions beyond low Earth orbit, “which include the return of humans to the Moon for long...