NASA Transition Authorization Act: Trump Signs Bill

President Donald Trump signed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Transition Authorization Act of 2017, allocating $19.5 billion in funding — the first “NASA authorization passed by Congress in more than six years,” the White House said in a release Tuesday.

“With this legislation, we support NASA’s scientists, engineers, astronauts and their pursuit of discovery,” said Trump during a signing ceremony at the White House, according to the statement. “America’s space program has been a blessing to our people and to the entire world. Almost half a century ago, our brave astronauts first planted the American flag on the moon. That was a big moment in our history. Now this nation is ready to be the first in space once again. Today we’re taking the initial steps toward a bold and brave new future for American space flight.”

According to the bill, NASA should stay the course, including plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

Trump signed the bill into law in a televised ceremony at the Oval office. He was accompanied by several NASA officials, including Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot, Acting Deputy Administrator Lesa B. Roe, Chief of the Astronaut Office Christopher Cassidy and astronaut Tracy Dyson.

Trump was presented with a NASA flight jacket during the ceremony and he later tweeted about signing the bill along with the pictures.

Here are the key takeaways from the bill:

National Space Council

Vice President Mike Pence announced that he will lead a restructured National Space Council, an advisory board that will serve as the bridge between the White House and NASA. Although there has been no mention of a timeline as to when will it be established, what is interesting is that the National Space Council has not been in operation since George H. W. Bush was president.

Asteroid Redirect Mission

Even as the Transition Authorization Act aims to keep the space agency's focus on its ongoing human mission to Mars in 2033, as per the blueprint of the president’s budget, NASA is seeing a cut in the allocation, even though it’s minimal.

A chunk of the funds, according to the blueprint, would go to Orion crew vehicle and Space Launch System (SLS) jumbo rocket, which, according to NASA, will take people to Mars. However, the proposed budget has also asked NASA to “investigate approaches for reducing the costs of exploration missions to enable a more expansive exploration program.”

Trump has recently hinted that he is interested in returning astronauts to the moon, perhaps as soon as the first SLS test flight in 2018 as the Washington Post reported earlier.

NASA to charter commercial flights?

The bill directs that NASA cannot acquire space flight services from any foreign entity (unless there are no NASA or U.S. commercial vehicles available). It has also directed the agency to boost the private space industry.