Pence Goes to Kennedy Space Center

Yesterday, Vice President Pence visited Kennedy Space Center. He was given a detailed tour¹ of the spaceport and updates on its on-going evolution into a multi-user facility.

At the heart of that evolution is NASA’s relationship with private companies, including SpaceX and Boeing. Both are part of the Commercial Crew program, which will fly American astronauts to the International Space Station aboard non-NASA vehicles.

Pence spoke about this program in a lengthy speech that took place in addition to his tour. “In conjunction with our commercial partners we’ll continue to make space travel safer, cheaper, and more accessible than ever before,” he said.

Eric Berger at Ars Technica commented on this section of the Vice President’s remarks:

This seems to be a nod toward efforts by the commercial space industry, led by SpaceX and Blue Origin, to develop reusable launch vehicles that have the potential to substantially cut the cost of access to space and provide launch-on-demand services. “I think he pretty clearly gave advocates of cheap access a shout-out,” said James Muncy, the founder of PoliSpace, and a commercial space supporter.

I agree with this way of viewing Pence’s comments, and I believe the Trump administration will lean heavily on commercial companies to take over some of NASA’s work.

That isn’t new, however. NASA had been handing this work over to its partners as it focuses on the Space Launch System, a new heavy-lift rocket, and Orion, a next-generation capsule that will send crew members around the moon in the next few years.

There have been many complaints lodged against the SLS. It is incredibly expensive, but more importantly, is being built without a clear mission in mind. After the initial test launches and a crewed trip to cis-lunar space, NASA will still be left without the additional hardware needed to go to Mars.

The Obama administration holds the blame for this, but Trump hasn’t done anything to move the ball forward yet, either.

This was evident in Pence’s speech, which was heavy on something close to patriotism and light on details:²

Let us do what our nation has always done since its very founding and beyond: We’ve pushed the boundaries on frontiers, not just of territory, but of knowledge. We’ve blazed new trails, and we’ve astonished the world as we’ve boldly grasped our future without fear.

From this ‘Bridge to Space,’ our nation will return to the moon, and we will put American boots on the face of Mars.

Pence did not mention the SLS, which I found a little surprising. There are few things as American as building a giant-ass rocket and blasting crew members into space.

Moreover, it’s been unclear what sort of mission the new executive branch may have in mind for the SLS. Republicans, historically, have favored returning to the moon, complete with landing on its surface once again. Is that what Pence meant? Then again, he specifically mentioned landing on Mars, which is a plan set forth under Obama’s leadership.

This confusion is made worse by the fact that the Trump White House still has not named an administrator for NASA. Here’s Loren Grush at The Verge:

[Pence] didn’t mention any new additions to NASA’s leadership team either, which means the space agency is still left without a permanent administrator and no clear direction for its future under President Trump. “Usually you have a leader visit, tour, and give a speech to roll out a detail-oriented policy after it’s been developed,” Phil Larson, a former space advisor for the Obama administration and assistant dean at the University of Colorado’s college of engineering, tells The Verge. “This is backwards.”

The only concrete news out of the speech was that the National Space Council will be meeting in the coming weeks. The NSC — first founded in the 1960s and briefly resurrected by George H.W. Bush — is tasked with shaping US space policy.

Perhaps then we will see what Trump and company have in mind for NASA and its commercial partners. Until then, there are far more questions than there are answers about what this executive branch wants to do with America’s space program.