When Jim Bridenstine was named NASA Administrator during Trump’s first time in office, many folks (including me) were worried that a Congressional representative from Oklahoma was a bad choice, but by the time he was out of office, I think most people thought he had done a pretty good job at shepherding NASA through a couple of rocky years.
In the years since, he’s been working in the private space sector, and was recently questioned on Capitol Hill about where NASA is in its slow motion return to the moon.
Ryan Caton and Chris Bergin report:
In a pointed testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine expressed deep concerns about the complexity and feasibility of NASA’s Artemis program, warning that the United States is “highly unlikely” to land astronauts on the Moon before China due to challenges with orbital refueling and an ambitious architecture.
They go on:
Bridenstine highlighted the high costs and sustainability issues with NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, calling it “extraordinarily expensive”, but advocating for its continued use since it’s already developed. He also praised the recent “Big Beautiful Bill,” which secures funding for Artemis 4 and 5 missions using SLS Block 1B and the Orion spacecraft.
However, he stressed a critical gap: notably that the U.S. lacks a ready Lunar Lander.
Under NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) contracts, two vehicles are in development—SpaceX’s Starship HLS for Artemis 3 and 4, and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mk2 for Artemis 5.
I wish he had been more vocal about these issues when he was running the agency, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong now.