All right. This hearing will come to order. 2020 has been a year of challenge and triumph for Americas National space agency. The covid19 pandemic has disrupted planning and daytoday operations, but nasa and its commercial partners have achieved many successful outcomes. These include launching american astronauts to the International Space station and returning them safely to earth. Returning that launch vehicle safely to earth. Launching a perseverance rover to mars, and preparing the space launch systems, sls, rocket and orion crew capsule for the first deep Space ExplorationProgram Mission next year. Im pleased that nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine is here to provide us with an update on nasas missions and programs and the agencys plans for the future. Further progress on the art miss program is critical to achieving the goals of landing the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024, and establishing a sustainable presence on or around the lunar surface by 2028. Congress has given clear support for many key component of artemis, notally the sls rocket, the orion crew capsule, human lander system competition, and various rovers and instruments to study the lunar surface. Last week administrator bridenstine announced a detailed plan for the Artemis Program projecting total cost of 28 billion between fiscal years to 21 and 2025, continuing bipartisan support for artemis is essential. Members need confidence in nasas longterm plan. I hope the administrator will lay out the detailed cost and schedule for artemis to help give us that confidence. The Program Receives a justifiable justifiably large amount of attention. We should also recognize the tremendous success of the commercial crew program. On may 30, the nasa spacex team launched american astronauts on american rockets from american soil for the First Time Since 2011. Commercial crew represents a True Public Private Partnership where the government buys services from space companies. It would be helpful if the administrator would highlight how nasa is implementing Lessons Learned from commercial crew development. In november of last year, this committee passed the nasa authorization act demonstrating strong support for artemis and commercial crew. The legislation also strongly supported nasas key science priorities, aeronautics research, planetary exploration, s. T. E. M. Education, and other initiatives. Today administrator bridenstine can provide an update on these missions and describe any major impacts on costs, schedule, or operations caused by the pandemic. Nasa plays an Important Role in americas whole of government approach to securing the space domain for exploration science and commerce. Great power competition in space is a reality. Chinas space ambitions are wellknown. And the Chinese Communist party has devoted enormous resources to military and civil Space Programs. Nasa recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the newly created u. S. Space force to bolster collaboration on standards and best practices for Space Operations, Scientific Research and planetary defense. Administrator bridenstine may want to comment on the memorandum of understanding, and where he Sees Opportunities for collaboration with the space force. Even with this years successes, Program Vulnerabilities remain. As the Artemis Program progresses, we should remain vigilant to protect and strengthen International Partnerships, particularly those built around the International Space station and low earth orbit research. We should ensure that groundbreaking initiatives such as robotic Mars Missions and planetary observatories continue making progress, maintaining forces maintaining focus on artemis and other missions will require continued support and funding from congress. I look forward to todays conversation with the administrator and now turn to my dear friend and colleague, the ranking, for her remarks. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for the bipartisan leadership on the nasa reauthorization bill. Im pleased to join you and senator cruz to author the nasa inflation act of 2019. Among other things this legislation would provide authorization for nasas human exploration programs including the lunar lander needed to return humans to the moon. There is agreement between the bills sponsors about how to proceed on the authorization, and i hope the senate will consider this important bill this year. Nasas recent Economic ImpactAnalysis Shows that in 2019 the agency generated more than 64 billion in economic output, supported more than 312,000 jobs nationwide, and nasa and the space industry, particularly important in the state of washington where space activities account for 1. 8 billion of our states economy, with Companies Like blue origin, spac spacex, and arrow jet, rocketdyne, thousands of jobs are dependent on the growing space industry. I always say theres a reason we have the space needle. So 2020 was a significant year for nasa. For the first time in nine years, nasa astronauts launched to space from the u. S. Soil. For the first time ever, those astronauts launched on a commercial spacecraft marking the dawn of a new era for nasa. 2021 promises to be an even bigger year for the agency. Two commercial providers will begin regularly carrying astronauts to the International Space station. 2021 will also see the first launch of nasas space launch system which will return astronauts deep space in a few years. I am looking forward to watching americans exit the lunar lander which will be built in the state of washington and step on to the surface of the moon for the first time in more than 40 years. I am very enthusiastic about the Artemis Program which will put the first woman on the moon. Now we need more than just that womens first step, we need women and minorities to be represented at every level of the nasa and Space Programs. So i look forward to working with you and the chairman on how we increase the diversity in all our aerospace industry. Given the many new rockets and spacecraft nasa astronauts will fly over the next decade, its imperative the agency remain committed to safety. Safety must always be the top priority, and in order for that to happen, nasa engineers and Program Managers must have insight into the design and testing of new spacecraft. A major safety issue for nasa is the threat of orbital debris. Just last week the space station was forced to maneuver away there a piece of space debris. In february, the Committee Held a hearing on threats to space, and i called for increased investment in mapping of space of debris and improve Space Situational Awareness. So mr. Chairman, i know you are also committed to addressing this threat, and i look forward to working with you on that issue. While nasas human spaceflight programs are often in the spotlight, the agencys other missions and research are also critical to the country. As i said in washington, many western states we face an unbelievable threat from devastating wildfires. Nasas satellites provide data that enables Disaster Management teams to measure the intensity and development of fires as they burn. And i also want to highlight nasas Space Grant Program. Again, a consortium at the university of washington doing tremendous work to engage High School Students and undergraduates in these areas of research and study which i think just helps us get the next generation of work force. The covid19 pandemic has impacted many nasa programs, as well as the people who support them, whether they are employees or contractors or researchers. So i look forward to hearing how this committee might work with nasa to keep the program on track while keeping people safely employed. This is a challenge, but obviously we want to keep moving ahead. So well look forward to your comments and testimony, administrator bridenstine. Thank you for being here today. Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this importance hearing. I think i heard the state of washington mentioned several times in senator cantwells Opening Statement. Clearly i should have mentioned in my Opening Statement the Important Role of the state of mississippi in all of the activities that we have planned, particularly the Stennis Space Center in hancock county, mississippi. So at this point, administrator bridenstine, we have your prepared statement consisting of seven pages in small type. We will enter that into the record at this point. And you are recognized for five minutes or so to summarize your statement. Thank you, chairman wicker, and Ranking Member cantwell. Its an honor to be here. I will tell you, i want to start by thanking you for the support we received in the c. A. R. E. S. Act which ultimately enabled us to move forward on some of our very Important Missions. We call them Mission Essential functions of nasa. So we needed that personal protective equipment, we needed the ability to make sure that our crews could socially distance and do all of the things necessary to be safe and the c. A. R. E. S. Act was really a part of that. And we thank you for that. So nasa is is really up to some really amazing things. The two of you highlighted them very well. Lower earth orbit, we are commercializing rapidly. We have been under way with commercial resupply now for a number of years. And now were moving forward with commercial crew, which we are all very, very excited about. Demo two is complete. That was a test flight here at the end of october. We were going to launch crew one. Were going to have a full complement of four astronauts including one International Partner from japan. And so this is a very exciting time for the agency as we move rapidly to commercialize space. Its not just about commercial resupply and commercial crew. We also want commercial space stations themselves eventually. The International Space station has been an amazing asset for the United States. It still is, and it will be for years to come. But we all know that a day is going to come when it comes to the end of its useful life. When that happens, we need to have funded the resources necessary to commercialize lower earth orbit for cohabitation. We want to make sure in the United States and with your help we can ensure that we have no gap in low earth orbit. We think about apollo, we had during the apollo era, as much as we loved it, it came to an end. We had a gap of about eight years before Space Shuttle. Then after Space Shuttle retired, we had another gap of about eight years before commercial crew. And we want to make sure that there is no gap in lower earth orbit for the United States of america as we transition from the International Space station to commercial space stations. But as both of you have identified, whats happening in lower earth orbit, as awesome as it is, pales in comparison to what were going to see when we land the first woman and the next man on the surface of the moon under the Artemis Program. Were going to the moon for a lot of important reasons. The chief reason to go to the moon is because it accelerates our path to mars. And we believe it is important for the first person to land on mars to be an american astronaut. And when we do go to mars, we want to go with our International Partners. This is about american leadership. And of course what we just saw, just, in fact, yesterday, japan announced its biggest budget for its space agency in its history. In fact, it was a 50 increase over the previous year. That is a massive increase for a nation like japan. And theyre focusing it on the Artemis Program. They are focused on supporting us as we lead the world to the moon. I will say that that is not unique, though. Weve seen budgets coming from europe that are also increasing. Commensurate with the Artemis Program and nasas budget. So a lot of really exciting things in the future. And of course im grateful to you, chairman wicker and ranking cantwell, for the continued bipartisan support for these Important Missions for our country. So with that, sir, ill ill yield back whatever time i have remaining. And certainly open to any questions. Well, thank you very, very much. You recently announced that the artemis 1 mission will take place at the end of november of next year. Part of the role of my home state of mississippi is in the testing space launch system rocket engine. How is the green run testing at stennis progressing, and do you have a target date for the full duration hotfire test . Yes, sir. So the green run testing is progressing very well. The rocket this is the core stage of the sls rocket. It is proving itself to be an extremely capable system. We still have a good bit of testing in front of us, including the full green run where we we fire all four rs 25 engines at the same time. Thats going to be an amazing sight to see. Likely to happen in november. And so were moving rapidly toward that. Weve had some challenges, of course, with some hurricanes. Weve had some other challenges with covid. But we have weve also had some successes. And so were moving forward, and we think that the green run test will be done in november, november, and we also believe that this sets us up for the first launch of the sls system with an o ryan crew capsule in november 2021. You think were still on track to meet the november 2021 date . As of right now, yes, we are. There are challenges, and depending on how covid affects us in the months ahead, it could be more challenging. But i will say because this is a mission that is so unique, we do have margin in the schedule. We have reserve in the schedule and in the cost. And nasa does that for all of its missions. As of this point, we have not determined that we need to move off of the november date of next year. Well, ive been very impressed with how nasa has moved forward in any number of target dates. Let me ask you about the continuing resolution. Yes, sir. Weve seen a continuing resolution this week and, obviously, thats never ideal, but the covid19 pandemic pretty much dictated that. This is a brief cr. It doesnt carry on into next year. You have spoken about the problem of a longterm continuing resolution. If you will, please discuss the broader impacts of if we cant get our job done in november and december, what that would mean for your programs. Yes, sir. So the hardest part right now is the human landing system. That human landing system is what right now were not funded to develop in its entirety. We are funded through what we call the base period, weve got the resources to go through basically february of 2021. And so between now and february of 2021, i think were okay. But if we get to february of 2021 without an appropriation, thats going to really put the brakes on our ability to achieve a moon landing by as early as 0 2024. So its important to get these appropriations. I will also tell you, sir, the sooner we get the appropriations, the higher the probability of success. So were very grateful. I know that the house and the senate are moving towards a cr rather than a shutdown. Were very grateful for that. And i speak for the entire nasa workforce when i say that. But i will also say that the sooner we can get an appropriation, the higher the probability of success to the moon landing as soon as 2024. Thats the appropriation. What about the authorization bill . How important is it to pass an updated authorization bill . So in my view, very important. I was an authorizer in the house of representatives and i can tell you what the authorization bill enables me to do as the administrator is demonstrate that this has strong bipartisan support that is lasting. Appropriations are one year in nature, and they give us what we need to fund the programs. But an authorization bill this is a fundamental question i get everywhere i go as a nasa administrator, people ask me, how do you ensure that this program doesnt get canceled . Like nasa has had a history of seeing programs get developed and then canceled. And the answer is we need the authorization bill that codifies that what were doing has Broad National consensus and bipartisan support. I think were there, but putting that into law really would be meaningful for the agency. Thank you very much. Senator cantwell. Thank you. Administrator bridenstine, one of the things we hear a lot about as, again, we change and innovate, as the skill level of the workforce and s. T. E. M. , we work very hard on s. T. E. M. Education in the state of washington and certainly want to work on it on a national perspective, so i want to hear your thoughts on what else we need to be doing, what does that skills gap look like. Im also interested in nasas explane flight Demonstration Pro