How Congress became NASA’s partner for the Artemis return to the moon

The NASA Reauthorization Act of 2026 has passed the Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). When one looks over its contents, one has to wonder what a difference 16 years makes.

In 2010, in the wake of then-President Barack Obama’s cancellation of the Constellation Program (President George W. Bush’s attempt at a deep space exploration program) Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010.

Among other things, the 2010 act imposed upon NASA the Space Launch System, a giant, expensive and, as it has turned out, hard to operate rocket. The Space Launch System’s main purpose was to provide jobs in certain states and congressional districts. Any space missions it enabled would be a happy side-effect.

The 2026 version of the NASA authorization bill that passed out of Senate Commerce is as different from the 2010 legislation as day to night. Whereas the 2010 bill imposed the will of Congress on NASA, the 2026 bill has essentially given NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman carte blanche to do what he feels is necessary to get Americans back on the moon before the Chinese and then to build a lunar base.

So, what happened in the 16 years between the two pieces of legislation to make them so starkly different?

Jim Bridenstine, who served as NASA administrator during President Trump’s first term after a contentious nominating process, played a crucial role in the transformation of Congress into a partner of NASA’s space exploration........

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