Elected President of the United States Joe Biden speaking with supporters at a community event at Sun City MacDonald Ranch in Henderson, Nevada. Image via Planetary Society / Gage Skidmore.
Shortly before 4 a.m. (12:00 UTC) last week (January 7, 2021), Congress confirmed Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the United States presidential election. Vice President Mike Pence, who chairs the joint session, announced the number 306-232. Regardless of your political inclinations, if you are a fan of space, you carefully watched during the Donald Trump administration how it supported NASA’s long-term goal of sending astronauts to Mars. And you saw the change in the course of our nation during Trump’s tenure toward a short-term goal of bringing the next man and woman back to the moon by 2024, with the Artemis program. Overall – under Donald Trump – America’s gaze has shifted more strongly to human missions to the moon and Mars. Will this concentration continue under President Joe Biden? How can NASA be expected to handle Biden?
Here are some contexts. In 2017, Trump appointed Jim Bridenstine, a Republican congressman from Oklahoma, to lead NASA. Congress – and the scientific and space communities – were taken by surprise, as NASA is usually led by a scientist or a former astronaut or other apolitical space expert. Bridenstine was finally confirmed by the Senate in April 2018, more than seven months after his appointment. Despite his lack of space or scientific knowledge, in two years as NASA administrator, he seemed to earn the respect of many. Immediately after Biden’s election, however, in early November 2020, Bridenstine announced his resignation.
More context. The wonderful missions in our solar system that we hear so much about – the much-loved Mars fleet, the dramatic New Horizons road past Pluto, Cassini’s 13 years at Saturn, and so on – are robot missions. The missions of the working horse to understand our own Earth and sun are robotic missions. There has been a decades-long attempt to balance smaller robotic missions like these, which bear so much fruit, with larger, brighter and more expensive missions that could transport humans into the solar system. The decision to launch a Cassini or a New Horizons must be made decades in advance; Indeed, some of the most visible and exciting robotic missions of this century to date have been the lifelong work of scientists that began in the last decades of the twentieth century. Why can’t we have both types of missions? Why really? But it seems that – in terms of the space program since it began in the late 1950s – the emphasis has shifted between human missions and robotic missions. That’s just something to keep in mind.
How will the US space program change during President Joe Biden? Biden is a well-known figure in many ways, having served decades in the Senate and eight years as vice president in the Obama administration. But his plans for NASA and America’s space program are less clear.
The Biden campaign made little mention of its space priorities, apart from a few statements made during the launch of Crew Dragon Demo 2 on May 30, 2020, the first launch of NASA astronauts on American soil in 2011. Specifically, Biden wrote on his website:
As President, I look forward to leading a bold space program that will continue to send astronaut heroes to expand our exploration and scientific frontiers by investing in research and technology to help millions of people on Earth.
The Democratic Party’s platform – a practical list of the Democratic Party’s goals for the next four years – was proposed to the Platform 2020 Committee at its meeting on July 27, 2020. While strongly supporting national health, economic growth and racial equity, among others, its only mention of the space program has been condensed several times. In short, he was considered promising in the opinion of John Logsdon, the founder of the Institute of Space Policy at George Washington University. The democratic platform not only endorsed NASA’s current plans, but mentioned its priorities, from the development of science and technology to the continued operation of the International Space Station and the exploration of human space:
Democrats continue to support NASA and are committed to continuing to explore and discover space. We believe in continuing the spirit of discovery that animated NASA’s exploration of human space, in addition to scientific and medical research, technological innovation and the educational mission that allows us to better understand our own planet and our place in the universe. We will strengthen support for the role of the United States in space through our continued presence on the International Space Station, working in partnership with the international community to continue scientific and medical innovation. We support NASA’s work to bring the Americans back to the moon and beyond Mars, taking the next step in exploring our solar system. Democrats are further supporting the strengthening of Earth observation missions by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to better understand how climate change is affecting our home planet.
From what we can gather, two major imminences change I’m probably.
First, a Biden administration could strengthen NASA and NOAA’s Earth observation capabilities, in order to better understand climate change. Lori Garver, NASA’s deputy administrator during the Obama administration, was a keynote speaker at the SpaceVision 2020 convention on November 7 and 8, 2020. She said:
Managing the Earth’s capacity to support human life and biodiversity will probably dominate, in my opinion, a civilian space agenda for a Biden-Harris administration.
Second, although it claims a human return to the moon, a Biden administration has not made any specific mention of the launch dates. The launch of humans on the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis mission was the chronology of the Trump administration. It is speculated that the Biden administration will at least slow down the Artemis program, likely releasing money for Earth science and other priorities elsewhere in the agency. On December 20, 2020, the two chambers of Congress of the United States government agreed on NASA’s final budget for fiscal year 2021. In the report accompanying the bill, Senate officials noted that the approaching uncertainty “makes it difficult to analyze the future impact that finances the accelerated monthly mission will have on top of NASA’s other important missions. Wendy Whitman Cobb, Associate Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, American School of Advanced Air and Space Studies
I don’t think Artemis will be canceled. I also don’t think he will make more money than he currently earns.
On November 10, the Biden administration announced the lists of the agency’s review teams that will overwhelm the federal government to gather information and guide the Biden administration’s planning. Garver, who led the Obama administration’s transition, commented:
Transition teams are really coming in to see how things are going and to make recommendations in the future.
NASA Chief Jim Bridenstine spoke in December 2019, ahead of the newly completed SLS baseline for the Artemis 1 mission. A few days after Joe Biden’s November election, Bridenstine announced his resignation on January 20, 2021. Who will it replace? Image via Wikimedia Commons.
A key priority of Biden’s spatial focus will be the selection of a new NASA administrator. So far he has been quiet about his choice, but there has been much speculation about potential candidates. This list is dominated by women. For example, Pam Melroy, a former NASA astronaut who flew in three shuttle missions, is a likely choice. Other possibilities include Wanda Austin, former president and CEO of Aerospace Corporation, and Gretchen McClain, a former NASA official who later worked in the industry and serves on the boards of several companies.
Previous transitions suggest that a new administrator for NASA may not come until a few months after the January 20 inauguration. After it was inaugurated in January 2009, President Obama did not appoint Charlie Bolden as administrator (and Garver as deputy administrator) until May 2009; The Senate confirmed them in July. Bridenstine, despite being a top candidate for NASA administrator a few days after Trump won the November 2016 presidential election, was nominated only in September 2017.
The concept of the astronaut artist on the moon, looking back to Earth, through NASA’s Artemis program.
Conclusion: Democrat Joe Biden will be the next US president. What are his plans for NASA and America’s space program? We predict a focus on Earth observation, especially that related to climate change. And we join many others in predicting that the goal of launching the next man and woman on the moon in the Artemis program will be pushed back in 2024.
Read more on EarthSky: NASA announces 18 astronauts in its Artemis team
Through the Democratic Party Platform
