National Space Council

Established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, the NASC was chaired by the President of the United States (then Dwight Eisenhower). Other members included the Secretaries of State and Defense, the NASA Administrator, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, plus up to four additional members (one from the federal government and up to three from private industry) chosen at the President's discretion.

The Council was allowed to employ a staff to be headed by a civilian executive secretary. Eisenhower did not use the NASC extensively during the remainder of his term, and recommended at the end of his last year in office, that it be abolished. He did not fill the post of executive secretary but named an acting secretary on loan from NASA. Shortly before assuming office, President-elect John F. Kennedy announced that he wanted his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, to become chairman of the NASC, requiring an amendment to the Space Act.[1]

Edward C. Welsh was the first executive secretary of the NASC, appointed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. Welsh, who as a legislative aide to Senator Stuart Symington (D-Missouri) helped draft the 1958 legislation that created NASA and the NASC, spent the 1960s as the principal advisor to the White House on space issues. He also assisted in the development of the legislation that created the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT). After his retirement in 1969, he remained active as an advisor to NASA.

George H.W. Bush created the National Space Council by Executive Order 12675.[2] The Council was chaired by Vice President Dan Quayle and included the following members:

• The Secretary of State
• The Secretary of the Treasury
• The Secretary of Defense
• The Secretary of Commerce
• The Secretary of Transportation
• The Director of the Office of Management and Budget
• The Chief of Staff to the President
• The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
• The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology
• The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

On February 12, 1992, friction between the largely astronaut-based management at NASA and the National Space Council led to Richard Truly, then NASA Administrator and a former astronaut, being removed from the council. Truly was forced out after Vice President Quayle and the space council's executive director, Mark J. Albrecht, enlisted the aid of Samuel K. Skinner, the White House chief of staff, in urging Pres. Bush to remove Truly. Quayle and the council staff made the move because they felt Truly would impede a new plan to restructure and streamline many aspects of the space program, including the space agency administration.[3]

In 1993, the Space Council was disbanded and its functions absorbed by the National Science and Technology Council.[4]

In August 2008, when campaigning for president, Barack Obama promised to re-establish the National Aeronautics and Space Council.[5] However, he completed two terms as president without having done so.[6]

Pence (center) speaks at the sixth meeting of the revived council in 2019

In October 2016, Robert Smith Walker and Peter Navarro, two senior policy advisers to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, wrote in an op-ed in SpaceNews that if elected, Trump would reinstitute a national space policy council headed by the vice president.[7] In the first year of the Trump administration, Vice President Mike Pence indicated that the space council would be re-established, and would have a significant involvement in the direction of America's activities in space.[8] On June 30, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order for such a reestablishment.[9][10][11][12] The revival of the National Space Council and the drafting of the Executive Order was led by Trump senior advisor Peter J. White.[13] Following its re-institution, the council met for the first time on October 5, 2017 at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia.[14] On December 9, 2020 the 8th and last meeting of the White House National Space Council under the leadership of Vice President Mike Pence took place at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), FL. Major announcements were a new National Space Policy and the naming of 18 NASA astronauts on the Artemis Team.[15] Effective January 1, 2021 Scott Pace has resigned as Executive Secretary of the Council.[16][17] On January 15, 2021 the National Space Council Releases Report on Space Policy Accomplishments[18][19]

The status of this council is undetermined, however 17 industry groups are asking the White House to keep the National Space Council. [20][21]

List of meetings of the Revived National Space Council chaired by Vice President Mike Pence:

• 1st meeting took place on October 5, 2017 at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.[22]
• 2nd meeting took place on February 21, 2018 at the Space Station Processing Facility, Cape Canaveral, Florida.[23]
• 3rd meeting took place on June 18, 2018 at the White House, Washington, D.C.[24]
• 4th meeting took place on October 23, 2018 at the National War College, Washington, D.C.[25]
• 5th meeting took place on March 27, 2019 at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.[26][27]
• 6th meeting took place on August 20, 2019 at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Virginia.[28]

• 7th meeting took place on May 19, 2020 at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC and by video conference.[29]Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the meeting was postponed from March 24, 2020.[30][31] [32]
• 8th meeting took place on Dec 9, 2020 at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. As the pandemic eases off in the area, the meeting resumed its normal desk arrangement and audience (with the exception of facemasks). This meeting was to finalize the space policy for the Artemis program in the years ahead.[33][34]

The revived National Space Council consists of the following members:[35][36]

• Vice President of the United States, chair
• Secretary of State
• Secretary of Defense
• Secretary of Commerce
• Secretary of Transportation
• Secretary of Energy (since February 2020)
• Secretary of Homeland Security
• Director of National Intelligence
• Director of the Office of Management and Budget
• National Security Advisor
• Assistant to the President for Economic Policy (since February 2020)
• Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy (since February 2020)
• Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Homeland Security Advisor (until February 2020)
• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

On February 20, 2018, Vice President Mike Pence, Chairman of the National Space Council announced the candidates selected to serve on the National Space Council Users Advisory Group. Pending official appointment by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the selected members of the Users Advisory Group will serve to fulfill President Trump's mandate to "foster close coordination, cooperation, and technology and information exchange" across our nation's space enterprise. The announcement was made on the eve of the second meeting of the National Space Council. "Moon, Mars, and Worlds Beyond: Winning the Next Frontier" includes testimonials from leaders in the civil, commercial, and national security sectors about the importance of the United States' space enterprise.[37]NSC UAG consists of six subcommittees. Details are at nasa.gov[38] With detailed reports of meetings at FederalRegister.gov.[39] and the most recent meeting agenda booklet

Selection to the National Space Council Users Advisory Group:

• Buzz Aldrin, Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut
• Tory Bruno, President and CEO of United Launch Alliance
• Wes Bush, CEO of Northrop Grumman
• Dean Cheng, Senior Research Fellow, Asian Studies Center, Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy of the Heritage Foundation
• Eileen Collins, 4-time Space Shuttle astronaut, first female Space Shuttle commander
• Steve Crisafulli, Former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
• Mary Lynne Dittmar, President and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration
• James O. Ellis, Retired United States Navy Admiral, former head of STRATCOM, and member of the Space Foundation Board of Directors
• Tim Ellis, CEO of Relativity Space
• Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House
• Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin
• Homer Hickam, Author of Rocket Boys and former NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center engineer
• Kay Ivey, Governor of Alabama
• Fred Klipsch, Founder and Chairman of Hoosiers for Quality Education
• Lester Lyles, Retired United States Air Force General and member of the NASA Advisory Council
• Pam Melroy, 3-time Space Shuttle astronaut and former Deputy Director of the Tactical Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of the Boeing Company
• Fatih Ozmen, CEO of the Sierra Nevada Corporation
• G. P. "Bud" Peterson, President of the Georgia Institute of Technology
• Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former Senator
• Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX
• Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin
• Eric Stallmer, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation
• David Thompson, founder and CEO of Orbital ATK
• Pamela Vaughan, Board Certified Science Teacher
• Mandy Vaughn, President,[40] VOX Space
• Stuart O. Witt, Former CEO of Mojave Air and Space Port, former Navy pilot, Chairman Emeritus of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation
• David Wolf, 4-time Space Shuttle astronaut and physician
• Pete Worden, Former Air Force General and NASA Ames Research Center Director

The fifth meeting of the National Space Council was held on March 26, 2019, where Chairman Vice President Mike Pence announced that U.S. astronauts would return to the surface of the moon by March 26, 2024. Reports from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and other council members were received and reviewed during the meeting. The Vice President also stated that NASA would be directed to ensure that the first woman and next man on the Moon will both be American astronauts from American soil, and that the Trump Administration and the American people are committed to achieving that goal at the Marshall Space Flight Center, located in Huntsville, Alabama. He emphasized that the National Space Council would be aiming to get to the Moon's South Pole, which holds great "scientific, economic, and strategic value".[41][42]

Afterward, there were two expert panels on human space exploration and council discussion, respectively.

Panel 1: Ready to Fly, was led by:

• Les Lyles, Retired U.S. Air Force general and former Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force
• Eileen Collins former U.S. Air Force officer and NASA Astronaut
• Sandy Magnus, former NASA Astronaut

Panel 2: Ready to Explore, was led by:

• Dan Dumbacher, Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics[43]
• Jack Burns, Director and Principal Investigator of the Network for Exploration and Space Science and a Professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder[44]
• Wanda Sigur, current aerospace consultant and former Vice President and General Manager of the Civil Space business at Lockheed Martin Space Systems[45]