WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) – a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) – will hold a hearing on fiscal year 2022 funding priorities for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and question NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on a variety of issues critical to New Hampshire and the nation.

Through her leadership on the CJS Appropriations subcommittee, Shaheen has long been a strong advocate for investments in science and space exploration, as well as advancing New Hampshire’s role in manufacturing materials that support NASA missions. She’s also been a proponent for investing in STEM education to ensure a diverse science and engineering workforce.

Below are Senator Shaheen’s Opening Remarks as Prepared for Delivery:

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today’s hearing to review the President’s Fiscal Year 2022 funding request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Our witness today is NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Welcome back to the Senate, Administrator Nelson.

While our colleagues know Florida for launches from the Kennedy Space Center, I’ll remind you that New Hampshire is also a space state. New Hampshire made parts that provide communications, thermal protection, fluid transfer and more for NASA missions operating in deep space. New Hampshire builds and operates major instruments on NASA satellites to study solar physics, the Moon, and the Earth. And our first U.S. man in Space, Alan Shepard, and our beloved teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe, called the Granite State home.

So New Hampshire is ready to contribute across the board to the exciting science, exploration and aeronautics included in NASA’s $24.8 billion budget request. This represents a $1.5 billion or 6.7 percent increase above the FY 2021 level.

There is a lot to like in this budget request. It includes a $20 million increase for NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement.

This funding will allow more students to contribute to NASA’s mission with hands-on learning now, so they can join a diverse science and engineering workforce in the future.

As I think of the future, I’d like to turn to climate change. Climate change is an existential threat that is already compromising our environment, public health, transportation infrastructure, economies and even military installations. This budget steps up our commitment to NASA’s world class Earth Science research so we can better understand our changing planet and to sustainable aviation so we can meaningfully cut aircraft emissions.

I am also pleased to see the other investments in science, enabling ongoing missions to continue and providing funds needed due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on NASA Centers and its commercial and academic partners.

Next, I’d like to turn to Artemis – NASA’s missions to send the first woman and the first person of color to the Moon. There has been a lot of discussion of NASA’s decision to select only one contractor for the Human Landing System (HLS) demonstration mission to land on the Moon as early as 2024. I will begin by pointing out that NASA’s rhetoric of blaming Congress and this Committee for the decision rings hollow. In FY21, NASA projected that it would need $4.4 billion for landers in FY22. Instead, the budget before us requests only $1.2 billion for the HLS program.

I am interested in how NASA intends to stimulate competition while continuing progress toward its planned program that will use the Gateway as a base for excursions to the Moon. I know that you won’t be able to answer some questions due to the ongoing GAO protest of your decision. Nonetheless, I hope we can discuss where competition is essential to bring the best value to the government.

NASA at its best inspires us. And we’ve certainly needed joy and inspiration over the last year. We soared with Bob and Doug as SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission became the first mission to launch astronauts from U.S. soil since 2011. We were filled with wonder as OSIRIS-Rex scooped up a sample of the asteroid Bennu for return to Earth. We crossed our fingers through Perseverance’s seven minutes of terror, and we exhaled when the rover landed safely and precisely. It has continued to amaze us with the sounds of Mars and the flights of the Ingenuity helicopter.

I’m looking forward to what we will see in the coming year, as NASA continues to make spectacular discoveries, fly the X-57 electric aircraft and see long-awaited launches for Boeing StarLiner, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Artemis I mission.

There’s a lot on your plate, Mr. Administrator, and we are ready to work with you.

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