There are certainly rumblings about the future of astronaut access to low Earth orbit. This often comes up in the context of commercial space stations, where having access to LEO is obviously imperative, but affordable access is really the distinction. In that respect, it doesn't matter how many certified crew vehicles you have, Dragon, Starliner, or otherwise, if the architecture inherently creates a cost barrier that limits demand. Take a look at where we are at today.. - There are five outstanding and proven SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft still under contract for missions over the next few years. - There are several Boeing Starliner crewed spacecraft that will be modified to address the design issues identified in the PIT report and ultimately certified to launch on ULA's Vulcan. We hope to launch the next uncrewed mission in the months ahead. - Lockheed's Orion, of which I saw the crew and service modules for Artemis III, IV, and V under development this past Friday at KSC. That visit in itself deserves a long-form post about how hard the NASA teams, our contractors, and partners are working to meet this moment for the nation. That amazing fact aside, we have Orion. It is a crew-certified spacecraft and will fly in LEO next year. Certainly not a vehicle optimized for LEO or affordability, but the capability is there. There is no doubt a long future ahead for Orion on a variety of launch vehicles and paired w/ transfer stages. - Both SpaceX and Blue Origin are developing landers to return astronauts to the lunar surface, not to mention affordably delivering mass to the Moon in support of the Moon Base. These programs also have a path to support future crewed LEO needs, be that inherent in their existing plans or paired with other spacecraft. - Other companies, including Blue Origin, have made public comments about internally funding the development of additional crew vehicles. If there is really considerable demand for even more astronaut access to LEO and beyond, then private companies should be able to build the business case and raise the capital. NASA will always be willing to provide subject matter expertise and test facility support for these types of company-funded efforts. And if the capability is there at a lower cost, it is hard to imagine we wouldn't become a customer. In short, there has never been a time when the United States had so many crew-certified spacecraft options available, with others in development, and so much investment moving in the direction of lower costs to make missions to Earth orbit, the Moon, and beyond more routine. I would just caution folks against jumping right to NASA funding the business case for every good idea--like why not one more crewed spacecraft. The more NASA gets spread out trying to make everyone happy, the fewer exciting moments we will have like Artemis II and Roman, the fewer X-planes we will put in the sky, and the fewer astronauts we can afford to fly frequently to Earth orbit. The longer programs, like America's long overdue return to the Moon, take to achieve. We need to stay focused on delivering on the national space policy as quickly, safely and affordably as possible.

Spent some time at @NASAKennedy this past Friday. Really impressed with the progress under @brianhughes and the @NASAArtemis and EGS leadership. By nearly every measure, the team has found efficiencies and improved the stacking process, cutting the schedule by 50%. The machine shops are running around the clock, not just at KSC, but across all the Centers. The rebuilding of core competencies are making NASA builders again and ensuring we have the engineers, technicians, and operators capable of doing the work. I also toured the pad rebuild work at @blueorigin. @JeffBezos and @davill have done an outstanding leading and motivating the workforce. The Blue team has a fire in them like we have never seen before. They are making believers out of many that once doubted the timelines. In all cases, be that in the VAB, helping our partners out at the pad, or working on the landers, suits, and rovers, @NASA is energized. We have our SME's embedded throughout the supply chain, and doing the work to ensure the outcomes you have been patiently waiting for will soon be safely achieved.

Since Ignition, we’ve been working across @NASA and with our partners to accelerate Artemis and return Americans to the Moon in 2028. Next week, we’ll share major updates on that work, including how Artemis III is coming together and the next steps ahead for Artemis IV and beyond. nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-t…

So the post below went a bit viral, and I was tagged on it several times. I'm not posting to disagree, as I write and talk a lot about freeing NASA from external impositions, eliminating needless bureaucracy, empowering our talented workforce, and focusing resources on the objectives NASA was created to achieve. No need to rehash all of that here and make this post excessively long. And of course, SpaceX is an extraordinary company that has enabled NASA to accomplish far more at lower cost, from transporting astronauts to the ISS, to launching Europa Clipper, to the first Moon Base mission set to launch in December. Its ambition to make humanity a spacefaring civilization is exciting and important beyond words. I will just leave you with this: NASA is the world's greatest space agency. We put 12 American heroes on the Moon and brought them home safely, built the Space Shuttle, landed rovers on Mars, launched great observatories like Hubble, James Webb, and now Roman, sent a spacecraft to kiss the Sun's corona, and sent Voyager nearly a light-day from Earth, and she is still going. There is a reason the NASA "meatball" is one of the most recognizable logos on the planet. What our people accomplish inspires generations. Even with the occasional institutional inertia, NASA remains the space agency others aspire to be. We didn't earn that reputation through continuous perfection. We earned it by accomplishing what others thought impossible.

So say we all

We’re getting America underway on nuclear power in space and ushering in the era of a Nuclear NASA. With the signing of an MOU with @ENERGY, we’re taking the next giant leap toward exploring the outer solar system and sending American astronauts to Mars. Fission power will help us travel farther, operate longer, and power more capable scientific instruments.

Inspiring words from Secretary of State Rubio @SecRubio. Great nations do great things. America chose to do something hard before, and we choose to do it again. We are going 🇺🇸

America’s leadership in space depends on talent from across the country, and we met some of them at Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. It was an honor to join @Repnickbegich as we toured the facilities and range complex. From launching suborbital sounding rockets to studying the aurora, space weather, and the upper atmosphere, Poker Flat is helping us better understand the near-Earth environment, with real implications for how civilization navigates, communicates, and so much more. It also gives students and young researchers experience building hardware, conducting missions, and developing the operational skills we will need for the exciting future we are building in space.