It is among the greatest achievements in human history, and it has significantly contributed to America’s leadership on the world stage. As a young man I had the opportunity of working on the Apollo program as an inspector with McDonnell Douglas. It was an exciting experience, and I am both grateful and humbled to have been a part of it.
Our investment in space is critical to our national security, scientific discovery, technological advancement, and economic competitiveness. So much of our modern-day life is dependent on space making a bank transaction, for example, or even a phone call, these days requires using some type of space-faring technology. And while NASA’s leadership of our space efforts will continue to be indispensable, the U.S.
To help regain our foothold, in 2015, Congress passed into law the bipartisan U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act which created a legal framework for allowing commercial space companies to experiment with space launch activities and designated an 8-year learning period to help get the industry off the ground.
Adversarial countries like China, who don’t play by the rules, are working to hollow out our commercial space industry. The 2019 Report to Congress of the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission states that “China is taking steps to establish a commanding position in the commercial launch and satellite sectors relying in part on aggressive state-backed financing that foreign market driven companies cannot match.