President Donald Trump promised in his inaugural address to "unlock the mysteries of space" and Congress may be ready to help with funding for a rocket capable of sending astronauts to the moon or even Mars, the Daily Caller reported.
According to the Daily Caller, Congress could re-authorize funding for the Space Launch System — a 212-foot heavy-lift rocket, and "possibly the most powerful rocket booster ever built."
NASA’s proposed missions to return a human to the moon or send astronauts to Mars are largely dependent on the Space Launch System and its Orion capsule, the Daily Caller reported.
"The draft NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 maintains continuity of purpose across a broad array of NASA programs and initiatives," Texas GOP Rep. Brian Babin, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Space, told the Daily Caller.
"It continues support for a robust and well-planned human exploration program that includes not only the Space Launch System and Orion programs but also commercial crew and cargo programs, among others."
Babin tells the outlet new legislation will support "a balanced portfolio in space science, planetary science, astrophysics, astronomy, and astrobiology, including the James Webb Space Telescope, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, the Mars 2020 rover, and a potential mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa."
According to the Daily Caller, Trump could slash the more than $2 billion NASA spends on its Earth Science Mission Directorate, which covers global warming science, and divert that money to space exploration.
"A number of prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill think that NASA should not be involved to the degree that it is in Earth science," Jeff Foust, a senior writer at the trade publication SpaceNews, told Space.com.
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