U.S. Senator Katie Britt Praises Artemis II Success, Secures NTP Funding Commitment During NASA Budget Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) joined a Senate Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee Hearing to discuss the President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget request for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with Administrator Jared Isaacman. She applauded the recent successful Artemis II mission, highlighting Marshall Space Flight Center's critical role in the mission, and pressed Administrator Isaacman on the Space Launch System (SLS) production and fully implementing funding appropriated to NASA for nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) in FY26.

Senator Britt began by thanking Administrator Isaacman for his efforts to ensure that the United States remains the global leader in deep space exploration: "It certainly is incredible to watch history being made and I was honored to be able to join the crew of Artemis II and ask some questions before they came down, and their answers will certainly stay with me, amongst many others. I'm also grateful for your efforts to increase the SLS launch cadence and accelerate the Artemis programs timeliness to ensure we beat China back to the moon. And I appreciate you standing up and making sure that we execute on that mission to ensure that the United States continues to lead when it comes to space. Alabama and Marshall Space Flight Center and the men and women that come to work there every day are very proud to be part of that."

She continued, by asking Administrator Isaacman about SLS production, saying, "Your revised architecture depends on sustaining a launch cadence of roughly every ten months. Can you tell the subcommittee what NASA needs in FY27 to keep SLS production lines moving without gaps that would undermine the schedule that you've committed to?"

Administrator Isaacman responded, "Couldn't agree more about the contributions from Marshall Space Flight Center and the importance for a rocket that complicated to be in a cadence … at least on an annual level, or we certainly risk … going back in the barn and having delays. And we don't want that when we are in a great power competition. … [T]he Working Families Tax Cuts Act certainly gave us the resources to be committed to this platform through Artemis V. But if we're launching a greater frequency, then we're going to use the rockets up that much faster. And if we're building a moon base, what we're going to want to send astronauts there with great frequency. … so we have an Artemis 100 someday, so, we never give up the moon again. … I mean the $10 billion from the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, the vast majority of it went to exploration into SLS. So, we're largely leveraging those dollars, ma'am."

Senator Britt further clarified that Administrator Isaacman is committed to SLS, saying, "Your budget calls for (a) commercial replacement of (the) SLS rocket to execute missions beyond Artemis V, … SLS is currently obviously the only rocket that can launch people and heavy cargo to the moon in a single launch. SLS and Orion all have also proven capabilities through their Artemis II launch that we all just saw, so explain to me why you would prioritize, or why you wouldn't prioritize, increasing the production rate of an already proven system, and yet go ahead and make that transition?"

Administrator Isaacman responded, "I'm not trying to make a transition. I expect SLS to be one of those two pathways. The term 'commercial' is basically what I refer to as alleviating some of the NASA burdens we impose on the suppliers. This is what they told us… every time NASA comes and triple checks our work (it) adds cost and delays hardware. Let us do SLS in a different way, and we'll be able to get it to you faster and more affordably. I know that's going to be one of the options."

Senator Britt closed by acknowledging the importance of ensuring programs do not end prematurely so that the U.S. can continue to lead in space by stating, "NASA and our space program have been repeatedly plagued with starts and stops and departures from different production models, many of which [have] been premature and has threatened our ability to ultimately continue our mission to have access to the moon ahead of China, so I appreciate you taking that into consideration."

Senator Britt then asked whether NASA would implement Nuclear Thermal Propulsion funding that she directly secured in FY26 appropriations: "The FY26 CJS bill included no less than $110 million for nuclear thermal propulsion. … A priority I fought for specifically in that bill was making sure that this critical work continues to be done, much of which, as you know, is done there at Marshall Space Flight Center. So, can you tell me today whether or not you will fully implement the NTP funding that Congress directed?"

Administrator Isaacman responded, "No question. … Very, very much a fan of this capability."

You can watch the Senator's full remarks here.

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