Senior White House officials confirmed Saturday the Biden administration would maintain the National Space Council that was revived under the Trump administration—and that Vice Pres. Kamala Harris would serve as chair.
An administration official stressed that the National Space Council would have equal importance on Harris' growing list of responsibilities."The president and vice president not only take this very seriously, they know how important it is in terms of innovation, in terms of creativity, in terms of the competitiveness of the United States -- something the president talks about in his joint address Wednesday evening," they said.
"It's not that one priority is more important than the other, but these are things that the administration believes is important … it's important work, it's critical work, and work that the vice president is elated to do." So far, the Biden administration has largely kept Trump administration space policy in place, continuing support for the Space Force created under Trump and NASA's Artemis program, aimed at returning astronauts to the moon and developing a sustained presence there as preparation for the next frontier in human space travel: Mars.Biden showed his support for the most recent NASA achievement, the Perseverance rover's successful landing on Mars in February.
"I just -- I just can't tell you how much I believe historians are going to write about what you did at the moment you all did it," Biden told the team behind the project"We can land a rover on Mars. We can beat a pandemic. And with science, hope and vision, there's not a damn thing we can't do as a country," he added.
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Vice President Harris will chair the National Space CouncilThe Biden administration will keep the National Space Council — reestablished initially by the Trump administration — and Vice President Kamala Harris plans to chair it.Why it matters: Many see the National Space Council as integral to policy development and inter-agency collaboration as the nation increasingly relies on space for national security and other uses.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeDetails: The council is designed to bring NASA and a variety of other government agencies together to help establish policies related to civil, commercial and military space.'The council's basic objectives — national security, basic science, technological development, contributions to U.S. economic growth and the commercial sector — will all be maintained,' a senior administration official said during a call with reporters Saturday. 'To that, I would just want to add that the vice president also intends to put her own personal stamp on the council.' That includes an emphasis on STEM, climate change and 'sustainable development of commercial space activity,' the official noted.The big picture: The Biden administration has largely kept Trump-era space policies intact so far, supporting the Space Force and NASA's Artemis mission to send people back to the Moon as a proving ground for Mars.But senior administration officials did draw a distinction between how the National Space Council was run under Vice President Mike Pence and how it might be operate under Harris.'I think her approach to this is just going to be to get the job done, and use this to lead our space policy, and not really focus, perhaps as much on big displays,' the official said.What's next: It's unclear when the first meeting of the council will be convened, but senior administration officials said that a top priority now is finding an executive secretary to help run the council day to day.More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends
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