“The strategic value of maintaining our position to live and work in space is critical.”

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, warned of the serious consequences to the United States’ global leadership and future economic and national security if we allow China to beat the United States in the race back to the moon. Her warnings came during a hearing featuring witnesses with extensive experience related to human space exploration: Jim Bridenstine, Managing Partner of the Artemis Group and Former NASA Administrator; Lieutenant General John Shaw, Former Deputy Commander of the U.S. Space Command; Allen Cutler, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration; and Michael Gold, President of Civil and International Space for Redwire.

“Beating China back to the moon isn't just about bragging rights, and it's certainly not just about grabbing headlines.” Sen. Cantwell said. “Today…President Xi, President Putin and Prime Minister Modi are all in China having a big national security and strategic discussion that could easily, easily include space and defense and security and defense implications. The strategic value of maintaining our position to live and work in space is critical. It's critical to our future economic and national security. All you have to do is look back to the 1960s and look at the development of technologies that created an ecosystem within the United States of America that led to discoveries and innovations that we're still now counting on today.”

Cantwell focused on understanding what the experts believed the United States must do to maintain its leadership position in space exploration and utilization.

“That is why, Lieutenant General Shaw, I found your statement in your testimony quite compelling; quote, ‘I believe if we do not unify and synchronize our efforts, we will find ourselves rather than the space leaders we are today, instead in a position of increasing disadvantage in space as we progress further into this century,’ end quote. I don't want to see that reality either. I want us to explore how to get the most out of NASA's commercial partnership and determine if sufficient redundancy in the provisions of commercial space are there to ensure that.”

In order to achieve the unified and synchronized efforts advocated by Lt. Gen. Shaw, former NASA Administrator Bridenstine made clear the need for stability to succeed in the fight for space.

“NASA can only succeed when we look across multiple presidential administrations, span many Congresses, and carry out programs through ebbs and flows of public support. NASA Authorizations are key tools that provide the continuity necessary to accomplish big things,” said Mr. Bridenstine.

And Mr. Gold provided a real-world example of the importance of sustained Congressional support, when speaking about his experience leading negotiations with the European Space Agency over the Gateway agreements.

“So how did I convince the Europeans,” Mr. Gold said. “Senator Cantwell, I had your help. And I told them, don't listen to me, listen to Senator Cantwell, listen to Senator Nelson, listen to the bipartisan coalition that Jim Bridenstine created, because if we lose, then they will carry forward. And if we cannot show that we can be a good partner, that we can be a reliable partner, all the benefits that we talked about diplomatically, economically, will go to others.”

In drilling down on the need to be first to establish a permanent base on the moon, Sen. Cantwell pointed to “areas, particularly the south pole of the moon, that are critically and strategically important.”

“And getting there in a timely fashion to claim those resources or claim that space, seems to be just as critical as [President] Jefferson's decision to get us all the way out to the Pacific?” she asked Gold.

“Senator, I would say even more critical than Jefferson's decision, because this doesn't affect the country, this affects the whole world,” answered Mr. Gold. “And you're exactly right. The moon is a large place, but the number of locations that have the combination of water-ice, sunlight and other aspects that we need are actually relatively limited, and we could lose those to the Chinese if we don't move quickly. Additionally, the countries that get there first will write the rules of the road for what we can do on the moon, how we act. We've had tremendous success with the Artemis Accords -- 56 countries have signed. The Chinese only have 13 for their International Lunar Space Research Station Program. But if we're not first, trust me, those numbers will change.”

And Sen. Cantwell also sought additional information from Lt. Gen. Shaw about information security and the potential impacts if the United States falls behind in the long-term space race.

“Well, I'm definitely very concerned about our communication security writ large,” said Sen. Cantwell. “And I do think more of defense is moving into space and satellite effects of communication. And then I worry that if somebody is going to be on that frontier of the latest of technology, communication in a cislunar environment, that has to be us, and we have to understand what the ramifications are of that system. Is that not correct?”

“That is absolutely correct,” stated Lt. Gen. Shaw. “And again, I'd like to point out that China sent seven payloads to the moon last year, six of them were communications focused. They weren't scientific experiments. They were communications focused, the building blocks of a communications architecture. So they're already demonstrating the fact they are trying to build that infrastructure that I talked about before.”

“And do you have any idea of what that infrastructure could do that would be a military concern?” Sen. Cantwell continued.

“The term dual use has already been brought up by the panel. Any capability that could be used for scientific or exploration or even economic purposes invariably is going to have some sort of national security use to it, of some kind,” Lt. Gen. Shaw said.

In her remarks, Sen. Cantwell summarized the challenges the United States faces and the need for Congress to act.

“I don't know that it takes a genius to figure out that while China may be projecting 2030, or some time period, there's nothing to say that they won't go sooner,” stated Sen. Cantwell. “There are people… who are betting that they are going to go sooner and that they are going to beat us. So we don't need another Sputnik moment. It's already happened. The only thing we have to do is make sure we in Congress get the budget right and support the Artemis mission.”

Sen. Cantwell has been a champion for our nation’s space industry and its aerospace workforce, and currently oversees NASA and the space industry as Ranking Member of the Commerce Committee. In March, Sen. Cantwell and Sen. Cruz introduced the bipartisan NASA Transition Authorization Act to set near-term priorities for NASA programs, advance American leadership, and prevent the United States from falling behind in the space race with China and our strategic competitors. In 2022, Sen. Cantwell spearheaded the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, one of the largest five-year federal research and development investments in U.S. history. The Act included the first new NASA Authorization since 2017, enshrining the NASA Artemis missions to the moon and eventually Mars in U.S. law.

A transcript of Sen. Cantwell’s opening remarks is HERE and a transcript of her Q&A is available HERE. Video of her opening remarks is HERE and video of her Q&A is HERE.

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