Track bills, resolutions, and amendments moving through Congress
ACERO Act
The bill aims to strengthen wildfire response and responder coordination through NASA-led research and procurement limits that reduce security risks, but it could restrict access to affordable drones, raise privacy concerns, and divert or duplicate federal resources.
ASCEND Act
The bill makes NASA a larger buyer and distributor of commercial Earth imagery—improving agency operations, research access, and U.S. vendor demand—while creating tradeoffs around privacy, ongoing taxpayer costs, vendor-imposed access limits, and potential constraints on foreign data sources.
ASCEND Act
The bill expands access to commercial Earth-observation data and boosts U.S. vendors through prioritized procurement and transparency, but risks higher taxpayer costs, reduced competition, legal limits on downstream uses, and disclosure of sensitive vendor information.
Commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Marshall Space Flight Center and recognizing its continued leadership in the development of the Space Launch System and human space exploration.
Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the inaugural flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis and recognizing Kennedy Space Center for its economic, educational, and cultural contributions to the State of Florida and the United States.
The resolution highlights and promotes a high-profile Shuttle exhibit that can support local tourism and STEM inspiration, but it is non-binding and does not ensure funding or protect those economic and programmatic benefits.
Designating June 30, 2025 as "Asteroid Day".
Supporting May 2, 2025, as "National Space Day" in recognition of the significant positive impact the aerospace community has and will continue to have on the United States of America.
The resolution promotes aerospace and STEM education and public support for space science—potentially boosting STEM interest and workforce development—but it is symbolic (no funding) and risks redirecting attention or limited outreach resources away from other educational priorities.
Support for Astrophysical Observatories and National High-Energy Astrophysics Hubs Act of 2026
The bill concentrates federal investment to build national high-energy astrophysics hubs that strengthen workforce development and U.S. leadership in X‑ray astronomy, while raising NASA costs and risking exclusion of smaller/non-contracting organizations and reduced support for other research fields.
NASA Talent Exchange Program Act
The bill facilitates temporary exchanges between NASA and private industry to build skills and access expertise while increasing transparency, but it raises notable risks of conflicts of interest, potential circumvention of hiring limits, and cost/participation burdens on the agency and smaller firms.
Space RACE Act
The bill creates a centralized, federally supported Institute that expands U.S. microgravity research, commercialization, and workforce development but risks disrupting existing ISS National Lab arrangements, raising fiscal and conflict‑of‑interest concerns and leaving potential oversight gaps for private space activities.
DOE and NASA Interagency Research Coordination Act
The bill advances Earth‑observation, grid resilience, STEM workforce development, and DOE–NASA research collaboration, at the cost of increased federal spending, potential nuclear‑safety and data‑security risks, and the need for strong oversight to prevent unfocused spending.
Space Ready Act
The bill gives KSC a new, predictable assessment-based funding source to accelerate facility upgrades and support commercial activity while increasing costs for commercial users, changing funding away from annual appropriations, and creating potential funding uncertainty when the authority expires in 2035.
Space Exploration Research Act
The bill encourages long-term local investment, workforce development, and commercialization by allowing long leases and colocations on NASA property, but does so at the cost of potential taxpayer subsidies, reduced NASA flexibility, and market distortions from preferential leasing.
Mission to MARS Act
The bill directs $1.0B to modernize Johnson Space Center—boosting U.S. crewed-space capabilities, safety, and local contracting opportunities—but concentrates federal spending at one center, risks budget pressure and cost-overruns, and may cause short-term operational disruptions.
BOOST for Engines Act
The bill modernizes NASA propulsion test facilities to accelerate and make safer heavy‑engine development and to open NASA assets to commercial users, but it risks diverting NASA resources, favoring well‑funded firms, and creating scheduling constraints that could slow projects or limit equitable access.
Engine Testing for Exploration Act
The bill keeps NASA's in‑house propulsion testing and Stennis management to preserve safety, expertise, and local jobs, at the trade‑off of higher federal costs, reduced competition for testing work, and concentrated regional investment.
Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act
The bill shifts custody of the Discovery orbiter to NASA/JSC to expand local Houston educational access and give NASA control, while reducing public access in Washington, D.C., and creating modest additional taxpayer costs and placement constraints.
CAPE Canaveral Act
The bill centralizes NASA leadership near Kennedy Space Center to improve coordination and boost the Florida economy, but does so at the expense of significant relocation burdens for employees, short-term operational disruption, and lost economic activity in the current headquarters region.
To amend title 51, United States Code, to direct the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to seek to establish the initial elements of a lunar outpost, and for other purposes.
The bill pushes NASA to deliver an initial lunar outpost by 2030, trading faster job creation and U.S. leadership in lunar exploration against higher fiscal risk and potential safety/engineering pressures from a fixed deadline.
Methane Monitoring Science Act of 2026
The bill improves methane monitoring, data-sharing, and research coordination to help detect leaks, guide mitigation, and bolster energy security, but it is nonbinding and may produce only modest near-term emissions reductions while imposing modest federal planning burdens and potential costs or scrutiny for industry.
NASA C-UAS Act
The bill strengthens NASA’s ability to detect and counter UAS threats to protect launches and the national airspace and adds transparency and limits on data retention, but it expands surveillance and data-sharing authorities that raise privacy, oversight, safety, and industry-uncertainty concerns.
NASA Reauthorization Act of 2026
The bill increases NASA funding, program stability, commercialization pathways, and STEM support while improving planning and oversight — but it does so with sizable new costs, policy choices that can raise program expenses and limit competition, added administrative burdens, and constraints on international collaboration.
Drone Safety Enhancement Act
The bill accelerates federal support for advanced air mobility and related research—boosting innovation and potential airspace efficiency—while raising significant safety, equity, and NASA-resource-prioritization risks.
To require a report on merits and options for establishing an institute relating to space resources, and for other purposes.
The bill aims to create a coordinating institute to accelerate space-resource research and support industry and universities, trading off the potential for faster commercialization and educational benefits against risks of diverted agency resources, added taxpayer costs, and prioritization of commercial/extractive goals over basic science and environmental concerns.
To make revisions in title 51, United States Code, as necessary to keep the title current, and to make technical amendments to improve the United States Code.
The bill modernizes and consolidates U.S. space law and increases NASA transparency and ISS research access—improving oversight, research opportunity, and supply‑chain security—while imposing administrative burdens, potential added costs for taxpayers and NASA programs, and some legal/interpretive risks during transition.
NASA Talent Exchange Program Act
The bill lets NASA bring in private-sector expertise quickly and build federal employee skills, but it imposes binding service commitments and raises potential financial and ethics risks for participants.
Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act
The bill would move Discovery to provide stronger local STEM access and economic benefits for Houston and enable NASA to carry out the transfer, but it shifts a national artifact away from the Smithsonian and creates potential open‑ended costs and scheduling risks for taxpayers and agencies.
CAPE Canaveral Act
The bill moves NASA's headquarters to Brevard County to boost local economic activity and align leadership with Kennedy Space Center operations, but it risks disrupting employees, imposing rushed transition costs on taxpayers, and weakening Washington policy and interagency connections.
Celestial Time Standardization Act
The bill aims to create an interoperable, resilient lunar time standard to enable safer, commercially viable lunar operations and clearer congressional oversight, at the cost of federal spending and potential technical and international complications.
Space Research Innovation Act
Creates a NASA-backed university-affiliated research center that strengthens deep-space research and public–private collaboration and raises technical standards, at the cost of added federal oversight spending and a risk that funding and opportunities become concentrated with established institutions, limiting access for smaller or newer participants.
