OPINION:
On June 5, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams went to the International Space Station for an eight-day visit. They now face an eight-month stay.
This debacle has brought long-overdue attention to the incompetence of both NASA and Boeing.
This failure, however, also belongs to Vice President Kamala Harris. She is the chair of the National Space Council. For her entire vice presidency, Ms. Harris has done the bare minimum required by law as council chair and has been uninvolved in the policy process.
Former Rep. Bob Walker is a leader in space policy. As chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, the Pennsylvania Republican drafted the 1989 legislation creating the National Space Council.
The council’s purpose is to provide White House-level leadership on space policy and activities. Space’s importance for military, scientific and commercial purposes has grown dramatically in the 67 years since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and galvanized America to invest heavily in it.
In an executive order dated Dec. 1, 2021, President Biden clearly articulated the importance of Ms. Harris’ job as chairwoman.
“The Chair shall serve as the President’s principal advisor on national space policy and strategy.”
So the leader of the National Space Council has a major opportunity to develop America’s future in space. Ms. Harris has passed up that opportunity.
Former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, the previous council chairman, had a shared vision that space was extraordinarily important to America’s future. Mr. Pence grew up a space enthusiast. Before he was in public office, he would pack up his family and drive to Cape Canaveral to watch space launches. Mr. Trump understood that making America great again had to include a big investment in space.
The development of reusable rockets further empowered the Trump administration. We jointly pushed and funded this concept in the 1990s, only for NASA to fail to implement our appropriations.
Fortunately, in 2010, Elon Musk developed a reusable rocket at SpaceX in the private sector. SpaceX has reduced the cost of launching satellites by an estimated 90%. The extraordinary success of reusable rockets allowed SpaceX to move from its basic Falcon rocket to the larger Falcon Heavy. It is now developing its massive Starship, which could revolutionize space travel.
Mr. Pence aggressively pushed the National Space Council to develop a dynamic program for returning to the moon and sending Americans to Mars. Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence also pushed to implement and develop the U.S. Space Force. This was the first focused military effort to secure space for national defense.
To really drive the system, Mr. Pence led the National Space Council with eight meetings. He held people and institutions accountable to achieve real progress. By contrast, Ms. Harris has held one meeting a year — the legal minimum.
As a result of Ms. Harris’ lack of leadership, NASA has regressed into bureaucratic timidity. Huge Boeing contracts have continued to absorb money — despite repeated failures and no tangible results. Boeing’s Starliner program was awarded a $4.5 billion contract and later given an additional $300 million. It is now so over budget that its fixed-priced contract will cost Boeing an added $1.6 billion to complete.
Boeing appears to be too big to manage. It has problems in its commercial aviation, military aviation and space divisions. Its management has overemphasized lobbyists to get money from Washington and underemphasized engineers to get work done.
In 2019, NASA’s inspector general estimated that the Boeing Starliner would cost $90 million per usable seat and the SpaceX Dragon Crew would cost about $55 million per usable seat (various changes have raised the SpaceX cost to $65 million per seat — still $25 million less than Boeing).
In 2023, NASA’s inspector general estimated that the enormous Boeing Space Launch System would cost $2.2 billion per launch. One scientific mission, the Europa Clipper, was shifted from Boeing to SpaceX for $178 million. It saved $2 billion in launch costs compared with using the Boeing SLS, which is years past the deadline and billions over budget.
Since Ms. Harris is pro-government bureaucracy and hostile to business in general, it is no wonder the lobbyist-focused and politically sophisticated Boeing system continues to survive despite its cost and failures.
Now the failure to implement aggressive oversight is coming back to haunt Ms. Harris. Just as she has failed to do her job at the U.S.-Mexico border, she has failed to do her job as chair of the National Space Council.
Remember who left them there the next time you read about the astronauts stranded on the International Space Station. They are Ms. Harris’ abandoned astronauts. If she had done her job and held Boeing accountable, they would be home.
• For more commentary from Newt Gingrich and former Rep. Bob Walker, visit Gingrich360.com. And subscribe to the “Newt’s World” podcast.
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