U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) pressed NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on maintaining Space Launch System production and secured a commitment to fully implement $110 million in nuclear thermal propulsion funding during a Senate subcommittee hearing on the agency’s fiscal year 2027 budget request.
Britt opened by praising the recent Artemis II mission and highlighting Marshall Space Flight Center’s role in the program.
“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,” Britt said. “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 pressed Isaacman on whether NASA can sustain the roughly ten-month launch cadence needed under the agency’s revised architecture without production gaps.
“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,” Isaacman said. “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.”
Britt also pushed back on budget language referencing a commercial replacement for SLS beyond Artemis V, noting that SLS is currently the only rocket capable of launching crew and heavy cargo to the moon in a single mission.
Isaacman said he is not pursuing a transition away from SLS and expects the system to remain one of two pathways forward.
“I’m not trying to make a transition. I expect SLS to be one of those two pathways,” Isaacman said. “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.”
Britt then asked whether NASA would implement the $110 million in nuclear thermal propulsion funding she secured in fiscal year 2026 appropriations, much of which supports work at Marshall Space Flight Center.
“No question. Very, very much a fan of this capability,” Isaacman said.
Sawyer Knowles is a capitol reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].
