Space industry leaders like former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made their arguments on Capitol Hill Thursday to extend the life of the International Space Station.

Two billionaires plan to both take their first spaceflights within days of eachother.

Nelson said he wanted both previous administrators there “to show the continuity and bipartisanship with which you run the nation’s space program, particularly NASA.”

The Senate has confirmed Bill Nelson, a former Florida senator who once flew on the space shuttle, to be the next NASA administrator.

Florida’s former Sen. Bill Nelson is set to become NASA’s next administrator if confirmed by the Senate, after President Joe Biden officially nominated the Brevard County native to lead the space agency on Friday. Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine stepped down in January, the day Biden was sworn into office. Steve Jurczyk stepped in as the acting NASA administrator on Jan. 20. Senator Bill Nelson to lead our agency. If confirmed he will be the third NASA administrator to have achieved spaceflight.

President Joe Biden has chosen Nelson, a former senator from Florida who flew on the space shuttle to lead NASA. Scott Applewhite, File)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – President Joe Biden has chosen a former senator from Florida who flew on the space shuttle right before the Challenger accident to lead NASA. Biden on Friday announced his intent to nominate Bill Nelson as the space agency's administrator. “There has been no greater champion, not just for Florida’s space industry, but for the space program as a whole than Bill,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, said in a statement. Plenty of qualified candidates,” retired space shuttle director and program manager Wayne Hale tweeted earlier this month.

Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine stepped down in January, the day Biden was sworn into office. RUMINT: Former Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.) is said to be Biden admin pick for NASA administrator, killing several birds with one stone: strong relationship with POTUS, congressional savvy. @Genevaexpat — Breaking Defense (@BreakingDefense) February 22, 2021Steve Jurczyk stepped in as the acting NASA administrator on Jan. 20. AdWhoever Biden nominates to lead NASA will still need to be confirmed in the Senate. Nelson did not support Bridenstine’s confirmation as NASA administrator, arguing the head of NASA should be someone in the spaceflight industry.

(AP Photo/John Raoux)ORLANDO, Fla. – In his final 24 hours leading NASA, Jim Bridenstine had a message for the next space agency head: science and discovery should always be uniting. It has been my great honor to serve as your @NASA Administrator. “There’s no doubt that being the NASA administrator is unlike any other job on the planet. Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard is also leaving NASA on the final day of the Trump administration. NASA associate administrator Steve Jurczyk will serve as acting NASA administrator until Biden nominates and the Senate confirms his pick.

The core stage for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is seen in the B-2 Test Stand during a hot fire test Jan. 16, 2021, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. NASA attributed the automatic shutdown to the strict test limits meant to protect the core stage so it can be used on the first Artemis flight. At this rate, the 212-foot core stage made by Boeing is down to about six “tanks” on its lifespan. President-elect Joe Biden has yet to name who will lead the space agency through a critical time in the ambitious timeline to return to the lunar surface. The outgoing administrator did have some advice for whoever next leads the U.S. space agency, urging the next agency head to keep politics out of space exploration.

In this Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021 photo made available by NASA, the core stage for the first flight of NASA's Space Launch System rocket undergoes a hot fire test at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss. On Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, NASA blamed the automatic shutdown on the strict test limits. All four engines fired for barely a minute, rather than the intended eight minutes, on the test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. NASA said it can adjust the test limits if a second test is deemed necessary, to prevent another premature shutdown. The Artemis program is working to put astronauts back on the moon by 2024, a deadline set by the Trump administration.

NASA’s rocket charged with taking the agency back to the moon fired its four main engines Saturday afternoon, but the test in Mississippi was cut short after a malfunction caused an automatic abort, News 6 partner Florida Today reports. The 212-foot Space Launch System core stage fired its four RS-25 main engines at Stennis Space Center just before 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, sending a plume of exhaust towering above the B-1/B-2 test stand. “Still have four good engines, right?”The engines fired for 12 more seconds after the exchange before an automatic, computer-controlled shutdown was called. Once complete, the core stage will be loaded onto a barge and shipped from Mississippi to a dock near the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC. The Boeing-built core stage, under development for nearly a decade, uses previously flown space shuttle main engines.

The first woman and next man on the moon will come from this elite group. Vice President Mike Pence introduced the astronauts Wednesday at the close of his final meeting as chairman of the National Space Council. The space agency is aiming for a moon landing by 2024, although the chances of that happening are growing increasingly dim. Half of the NASA astronauts have spaceflight experience. “The history is awesome, but we’re here to look toward the future,” Acaba told reporters after the announcement.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Brevard County on Dec. 9 to chair his final meeting of the National Space Council at Kennedy Space Center. Then he will chair the 8th meeting of the National Space Council at Kennedy Space Center, according to the White House. Wednesday’s meeting will happen at the Saturn V Center at Kennedy Space Center at 12:30 p.m. The vice president is expected to deliver remark’s on NASA’s Artemis program and space achievements made under President Donald Trump’s leadership. During the past four years, Trump’s guidance of the space program was ambitious.

Gen. Charles Yeager talks to members of the media following a re-enactment flight commemorating his breaking of the sound barrier 65 years earlier, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, died Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, at age 97. Yeager died Monday, his wife, Victoria Yeager, said on his Twitter account. Among the flights he made after breaking the sound barrier was one on Dec. 12. President Harry S. Truman awarded him the Collier air trophy in December 1948 for his breaking the sound barrier. ___This version corrects that Yeager flew an F-15, not an X-15, when he was 79.

ORLANDO, Fla. – NASA and SpaceX will once again have to thread the needle for Sunday evening’s Crew-1 astronaut launch. An approaching cold front will bring increasing clouds and the threat of scattered downpours to the Space Coast. The 45th Weather Squadron downgraded the launch probability of Sunday’s launch from 60% go to 50%. Launch concerns SundayWeather pushed back the initial launch scheduled for Saturday evening. Wave heights as of Sunday morningThere will be a few stray showers earlier in the day Sunday if you’re planning on getting a good spot for the scheduled launch.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – SpaceX and NASA are now targeting Sunday to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center due to weather concerns. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed the 24-hour delay Friday afternoon, saying it was because of weather at sea and onshore winds. Should there be a launch abort, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft would shuttle away for a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, carrying the astronaut crew to safety. There are certain weather criteria that must be met on land for the rocket to launch and at sea in the event of an abort. “For NASA this booster and SpaceX this booster is very important for us.

Friday’s postponement news came after SpaceX chief Elon Musk disclosed he had gotten mixed test results for COVID-19 and was awaiting the outcome of a more definitive test. “I can assure everyone that we’re looking good for the (crew) launch and all of the critical personnel involved,” said SpaceX’s Benji Reed, senior director for human spaceflight. “So ‘Elon Musk Tests Negative for Covid’ is an equally correct title,” he tweeted. The upcoming crew flight comes just three months after the end of the test flight with Hurley and Bob Behnken, both NASA astronauts. NASA and SpaceX are especially eager to retrieve this first-stage booster; it will be used for the next crew launch.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – It’s very unlikely Elon Musk will be at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Sunday when his company SpaceX launches four astronauts for NASA to the International Space Station after he received several positive and negative COVID-19 tests. The billionaire tweeted Thursday he took four rapid antigen tests for the virus, two came back negative and two came back positive. “I’ll tell you when somebody test positive for COVID. Here at the Kennedy Space Center and across NASA. Kennedy Space Center closed to most workers in March when the virus first began showing up in Florida.

Scientists say the moon’s shadowed, frigid nooks and crannies may hold frozen water in more places and in larger quantities than previously suspected. Another NASA scientist on the call, Dr. Jacob Bleacher, touched on the importance of water for the agency’s exploration plans. “We confirmed water on the sunlit surface of the Moon for the 1st time using @SOFIAtelescope,” Bridenstine tweeted. “We don’t know yet if we can use it as a resource, but learning about water on the Moon is key for our #Artemis exploration plans.”Earlier, NASA tweeted, “Happy Monday, skygazers! We don’t know yet if we can use it as a resource, but learning about water on the Moon is key for our #Artemis exploration plans.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s new moonshot rules: No fighting and littering. The space agency released a set of guidelines Tuesday for its Artemis moon-landing program, based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and other agreements. Founding members include the U.S., Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. The coalition can say, “Look, you’re in this program with the rest of us, but you’re not playing by the same rules,” Bridenstine said. ___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.

The sensors and computer — tested during the booster’s descent and touchdown — will hitch another suborbital ride with Blue Origin. Led by Amazon founder Bezos, Washington state-based Blue Origin is leading a team of companies to develop a lunar lander for astronauts. Tuesday’s launch was the first in nearly a year for Blue Origin: The pandemic stalled operations. Blue Origin said its staff is maintaining social distancing and taking other safety measures. Blue Origin said it needs a couple more flights before launching people — tourists, scientists and professional astronauts — on short hops.

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Jim Bridenstine said if an immediate $3 billion is not appropriated for the Human Landing System, NASA’s goal to get back to the Moon by 2024 would be at risk. The lunar lander only received about 20 percent of full funding in a House spending bill passed in July. “NASA has had a history of seeing programs get developed and then canceled,” Bridenstine testified. “Space has generally always been a very bipartisan effort and that’s encouraging and needed now more so than ever,” Dale Ketcham of Space Florida said. “I just want to thank NASA for their commitment to using the private sector to do things.”

On Friday, the agency released its first-ever agency wide economic impact report. According to the report, 43 states receive an economic impact of more than $10 million. Of those 43 states, eight have an economic impact of $1 billion or more, reports News 6 partner Florida Today. In Florida, NASA’s economic output was $5.9 billion. “With an investment of just one-half of 1% of the federal budget, NASA generates significant total economic output annually.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The International Space Station made a space debris shuffle Tuesday evening to avoid getting smacked by one of the millions of pieces of space junk in low-Earth orbit. This wasn’t the first or the last time the ISS will move to avoid space debris. Time for Congress to provide @CommerceGov with the $15 mil requested by @POTUS for the Office of Space Commerce. Time for Congress to provide the U.S. Commerce Department with the $15 million requested by POTUS for the Office of Space Commerce,” Bridenstine said in a tweet Tuesday. The mot recent episode of WKMG’s podcast Space Curious offered a look at the problem space junk creates and what’s being done about it, click here to read more and listen to the full episode below.

The astronaut pair were the first to launch on the SpaceX spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center on May 30 to the International Space Station, marking the first human spaceflight from U.S. soil since 2011. About a dozen private vessels in the splashdown area were told to leave as they attempted to approach the SpaceX spacecraft. Outside of those vessels Coast Guard boats should be the only other ones in the area for 10 miles. On Sunday, the private boats could be seen surrounding the recovery effort on the NASA livestream. The lesson learned here is we probably need more Coast Guard assets, maybe some more SpaceX and NASA assets as well, Shotwell said.

NASAs Perseverance rode a mighty Atlas V rocket into a clear morning sky in the worlds third and final Mars launch of the summer. the mission will yield lessons that could pave the way for the arrival of astronauts as early as the 2030s. Because going to Mars is hard, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said just before liftoff. The rover will store half-ounce (15-gram) rock samples in dozens of super-sterilized titanium tubes. Samples taken straight from Mars, not drawn from meteorites discovered on Earth, have long been considered the Holy Grail of Mars science, according to NASAs now-retired Mars czar, Scott Hubbard.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will launch to Mars arrives at Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rocket scheduled to launch on Thursday will land on Mars in February 2021 and the Mars 2020 rover, named Perseverance, will study Martian geology. (AP Photo/John Raoux)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The summers third and final mission to Mars featuring NASA's most elaborate life-hunting rover is on the verge of liftoff. The rover Perseverance will follow Chinas rover-orbiter combo and a United Arab Emirates orbiter, both launched last week. First things first, though: Good flying weather is forecast for United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket.

On Wednesday, July 29, 2020, SpaceX and NASA cleared the Dragon crew capsule to depart the International Space Station and head home after a two-month flight. (NASA via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Tropical weather barreling toward Florida could delay this weekends planned return of the first SpaceX crew. On Wednesday, SpaceX and NASA cleared the Dragon crew capsule to depart the International Space Station and head home after a two-month flight. SpaceX is already preparing to launch a second crew to the space station at the end of September. NASA wants six weeks between the splashdown and the launch of the next Dragon crew, for capsule inspections and reviews.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Astronauts squeezed in one last spacewalk Tuesday before turning their attention to the all-important end to SpaceXs first crew flight. NASAs Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy floated out of the International Space Station on their fourth and final spacewalk in under a month. It was the 10th spacewalk in each of their careers, tying the U.S. record set by previous space station residents. SpaceX is aiming for a splashdown off the Florida coast in August the first splashdown for astronauts in 45 years. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said once Tuesday's spacewalk is finished, the astronauts are going to be focused like a laser on coming home."

They were the first to hitch a ride to the International Space Station on Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon. SpaceX and NASA are targeting September for the next launch of Dragon with astronauts from Kennedy Space Center. On Friday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said SpaceX and NASA are targeting Aug. 1 for a departure of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour by its passengers, and a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean on Aug. 2. NASA has paid the Russian space agency about $84 million a seat to fly its astronauts to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX and Boeing were selected in 2014 to develop American-made spacecraft to take over transporting NASA astronauts to space.

Three countries the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates are sending unmanned spacecraft to the red planet in quick succession beginning in July 2020. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Mars is about to be invaded by planet Earth big time. Each spacecraft will travel more than 300 million miles (483 million kilometers) before reaching Mars next February. Only the U.S. has successfully put a spacecraft on Mars, doing it eight times, beginning with the twin Vikings in 1976. The United Arab Emirates and China are looking to join the elite club.

WASHINGTON NASA is naming its Washington headquarters after Mary Jackson, the space agencys first African American female engineer whose story was portrayed in the popular film Hidden Figures.Jackson started her NASA career in 1951 as part of a segregated unit of female mathematicians at what is now Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Jackson was later promoted to engineer and retired from NASA in 1985. Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement Wednesday. Part of the street in front of NASA headquarters is called Hidden Figures Way" and a computer research facility at Langley is named for Katherine Johnson, another of the Hidden Figures mathematicians, who died in February. A NASA facility is also named for her in West Virginia, her home state.

Throughout May testing of the raw sewage at the Cape Canaveral Wastewater Treatment Facility detected no presence of the novel coronavirus - that is, until the week of May 26. What they found was that for the weeks of May 6, 12 and 19, the virus concentration per liter of sewage in Cape Canaveral was zero. Biobot gave the results to the city on Wednesday, and city officials said they alerted county health and emergency officials. According to Fridays data from the Department of Health, Cape Canaveral has just eight cases of COVID-19. Cape Canaveral officials said in a statement that the sewage results are an important reminder that everyone should continue to take COVID-19 very seriously.

(NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASAs next Mars rover is honoring all the medical workers on the front lines of the coronavirus battle around the world. With just another month until liftoff, the space agency on Wednesday revealed a commemorative plate attached to the rover, aptly named Perseverance. The rover team calls it the COVID-19 Perseverance plate, designed in the last couple months. If the rover isn't launched by mid-August, it would need to wait until 2022 when Earth and Mars are back in proper alignment. The United Arab Emirates and China also are preparing spacecraft for launch to the red planet by mid-August.

ORLANDO, Fla. Kathy Lueders, the cool head behind NASAs Commercial Crew Program for the past eight years, will now oversee the U.S. space agencys human spaceflight office, becoming the first woman in this role. Anyone who has followed developments as SpaceX and Boeing prepared to fly NASA astronauts under the agencys Commercial Crew Program will recognize Lueders. She has been the head of the program since its infancy, now Lueders will oversee all of human spaceflight operation. From Commercial Cargo and now Commercial Crew, she has safely and successfully helped push to expand our nations industrial base. As head of the Commercial Crew Program, Lueders offered a cool head to a program that has faced delays but has proven a success after SpaceXs first astronauts launch last month.

Amateur astronauts, private space stations, flying factories, out-of-this-world movie sets this is the future the space agency is striving to shape as it eases out of low-Earth orbit and aims for the moon and Mars. But the future is incredibly exciting, NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren said the day before SpaceXs historic liftoff. The ticket price which includes 15 weeks of training and more than a week at the space station is about $55 million. Beginning in 2024, Axiom plans to build its own addition to the 260-mile-high (420-kilometer-high) outpost to accommodate its private astronauts. SpaceX still has to get NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken safely back to Earth this summer in its Dragon capsule.

The two astronauts will fly on a SpaceX test flight to the International Space Station. Once on board the space station, Hurley said the capsule, newly named Endeavour after the retired shuttle, handled extremely well. He was the pilot on the last U.S. spaceship to visit the space station — the last shuttle flight, by Atlantis, in July 2011. Until Saturday, SpaceX had launched only space station supplies or satellites. Even so, getting the two astronauts safely to orbit and then the space station had everyone breathing huge sighs of relief.

The first attempt to launch NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley was scrubbed Wednesday due to weather. Veteran NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are the lone passengers onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft. As part of NASA’s commercial crew program, the U.S. space agency selected SpaceX and Boeing to develop spacecraft to fly NASA astronauts. Crew Dragon hatch closesSpaceX teams have closed the hatch to the Crew Dragon capsule at Launch Complex 39A. Webcast will go live at ~11:00 a.m. EDT → https://t.co/bJFjLCilmc pic.twitter.com/AXDGNfqv0K — SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 30, 20207:40 a.m.

SpaceX and NASA teams conducted a flight readiness review Friday ahead of a second attempt. On the technical side, things look good, as Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon are healthy and ready for launch, NASA officials said. SpaceX and NASA launch teams will hear the latest weather projections from the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron on Saturday morning before making the call to launch. [MORE COVERAGE: Where to watch SpaceX Crew Dragon launch on the Space Coast]Bridenstine stressed Friday, the launch will happen when everything aligns. When it does happen, the liftoff will mark the first time since 2011 that NASA astronauts have launched from Florida.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket scheduled for May 27 will launch a Crew Dragon spacecraft on its first test flight with astronauts on-board to the International Space Station. The two are scheduled to blast off next Wednesday afternoon atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, bound for the International Space Station. They'll soar from the same pad where Atlantis closed out the shuttle program in 2011, the last home launch for NASA astronauts. Since then, the only way to the space station for astronauts has been on Russian rockets launched from Kazakhstan. Hurley and Behnken still don’t know how long they’ll spend at the space station: anywhere between one and four months.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s administrator issued a plea to everyone wanting to watch American astronauts return to space in May: stay home. “We’re asking people not to travel to the Kennedy Space Center.”The Demo-2 mission will send American astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnke to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. It will mark the first time American astronauts have traveled to space aboard an American rocket from American soil since the shuttle program ended in 2011. He said the staff inside mission control will also practice social distancing on launch day. It is our access to the International Space Station, which is a $100 billion investment by the American taxpayers. "

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine on Friday unveiled the highly anticipated date on which astronauts will launch from American soil for the first time since 2011. Officials previously announced the mission would take place sometime in May, but we now know the exact target date is May 27, just a little more than a month from now. The footage ended with the Launch America logo and the date May 27, 2020. BREAKING: On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil! With our @SpaceX partners, @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken will launch to the @Space_Station on the #CrewDragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

Boeing brought Starliner back to Earth where it landed in New Mexico 48 hours later, instead of docking with the ISS. NASA is currently evaluating the Starliner’s flight data to determine if another uncrewed test flight is required. NASA tapped SpaceX and Boeing to build and operate spacecraft to fly American astronauts. SpaceX completed an uncrewed test flight last spring with its Crew Dragon spacecraft. The OFT Starliner spacecraft is currently en route from New Mexico back to Boeing’s facilities at Kennedy Space Center.

Both Boeing and SpaceX -- with the Crew Dragon spacecraft -- have been working since 2014 toward NASA certification to carry humans as part of the Commercial Crew Program. NASA has forked out $84 million a seat paying Russia since 2011 to launch U.S. astronauts. NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, Mike Fincke, Suni Williams, Josh Cassada and Eric Boe in front of the ULA Atlas V and Starliner spacecraft. This time, NASA is a customer instead of the launch and spacecraft provider, Bridenstine said. Williams and her fellow commercial crew astronauts will be watching the launch Friday morning along with the rest of Florida.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine revealed Friday that the space agency plans to launch a golfcart-sized roving robot, called the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, to roam the surface collecting samples and mapping resources. NASA says it plans to deliver VIPER to the moon in December 2022. VIPER will "collect about 100 days of data that will be used to inform the first global water resource maps of the Moon," according to a NASA news release. NASA plans to create a sustainable base on the lunar surface within a decade. NASA did not announce what launch provider would deliver the rover to the moon.