![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-15.20.09-350x236.png\")
Under that job, the U.S. President has the right to seek expertise from like-minded people regarding the role of NASA and the nation\u2019s space programs.<\/p>\nThe 2016 United States Presidential primary races will see their first round of voting on February 1st when the Iowa Caucuses allow voters to make their first official choices for a nominee for both major parties \u2013 Republicans (R) and Democrats (D). Ultimately, whoever\u2019s elected President of the U.S. will go on to have a major impact on NASA, commercial space, and overall space policy in much the same way President Barack Obama and his predecessors have had.<\/p>\n
General Election 2016 \u2014 The U.S. chooses a new President<\/b><\/p>\n
In short, it is the President\u2019s job to deliver a vision, set of goals, and funding plan for the nation and Congress to achieve \u2013 though Congress ultimately has authority over all budgetary matters for all U.S. Federal Government initiatives.<\/p>\n
Under that job, the U.S. President has the right to seek expertise from like-minded people regarding the role of NASA and the nation\u2019s space programs.<\/p>\n
The power of the U.S. President over NASA and the space program was in many ways solidified into the office by President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) when he delivered his famous speech in May 1961 where he challenged NASA and the U.S. \u201cto landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth before this decade is out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like President Eisenhower (1953-1961) before him, President Kennedy laid out a direct vision and guide for NASA, something which each President since has attempted to do with varying degrees of success.<\/p>\n
Thus, whoever becomes the next Chief Executive of the United States will have the ability to impact and shape the American space program according to their viewpoints for years to come.\n<\/p>\n
Fmr. Governor Jeb Bush (R-Florida)<\/b><\/p>\n
Space Technology (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n For former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of former President George W. Bush and son of former President George H.W. Bush, the space program has been an element of his political career for over two decades.<\/p>\n According to Bush, \u201cI think that the idea that we do not have a replacement for the Space Shuttle, that we mothballed it and didn\u2019t have a replacement, is outrageous.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we have to rely on the Russians to get payload up to the Space Station, that\u2019s just totally wrong. And the lack of planning, the lack of interest in this I think is dangerous for our national security, for our military purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n *Click here for videos from Joe Denison\u2019s interviews*<\/p>\n While it is true that U.S. astronauts must use the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for crew transportation to the ISS, Governor Bush did acknowledge the existence of SpaceX and private commercial companies, though he did not comment on the fact that NASA currently relies on contracts with SpaceX and Orbital ATK for a bulk of the U.S. resupply payload efforts to the Space Station.<\/p>\n \u201cMy motivation for space is that this is a part of who we are. It\u2019s a part of our DNA. This is America at its best, when we explore, when we conquer the unknown, when we discover things that in our wildest dreams we couldn\u2019t have imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n Governor Bush also made specific reference to the late 2015 success of SpaceX in landing the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket back at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that Elon Musk has a business that is now launching payloads into space and bringing back their vehicles to use again is extraordinary. That\u2019s the kind of capacity we need. Jeff Bezos is also focused on this as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Specifically, he stated that \u201cNASA\u2019s efforts are extraordinary in so many ways, so I think there needs to be a clear vision for what NASA\u2019s doing. I think it needs to be done in partnership with great private sector visionaries.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are lots of reasons for us to be engaged, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a big investment to get the kind of returns you can with a clear strategy for space.\u201d<\/p>\n Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas):<\/b><\/p>\n Senator Ted Cruz, a first-term Senator elected in 2012, is the current Chairman and ranking Republican member of the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Space, and Competitiveness.<\/p>\n While going on record in an interview last year with the Houston Chronicle he confirmed that he is a supporter of SLS and Orion, calling them \u201ccritical to our medium- and long-term ability to explore space,\u201d<\/p>\n Cruz has also provided some praise for commercial companies like SpaceX and Orbital ATK and their drive to develop commercial-based, U.S.-enabled launch abilities for resupply missions to the ISS and for crew transportation missions to Low Earth Orbit.<\/p>\n In interviews, Cruz has stated that he is \u201cencouraged\u201d by commercial cargo and crew progress while at the same time stressing that he views the commercial companies as lacking \u201cstated exploration objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n During the hearing, Cruz stated that NASA\u2019s main priority was space exploration and that, in his view, the agency was devoting too many resources and attention to the study of Earth, citing increases to the Earth Science portion of NASA\u2019s budget while the agency\u2019s Exploration budget \u2013 determined by Congress, of which Cruz is a member \u2013 have decreased.<\/p>\n Moreover, in a December 2015 interview with National Public Radio (NPR), Senator Cruz appeared to expand on his concerns regarding NASA\u2019s study of Earth when he claimed that the agency agreed with him that there was no evidence to support climate change.<\/p>\n When corrected by the NPR interviewer, \u201cI\u2019ll just note that NASA analyzes that same data differently,\u201d Cruz responded, \u201cNo, they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n This statement during a national interview echoed Cruz\u2019s comments in August 2015 at a political campaign stop and Anderson, South Carolina, when NASASpaceflight.com was able to ask Senator Cruz what steps he would take to fully fund the commercial crew program and what NASA would look like in his administration.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the real problems with the Obama administration is they\u2019ve de-emphasized space exploration. They\u2019ve de-emphasized the hard sciences, and they\u2019re diverting more and more of the NASA budget to political agendas like studying global warming instead of fulfilling the core mission of NASA.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I have been pressing to focus on what NASA was created to do \u2013 which is space exploration. And that\u2019s gonna remain a real priority \u2013 to focus on the heart of the agency and not on political distractions.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Ben Carson (R-Maryland):<\/b><\/p>\n One of the particular idiosyncrasies of U.S. Presidential primaries and elections are that candidates in the Republican field often have to swing more conservative during the primaries while Democratic candidates generally have the swing more liberal to obtain their parties\u2019 respective nominations.<\/p>\n Thus, primary election campaigns usually result in candidates providing vague answers to specific questions \u2013 which allows them to shift their stance on particular issues if they are their party\u2019s nominee for the general election without being accused of changing their stance.<\/p>\n In the case of Dr. Carson, he and his campaign have made somewhat vague comments regarding NASA and overall U.S. space policy.<\/p>\n In a 2014 interview with U.S. News and World Report, Dr. Carson stated that if elected President he would \u201cget the NASA program off the ground because enormous numbers of inventions came out of NASA, things that we use every day. And you know we need to bring the innovative spirit back to America.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreover, NASASpaceflight.com\u2019s Joe Denison obtained the opportunity to ask Dr. Carson a direct question regarding NASA and space exploration during his campaign\u2019s meet and greet stop in Seneca, South Carolina, in August 2015.<\/p>\n During the event, NASASpaceflight.com asked Dr Carson what NASA would look like under his administration.<\/p>\n Dr. Carson responded: \u201cMuch more vigorous because a lot of inventions came out of NASA and we\u2019re losing our edge. And we have to control space because if we let the Chinese and the Russians control it we\u2019re toast.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked by Mr. O\u2019Reilly why he was better suited to be President than Donald Trump or the rest of the Republican contenders at the time, Dr. Carson responded, \u201cWell, I\u2019m gonna talk about the fact that we have such outrageous fiscal irresponsibility that we are threatening the future for the next generations.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m gonna talk about how we are putting ourselves in danger because we are not taking a leadership position in the world. All of these things, including not being in the space race, is hurting us. So many inventions came out of the space race.\u201d<\/p>\n Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont):<\/b><\/p>\n However, it is not just members of the Republican field of candidates who have answered specific questions regarding NASA and the nation\u2019s space policy thus far this political season.<\/p>\n Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont), running for the Democratic nomination, was specifically asked about NASA and his votes in the United States Senate during an Ask Me Anything (AMA) Reddit event in 2015.<\/p>\n The question on social media asked \u201cWhat, if anything, has or will convince you to provide more funding to NASA in the future?\u201d<\/p>\n Senator Sanders answered that he is generally supportive of NASA because of the overall engagement and encouragement space exploration brings to so many as well as the technological, medical, and societal benefits that have stemmed from the space program.<\/p>\n In specific regard to his votes in 1996, 2000, and 2012, Sanders said, \u201cSometimes, and frankly I don\u2019t remember all of those votes, one is put in a position of having to make very, very difficult choices about whether you vote to provide food for hungry kids or health care for people who have none and other programs.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, in general, I do support increasing funding for NASA.\u201d <\/p>\n (NASASpaceflight.com is committed to covering topics related to space exploration and the presidential candidates as the U.S. 2016 Presidential Election unfolds. Further articles regarding the other candidates\u2019 views on NASA and space will follow.)<\/p>\n (Images: AP, NASA and L2 \u2013 including renders from L2 artist Nathan Koga \u2013 The full gallery of Nathan\u2019s (SpaceX Dragon to MCT, SLS, Commercial Crew and more) L2 images can be *found here*)<\/p>\n (To join L2, click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2016 United States Presidential primary races will see their first round of voting on February 1st when the Iowa Caucuses allow voters to make their first official choices for a nominee for both major parties \u2013 Republicans (R) and Democrats (D). Ultimately, whoever\u2019s elected President of the U.S. will go on to have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39158"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-15.23.02-350x283.png\")
At a campaign stop earlier this month, NASASpaceflight.com\u2019s Joe Denison was able to ask Governor Bush about his views on the current state of the space program in all of its complexities.<\/p>\n![\"2016-01-05-141107\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/2016-01-05-141107-350x217.jpg\")
Nonetheless, Governor Bush seemed to speak much more personally about the space program than other candidates have to date.<\/p>\n![\"SpaceX](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/SpaceX-landing-streaks-350x233.jpg\")
Overall, as with most of the other Presidential candidates who have thus far answered direct questions about NASA and the U.S. space program, Governor Bush\u2019s overall commentary on the space program was positive.<\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-15.30.27-350x222.png\")
As part of his duties, Cruz has initiated and held numerous Senate hearings on NASA and the U.S. space programs.<\/p>\n![\"2016-01-13-211642\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/2016-01-13-211642-350x272.jpg\")
However, Senator Cruz\u2019s most public and discussed statements regarding space exploration and his vision for NASA have so far come from the March 2015 hearing with NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, during which Cruz expressed concern over the fact that NASA devotes resources to the study of Earth.<\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-15.42.55-350x250.png\")
Cruz has expressly stated that scientists, including those at NASA, knew that there was no conclusive evidence that Earth\u2019s global temperatures were \u201csignificantly\u201d rising when he stated, \u201cThe scientific evidence doesn\u2019t support global warming. For the last 18 years, the satellite data \u2013 we have satellites that monitor the atmosphere. The satellites that actually measure the temperature showed no significant warming whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-15.44.33-350x248.png\")
Senator Cruz answered, \u201cIt is an incredibly high priority.<\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-15.45.46-350x293.png\")
The eventual nominee from each party then usually swings back toward the center \u2013 as neither candidate can usually win enough of the states to clinch the election within the Electoral College and be elected President without the support of the moderates and\/or independents of the U.S. electorate.<\/p>\n![\"2015-11-11-163457\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/2015-11-11-163457-350x225.jpg\")
During the course of the interview, Dr. Carson did not expand upon what he meant by \u201cget the NASA program off the ground\u201d and it remains uncertain exactly what Dr. Carson\u2019s express views on NASA and its role in exploration should be.<\/p>\n![\"2015-11-18-183436\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/2015-11-18-183436-350x230.jpg\")
Moreover, Carson\u2019s next reference to space came during an interview on the Fox News Network with Bill O\u2019Reilly.<\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-01-13-at-16.00.00-350x230.png\")
The question posed to Sanders in the AMA revolved around his votes in 1996, 2000, and 2012 to decrease funding for NASA and spending on space exploration.<\/p>\n