U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, has announced a full committee hearing set for September 3, 2025. The hearing is titled “There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise: Why Congress and NASA Must Thwart China in the Space Race.” Lawmakers will examine legislative priorities for reauthorizing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to maintain U.S. leadership in space.
The session will focus on the strategic, economic, and scientific significance of American dominance in low Earth orbit, lunar operations, Mars exploration, and deep space missions. It will also assess how U.S. policy and investments can support America’s competitive position amid rising challenges from countries such as China.
“For decades, NASA has made the United States a global leader in space explorations, scientific discovery, and innovation. But make no mistake: we are in a 21st century space race. Communist China is not playing by the same rules, and they are aggressively investing resources to dominate space. This hearing is an important opportunity to chart a course that reinforces American leadership in space, strengthens NASA, fuels our growing commercial space sector, and protects our economic and national security interests in the final frontier,” said Sen. Cruz.
Scheduled witnesses include Allen Cutler, president and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration; Dave Cavossa, president of the Commercial Space Federation; and Jim Bridenstine, managing partner of the Artemis Group and former NASA administrator. Another witness may be announced later.
The hearing will take place at 10:00 AM EST in Russell 253 Committee Hearing Room. It will be streamed live on both the committee website and YouTube.
Reporters interested in attending should contact their respective media galleries to RSVP using provided phone numbers or email addresses.
