Trump administration to revive National Space Council
The revival of the council ends speculation that President Donald Trump would not bring back the office following lobbying from Musk's SpaceX company.
The council, which Trump also revived in 2017 after it had been dormant for 24 years, is chaired according to law by the vice president. A White House official, who was granted anonymity to discuss plans that had not been announced, confirmed that the White House was staffing the council.
The council is normally staffed by an executive secretary and a small number of officials. The council serves as an executive branch body for developing space policy and keeping agencies with space portfolios on task, from the Space Force to the Department of Commerce's space offices.
The council will likely take on the Trump administration's already lengthy space ambitions, including building a space-based missile shield called Golden Dome, beating China to a moon landing before 2030, landing astronauts on Mars, and supporting commercial space companies. That includes potentially launching new rockets next year to trial systems for landing astronauts on Mars.
The council could dilute the influence of Musk, founder of SpaceX and confidante to Trump, who plans to step away as top adviser to the president. Reuters in January reported that SpaceX opposed the return of the National Space Council, and Trump was 'likely' to end it.
The council would also provide an avenue for industry to inform White House space policy through the body's Users' Advisory Group.
Vice President JD Vance has made few public pronouncements on space, making it unclear how he might lead the council. However, as a senator he served on the committee that covers space, and was a co-sponsor on a space bill. His former position as a senator for Ohio put him in contact with major NASA research facilities in Cleveland.
The office was founded in 1989, but was unstaffed from 1993 to 2017, when Trump brought it back in his first term in a ceremony that included astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon.
That council, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence with Scott Pace as its executive secretary, was viewed as influential in helping establish the Space Force, NASA's planned return to the moon under the Artemis program, and ushering in regulatory reform in support of commercial space companies.
Then-President Joe Biden continued to staff the space council, but the body was viewed as less influential by some due to diminished public engagement from Vice President Kamala Harris.
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