S. 933 · 119th Congress

NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2025

Introduced on Mar 11, 2025 by Ted Cruz (R-TX). 6 cosponsors, 4 of them from another party. Latest action (Mar 4, 2026): Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Mar 11, 2025
Cosponsors
6
4 from the other party
Policy area
Science, Technology, Communications
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

A bill to authorize programs for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for fiscal year 2025, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Administrative law and regulatory procedures
  • Advanced technology and technological innovations
  • Advisory bodies
  • Asia
  • Astronomy
  • China
  • Commuting
  • Computer security and identity theft
  • Computers and information technology
  • Congressional oversight
  • Earth sciences
  • Emergency communications systems
  • Employment and training programs
  • Geography and mapping
  • Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
  • Government information and archives
  • Government studies and investigations
  • Higher education
  • International scientific cooperation
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • Photography and imaging
  • Public contracts and procurement
  • Public-private cooperation
  • Science and engineering education
  • Scientific communication
  • Space flight and exploration
  • Spacecraft and satellites
  • Technology assessment
  • Technology transfer and commercialization
  • Time and calendar
  • Water quality
  • Water use and supply

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in Senate, Mar 11, 2025). Public domain.

NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2025

This bill reauthorizes through FY2025 the programs and activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The bill also revises certain existing NASA programs and establishes new programs related to space exploration, research, and technology.

For example, the bill directs NASA to continue its efforts to support crewed lunar landings and Mars explorations, including through partnerships with the private sector (i.e., the Moon to Mars and Artemis programs).

The bill also requires NASA to maintain the capability for a continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit until and beyond the retirement of the International Space Station (ISS). NASA may solicit proposals for the development of a commercial space station in low-Earth orbit. When such a station is ready, NASA must initiate an orderly transition of operations from the ISS to the commercial station. NASA must also develop a de-orbit vehicle for the eventual retirement of the ISS. (Low-Earth orbit encompasses orbits at an altitude of 1,200 miles or less.)

In addition, NASA is authorized to develop an architecture for lunar communications and navigation, and must develop a strategy to implement a standardized lunar time to support operations and infrastructure on and around the moon.

NASA must also continue to conduct research relating to advanced air mobility, unmanned aircraft systems (i.e., drones), and hypersonic technologies.

Finally, the bill requires the Government Accountability Office to report on fire and emergency services at NASA launch and reentry facilities.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Ted CruzR-TXSponsor

Democrats · 4

Republicans · 2

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Mar 11, 2025Introduced in Senate
  2. Mar 11, 2025 · SenateRead twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  3. Mar 4, 2026 · SenateCommittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. BLUE ORIGIN, LLC8 reports
    $1.5M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: BLUE ORIGIN, LLC$1.1B in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  2. AMENTUM HOLDINGS, INC.6 reports
    $580K reported (all issues)
  3. ASTROSCALE U.S., INC.6 reports
    $220K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: ASTROSCALE US INC$203.5K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  4. Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (d/b/a Airlines for America)6 reports
    $7.6M reported (all issues)
  5. Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.6 reports
    $240K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY, INC.$244.6M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  6. IBX, LLC6 reports
    $300K reported (all issues)
  7. INTUITIVE MACHINES, INC.6 reports
    $250K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: INTUITIVE MACHINES, LLC$102.5M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%
  8. NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION6 reports
    $12M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION$1.1B in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  9. National Space Grant Alliance6 reports
    $160K reported (all issues)
  10. Planet Labs PBC6 reports
    $1.9M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: PLANET LABS INC.AI match · 100%
  11. ROCKET LAB USA, INC.6 reports
    $1.6M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: ROCKET LAB USA INC$20.1M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  12. Southwest Research Institute6 reports
    $380K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE$124.1M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  13. THE COALITION OF EPSCOR STATES6 reports
    $920K reported (all issues)
  14. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory6 reports
    $600K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY LLC$1.8B in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  15. BOSTON UNIVERSITY5 reports
    $160K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: BOSTON UNIVERSITY, TRUSTEES OFAI match · 100%
  16. CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY5 reports
    $350K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$2B in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  17. Interlune Corporation5 reports
    $150K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: INTERLUNE CORPORATION$7M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%
  18. LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION5 reports
    $20M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION$13.3B in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  19. SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP.5 reports
    Federal contractor: SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP$6.6M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  20. THE BOEING COMPANY5 reports
    $8.5M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: THE BOEING COMPANY$9B in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%
  21. Commercial Space Federation fka Commercial Spaceflight Federation4 reports
  22. IMPULSE SPACE, INC.4 reports
    $1.9M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: IMPULSE SPACE, INC.$17.9M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 96%
  23. RELATIVITY SPACE4 reports
    $1.2M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: RELATIVITY SPACE, INC.$220.5K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  24. The Regents of the University of Colorado4 reports
    $240K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO$67.1M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  25. ICON Technology, Inc.3 reports
    $140K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: ICON TECHNOLOGY INCAI match · 100%
  26. Planet Labs PBC (Formerly Planet Labs Federal Inc.)3 reports
    $150K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: PLANET LABS FEDERAL, INC.$8.5M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  27. Relative Dynamics3 reports
    $40K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: RELATIVE DYNAMICS INC$2.1M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%
  28. VANTOR PARENT INC.3 reports
    $550K reported (all issues)
  29. AEROVIRONMENT, INC.2 reports
    $320K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: AEROVIRONMENT, INC.AI match · 100%
  30. Aerospace Industries Association of America, Inc.2 reports
    $1.4M reported (all issues)
  31. BWX TECHNOLOGIES, INC2 reports
    $340K reported (all issues)
  32. Maxar Intelligence2 reports
    $390K reported (all issues)
  33. Purdue University2 reports
    $50K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: PURDUE UNIVERSITY$17.7M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  34. United Launch Alliance LLC2 reports
    Federal contractor: UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE, L.L.CAI match · 100%
  35. COMMERCIAL SPACE FEDERATION1 report
  36. Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A.1 report
    $19.8M reported (all issues)
  37. FDD Action1 report
    $240K reported (all issues)
  38. General Electric Company (including subsidiaries)1 report
    $800K reported (all issues)
  39. L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.1 report
    $530K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.$115.4M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  40. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY1 report
    $160K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 5, 2026 · loaded Oct 5, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.