Cornyn Meets with NASA Administrator Nominee Jared Isaacman
Isaacman Committed to Move the Space Shuttle Discovery to Houston
December 1, 2025
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) met today with Jared Isaacman, whom President Trump nominated to serve as Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). They discussed NASA’s role in maintaining America’s competitive edge over China and other foreign adversaries in space exploration by returning man to the moon to acquire critical minerals and resources vital to national security and continuing to bolster NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, as the human space flight center of excellence and innovation. Mr. Isaacman committed to follow Sen. Cornyn’s provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, now law, to move the Space Shuttle Discovery in one piece from Virginia to its rightful home in Space City. Please see photo attached and below.
This image is in the public domain, but those wishing to do so may credit the Office of U.S. Senator John Cornyn.
Background:
Sen. Cornyn spearheaded the Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act to move the Space Shuttle Discovery from Virginia to its rightful home near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This provision was included and passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill, now law.
Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center led all of the space shuttle flights throughout the program’s history, and the astronauts who flew aboard the shuttles lived and trained in the area Houston. Four space shuttles were retired from NASA in 2010, and one of them was expected to go on display in the Space City. Congress stated in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 that the four space shuttles were to be given to states with a “historical relationship with either the launch, flight operations, or processing of the Space Shuttle orbiters or the retrieval of NASA-manned space vehicles, or significant contributions to human space flight.” Unfortunately, this directive was unlawfully ignored by the Obama administration, who played politics to keep Houston from getting one of the shuttles. Notably, the administration gave one of the four shuttles to New York City, which has not made any major contributions to the nation’s history of space exploration and is not home to a NASA center—unlike Houston.
Furthermore, provisions led by Sen. Cornyn, including the Mission to Modernize Astronautic Resources for Space (MARS) Act, as well as funding for National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Artemis program and resources to support the International Space Station (ISS) were also included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Last month, Sen. Cornyn introduced the Space Research And Continuing Exploration (RACE) Act to bolster America’s space exploration and research capabilities through the creation of a National Institute for Space Research and ensure the nation is equipped to lead in the next space race. As the International Space Station (ISS) approaches retirement, there is an urgent need to ensure uninterrupted access to microgravity research capabilities that underpin advances in national defense, biotechnology, and space manufacturing.
Sen. Cornyn recently introduced the SPACEPORT Act, which would encourage the development of commercial spaceports through the modernization of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Space Transportation Infrastructure Matching (STIM) grant program. This summer, he introduced the LAUNCH Act, which would streamline the application process for commercial space launches and the licensing of private remote sensing space systems or satellites. Earlier this year, he introduced the SAFE Orbit Act, which would encourage the development of commercial space capabilities by directing the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) within the U.S. Department of Commerce to acquire and disseminate unclassified data, analytics, information, and services on space activities and space traffic coordination in low-Earth orbit. Sen. Cornyn continues to advocate for funding for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the International Space Station, and other space-related initiatives.