Almost as soon as the contract was awarded to SpaceX, Cantwell, who chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said she was concerned about only having a single provider for the program. And during Bill Nelson’s confirmation hearing for the top NASA job last month, she pressed Nelson to “commit to rapidly providing Congress with a plan for assuring that kind of resiliency out of the human lander program.” She added: “I have to say I was surprised last week about the human landing-system-development contract.”
Her legislation would still need to pass the full Senate and the House, and the money would still need to be approved by appropriators. But it represents an important first step and shows Bezos’s influence in Washington.
Seattle Times