Kevin Kiley: “I would like to congratulate and thank SpaceX and its Crew Dragon capsule for successfully returning the two astronauts…”

“I would like to congratulate and thank SpaceX and its Crew Dragon capsule for successfully returning the two astronauts, Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams, who had been stranded in the International Space Station for 286 days. Most Americans are now familiar with the story and with the issues that arose with the Boeing Starliner that made them unable to return on that vessel and the delays that ensued after that such that these astronauts had to overstay their planned trip by many, many, many weeks. It was just on March 18, a little over 1 week ago, that they finally were brought home thanks to SpaceX and splashdown in the Gulf of America. This was a great moment for our country, certainly a great moment for the astronauts and their families, and I think it serves as a reminder of how important America's lead is when it comes to the commercial space industry. We saw just this last year repeated efforts by the Biden administration to hold back that progress and to specifically target SpaceX. Now, it needs to be noted that SpaceX accounts for over 90 percent of the total payload brought into orbit in the entire world, and so targeting SpaceX is truly weakening our own country given how important our global dominance in space is.…”