BOCA CHICA, Texas – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Ranking Member on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, today visited SpaceX’s Starbase, a spaceport and production facility for the company’s rockets. Sen. Cruz met with SpaceX leaders to discuss their operations, missions, and needs in the commercial space sector.

About the visit, Sen. Cruz said:

“I believe maintaining American leadership in space is critical, which is why I’m excited about SpaceX’s important work—particularly their goal of returning Americans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. I’m also proud that they’re doing this work in Texas, where we have a long history of being our nation’s hub for space exploration. I enjoyed meeting with SpaceX leaders today to better understand their efforts to explore space, the challenges they face, and how Congress can help.”

Sen. Cruz fights to make sure the United States leads the world in space exploration, and that Texas leads the United States in exploring space: 

• As the Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Cruz is entrusted by his Republicans colleagues to lead on issues related to space and science in the Senate.
• As the former chairman of the Commerce Committee’s subcommittee handling space issues, he was a leader on numerous bipartisan NASA reauthorization bills, giving the men and women of NASA the resources they need to ensure the U.S. remains the global leader in space.
• He successfully led the fight to commit the U.S. to the International Space Station through 2030, a proposal that became law in 2022.
• He has joined his colleagues in introducing the bipartisan American Space Commerce Act, to bolster U.S. leadership in the space industry, and enhance public-private partnerships with American companies.
• His bipartisan legislation to protect the Apollo landing site was signed into law.
• He authored bipartisan legislation, which was signed into law, that renamed the street in front of NASA as “Hidden Figures Way” to honor the unsung service of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who were featured in the movie Hidden Figures, and all women who contributed to the U.S. space program.
• His bipartisan NASA Transition Authorization Act, which reaffirms NASA’s core mission and ensures the Johnson Space Center in Texas remains the crown jewel of NASA’s human spaceflight missions, was signed into law.
• His bipartisan U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act was signed into law, building public-private partnerships to send Americans to space using American-made rockets launched from American soil.