National Space Council Announces Users’ Advisory Group Nominations

Vice President Mike Pence, Chairman of the National Space Council, today announced the nomination of candidates to serve on the National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group for two-year terms. The nominated members of the Users’ Advisory Group will serve to fulfill President Trump’s directive to “foster close coordination, cooperation, and technology and information exchange” across our nation’s space enterprise to ensure that the United States remains the world’s foremost spacefaring country. 

On June 30, 2017, President Donald J. Trump issued Executive Order 13803, reviving the National Space Council “in order to provide a coordinated process for developing and monitoring the implementation of national space policy and strategy.” As a result of President Trump’s leadership, the Administration has restored American leadership in areas of civil, military, and commercial space by:

·         Establishing the U.S. Space Force as the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces;

·         Reinvigorating the U.S. human space exploration program to return Americans to the Moon and on to Mars; and

·         Stimulating the space economy by implementing policy for responsible space traffic awareness and management and encouraging commercial recovery and use of space resources.

The Vice President announced the nomination of the following individuals to the National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group:

Admiral James Ellis, Jr., USN, Retired* (Chair, Users’ Advisory Group)

Former Commander, United States Strategic Command, member of the Space Foundation Board of Directors

Dr. Buzz Aldrin, USAF, Retired

Apollo 11 astronaut

Tory Bruno

President and CEO, United Launch Alliance

David Calhoun

President and CEO, The Boeing Company

Dean Cheng

Scholar at the Heritage Foundation

Colonel Eileen Collins, USAF, Retired

Four-time shuttle astronaut, first female shuttle commander

The Honorable John Culberson

Former U.S. Congressman, Texas

Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar

President and CEO, Coalition for Deep Space Exploration

Eileen Drake

President and CEO, Aerojet Rocketdyne

Tim Ellis

CEO, Relativity Space

Homer Hickam

Board Member, U. S. Space & Rocket Center; former NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center engineer; Author of “Rocket Boys”

The Honorable Kay Ivey

Governor of Alabama

Dr. Bruce Jakosky

Professor of Atmosphere and Space Physics, University of Colorado

Fred Klipsch*

Board of Trustees, Marian University; Chairman and CEO, Klipsch Audio Technologies, Retired

General Les Lyles, USAF, Retired

Chairman, NASA Advisory Council

Colonel Pam Melroy, USAF, Retired

Three-time shuttle astronaut, former Deputy Director of the Tactical Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

The Honorable Jeanette Nuñez

Lieutenant Governor of Florida, Chairman of the Board, Space Florida

Fatih Ozmen

CEO, Sierra Nevada Corporation

The Honorable Harrison H. Schmitt

Former United States Senator, New Mexico; Apollo 17 astronaut

Gwynne Shotwell

President and COO, SpaceX

Dr. Robert H. Smith

CEO, Blue Origin

Eric Stallmer

President, Commercial Spaceflight Federation

James D. Taiclet, Jr.

Board member, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Pamela Vaughan

STEM Integration Specialist for the Arkansas Department of Education

Mandy Vaughn

President, VOX Space

Kathy Warden

Chairman, CEO, and President, Northrop Grumman Corporation

Stuart O. Witt

Former Navy pilot; founder, Mojave Air and Spaceport; former chairman of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation

David Wolf, M.D.

Four-time shuttle astronaut, Purdue University

The National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group (UAG) was created by Congress in 1991, “to ensure that the interests of industries and other non-Federal entities involved in space activities, including in particular commercial entities, are adequately represented in the National Space Council.” On June 30, 2017, President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 13803 revived the UAG, and the current membership of the UAG was appointed by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in 2018. The UAG, chaired by Admiral James Ellis, has since established six subcommittees, and the full UAG has held four public meetings. The UAG is a federal advisory committee, and its charter was established pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act. 

Nominees are pending official appointment by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

*These nominees were formally appointed for a two-year term on April 23, 2020.