Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) cheered the launch of Artemis II, praising American technology, innovation, and space exploration despite the fact that he voted against the measure that provided nearly $10 billion in funding for that project and future endeavors.
Kelly, a former astronaut himself, shared a video of his comments as the Artemis II mission got underway on Wednesday.
“Artemis II is proof that only in the United States of America can we aim for the stars and actually reach them. Efforts like these push technology and our country forward, together,” he captioned the clip.
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Artemis II is proof that only in the United States of America can we aim for the stars and actually reach them. Efforts like these push technology and our country forward, together. pic.twitter.com/5kv3mjsXPo
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) April 1, 2026
“In later years, we’re going to send Americans back to the surface of the moon, hopefully ahead of the Chinese, and establish a lunar presence with people on the surface of the moon,” he said. “It’s inspiring, but it also pushes technology forward. And I think that’s really an important thing for the American people to understand.”
“This, it does take a lot of resources to do programs like this, but it is really only here in the United States of America that we’re able to marshal those resources, that technical talent, the engineers and scientists we need to do this — to do hard things — and when we do hard things, we get a lot out of it.”
Months earlier, however, Kelly voted against the spending bill championed by President Donald Trump — the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — that secured nearly $10 billion in funding for the Artemis II project and future space exploration.
The One Big Beautiful Bill marked a reversal in course from President Donald Trump’s initial budget proposal for fiscal year 2026, in which funding for NASA would be significantly scaled back after Artemis III and would cancel plans for the Gateway lunar outpost entirely. The final bill instead directed $9.9 billion to fund space exploration, including Artemis IV, Gateway, and more — and was backed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
“The moon mission MUST happen in President Trump’s term or else China will beat us there and build the first moonbase,” Cruz said in an X post — and then in a confirmation hearing for NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Cruz declared, “We are not headed for the next space race. It is already here. … I am hard-pressed to think of a more catastrophic mistake we could make in space than saying to communist China, ‘The Moon is yours.’”
Still, Kelly repeatedly voiced his opposition to the “One Big Beautiful Bill” even after the NASA funding was included.
Despite supporting increased NASA funding during negotiations, Kelly ultimately voted against the bill that provided it.
