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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.<\/p>\n
Kelly, a former astronaut himself, shared a video of his comments as the Artemis II mission got underway on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cArtemis 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,\u201d he captioned the clip.<\/p>\n
WATCH:<\/strong><\/p>\n 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<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) April 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cIn later years, we\u2019re 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,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring, but it also pushes technology forward. And I think that\u2019s really an important thing for the American people to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis, 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\u2019re able to marshal those resources, that technical talent, the engineers and scientists we need to do this \u2014 to do hard things \u2014 and when we do hard things, we get a lot out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Months earlier, however, Kelly voted against the spending bill championed by President Donald Trump \u2014 the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d \u2014 that secured nearly $10 billion in funding for the Artemis II project and future space exploration.<\/p>\n The One Big Beautiful Bill marked a reversal in course from President Donald Trump\u2019s 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 \u2014 and was backed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).<\/p>\n \u201cThe moon mission MUST happen in President Trump\u2019s term or else China will beat us there and build the first moonbase,\u201d Cruz said in an X post \u2014 and then in a confirmation hearing for NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Cruz declared<\/a>, \u201cWe are not headed for the next space race. It is already here. \u2026 I am hard-pressed to think of a more catastrophic mistake we could make in space than saying to communist China, \u2018The Moon is yours.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Kelly repeatedly voiced his opposition<\/a> to the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d even after the NASA funding was included.<\/p>\n Despite supporting increased\u00a0NASA funding during negotiations, Kelly ultimately\u00a0voted against<\/a>\u00a0the bill that\u00a0provided it<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n