The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is a

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

. It has jurisdiction over non-defense federal scientific

research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...

and development. More specifically, the committee has complete jurisdiction over the following federal agencies:

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

, NSF,

NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sc ...

, and the OSTP. The Committee also has authority over R&D activities at the Department of Energy, the

EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

, FAA,

NOAA The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

, the DOT, the NWS, the DHS and the U.S. Fire Administration.

History

In the wake of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Sputnik program Sputnik (Спутник, Russian for "satellite"NOTE: The Russian word "sputnik" can have many meanings: "satellite", "travelling companion", "fellow traveller", etc. However, in astronomy, it means only "satellite".) is a spacecraft launched ...

in the late 1950s, Congress created the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration in 1958, chaired by majority leader John William McCormack. This select committee drafted the

National Aeronautics and Space Act The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 () is the United States federal statute that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Act, which followed close on the heels of the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik ...

that created the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding ...

(NASA). A staff report of the committee, the ''Space Handbook: Astronautics and its Applications'', provided non-technical information about spaceflight to U.S. policy makers. The committee also chartered the permanent House Committee on Science and Astronautics, which officially began on January 3, 1959, and was the first new standing committee established in the House since 1946. The name was changed in 1974 to the House Committee on Science and Technology. The name was changed again in 1987 to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. After the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

gained a majority in Congress in 1994, the name of the committee was changed to the House Committee on Science. With the return of control to the Democrats in 2007, the committee's name was changed back to the House Committee on Science and Technology. In the 112th Congress, Committee Chairman Ralph Hall added "Space" back into the committee's name: "The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology" – a nod to the committee's history, broad jurisdiction, and the importance of space exploration in maintaining American innovation and competitiveness.

Members, 117th Congress

Resolutions electing members: (Chair), (Ranking Member), (D), (R), (D), (D), (R), (R)

Subcommittees

There are five subcommittees in the 117th Congress.

Committee chairs, 1959-present

Chairmen since 1959 * Overton Brooks (LA), 1959–1961 * George P. Miller (CA), 1961–1973 * Olin E. Teague (TX), 1973–1978 * Don Fuqua (FL), 1979–1987 *

Robert A. Roe Robert Aloysius Roe (February 28, 1924 – July 15, 2014) was an American Democratic Party politician who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from November 4, 1969 to January 3, 1993. Early life and education R ...

(NJ), 1987–1991 * George Brown, Jr. (CA), 1991–1995 *

Robert Smith Walker Robert Smith Walker (born December 23, 1942) is a former American politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1977 until his retirement in 1997. He was known for his fiery rhetoric ...

(PA), 1995–1997 *

Jim Sensenbrenner Frank James Sensenbrenner Jr. (; born June 14, 1943) is an Americans, American politician who represented in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 2021 (numbered as the Wisconsin's 9th congressional district, 9th district until ...

(WI), 1997–2001 * Sherwood Boehlert (NY), 2001–2007 * Bart Gordon (TN), 2007–2011 * Ralph Hall (TX), 2011–2013 * Lamar S. Smith (TX), 2013–2019 *

Eddie Bernice Johnson Eddie Bernice Johnson (born December 3, 1935) is an American politician who represents Texas's in the United States House of Representatives. Johnson is a member of the Democratic Party. Elected in 1992, Johnson was the first registered nurse ...

(TX), 2019–present

Historical membership rosters

116th Congress

Sources: (Chair), (Ranking Member), (D), (R), (D), (R), (R), (R), (D), (R) ;Subcommittees There were five subcommittees in the 116th Congress.

115th Congress

References

External links

Official web siteArchive

House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
Legislation activity and reports, Congress.gov.
Republican Science Committee website
!--
Democratic Science Committee website
-> * * {{Authority control

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

House Committee on Science Space policy of the United States NASA oversight Politics of science 1958 establishments in Washington, D.C. Organizations established in 1958