Live Blog: Administrator Bill Nelson to give his first State of NASA address this afternoon

The live blog has begun below.

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It’s that time of year where the President’s budget requests to congress are being released. This means we are expecting a speech from the NASA administrator to go over this year’s NASA goals today.

Each year after NASA and the President decided on a budget to request to congress the NASA Administrator holds a speech discussing the goals outlined in that request. Similar to the President’s State of the Union, the speech layouts the goals that NASA will attempt to achieve this coming year and years after. It also is an expected time to announce updates on some of NASA’s major projects like Artemis and the James Webb Space Telescope.

NASA is planning on live-streaming Nelson’s first public speech since being confirmed on their YouTube channel today at 3 p.m. EDT. Here is a list of items we expect to be mentioned in this year’s address:

• NASA’s increasing focus on STEM engagement and climate research
• New timeline for Artemis I and further missions
• Push for multiple commercially owned and operated Human Landing System landers
• Update on James Webb Space Telescope
• Future goals of low Earth orbit research at the International Space Station

Live Updates

3:39 p.m EDT: Administrator Nelson is wrapping up the speech now by thanking the workers of NASA. Thank you for joining us with this live blog!

3:36 p.m EDT: The missions will be named Davinci+ and Veritas, one will be an orbiter and the other an atmospheric probe. I’m sure Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck is very excited about these right now.

3:33 p.m EDT: Two new Discovery missions that will explore the planet of Venus!

3:33 p.m EDT: Nelson is back explaining that we must explore. Now we are getting to the Discovery program. This might be the new mission announcement!

3:30 p.m EDT: Now we have a video showing off all the different rockets, airplanes, and spacecraft that NASA builds to further their missions.

3:28 p.m EDT: Now we are moving the spinoff of NASA’s programs whether they are technology, jobs, or research. Nelson is proclaiming the reason why we should invest in NASA.

3:25 p.m EDT: Back from Shatner’s motivational speech about NASA’s exploration. Nelson is now discussing Artemis I and the SLS rocket. In the coming days, we should the Core Stage begin being stacked in the VAB.

3:22 p.m EDT: The Senator sent it to a video by William Shatner talking about why we explore the universe and how NASA pays the biggest part of that.

3:21 p.m EDT: Nelson is back talking about NASA’s newest space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, which will launch in the coming months.

3:18 p.m EDT: We were shot over to a live update from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Observatory about the status of NASA’s Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter. Nothing new stated other than we will now begin seeing Perseverance conduct its science mission.

3:17 p.m EDT: Nelson is reflecting on what NASA has been able to accomplish even with the pandemic keeping everyone apart.

3:16 p.m EDT: Back from the video now and Nelson has moved on to thank the NASA workforce for the sacrifices they made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introducing our Earth System Observatory, a new set of five satellite missions that will provide a three-dimensional understanding of our home planet's systems. It will guide efforts related to climate change, disaster mitigation, & more.#StateOfNASA pic.twitter.com/hnqYFZVHMd

— NASA (@NASA) June 2, 2021

3:11 p.m EDT: Currently they are playing a video about the ESO, describing how it work.

3:09 p.m EDT: After discussing the effects of global warming Nelson could see from space he is now talking about the new Earth Systems Observatory that was announced not that long ago by President Biden.

3:06 p.m EDT: Nelson is currently reminiscing about his time on the Space Shuttle for STS-61C and the effect it had on him.

“My grandparents had homesteaded there, and they could never have believed that a grandson was literally going to leave the face of the Earth.” – Administrator @SenBillNelson recalls his family’s connection to @NASAKennedy, where he launched on a space shuttle mission in 1986. pic.twitter.com/GOUEHzDuD6

— NASA (@NASA) June 2, 2021

3:04 p.m EDT: Senator Bill Nelson was introduced by NASA Astronauts on the ISS.

2:45 p.m EDT: We are just a few minutes away from the beginning of the 2021 State of NASA Address. Rumor is that a new NASA mission will be chosen today and might have something to do with Venus? Possible it could get mentioned in today’s address.

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