VP Kamala Harris lead National Space Council meeting today (Dec. 20)

Mike Wall
·2 min read
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A woman in a salmon-colored suit talks to a crowd of people that includes several astronauts in blue flight suits.
A woman in a salmon-colored suit talks to a crowd of people that includes several astronauts in blue flight suits.
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Vice President Kamala Harris will preside over her third National Space Council (NSC) meeting today (Dec. 20), and you can watch it live.

The meeting, held in Washington, D.C., will focus on international partnerships, according to a media advisory the White House issued earlier this month.

The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) and you'll be able to watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of the White House and NASA Television.

"NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy and Artemis 2 and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will represent the agency at the meeting, which also includes other federal government agencies," NASA officials wrote in a press release on Wednesday (Dec. 20).

Related: Presidential visions for space exploration: From Ike to Biden

The CSA, a Canadian government space agency, is a member of the NASA-led Artemis Accords of 33 nations aiming to land astronauts on the moon in the 2020s, with Artemis 2 scheduled to fly around the moon in 2024.

CSA astronauts, however, typically train alongside NASA astronauts and have held senior NASA positions numerous times; Hansen managed the training schedule for the 2017 astronaut class, for example. Joining him on Artemis 2 will be three NASA astronauts: Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover. The Artemis 2 crew previously met with both Harris, and U.S. president Joe Biden, on Dec. 14.

The NSC helps steer and shape American space policy. It's made up of several dozen high-ranking government officials, including the secretary of defense, the NASA administrator, and the vice president, who serves as chair.

vice-president kamala harris surrounded by a group of standing people
vice-president kamala harris surrounded by a group of standing people

Vice President Kamala Harris and the Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff meet with NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, NASA astronaut candidate Andre Douglas, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and NASA STEM interns at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Aug. 29, 2022. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The first NSC meeting under Harris was held at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 1, 2021. During that conclave, she highlighted some of the major space priorities of the Biden administration, which include using space assets to study and help mitigate climate change and getting a handle on space junk, which is a growing problem in Earth orbit.

Harris' second NSC meeting took place at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Sept. 9, 2022.

During that meeting, she "announced commitments from the U.S. government, private sector companies, education and training providers, and philanthropic organizations to support space-related STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] initiatives to inspire, prepare, and employ the next generation of the space workforce," White House officials wrote in the media advisory. "She also highlighted the importance of commercial and international partnerships for space exploration."