Q&A: Rep. Pete Olson talks about Houstons space legacy and how Congress can help protect future missions from political upheaval.

Exclusive op-ed from retired Lt. Gen. Steve Kwast on why the Space Force must protect the American economy in space to counter China.

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Tomorrow: SpaceX is expected to conduct its in-flight abort test of the Crew Dragon capsule the last major milestone before flying crew.

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SPACE CITY, USA. The Johnson Space Center is the control hub for the International Space Station and the training ground for NASA astronauts. Rep. Pete Olson, a Texas Republican who represents the Houston suburbs, is trying to ensure what was officially dubbed Space City in 1967 retains its place for future projects, including the Gateway, a space station orbiting the moon that is set to launch in 2022.

Every single human being who has gone up on the space station or on the space shuttle, whether foreign or American, have trained for a couple years at Johnson Space Center," Olson, a member of the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, told us."Johnson Space Center has a neutral buoyancy lab, a big massive pool to do spacewalking prior to going to the space station. Thats irreplaceable.... Thats why we should always be the heart and soul of American human space flight.

Olson also said providing some stability to Trumps 2024 moon goal is one of his top priorities before retiring at the end of the year by pushing for multi-year appropriations for NASAs signature projects. The main goal is to get this program going to the moon and make it happen.

Rep. Pete Olson with the crew of STS-130, a 2010 mission to the International Space Station. | Courtesy of Rep. Pete Olson.

AN EXPANDED MISSION FOR THE SPACE FORCE. The new space branch, which got its first officer this week when Gen. John Raymond was sworn in as its leader, must extend its reach beyond protecting military assets orbiting the Earth to defending the broader space economy, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Steve Kwast argues in a new POLITICO op-ed. For the Space Force to keep pace with China, it must separate from the Air Force and pursue new missions like establishing spacecraft fueling stations in orbit, protecting important travel corridors or lines of communication and deploying personnel to space.

The problem is that the Air Force is proposing a Space Force that will not protect the marketplace of space beyond Earths orbit. But China is, Kwast writes. China is building a navy in space, with the equivalent of battleships and destroyers that can move fast and kill. America's satellites will be helpless to win against the superior speed and firepower in Chinas force.

Defense officials met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday to lay out the path ahead for the Space Force, including the decisions that need to be made over the coming months. Those include administrative tasks like like assigning troops to the new service and paying them to figuring out which, if any, bases will be transferred to the new branch, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Thursday.

Vice President Mike Pence told us after Raymond's swearing-in as the services first chief of space operations on Tuesday that It's going to be a very busy year. We think it's going to be a process over the next 12 to 18 months.

BUDGET WATCH. Space watchers are eagerly awaiting the release of the fiscal 2021 budget request, which will provide the first public look at the full cost of the Artemis moon program through the expected first launch in 2024. The president's budget request, which will be released Feb. 10, typically includes a five-year estimate. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has previously estimated the full price tag between $20 and $30 billion.

The budget request will show how serious the Trump administration is about the 2024 goal, says Casey Dreier, a senior space policy adviser at the Planetary Society. I dont know what the request will be, but for me personally to take it seriously, I expect to see at least $4 billion per year added on to support Artemis," he said.

Other items to looking for in the new budget request? A funding commitment for the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission and a program to bring a sample of Martian soil back to Earth, says Dreier. Hes also waiting to see if the administration will once again cancel a number of Earth science and STEM education programs cuts that Congress has reversed before. Weve seen Congress reject those three times in a row now. It would be great to see the administration and Congress aligned, he said.

EUROPEAN SPACE MOGULS STRUGGLE TO LAUNCH. Difficulty fundraising coupled with a sluggish pace of innovation at the European Space Agency are grounding European space entrepreneurs, our colleague Joshua Posaner reports for POLITICO Europe ahead of the two-day European Space Conference that begins Tuesday in Brussels. In one case, Robert Boehme, the founder of PT Scientists, which seeks to transport payloads up to 300 kilograms to the lunar surface, said his company was effectively killed by NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which will pay companies for delivery services to the moon. "The moment they announced this, all the investment negotiations we had were basically dead in the water," said Boehme. Potential backers told him to pack up, take his best staff and set up shop in the U.S., Posaner writes.

European space tourism faces a similar uphill battle, in part because it is so difficult to gain political support for building spaceports, POLITICO Europes Charlie Duxbury writes. There have been too few politicians who can see the benefits from the many spinoff effects, such as local jobs, increased tourism and research possibilities, said Christer Fuglesang, Swedens first NASA astronaut, who now runs the Space Center at Stockholms Royal Institute of Technology.

TOP DOC: Balancing 5G and weather forecasting demands on spectrum. New 5G networks may offer better connectivity and faster download speeds, but the frequencys proximity to the bands of spectrum that satellites use to measure temperature and humidity could harm forecasters ability to predict the weather, according to a paper from the Center for Space Policy and Strategy published this week.

International and domestic regulators must issue regulations that provide adequate protection between weather forecasting data frequencies and other spectrum users in order to ensure forecasters access to the data, the paper says. This data is essential to delivery of trusted forecasts required for day-to-day use and protection of life and property from severe weather.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Congratulations to Benjamin Isaacoff at the State Department for being the first to correctly answer that there were six women in the eighth class of astronauts, the first to include females.

This weeks question: A class of astronauts graduated last week at the Johnson Space Center. Why was their class nickname the turtles? First person to email the answer to jklimas@politico.com gets bragging rights and a shoutout in next weeks newsletter!

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SATURDAY: SpaceX is expected to conduct its in-flight abort test for the Crew Dragon capsule. A post-test news conference with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine follows.

MONDAY: Two ISS astronauts are expected to conduct a spacewalk to replace batteries.

TUESDAY: The two-day European Space Conference begins in Brussels.

WEDNESDAY: The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation holds a hearing on the 5G workforce and obstacles to broadband deployment.

WEDNESDAY: The International Academy of Astronautics, Indian Space Research Organisation and Astronautical Society of India host a conference on human space exploration in Bangalore.

WEDNESDAY: The GPS Innovation Alliance, the Congressional Tech Staff Association and CompTIA Space Enterprise Council hold an event on Capitol Hill about the role of satellites in emerging technologies.

WEDNESDAY: The National Symphony Orchestra plays The Planets by Gustav Holst at The Anthem.

THURSDAY: The board of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center holds its second meeting in Washington.

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How to shield the space program from changing political winds - Politico