Senator Ted Cruz has a new role in the Republican-controlled Senate. He is now the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and science matters.

New to his position, the Texas Republican is already causing a stir in the scientific community as he calls for space agencies to focus on space exploration more than anything else. Cruz is also planning on running for president in the 2016 elections. His hand in the scientific community could be an interesting platform that he could use for his run.

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He also finds himself in a position to promote new ideas such as expanding space opportunities that will benefit NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and investigating the science behind climate change.

In a statement that Cruz delivered this week, he spoke about how President John F. Kennedy sparked the interest for space exploration in 1962 that inspired a generation of Americans to "reach for the stars."

He continues, saying that Kennedy recognized the race to the heavens as nothing less than a crucial front in the battle between freedom and tyranny.

While the call was an inspiring one, Cruz says that 50 years later, the call has been forgotten.

Cruz's plan to focus on space exploration comes after NASA announced that 2014 was the warmest year on record.

NASA says that the planet's average surface temperature has increased by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. The increase is due to the carbon dioxide and other human emissions that have been released onto the planet's atmosphere.

This hasn't done anything to dispel Cruz's skepticism on the matter though. He says that the climate change theory can be used for anything, whether it gets too hot or too cold. It can never be disproved he says.

Instead, Cruz wants refocus the investment on "hard sciences" such as getting men and women into space. 

TagsNASA, Ted Cruz, space exploration