Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 24-30, 2020 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in recess this week. The House is in session on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Demo-2 crewed test flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon cleared its Flight Readiness Review (FRR) today. NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk said the decision was unanimous. The mission still must pass a Launch Readiness Review on Monday and NASA and SpaceX officials insist they will launch only when they are ready, but the outlook for a May 27 launch at 4:33 pm ET is quite favorable. May 30 is a backup launch date.
The Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for the first flight of astronauts to orbit from the United States since 2011 will continue tomorrow, May 22. NASA had said earlier that extending the FRR for a second day was a possibility. It does not indicate that unexpected issues arose today. The launch remains scheduled for May 27.
U.S. Space Command announced today that it now has an approved campaign plan, which includes a new mission statement. Deterring conflict, but defeating aggression if necessary, are its hallmarks.
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved the nomination of Neil Jacobs to be Administrator of NOAA today, but the committee’s top Democrat said she is not committing to voting for him once it reaches the Senate floor. Jacobs has been acting administrator for more than a year and was in charge during Hurricane Dorian and “Sharpiegate.”
The White House National Space Council held a short meeting today where Vice President Pence got good news updates on space activities across the government. The meeting was quickly overshadowed by the announcement that a high ranking NASA official was forced to resign yesterday, but there were some notable developments.
Doug Loverro has no regrets about the actions he took that led to his sudden departure last night as the head of NASA’s human spaceflight program. The news shocked the NASA community just two days before a pivotal review in preparation for the first launch of astronauts from American soil since 2011.
Doug Loverro, the head of NASA’s human spaceflight program, abruptly resigned last evening. In a message to colleagues, he assured them it was not about their performance, but about his own.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for May 17, 2020: ULA launches X-37B; new competition for Space Command HQ; new members for Space Council Users’ Advisory Group; Roscosmos wants NASA to stop by. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 17-23, 2020 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House will meet in pro forma session on Tuesday; the schedule thereafter has not been announced.