Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com from September 2-15, 2024 including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 15-21, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
The Polaris Dawn private astronaut mission came to an end this morning, splashing down in the Dry Tortugas near Key West, Florida. The five-day flight achieved a number of firsts including flying higher than any previous earth-orbiting human spaceflight mission and the first commercial spacewalk. It was also the first Dragon landing in the Dry Tortugas, a new SpaceX splashdown site.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams told reporters today they are in their “happy place” aboard the International Space Station and have no regrets about staying longer than expected. The two arrived on Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test capsule in June, but will wait until next February to come home on a SpaceX Crew Dragon because of concerns about Starliner’s propulsion system. Both have spent long duration missions on ISS previously and feel right at home. Suni will soon become the new ISS commander.
A new report from the National Academies warns NASA that it needs to focus on the basics even if it means forgoing new missions. Chaired by Norm Augustine, the report “NASA At a Crossroads” tells a familiar tale of an agency in need of more money to accomplish all it is asked to do. The bottom line this time, however, is that fixing long-standing infrastructure decay, investing in new technology, and maintaining a skilled workforce is more important than new missions if additional money does not materialize.
Two private astronauts stepped outside their space capsule this morning in another first for SpaceX and the commercial space sector. Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis only spent a few minutes each standing in a frame attached to their Crew Dragon Resilience on the world’s first commercial spacewalk, but it was a remarkable demonstration of how far the commercial space sector has come in achieving feats once the province only of governments.
SpaceX is complaining about FAA delays in approving the license for the next Starship test flight. Their statement coincided with a House committee hearing on the FAA’s implementation of updated regulatory requirements for licensing both launches and reentries issued three years ago. Industry is chafing at the so-called Part 450 regulations and the FAA agrees they need further refinement, but the clock is ticking towards a March 2026 deadline when they come into force for everyone.
NASA is evaluating 11 responses from organizations large and small that might want to take over the VIPER lunar rover project. NASA intends to cancel VIPER because of cost growth even though the rover is completely built. Meanwhile, the bipartisan leadership of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee is asking NASA questions about the decision and wants a reply by September 20.
The launch of three new crew members to the International Space Station today is setting a new record for the number of people in orbit at one time. Two Russians and an American lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome early this afternoon and will join nine colleagues already aboard the ISS. In addition, three Chinese taikonauts are on China’s Tiangong-3 space station and the four-person private astronaut crew of Polaris Dawn is in their second day of a five-day mission. In all, 19 people are in orbit right now.
Polaris Dawn finally lifted off this morning after a long series of weather delays. The four private astronauts will spend five days in orbit with the goal of flying higher than any previous Earth-orbiting human spaceflight mission and conducting the first commercial spacewalk. They bring to 16 the number of human beings currently in orbit and three more are scheduled to launch tomorrow, which will set a new record.