NASA officials are encouraging the international space community to launch several small spacecraft to study the asteroid Apophis before it makes a close approach to Earth in 2029. It is more of a concept than a plan at this stage, but the idea is to get imagery and other data before the encounter to compare with data that will be acquired by another spacecraft — already in space — afterwards to add to the planetary defense knowledge base for the day an Earth-threatening asteroid is on its way.

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Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of April 3-9, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on the titles to read the entire articles.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 9-15, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are on spring break for one more week (except for pro forma sessions), returning on April 17.

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With little fanfare, three more countries recently joined the U.S.-led pledge not to conduct destructive antisatellite tests in space. The Netherlands, Austria and Italy bring the total to 13 countries who have agreed to avoid ASAT tests that leave hundreds or thousands of pieces of space debris in their wake, threatening not only satellites, but the International Space Station.

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Axiom Space, SpaceX and NASA have announced that the next private astronaut mission to the International Space Station will launch on May 8, 2023. The crew includes two Saudi astronauts, including the first Arab woman in space. These missions to the ISS are just the beginning of Axiom’s entry into what it expects to become a robust commercial low Earth orbit economy with its own space station providing services to NASA and other customers. Earth orbit is not the limit of Axiom’s aspirations, either. It is developing the spacesuits NASA astronauts will wear on the surface of the Moon.
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Makenzie Lystrup is the new Director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA announced today.  A planetary scientist and astronomer, she comes from Ball Aerospace, which builds science instruments and spacecraft for NASA and other government agencies. Her appointment is effective immediately.

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NASA and the Canadian Space Agency named the four members of the Artemis II crew today: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The foursome will become the first humans to fly around the Moon in more than 50 years when they launch at the end of next year.

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Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of March 26-April 2, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on the titles to read the entire articles.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 2-8, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are on spring break (except for pro forma sessions) until April 17.

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Today NASA announced a new organizational structure to carry out its program of human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Amit Kshatriya will lead the new Moon to Mars Program Office. The move responds to congressional direction in the 2022 NASA Authorization Act.

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