Space News has a thought-provoking op-ed by John Logsdon this week. Dr. Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University, is the “dean” of space policy analysts and the Apollo era is a particular speciality. He also was a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

As expected, NASA has reset the dates for the final two scheduled space shuttle missions. STS-133 (Discovery) is now expected to be launched on November 1, 2010 (instead of in September) and STS-134 (Endeavour) on February 26, 2011 (instead of November 2010).

With the slip into the second quarter of FY2011, additional funds may be needed for the shuttle program above what is requested in the President’s FY2011 budget. That shuttle funding request included $600 million to cover shuttle operations only for the first quarter of FY2011.

Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) supporters undoubtedly are pleased with the news. Many have wanted to spread out the remaining shuttle flights both to keep more of the workforce employed and to allow more logistical flexibility.

Meanwhile, Senator Bill Nelson continues to press for the addition of one more shuttle flight, the so-called “launch on need” mission.

A Russian Progress spacecraft failed to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) today. According to tweets by NASA, the spacecraft lost its telemetry lock on the space station and safely flew past at a distance of 3 kilometers. NASA and the Russian space agency are examining options, but NASA says no further docking attempts will be made today.

In 1997, a Progress spacecraft collided with Russia’s Mir space station while two Russians, Vasily Tsibliyev and Alexandr Lazutkin, and American Michael Foale were aboard. The Mir crew successfully secured the space station, although the module that was impacted, Spektr, could never be used again.

The near-catastrophe caused great anxiety especially in the United States and led to questions in Congress about whether the “shuttle-Mir” program should continue. At that time, U.S. astronauts were serving as members of long-duration Mir crews, and Russian cosmonauts were serving on U.S. space shuttle missions that visited Mir. The program did continue despite the collision and an unrelated fire aboard Mir earlier the same year. The incidents illustrated both the dangers of spaceflight and the skill, resilience and determination of the crews.

Everyone else may be on vacation next week, but the National Research Council will be hard at work!

On Wednesday and Thursday, July 7-8, the Committee on Earth Studies of the Space Studies Board (SSB) will meet and hear from NOAA, USGS and NASA officials on the status of their activities, as well as experts at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) on the Total Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS). See the agenda for details. It will be in room 105 of the NRC’s Keck Building at 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC.

On Thursday, unfortunately at the same time as the CES meeting but just down the hall for anyone who wants to run back and forth, the NRC will hold a workshop on improving satellite data of the Gulf oil spill and other disasters. It’s from 9:00 am – 1:15 pm in room 100 Keck. Sponsored by the NRC’s Disasters Roundtable, the agenda is here. Entitled “From Reality 2010 to Vision 2020: Translating Remotely Sensed Data to Assets, Exposure, Damage, and Losses,” the press release explains that it will “explore how satellite images and data are and can be effectively used before, during, and after these disasters and how the flow, understanding, and utility of such data could be improved. In addition, the workshop aims to see how remotely sensed data could be used more effectively in disasters 10 years from now.”

So for everyone who’s NOT at the beach, these should be very interesting meetings to attend.

Here are links to the new national space policy and official comments by government officials.

– Statement by President Obama: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-new-national-space-policy

– White House Summary Fact Sheet: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/fact-sheet-national-space-policy

– Detailed White House Fact Sheet: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/national_space_policy_6-28-10.pdf

– Statement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/06/143728.htm

– Statement by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13651

– Statement by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke: http://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2010/06/28/locke-lauds-new-national-space-policy-pro-business

– Statement by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/HQ_10-156_Space_Policy.html

– Statement by U.S. Department of Interior: http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Interior-Continues-Leadership-Role-in-Land-Remote-Sensing-Under-National-Space-Policy-Announced-by-the-President.cfm

UPDATE: Subcommittee staff explained after the markup that funding for the various mission directorates was not cut, but that funds for labor costs were shifted into the Cross-Agency Support line. Also, the restrictions on spending for exploration do not apply to the COTS commercial cargo activity since that it already authorized.

UPDATED STORY: The House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee marked up the FY2011 CJS bill today. It includes funding for NASA and NOAA. The subcommittee recommended $19 billion for NASA, the same as the request, but there were changes in allocations within that top level number including a cut to the request for the exploration program. Most importantly, none of the funding for exploration (other than for COTS) could be spent until Congress passes and the President signs into law an authorization bill detailing what that program should be.

Subcommittee chairman Alan Mollohan (D-WV) made it clear that he considers the Constellation “program of record” unexecutable from a fiscal standpoint, but said that the subcommittee takes no position on the President’s proposal. Instead, he feels that this should be determined through the authorization process and therefore no funds could be spent until Congress deliberates on an authorization bill, passes it, and the President signs it into law.

This is just the first step in the appropriations process. The subcommittee recommendations go to the full appropriations committee and then, technically, to the floor of the House for debate. A Senate bill would go through the same process and the two chambers would then reach a compromise under normal procedures. However, little about the congressional appropriations process follows the typical steps these days.

The explanatory language was not available at the markup, but the dollar numbers are as follows:

• Science, cut $301.1 million
• Aeronautics and Space Research and Technology. Split into its two components, with $375 million for aeronautics and $512.1 million for space technology. That’s a total of $887 million, compared to the $1.152 billion requested
• Exploration, cut $699.9 million
• Space Operations, cut $427.2 million
• Education, increased $59.4 million
• Cross-agency support, increased $1.522 billion
• Construction and Environmental Compliance and Remediation, increased $111.4 million
• Inspector General, no change

Subcommittee staff explained after the markup that funds were not cut from the various mission directorates, but money in those accounts for labor costs were transferred into Cross-Agency Support.

The top level number for NOAA, $5.54 billion, was cut $29 million, but it is not clear whether the cut is related to NOAA’s satellite programs.

The White House released a new national space policy today. Its tone is markedly different from that of the 2006 policy released by President George W. Bush, reaching out to industry and international partners. In a written press statement, the President said that “above all, this policy is about the boundless possibilities of the future…We do not fear the future; we embrace the future. Even in times of trial, we do not turn inward; we harness the ingenuity and talents of our people, we set bold goals for our nation, and we lead the world in new frontiers….”