Today is the 20th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy that took the lives of six NASA astronauts and Israeli Air Force pilot Ilan Ramon. Colleagues, politicans and others paid tribute to their courage and vowed to ensure a culture of safety as astronauts continue to explore the stars.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is providing valuable lessons for the U.S. Space Force says Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, the new Chief of Space Operations. First among them is that space capabilities are critical in modern warfare, but vulnerable to cyber attacks. Proliferated constellations and a comprehensive approach to delivering forces on the field combining weapons systems, trained personnel, intelligence, and operational concepts and tactics are needed.
The astronaut duo who flew the first Crew Dragon to orbit and became affectionately known to the public simply as Bob and Doug accepted the Congressional Space Medal of Honor from Vice President Kamala Harris today at the White House. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley retired from NASA and now work in the aerospace industry, but will go down in history for restoring America’s ability to launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil nine years after the final space shuttle flight.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 29-February 4, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
NASA’s annual Day of Remembrance today honoring astronauts who lost their lives in the pursuit of exploration focused on the Space Shuttle Columbia crew who perished 20 years ago on February 1, 2003. Current and former officials urged continued vigilance to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
NASA and DARPA announced today a collaboration on the development of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion for space missions. Both have been working on NTP for some time to meet their own needs, but now they are joining forces with the goal of launching a demonstration NTP engine as soon as 2027.
SpaceX successfully completed a Wet Dress Rehearsal of the Starship rocket yesterday. The propellant tanks were filled with 10 million pounds of propellant and a practice countdown conducted, stopping short of firing the engines. It’s a significant milestone for the rocket NASA is relying on to put astronauts back on the Moon in 2025.
After a tense wait for confirmation of payload deployment, Rocket Lab was finally able to declare its first launch from the United States a success this evening. The liftoff of the Electron rocket from Wallops Island on the coast of Virginia was flawless, but problems with a ground station in Australia delayed the good news that the three Hawkeye 360 satellites were safely in their planned orbit.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 22-28, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
With House Republicans vowing to cut government spending, FY2024 budget battles are heating up already. The budget request hasn’t even been submitted yet, but the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee is asking agencies to outline the impact if their budgets were rolled back to FY2022 levels as some Republicans are proposing. Also, the Aerospace Industries Association sent a letter to congressional leaders calling for DOD, NASA and FAA funding to be protected.