Five Republicans on the House science committee are asking NASA to prioritize funding for the Near Earth Object Surveyor space telescope. NEO Surveyor will hunt for asteroids and comets that might threaten Earth, but the Biden Administration proposed a deep cut to the program in FY2023 and a delay of at least two years. Republicans will control the House next year and the letter signals they are paying attention to NEO Surveyor and its goal of fulfilling a 2005 congressional mandate to identify 90 percent of NEOs 140-meters or more in diameter.

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NASA’s Orion spacecraft successfully fired its main engine today to begin the trip back home from the Moon. After six days in a Distant Retrograde Orbit, the uncrewed spacecraft will spend the next week and a half making its way back to Earth with splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on December 11.

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French President Emmanuel Macron, in Washington for a state visit, stopped by NASA Headquarters today to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris and NASA leadership to talk about ongoing and future space cooperation. While the discussion focused mostly on civil space, Harris and Macron also emphasized that yesterday France joined the pledge not to conduct direct-ascent antisatellite tests. France is the 10th country to make the pledge since Harris started the ball rolling in April.

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Three Chinese taikonauts lifted off from the Jiuquan Space Center this morning headed to the Tiangong-3 space station. They are joining three other taikonauts who have been aboard since July and for the first time will have a handover of operations from one crew to another. While routine on the International Space Station for the past 22 years and on Soviet space stations before that, it’s a first for China.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 27-December 3, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

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Today’s a big day for the European Space Agency. Its governing Ministerial Council approved a 17 percent increase in funding, committed to support the International Space Station through 2030, and vowed to ensure that the Rosalind Franklin rover makes it to Mars after the European-Russian ExoMars project was derailed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On top of all that, ESA announced a new class of astronauts.

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Adm. John Aquilino, Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, formally established U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific today during a ceremony at INDOPACOM’s headquarters in Hawaii. Space Force officials pointed out this is the first regional combatant command to be assigned a Space Force Component Command, a deliberate choice since its Area of Responsibility includes China.

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NASA’s Orion spacecraft took the first of two steps today into a Distant Retrograde Orbit around the Moon. The engine firing this morning not only put the spacecraft on the right path, but allowed Orion’s cameras to send back breathtaking views of Earth from more than two hundred thousand miles away. NASA officials were beaming this afternoon while describing how well the system is performing so far, while cautiously noting it is just the beginning of a 26-day mission.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 20-26, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess this week.

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Japan has formally agreed to continue participation in the International Space Station through 2030, the first of the ISS partners to officially join the United States in that commitment. The two countries also reaffirmed their partnership in the Artemis program. Japan will provide critical equipment for the Gateway space station that will orbit the Moon and the United States will launch a Japanese astronaut there, extending the long history of Japanese astronauts participating in NASA missions. Koichi Wakata is aboard the ISS right now.

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