What’s Happening in Space Policy May 15-21, 2022
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 15-21, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
NASA Safety Panel: Don’t Rush To Crewed Test Flight as Boeing Prepares OFT-2
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel cautioned against any rush to launch the Crewed Flight Test of Boeing’s Starliner commercial crew spacecraft after the uncrewed test, OFT-2, scheduled for next week. A “tremendous amount of work” remains to be done between the two tests including determining if the propulsion valves must be redesigned. ASAP also is keeping an eye on International Space Station safety including the spacesuits astronauts wear to work outside as well as NASA’s plans for Human Landing Systems to get astronauts back on the Moon.
Last Updated: May 13, 2022 8:42 am ET
DOD IG: U.S. Space Command Basing Decision Complied with Law and Policy
DOD’s Inspector General has released the long-awaited results of its investigation into how the decision was made to base U.S. Space Command in Huntsville, AL. Allegations have been swirling that President Trump awarded it to Alabama as a political favor. The IG concluded the process complied with law and policy, but the sections of the report describing what happened in the meeting with Trump days before the end of his term are heavily redacted, so the public record does not answer that question. …
Last Updated: May 13, 2022 2:18 pm ET
JWST Getting Closer and Closer to Science Operations
The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is getting closer and closer to beginning science operations. NASA released another engineering image today to illustrate the clarity JWST will bring to our understanding of the universe, but it is still another two months until everything is ready to deliver scientific-quality data.
Last Updated: May 09, 2022 11:45 pm ET
What’s Happening in Space Policy May 8-14, 2022
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 8-14, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
Last Updated: May 08, 2022 6:20 pm ET
Crew-3 Is Home
Three astronauts from NASA and one from ESA returned to Earth early this morning after almost six months in space. Splashdown was in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, FL. The geopolitical situation on Earth changed dramatically during their residency on the International Space Station with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the relationships between the ISS astronauts and cosmonauts and their support teams on the ground appear to be unaffected.
Last Updated: May 06, 2022 6:11 pm ET
Next Attempt for Artemis I Test in June
NASA officials said today they plan to try again in June to complete the Wet Dress Rehearsal test for the Artemis I mission. The test was scrubbed three times in April before the agency decided to return the Space Launch System rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs while fixes were made by a contractor to a gaseous nitrogen supply line. The launch date for Artemis I will not be set until the test is complete.
Last Updated: May 06, 2022 12:05 am ET
Senate Defeats Effort to Scrap Second HLS
Tonight the Senate defeated an effort by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to remove a provision in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act that authorized $10 billion for a second Human Landing System for the Artemis program. Sanders characterized it as a hand-out to multibillionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, one of the HLS competitors, but advocates argued a second HLS is needed to ensure competition, redundancy and safety.
Last Updated: May 05, 2022 5:50 pm ET
Nelson Blasts Cost-Plus Contracts, Says Russia Not Leaving ISS
At a Senate hearing today. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson praised the agency’s shift to public-private partnerships and fixed price contracts, calling cost-plus contracts a “plague” that increases program costs. He also reassured the committee that nothing has changed in the U.S.-Russian space station relationship despite “misleading headlines” in recent days that Russia will soon withdraw from the program.
Last Updated: Oct 20, 2025 5:02 pm ET
What’s Happening in Space Policy May 1-7, 2022
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 1-7, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House is in recess except for pro forma sessions.