In conjunction with her first meeting of the White House National Space Council, Vice President Kamala Harris is releasing a Space Priorities Framework for the Biden-Harris Administration. Harris chairs the Council. President Biden also is signing an Executive Order adding five new Council members today, bringing the total to 20.
The first meeting of the White House National Space Council under the Biden-Harris Administration will take place in Washington, D.C. tomorrow afternoon. The time and location were only made public this evening and an agenda is yet to be released, but whatever transpires will set the tone for Vice President Kamala Harris’s leadership of the Council at a critical time for the U.S. space program. The 1:30 pm EST meeting at the U.S. Institute for Peace will be livestreamed on the White House website.
The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee has sent letters to Vice President Harris and Secretary of Commerce Raimondo urging them to step up efforts to address the threat from space debris. Russia’s recent antisatellite test created more than 1,500 new pieces of trackable debris, underscoring the need to find ways to maintain the long-term sustainability of the space environment they said.
NASA abruptly decided to cancel a spacewalk they had just given the green light hours earlier because of a debris threat they need time to analyze. They did not indicate the source of the debris. [UPDATE: The spacewalk has been rescheduled for December 2 after NASA determined the debris did not pose a risk.]
Two NASA astronauts will make a spacewalk tomorrow even though Russia’s antisatellite test two weeks ago increased the amount of debris in the space station’s path. A NASA official said the elevated risk is still within NASA’s accepted limits. [UPDATE: NASA later postponed this spacewalk until Thursday due to a debris issue.]
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 28-December 4, 2021 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
Blue Origin is getting ready to launch a new set of private citizens on a suborbital flight, adding six more people to the growing list of non-professional astronauts getting a chance to see the Earth from the vantage point of space. Competitor Virgin Galactic has delayed commercial launches until the end of 2022, but announced the winner of a free trip for two once they commence. Meanwhile, the first U.S. private astronaut flight to the International Space Station is coming up fast. Commercial space travel may not yet be routine, but it is not as unique as it was just a few months ago.
NASA announced this evening that the James Webb Space Telescope is cleared for fueling after an incident that sent unexpected vibrations through the $9 billion spacecraft. An anomaly investigation team concluded all is well.
NASA’s DART mission is heading to a double asteroid with the purposeful intent of crashing into it. Nothing on the spacecraft will survive, but the data it provides may help someday if another asteroid is on a collision course with Earth and must be diverted.
The launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is slipping by four days because of an accident that happened while technicians were getting ready to mate it to the Ariane 5 rocket that will send it off into deep space. A clamp released unexpectedly and sent vibrations through the spacecraft. More time now is needed to do tests to ensure everything is still OK. The new date is December 22.