Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth today after three months aboard China’s space station core module, Tianhe. It is the longest duration mission by any Chinese astronauts and signals the beginning of China’s new space station era.  Tianhe is the first segment of a multi-modular facility and will host expeditions of increasing duration. Though decades behind Russia and the United States, it is a milestone in China’s growing space ambitions.

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One day after the launch of the first all-commercial human space flight mission there is little to report. As soon as the Inspiration4 crew reached orbit last night, public channels of communication ended. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted today that all is well, but the public silence from the crew underscores how different this new commercial era is from what has come before.

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Four private citizens with no spaceflight experience or backing from government agencies are in orbit tonight, the first all-commercial space crew. Billionaire Jared Isaacman is paying SpaceX for the trip and taking three “ordinary” Americans along with him on the Inspiration4 mission and raising funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. With their arrival, 14 people are in space tonight, a record.

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The first crew of entirely commercial astronauts headed to Earth orbit is raring to go. Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor and Chris Sembroski, who did not even know each other a year ago, are about to spend three days orbiting the Earth together and could not be more excited. Launch is scheduled for 8:02 pm ET tomorrow, weather permitting.  SpaceX will livestream the launch.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 12-18, 2021 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate will be in session Monday-Wednesday. House committees will meet Monday-Tuesday.  Both are in recess for the latter part of the week.

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A House committee approved $4.4 billion for NASA today as part of its $45 billion portion of the Build Back Better human infrastructure bill. Over 30 amendments were debated. Several were adopted, but none that affected NASA’s funding. The money is on top of NASA’s regular appropriations. While good news, it is far less than the $15.7 billion NASA Administrator Bill Nelson hoped to secure and none is for a second lunar lander for the Artemis program.

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The space community is eagerly waiting to see what Vice President Kamala Harris’s priorities are for the White House National Space Council, which she chairs. The Council’s Executive Secretary, Chirag Parikh, told a satellite conference today that continuity, international cooperation, Space Traffic Management, and STEM education are at the top of the list. He also announced that nominations for the Users’ Advisory Group will open next week.

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A day before a House committee marks up legislation to give NASA an extra $4 billion to fix aging facilities around the country, the NASA Inspector General is out with a report faulting the agency for how it manages such projects now. The report complains about a lack of “rigor” in deciding where to apply Construction of Facilities funding already provided through the regular appropriations process.

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NASA will get an extra $4.4 billion if Congress agrees with draft legislation proposed by the House committee that oversees the agency. While generous, it is far short of what NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is seeking and does not include any money for a second lunar lander for the Artemis program. The committee is also proposing over $4 billion for NOAA, including additional money for the space weather satellite program.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week plus a day of September 5-12, 2021 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in recess, except for pro forma sessions, until September 13. For the next two weeks, the House schedule is a mixture of committee work days and district work days (that include the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). The House meets only in pro forma sessions through September 20.

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