President Biden’s $24.8 billion FY2022 budget request for NASA retains the goal set by President Trump to put astronauts back on the Moon by 2024. Today, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson acknowledged the challenges in meeting such an ambitious schedule for the Artemis program, but insisted that remains the goal. Nelson also revealed plans to participate, albeit virtually, in an international conference in Russia next month to discuss continued U.S.-Russian space cooperation in the International Space Station (ISS). …

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NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter took to the Martian skies for a sixth time, but the flight turned out to be much more stressful that its previous outings. An error in the navigation system caused the tiny craft to twist and turn unexpectedly, but in the end made a successful landing.

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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today warned that NASA’s Artemis program to get astronauts back on the Moon by 2024 is overly ambitious and its accelerated schedule makes it less likely to succeed. The chairwoman of the House committee that oversees NASA called the report a “wake-up call” to NASA and Congress.

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China’s recent space achievements and future plans pose a competitive threat to U.S. plans according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Calling their space program “very aggressive,” his message is “watch the Chinese” or they may be on the Moon before the United States gets back there.

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Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for May 24, 2021:  Bernie Sanders goes after HLS; White House calls for a new NASA Earth System Observatory. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter @SpcPlcyOnline for live-tweeting of events and other up-to-the-minute news.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 23-29, 2021 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House is having a “committee work week” where committees meet virtually and the House meets only in pro forma sessions.

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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo returned to space today after a more than two-year hiatus. This time the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft departed from a new home, New Mexico’s Spaceport America, making the state just the third U.S. departure point for sending humans into space. The flight marked another milestone, too, the FAA’s 400th licensed commercial space launch.

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President Biden’s nominees for Administrator of NOAA and Deputy Administrator of NASA sailed through their nomination hearing today. Rick Spinrad and Pam Melroy seem destined for confirmation after a friendly hearing full of praise from Senators and reassuring answers from the witnesses. On the especially prominent issue of U.S. competition with China, Melroy said she supports existing restrictions on NASA cooperation with China and believes China’s goal is to wrest space superiority from the United States.

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is asking Congress to put more than $11 billion dollars for NASA into the jobs/infrastructure package proposed by President Biden. That would be in addition to NASA’s annual budget request of $24.7 billion. The rationale is that money for the Human Landing System (HLS) and other parts of the Artemis program as well as agency  infrastructure will create jobs as it ensures U.S. leadership in space.

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The Senate will take up the United States Innovation and Competition Act today. It incorporates the 2021 NASA Authorization Act approved by the Senate Commerce Committee last week, but one of the most controversial provisions was modified and now provides a level of protection for the contract awarded to SpaceX for the Artemis program’s Human Landing System (HLS). It also extends the deadline for NASA to comply with a requirement that it choose a second HLS contractor.

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