White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed today what many in the space community have come to realize over the past two months — the space program is one area where President Biden and former President Trump actually share common ground.
The first spaceflight crew with no professional astronaut training is now complete. Jared Isaacman, the philanthropist underwriting the Inspiration4 mission, introduced the final two members of his four-person crew today and revealed their launch could come as soon as September 15, earlier than expected. At the same time SpaceX unwrapped a new feature of the Crew Dragon spacecraft they will fly — a large window for a better view.
SpaceX suffered its fourth Starship test failure in a row today, but company founder and chief engineer Elon Musk remains undeterred, tweeting plans for the next test. He is expanding operations at his Starbase test facility in Boca Chica, TX and encouraging people to move there to work for SpaceX.
The Biden Administration has decided to retain the White House National Space Council. Its fate has been the subject of much speculation since Biden took office. The Council was created in a 1989 law, but presidents can choose whether or not to staff or fund it. The Biden Administration will be the third to do so.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of March 28-April 3, 2021 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess (except for pro forma sessions) for two weeks.
NASA revealed today that the first flight of Ingenuity, the tiny helicopter delivered to Mars with the Perseverance rover, is targeted for April 8, although the actual date could move a little earlier or later. The first vehicle to make a powered flight on another world, it carries a piece of fabric from the plane flown by the Wright Brothers in 1903.
President Biden’s budget request for FY2022, the first of his administration, reportedly will be released next week. At least part of it. Media reports today say the request for discretionary spending — the portion that goes through the congressional appropriations process — will be sent to Congress next week while the rest will be submitted later. The action would allow appropriators to get started with their annual deliberations on the budgets for NASA, DOD and other government agencies.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of March 21-27, 2021 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House will meet only in pro forma sessions, but is having a “committee work week” where committees are holding (mostly virtual) hearings.
President Biden made it official today, announcing his intent to nominate former Democratic Florida Senator Bill Nelson to be the next NASA Administrator. The action had been rumored for weeks. Nelson is a career politician who served in both the House and the Senate. While a member of the House science committee, he flew as a payload specialist on a 1986 space shuttle mission. Nelson has many admirers for his steadfast support for NASA, but critics worry he is wedded to old ways of doing business and will take NASA backwards.
Today’s second test of the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage appears to be a complete success, although engineers must review all the data before making a definitive determination. The first attempt in January ended after just 67 seconds because of conservative test parameters that were set. Not so today. The four RS-25 engines actually exceeded the 485 second goal, firing for 499.6 seconds.