Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly took the oath of office today to become the junior Senator from Arizona. He is filling the last two years of the late Sen. John McCain’s term after defeating Martha McSally, who had been appointed to the position after McCain’s death.
Members of Florida’s congressional delegation have sent a letter to DOD leaders making their case for locating headquarters of U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) in their state. Reestablished last year by President Trump, the command temporarily is at Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs, CO, but interest is high from states that want to be its permanent home. Florida was recently picked as one of six possible choices.
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved the nomination of Greg Autry to be NASA’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) this morning on a party-line vote. The top Democrat on the committee said she opposed the nomination because he would serve only for a short time and decisions on NASA’s budget should wait until the next Administration is in office.
China’s Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission landed on the Moon today and immediately began collecting samples for return to Earth. Chang’e-5 is the third Chinese spacecraft to land on the Moon, but the first to attempt to bring lunar soil and rocks back home, becoming just the third country to do so.
The science community awoke this morning to the stunning news that the 900-ton platform of instruments and other equipment hovering over the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico had collapsed. The National Science Foundation (NSF), which owns the observatory, warned of exactly such a scenario two weeks ago in deciding to decommission rather than repair the telescope after structural damage this summer No one was injured. The question now is whether to rebuild or move on.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 29-December 5, 2020 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session all week; the House meets Monday in pro forma session and for legislative business Wednesday-Friday.
China’s Chang’e-5 lifted off at 3:30 pm EST today, its first attempt to return samples from the Moon. If all goes according to plan, Chang’e-5 will bring its harvest back to Earth in mid-December and China will join the United States and Soviet Union/Russia as the only countries to return lunar samples. While many cheered the development, others found it a worrying sign of China challenging U.S. leadership in space. …
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 22-28, 2020 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess this week except for pro forma sessions.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced today that it has decided the Arecibo radio telescope is beyond repair and will be decommissioned. Two of the cables that support the scientific equipment hovering above the giant dish nestled in the mountains of Puerto Rico have failed and NSF worries the entire structure is in danger of collapse. NASA scientists use the telescope and the agency said it respected NSF’s decision.
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved the Space Preservation and Conjunction Emergency (SPACE) Act today, but with significant changes from the version introduced last month. Chief among them is the omission of language elevating NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce to a new Bureau of Space Commerce reporting directly to the Secretary of Commerce.