NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) is wondering if Boeing will be able to meet the current schedule for Starliner flights. Boeing plans to refly its Orbital Flight Test in December, one year after the first attempt suffered a number of anomalies, followed by a test flight with a crew next June. ASAP wonders if Boeing will be ready. In addition to the 80 recommendations of a Boeing-NASA independent review team, ASAP said Boeing itself identified another 31 and “other issues” have arisen since.  ASAP also wants NASA to formalize a lessons learned process that crosses program boundaries and involves not just NASA, but the broader community.

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The Senate committee that authorizes NASA activities met today, but like a Senate appropriations hearing last week, offered no clue as to the strength of support for providing NASA with the money needed to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024. The goal of returning Americans to the lunar surface has substantial bipartisan support, but as in the House, coming up with an extra $28 billion over the next 5 years to meet a politically-inspired deadline is a challenge.

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NASA has decided to wait another week to launch SpaceX’s first operational Crew Dragon mission, Crew-1, to the International Space Station (ISS). Originally scheduled for October 23, it now will launch on October 31 at 2:40 am ET. October 31 not only is Halloween, but the 20th anniversary of the launch of the first ISS crew. The space station has been permanently occupied with international crews rotating on roughly 4-6 month schedules ever since.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 27-October 3, 2020 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

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The top Democrat on the Senate appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA wants to know how a deal NASA signed with Estée Lauder furthers commercialization of low Earth orbit (LEO). An Estée Lauder skin care product will be delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) next week and filmed inside the windowed Cupola that faces toward Earth as part of NASA’s new LEO commercialization strategy.

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A much anticipated Senate appropriations committee hearing today offered no hint on what it may recommend for NASA’s Artemis program to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024. The House approved much less than requested for development of landing systems to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back. NASA needs the Senate to come through with the full amount requested for FY2021.

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NASA and the U.S. Space Force have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining areas where the two agencies will collaborate. Created 9 months ago, the Space Force is in the process of standing up its organization and cementing relationships with U.S. and allied partners. The MOU replaces one signed in 2006 between the Air Force and NASA and has a strong focus on synergies between NASA’s planetary defense and Space Force’s Space Domain Awareness responsibilities.

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NASA released a report today updating its plans for the early phase of the Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will testify to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday about the agency’s FY2021 request for a 12 percent increase to start paying for Artemis, hoping it will get more support than in the House. Bridenstine also clarified that the landing site for the first mission remains the South Pole, and whether or not the Gateway will be used for Artemis III is undecided.

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NASA’s reorganization of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) shows it is primed for its near-term tasks of operating in low Earth orbit (LEO) and getting astronauts to the Moon. Mars planning is assigned to a newly created organization that will integrate spaceflight activity across all of HEOMD.  The reorganization also reveals that Gateway may still be part of the Artemis III landing after all.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 20-26, 2020 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

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