Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) has reintroduced the American Free Enterprise Space Commerce Act.  It is identical to a bill he introduced in the last Congress that passed the House by voice vote, but was never voted on by the Senate.  Instead the Senate passed a different bill, the Space Frontier Act, but it was defeated in the House.  That has left congressional action on a range of commercial space issues such as modernizing existing regulations and deciding which Cabinet Department should be assigned new regulatory responsibilities in limbo.

…

Read More Read More

NASA’s test of the ascent abort system for its Orion crew capsule went off successfully this morning.  The test demonstrated that the Launch Abort System (LAS) can safely return astronauts to Earth in case of an emergency during launch. Orion and its Space Launch System (SLS) are expected to take astronauts beyond low Earth orbit in 2022 for the first time since the end of the Apollo program.

…

Read More Read More

NASA will conduct the Ascent Abort -2 (AA-2) test for the Orion capsule tomorrow morning at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.  The three-minute test is scheduled for 7:00 am ET, although the launch window extends until 11:00 am ET.  The test is to demonstrate the ability to separate the Orion capsule from its rocket in case of an emergency after launch.  If all goes as planned, the next flight of this Launch Abort System will on the first SLS/Orion mission to carry a crew.

…

Read More Read More

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of June 30-July 6, 2019 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in recess this week for the July 4 holiday.

…

Read More Read More

NASA chose the Dragonfly mission as its next mission to the outer solar system today.  The cutting-edge spacecraft will fly over the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan to study its sand dunes and methane seas, stopping to analyze surface composition and looking for clues to how chemistry leads to biology and life.  While Titan is quite different from Earth, it also has some similarities and scientists hope to learn more about what happened on early Earth by studying Titan.

…

Read More Read More

Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for June 27, 2019:  Scolese and Raymond confirmed by Senate; Senate passes FY2020 NDAA; no second Moon attempt by SpaceIL.   Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.

…

Read More Read More

Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for June 25, 2019:  congressional update; NASA awards Mobile Launcher 2 contract; tweets from the Summit for Space Sustainability.  Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.

…

Read More Read More

Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for June 24, 2019:  three ISS crew members return home; more space personnel changes at DOD; AP poll finds public not enamored with human spaceflight.  Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.

…

Read More Read More

The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) got a budget boost today during House consideration of its FY2020 funding bill. An amendment by Rep. Ross Spano (R-FL) was adopted adding $8 million to FAA/AST’s FY2020 budget, bringing the total to $33 million.  It is just one step in the appropriations process, but may be an indicator of growing congressional interest in commercial space launch issues.

…

Read More Read More

The House adopted an amendment to the appropriations bill that funds NASA and NOAA last week that moves the Trump Administration’s goal of creating a Bureau of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce (DOC) one step closer to reality.  The amendment transfers the money at NOAA for two existing offices that would form the nucleus of a new Bureau from NOAA to the Department of Commerce’s Management account, an action the House Appropriations Committee had rejected.  The amendment was adopted without debate. …

Read More Read More