Late today NASA said it is again delaying the return of the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test. Unlike the earlier schedule changes, no new date was announced. NASA and Boeing said only they are “adjusting” the return date until after two spacewalks on the International Space Station are completed on July 2. That will allow time for further reviews of Starliner’s propulsion system.
In a blistering speech, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee criticized the Biden Administration’s refusal to declassify more information about Russia’s plans to place a nuclear weapon in orbit. Calling the moment such a satellite is placed in orbit “Day Zero” and the end of the Space Age because no one could ever again count on their satellites functioning, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) insisted Biden do more to ensure that Russia abides by the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty that bans nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction from orbit.
NASA and other U.S. and international agencies participated in a tabletop exercise in April to work through how they might effectively respond to a potential asteroid threat. This fifth planetary defense tabletop exercise, or TTX-5, postulated a threat 14 years from now and discovered quite a few gaps. International participation was a key aspect of TTX-5 and figuring out the process for making decisions both domestically and internationally is one of them.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are getting another four days on the International Space Station. Their return to Earth and the end of Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test has been reset for June 26 as Boeing and NASA continue to perform spacecraft tests that can only be done on-orbit. NASA also has rearranged the ISS spacewalk schedule after scrubbing a planned outing at the last minute a few days ago.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of June 16-22, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week, but the House is in recess except for pro forma sessions.
NASA and Boeing have decided to keep the Starliner capsule docked to the International Space Station a few days longer than planned. The first landing opportunity was June 14, but NASA pushed that first to June 18 and now to June 22. Weather or other considerations could change it again. The extra time will be used to conduct additional tests of Starliner’s propulsion system and other aspects of the new spacecraft’s systems.
A spacewalk at the International Space Station this morning was scrubbed because of a “spacesuit discomfort” issue. The two NASA astronauts, Tracy Dyson and Matt Dominick, were scheduled to conduct a 6.5 hour spacewalk or Extravehicular Activity (EVA), the first of three planned over the next three weeks. This evening NASA posted a new spacewalk schedule, but refused to say anything more about the reason, citing the “crew member’s personal privacy.”
Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com over the last week, June 3-9, 2024 including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of June 9-15, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
Virgin Galactic flew the last commercial flight of Virgin SpaceShip (VSS) Unity yesterday. Future suborbital trips will have to wait until the new Delta-class spaceships are ready in 2026. They can carry six passengers instead of four, increasing revenue. This flight, Galactic 07, took a Turkish researcher and three private individuals across the imaginary line that separates air and space for a few minutes of weightlessness.