Jeff Bingham, whose enduring influence on U.S. space policy over many decades is largely unknown outside the Beltway, died on Friday at the age of 77 after battling throat cancer. Both in the halls of Congress and at NASA, his passion for human spaceflight, sparked by the first launch of the Space Shuttle, never wavered. Working in the background for and with like-minded leaders of the Washington political establishment, his legacy is evident in the International Space Station and the SLS/Orion programs.

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Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com over the past two weeks, May 5-19, 2024, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.

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Ed Dwight, who went through training in the early days of the space program that he thought would make him NASA’s first black astronaut, fulfilled his dream of seeing Earth from space today. At 90, he was one of the six passengers on Blue Origin’s New Shepard-25 mission, the first flight with people on board since a failure in 2022. Today’s flight was successful and landed safely even though one of the three parachutes did not fully inflate.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 19-25, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

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Boeing is delaying the launch of the Starliner Crew Flight Test yet again. The most recent delay, from May 17 to May 21, was due to a helium leak in Starliner’s Reaction Control System. Boeing has determined the leak is stable and would not pose a risk, but needs time to develop operational procedures to cope with it. The new date is May 25 at 3:09 pm ET.

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NASA and the European Space Agency signed an agreement today formalizing NASA’s expanded role in ESA’s Rosalind Frankin Mars rover program, part of what was once the European-Russian ExoMars project. ESA terminated its cooperation with Russia on ExoMars immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine. NASA already was contributing a scientific instrument and now will replace Russia in providing radioisotope heating units, part of the propulsion system for landing, and launch.

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The number of countries signing the U.S.-led Artemis Accords is now up to 40. Lithuania joined yesterday and Slovenia signed last month. The Accords are a set of non-binding principles of responsible behavior on the Moon. All countries are welcome to sign whether or not they have a space program or lunar aspirations.

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The House has passed the 5-year FAA Reauthorization bill, clearing it for the President who is expected to sign it before a temporary authorization expires on Friday. One provision extends the so-called learning period until January 1, 2025. Until then, the FAA is prohibited from promulgating new regulations for commercial human spaceflight, a restriction in place since 2004.

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Today Boeing announced another delay for the Starliner Crew Flight Test. The United Launch Alliance has fixed the faulty rocket valve that scrubbed the launch on May 6, but now Boeing has discovered a helium leak in one of Starliner’s Reaction Control System thrusters. The launch has slipped from May 17 to no earlier than May 21. …

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Paul Hill, a former NASA space shuttle flight director and member of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, is heading an Independent Review Board to assess the agency’s investigation of why the heat shield on the Orion spacecraft lost so much material during the 2022 uncrewed Artemis I test flight. NASA has been trying to understand why the heat shield behaved differently than expected as it prepares for the first flight with a crew. NASA’s Office of Inspector General recently released a report identifying the heat shield as a pacing item for that flight, currently scheduled for September 2025.

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