Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is in trouble. Just hours after separating from the rocket that successfully sent it into space, a propulsion failure doomed the mission. Peregrine was to be the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the Moon since Apollo and the first U.S. commercial lunar lander. NASA is being philosophical about the problems with this first of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions. The next in the series, from another company, is scheduled to launch in mid-February. [Updated January 8, 10:50 pm ET]

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Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is on its way to the Moon. Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan-Centaur rocket went perfectly early this morning. Built through a Public-Private Partnership with NASA, this is the first U.S. commercial lunar lander and the first U.S. lander since the Apollo program. Landing is scheduled for February 23.  Peregrine is just one of several landers already enroute or soon to launch this year. A Japanese lander and perhaps another U.S. commercial lander may get there first.

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The United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan-Centaur rocket is on the launch pad ready to send Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander to the Moon in about 9 hours. Not only is this the first launch of ULA’s new rocket, but Peregrine will be the first U.S. spacecraft to soft land on the Moon since the end of the Apollo program and the first U.S. commercial lander. A total of six Vulcan launches are planned this year so a lot is riding on success tonight, but hopes are high because ULA has a 100 percent mission success record for its current Atlas and Delta rockets.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 7-14, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

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NASA announced this morning that the United Arab Emirates is joining the Artemis campaign to return astronauts to the Moon. The UAE will provide an airlock for the Gateway space station that will orbit the Moon. NASA once hoped Russia would provide the airlock as part of a continuation of the multilateral partnership that built and operates the International Space Station, but not after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now the UAE has stepped up in another expansion of its evolving space program. Sending a UAE astronaut to Gateway is part of the agreement.

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NASA said today the Biden Administration will consult with the Navajo Nation about its concerns that human remains are being placed on the Moon on landers developed through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. The Moon is sacred to the Navajo and putting human remains there is a sacrilege to them. Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is a commercial mission, however, and NASA has no control over non-NASA payloads that are aboard. The chairman of the company sending the remains, Celestis, insists it is a service of celebration, not desecration.

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The second session of the 118th Congress officially began today at noon although both chambers met only in pro forma sessions. They return for legislative business next week with an intense workload.  Congress kicked the can down the road on almost everything, most notably appropriations. Election years like this are not known for productive legislating as members focus on campaigning. Add to that the slim majorities in the House and Senate and Republican in-fighting in the House, the outlook is not very promising.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next week plus two days, December 31, 2023-January 8, 2024, and any insight we can offer about them. Except for pro forma sessions, the Senate and House are in recess until January 8 and January 9 respectively.

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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched DOD’s X-37B spaceplane into orbit this evening. Two reusable Boeing-built X-37B Orbital Test Vehicles exist and this is the seventh flight for the program. Little is known about what these super-secret missions do while they are in space other than demonstrating very long flight durations. Each flight has broken the previous record, which currently stands at 908 days. X-37B looks like a small Space Shuttle, but does not carry people like NASA’s Space Shuttle did in the past.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next TWO weeks plus a day and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess except for pro forma sessions.

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