Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the FAA today because it did not adequately protect the area around SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, TX. The action comes less than two weeks after SpaceX conducted the first launch of Starship/Super Heavy, the most powerful rocket ever built, sending a cloud of dust and debris into the air. Some fell on a nearby town. The rocket exploded over the Gulf of Mexico minutes later. They want the FAA’s approval of SpaceX’s launch operations at Boca Chica rescinded.

…

Read More Read More

Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of April 24-30, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on the titles to read the entire articles.

…

Read More Read More

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 30-May 6, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House is in recess except for pro forma sessions.

…

Read More Read More

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson expressed confidence today that the Artemis III mission will launch around the end of 2025 as planned despite the failure of SpaceX’s Starship launch last week. Starship will be the Human Landing System that takes NASA astronauts from lunar orbit down to and back from the surface. Without Starship, there is no landing. Nelson downplayed the failure as “not a big downer in terms of how SpaceX does things.” Of greater concern is the spending cuts that passed the House yesterday as part of a deficit reduction bill. …

Read More Read More

The Russian government has agreed to extend operations of the International Space Station through 2028 according to Russia’s state news agency TASS. Russia is the last of the ISS partners to agree to operations beyond 2024, although all the others adopted 2030 as the new end point. The 2028 date coincides with the 30th anniversary of the launch of the first ISS module, Zarya, built by Russia but paid for by the United States.

…

Read More Read More

Hakuto-R Mission 1, a commercial lunar lander built by Japan’s ispace, landed on the Moon today. It did not survive, however. Exactly what happened to the lander and the United Arab Emirates’ Rashid rover is still being investigated, but the company conceded this evening that it made a hard landing and has not been heard from since.

…

Read More Read More

Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of April 17-23, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on the titles to read the entire articles.

…

Read More Read More

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 23-29, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

…

Read More Read More

Videos of the explosion of SpaceX’s Starship rocket over the Gulf of Mexico captured everyone’s attention yesterday, but today the focus is more on what happened to those billowing clouds of dust and debris that erupted from the launch pad four minutes earlier. Local residents are dealing with a layer of dust-like material. The FAA said there have been no reports of public damage or injuries, but it will ensure SpaceX complies with regulations developed through environmental reviews prior to launch.

…

Read More Read More

House Republican leadership may be proposing dramatic funding cuts for agencies like NASA, but the Republicans — and Democrats — on NASA’s appropriations subcommittee seem much more concerned about staying ahead of China. At a hearing on NASA’s FY2024 budget request, the praise for NASA and the agency’s Administrator, Bill Nelson, could not have been more glowing. What it all means for how much money NASA ultimately gets will be interesting to watch.

…

Read More Read More