Events of Interest: Week of May 14-19, 2012 – UPDATE
UPDATE: The House Appropriations Committee’s markup of the FY2013 defense appropriations bill on Thursday has been added.
The following events may be of interest in the week ahead. The House and Senate both are in session this week.
During the Week
The House is scheduled to debate the FY2013 National Defense Authorization Act that funds DOD space programs among many other items. The House Rules Committee will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to write the rule for that debate, with consideration of the bill (H.R. 4310) expected to begin on Wednesday.
On the NASA front, three new International Space Station (ISS) crew members are due to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:01 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Monday, May 14 (May 15 at the launch site in Kazakhstan). If all goes according to plan, they will dock on May 16 to join the three crew members already there and barely have time to unpack before preparing for arrival of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX and NASA are once again gearing up for the much anticipated second SpaceX test launch as part of the commercial cargo program. It is scheduled for the wee hours of Saturday (May 14) morning — 4:55 am EDT– from Cape Canaveral, FL. The launch has been postponed a number of times, and SpaceX reserved May 22 as a backup date in case anything goes awry between now and Saturday. Assuming things go well, however, the Falcon 9 rocket will deliver the Dragon spacecraft carrying supplies for the ISS crew to orbit. After a series of test maneuvers over several days, where go-no go decisions will be made repeatedly, Dragon will move close to the ISS and be grappled by the ISS crew on Day 4 using Canada’s robotic arm and brought in to berth at the ISS. SpaceX released a press kit last week with a detailed timeline of events.
Monday, May 14
- Soyuz TMA-04M launch with three ISS crew members, 11:01 pm EDT (10:01 pm CDT; 9:01 am May 15 in Kazakhstan). Watch on NASA TV.
Tuesday, May 15
- Washington Space Business Roundtable luncheon featuring Scott Pace, University Club, Washington DC, 11:45 am EDT
Tuesday-Wednesday, May 15-16
- House Rules Committee meets to formulate rule for H.R. 4310, FY2013 National Defense Authorization Act,
- May 15, 5:00 pm ET, H-313 Capitol to formulate the rule for general debate
- May 16 at 2:30 pm ET to consider amendments
Wednesday, May 16
- House begins debate on H.R. 4310, FY2013 National Defense Authorization Act, time TBD. Watch on C-Span.
Wednesday-Friday, May 16-18
Thursday, May 17
- House Appropriations Committee markup FY2013 defense appropriations bill, 2359 Rayburn, 10:00 am ET
Saturday, May 19
- Scheduled SpaceX launch of Falcon 9/Dragon to International Space Station, 4:55 am EDT. Watch on NASA TV beginning at 3:30 am.
Editor’s Note: The correct local time for the Soyuz TMA-04M launch is 9:01 am May 15 in Kazakhstan, rather than 10:01 am as earlier reported. It was correctly stated as May 14, 11:01 pm EDT or 10:01 pm CDT.
User Comments
SpacePolicyOnline.com has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate. We do not post comments that include links to other websites since we have no control over that content nor can we verify the security of such links.