Events of Interest: Week of May 27-June 1, 2012

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead.   The Senate is in recess this week.  The House took its Memorial Day recess last week and returns for legislative business on Wednesday.

During the Week

Interest will remain high in SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which is scheduled to depart from the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday and be recovered in the Pacific Ocean off the U.S. west coast.    It’s a quick visit for Dragon, having berthed with the ISS on Friday.  The ISS crew is busy unloading the supplies brought by Dragon and reloading it with items for return to Earth.  Dragon is the only ISS cargo spacecraft that can return material to Earth.  Russia’s Progress, Europe’s ATV and Japan’s HTV all burn up in the atmosphere during reentry (and usually are filled with trash on the way down, so serve a useful purpose in their own right during reentry).

Meanwhile, the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Washington continues through Monday, and Women in Aerospace will hold its annual one-day conference on Friday.

Sunday-Monday, May 27-28

• Continuation of the International Space Development Conference (which began May 24), Grand Hyatt Hotel, Washington DC

Thursday, May 31

• SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft unberths from the International Space Station and returns to Earth, begining 6:00 am ET (time approximate)
• AIAA-National Capital Section luncheon featuring Goddard Space Flight Center Director Chris Scolese, Pier 7 restaurant, Washington, DC, 11:30 am ET
• NASA press conference on Hubble Science Update, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, 1:00 pm ET
• NASA web chat on Hubble Science Update, 3:00 pm ET, virtual

Friday, June 1

• Women in Aerospace “Aerospace 2012” conference, Key Bridge Marriott, Arlington, VA