Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: January 8-14, 2024

Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com over the last week, January 8-14, 2024, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.

What’s Happening in Space Policy January 14-20, 2024

January 14, 2024.  Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 14-20, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week starting Tuesday.

With a Week to Go, House in Disarray Over Funding as Partial Shutdown Looms

January 12, 2024. Despite agreement among the four key congressional leaders on top level funding for FY2024, the threat of a partial government shutdown a week from now is as real as ever.  The small group of ultra conservative House Republicans who deposed Speaker Kevin McCarthy and put Mike Johnson in his place are demanding Johnson now reject the deal he just agreed to. The existing Continuing Resolution has two expiration dates, January 19 for some agencies and February 2 for others. Another CR will be needed by Friday to keep that first set funded, but whether they can do even that is anyone’s guess.

Whiting Takes Command of U.S. Space Command

January 10, 2024. In a change of command ceremony in Colorado Springs today, Gen. Stephen Whiting took over the reins at U.S. Space Command from Gen. James Dickinson. The handover was delayed several months by Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) blockade of military promotions for most of last year.  Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks praised Dickinson for staying in his position until Whiting could be confirmed, delaying his own retirement. Hicks’s main message was that while China and Russia seek to turn space into a warfighting domain, the United States is committed to preventing conflict through deterrence.

NASA Delays Next Artemis Missions to 2025 and 2026

January 9, 2024. NASA announced today that the Artemis II mission that was to launch this year and send astronauts around the Moon for the first time in five decades is being delayed to September 2025. Artemis III, which will return astronauts to the lunar surface, similarly is delayed for about a year, from the end of 2025 to September 2026. The revised schedule is due to technical problems with existing systems and development delays with SpaceX’s Human Landing System and Axiom Space’s lunar spacesuits. The House authorization committee that oversees NASA will hold a hearing next week to learn more about the causes and costs of the delay.

Peregrine in Peril: Lunar Lander Losing Propellant

January 8, 2024.  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]

First Lunar Lander in More Than 50 years On Its Way

January 8, 2024. 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.

Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: December 18, 2023-January 8, 2024

January 8, 2024. Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com over the last three weeks, December 18, 2023 – January 8, 2024, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.