Weekly Roundup For SpacePolicyOnline.com: March 26-April 2, 2023

Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of March 26-April 2, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on the titles to read the entire articles.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SPACE POLICY APRIL 2-8, 2023

April 2, 2023. Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 2-8, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are on spring break (except for pro forma sessions) until April 17.

NASA ESTABLISHES MOON TO MARS PROGRAM OFFICE

March 30, 2023. Today NASA announced a new organizational structure to carry out its program of human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Amit Kshatriya will lead the new Moon to Mars Program Office. The move responds to congressional direction in the 2022 NASA Authorization Act.

NASA AND ROSCOSMOS ASSESSING CONDITIONS INSIDE SOYUZ MS-22 DURING REENTRY

March 29, 2023. NASA and Roscosmos are studying data from the reentry of the damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft to determine whether astronauts would have been able to survive conditions inside the capsule. Soyuz MS-22 returned to Earth empty yesterday because all of its coolant escaped into space in December and the two agencies did not want to expose the Russian-American crew to unknown risks.The crew is still aboard ISS and will return in a replacement spacecraft in September with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio setting a new American duration record of 371 days in space.

STARLINER CREW FLIGHT TEST SLIPS AGAIN, NOW JULY AT THE EARLIEST

March 29, 2023. The Crew Flight Test of Boeing’s commercial crew spacecraft, CST-100 Starliner, has slipped again by several months. NASA and Boeing said today the test flight carrying two NASA astronauts will take place no earlier than July 21 and even that date is contingent on deconflicting with a U.S. Space Force launch about the same time.

LOCKHEED MARTIN TO OFFER COMMUNICATIONS, NAVIGATION SERVICES ON THE MOON

March 28, 2023. Lockheed Martin has created a subsdiary, Crescent, to provide communications and navigation services on the Moon.  Crescent will own and operate a constellation of satellites around the Moon to enable uninterrupted communications between Earth and people and spacecraft in orbit and on the lunar surface, including the farside.

KEN BOWERSOX TO SUCCEED RETIRING SOMD HEAD KATHY LUEDERS

March 27, 2023.  The first woman to head NASA’s human spaceflight enterprise will retire at the end of April, NASA announced today. Kathy Lueders will be succeeded by her deputy, former astronaut Ken Bowersox, effective May 1. Bowersox has extensive experience not only flying in space, but in top positions in what is now the Space Operations Mission Directorate.

WEEKLY ROUNDUP FOR SPACEPOLICYONLINE.COM: MARCH 19-26, 2023

March 27, 2023.  Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of March 19-26, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on the titles to read the entire articles.