Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: October 30-November 5, 2023

Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com in the last week, October 30-November 5, 2023, 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 November 5-11, 2023

November 5, 2023. Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 5-11, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

Babin, Lucas Introduce Commercial Space Bill

November 2, 2023.  The two top Republicans on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee who oversee space activities introduced a long-awaited bill today addressing commercial space activities. Among the many provisions of the comprehensive legislation, the bill expands the responsibilities of the Office of Space Commerce in the Department of Commerce and extends a moratorium on the FAA promulating new commercial human spaceflight regulations.

House Appropriators Detail FY2024 NASA Spending Priorities, MSR Fares Better Than in Senate

November 2, 2023. The House Appropriations Committee has posted the report to accompany the bill that includes FY2024 funding for NASA. The Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee approved the bill months ago and top-level funding levels were made public at the time, but details usually are not provided until a bill passes the full committee. That never happened. With the House getting ready to take up the bill soon, the report is now out. One program that fares much better in the House than in the Senate version is Mars Sample Return.

Iceland and Netherlands Join Artemis Accords

November 2, 2023. NASA heralded another signatory to the Artemis Accords yesterday when the Netherlands joined during a ceremony in Washington, DC.  To the surprise of many, that made Netherlands the 31st country, not the 30th, to join the non-binding principles of responsible behavior on the Moon. With no public fanfare at all, Iceland had joined in October.

Starship Another Step Closer to Second Test Flight

October 31, 2023. SpaceX’s Starship is another step closer today to getting an FAA license to attempt a second orbital flight test. The FAA announced the company has completed all the required corrective actions following its first failed launch in April. Environmental regulators still need to give their approval, however.

Chinese Space Station Crew Back on Earth

October 30, 2023.  The three-man Shenzhou-16 space station crew is back on Earth after 5 months on Tiangong-3. Their replacements arrived a few days ago, continuing China’s practice of keeping Tiangong-3 permanently occupied by crews rotating on 5-6 month schedules just like the International Space Station.  This is new for China, but the ISS is about to celebrate 23 years of permanent occupancy.

Weekly Roundup for SpacePolicyOnline.com: October 23-29, 2023

October 30, 2023. Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com in the last week, October 23-29, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on each title to read the entire article.