What's Happening in Space Policy August 18-29, 2014 – UPDATED

UPDATE:  We’ve added the Ancient Earth, Ancient Aliens event on August 20, which we just found out about..

Here is our list of space policy-related events for the next TWO weeks, August 18-29, 2014, and any insight we can offer about them.  Congress returns on September 8.

During the Weeks

At last, things have quieted down for these last two weeks of August.   Perhaps what is most interesting is what’s NOT on the calendar — two U.S. spacewalks from the ISS that were supposed to take place in addition to the Russian spacewalk tomorrow.   NASA is still recovering from the alarming failure last summer when water filled Luca Parmitano’s spacesuit helmet while he was out on a spacewalk.  NASA determined that a blocked filter caused the problem and replaced the filters on the spacesuits and added other safety features, but still has not approved routine U.S. spacewalks.  Only contingency spacewalks required to address specific issues are allowed.  Two were scheduled for August 21 and August 29, but NASA postponed them because of concerns about the spacesuit batteries.  The next SpaceX cargo resupply flight on September 19 will deliver replacements and the spacewalks will be rescheduled.  NASA officials reportedly met last week to review whether to resume routine spacewalks, but the agency has not issued any press statements to that effect yet.

The Russians have their own spacesuits, Orlan, and are not affected by the concerns about the U.S. suits.   Oleg Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov will perform a 6.5 hour spacewalk — or extravehicular activity (EVA) — to retrieve two experiments on the exterior of the ISS and install two new ones, and deploy a nanosatellite.  NASA TV coverage begins at 9:30 am ET.

That and other events during the next two weeks that we know about as of Sunday morning are listed below.

Monday, August 18

• Russian Spacewalk at ISS, NASA TV coverage begins at 9:30 am ET

Tuesday, August 19

• MSBR Luncheon Featuring NASA’s Mike Gazarik, Martin’s Crosswinds, Greenbelt, MD, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET

Wednesday, August 20

• ESA Pre-Launch Press Briefing for upcoming launch of next Galileo satellites, AUDIO ONLY, 13:00 CEST (7:00 am ET) [contact ESA media relations by August 18 for dial-in instructions]
• NASA-NSF-Smithsonian Panel on Ancient Earth, Ancient Aliens, NASA HQ auditorium, Washington, DC, 5:30-6:30 pm ET

Monday-Wednesday, August 25-27

• NRC Committee on Survey of Surveys: Lessons Learned from the Decadal Survey Process, NRC Keck Center, 500 5th St., NW, Washington, DC (some sessions are closed — see agenda for details)