What’s Happening in Space Policy August 25-August 31, 2024

What’s Happening in Space Policy August 25-August 31, 2024

By Marcia Smith | Posted: August 25, 2024 3:06 pm ET | Last Updated: August 25, 2024 5:23 pm ET

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of August 25-31, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess until September 9 except for pro forma sessions.

During the Week

It’s shaping up to be a busy week.

At the first part of an Agency Flight Readiness Review (FRR) yesterday, NASA decided to return the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test capsule back to Earth empty. The second part of the FRR will take place this week to decide exactly when to do that.

Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test capsule docked to the ISS Harmony module’s forward port.  July 3, 2024. Credit: NASA

Ken Bowersox, head of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said the second part of the FRR would take place this Wednesday or Thursday. Hopefully they’ll have another news conference or media teleconference afterwards. So far they’ve said only that undocking will be in early September. The landing opportunities occur four days apart and September 2 and September 6 have long been mentioned as possible dates, though September 2 was in the context of a crewed landing as it was the end of the 90 days for which the Crew Module batteries were recertified.  If we learn of any media events, we’ll post it on our Calendar.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the two NASA astronauts who flew Starliner up to ISS, will return on a SpaceX Crew Dragon that is getting ready to launch on September 24 as part of the regular 6-month ISS crew rotations, Crew-9. Two of the four crew members who were supposed to fly on Crew-9 will have to wait for another chance so their seats are available for Butch and Suni to use to come home when this rotation, or “increment,” ends in February.

But Crew-9 is not the next Crew Dragon in queue. SpaceX not only launches crews for NASA, but private astronauts on completely unrelated missions. Early Tuesday morning, SpaceX will launch the Polaris Dawn mission with four private citizens — billionaire Jared Isaacman who is bankrolling the project, Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon — from Kennedy Space Center.  They are on a 5-day mission that will take them to an altitude higher than any other earth-orbiting astronauts have been, 1,400 kilometers (870 miles). They’ll then lower the altitude by half and conduct the world’s first private spacewalk. Gillis and Menon are SpaceX engineers who worked with Isaacman on his first spaceflight, Inspiration4, which like this one is using the opportunity to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Crew of Polaris Dawn private astronaut mission, L-R: Jared Isaacman, Anna Menon, Sarah Gillis, Scott “Kidd” Poteet. Credit: Polaris Program

Also in human spaceflight this week, Blue Origin will launch its next suborbital mission from West Texas on Thursday. Six passengers will make a 10 minute flight on New Shepard-26 (NS-26) above the internationally recognized line of demarcation between air and space, 100 kilometers (62 miles). Among the passengers is University of Florida Distinguished Professor Robert Ferl, a leading microgravity researcher who will finally get a chance to personally conduct an experiment in space.  According to the UFL website, the research is “on how the transition to and from microgravity impacts gene expression in cells and, more broadly, to develop protocols for future ‘researcher-tended’ suborbital flights.” Ferl co-chaired the most recent Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. His flight is being paid for by NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program and the Biological and Physical Sciences Division of the Science Mission Directorate.

Passengers on Blue Origin’s New Shepard-26 (NS-26) flight. Credit: Blue Origin

On the national security space front, Thursday is the 5th anniversary of the reestablishment of U.S. Space Command, one of the 11 Unified Combatant Commands that conduct warfighting using personnel and resources from the six military services. One of those services is the U.S. Space Force with which USSPACECOM is often confused. The services, including USSF, “organize, train and equip” personnel who are assigned to the combatant commands as needed.

U.S. Space Command Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting will participate in a webinar on Wednesday to highlight the 5th anniversary of the reestablishment of USSPACECOM.

The Mitchell Institute will highlight the anniversary the day before with a live Schriever Spacepower Series webinar from USSPACECOM’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, CO. USSPACECOM Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting will be there along with other top command officers. A U.S. Space Command existed from 1985-2002, but was abolished after the 2001 terrorist attacks when threats against the homeland were more pressing than threats in space. Then-President Trump reestablished USSPACECOM in 2019 as the space domain started becoming more perilous.

That’s just one of several national security space events this week. Among the others is one sponsored by the Aerospace Corporation and George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute on Thursday. It doesn’t state that it’s connected to the 5th anniversary, but it is that day.  The registration website says the event is sold out, but it is listed as a hybrid event with a virtual option. The State Department’s Mallory Stewart, Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, will give a keynote address, followed by panels on “High Ground or High Fantasy: Defense Utility of Cislunar Space” and “Exotic Space Warfighting: Importance of Sustained Maneuver.”

Also, Space News will hold a webinar tomorrow (Monday) on “Space: The Next Frontier of Strategic Competition”; the 2024 AFCEA/INSA Intelligence & National Security Summit is Tuesday-Wednesday in Bethesda, MD; and CSIS will hold a virtual book talk with Aaron Bateman, author of “Weapons in Space: Technology, Policy, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative,” on Wednesday.

The NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee (NAC-HEO) meets on Thursday to discuss Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate programs including the Moon to Mars strategy.

Not sure if it’s related, but just after NAC-HEO ends at 3:00 pm ET, NASA will hold a WebEx meeting with the Interagency Nuclear Safety Review Board (INSRB) that was established in 2020. The Federal Register notice says it’s being held because there are “misunderstandings” about INSRB’s role and this is a chance to get questions answered. Should be interesting.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below. Check back throughout the week for others we learn about later and add to our Calendar or changes to these.

Sunday-Saturday, August 25-August 31 (continued from yesterday)

Monday, August 26

Monday-Wednesday, August 26-28

Tuesday, August 27

Tuesday-Wednesday, August 27-28

Wednesday, August 28

Thursday, August 29

Last Updated: Aug 25, 2024 5:23 pm ET

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