What’s Happening in Space Policy July 26-August 2, 2020
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of July 26-August 2, 2020 (extending a day into next week) and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session for most of this week, but the House (and the Senate?) will recess on Tuesday to participate in events honoring the late Rep. John Lewis.
During the Week
If all goes according to plan, this will be a very eventful week for the U.S. space program — the launch of Mars Perseverance on Thursday and the return of the SpaceX Demo-2 crewed test flight Saturday-Sunday (we’re including next Sunday in this week’s list since events will be underway before we post our next “What’s Happening”).
NASA has a slew of media briefings throughout the week for both events. Links and other details are in our calendar entries, but here’s a quick summary.
- Mars Perseverance
- Monday, Pre-Launch News Conference, 1:00 pm ET
- Monday, Mission Engineering and Science Briefing, 3:00 pm ET
- Tuesday, Mars Sample Return Briefing, 2:00 pm ET
- Tuesday, Mission Tech and Humans to Mars, 4:00 pm ET
- Wednesday, NASA Administrator and Center Director Briefing, 12:00 pm ET
- Thursday, Launch, 7:50 am ET (NASA TV begins 7:00 am ET)
- Thursday, Post-Launch Briefing, 11:30 am ET
- Demo-2
- Wednesday, Return to Earth Flight Readiness Review Briefing, approximately 6:00 pm ET
- Friday, Crew News Conference from ISS, 10:45 am ET
- Saturday-Sunday, undocking and splashdown
- Farewell ceremony on ISS, Saturday, 9:10 am ET
- Undocking, Saturday, 7:34 pm ET (NASA TV begins 5:15 pm ET and continues through splashdown)
- Splashdown, Sunday, 2:42 pm ET
- Tuesday, August 4, post-landing Crew News Conference, 4:30 pm ET (thought we’d put this one in here, too, even though it’s next week)
Also this week, the House plans to take up a package of FY2021 appropriations bills that includes Commerce-Justice-Science (NASA and NOAA), Defense, and Transportation-HUD (FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, FAA/AST). They are part of a seven-bill “minibus,” H.R. 7617 (the bill number of the Defense Appropriations bill). Defense is Division A, CJS is Division B, and THUD is Division G. The other bills in the package are Energy-Water, Financial Services, Homeland Security, and Labor-HHS.
The Rules Committee meets Tuesday to decide which amendments will be considered on the floor. Lots have been introduced for each division of the bill. The first FY2021 minibus, consisting of four bills, passed last week. If this second minibus passes as planned, only the Legislative Branch appropriations bill — which funds Congress itself — will be left for consideration.
The Rules Committee and other House committees are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, but the House itself will be in recess to honor the late Rep. John Lewis, who passed away last week. He will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol on Monday and Tuesday. We haven’t heard if the Senate chamber also will be in recess on Tuesday.
Adding to the busy week, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday afternoon on the nomination of Army Lt. Gen. James Dickinson to be Commander of U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM), succeeding Gen. Jay Raymond who is currently dual-hatted in that position as well as Chief of Space Operations (head of the U.S. Space Force). Dickinson is currently Deputy Commander of USSPACECOM. Previously he was Commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command and Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense. The hearing will also consider the nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Glen VanHerck to be Commander of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). He currently is Director of the Joint Staff for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both would also get promoted to General.
And just one more highlight — the National Space Council’s Users’ Advisory Group (UAG) is scheduled to meet on Thursday from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm ET. One can only imagine they scheduled that before anyone knew it’s the same morning as the Perseverance launch and the post-launch briefing will be taking place at 11:30 am ET. Perhaps they’ll push the UAG meeting later in the day — or even to a different day — now that July 30 is looking pretty certain for the launch (that is to say, as certain as any launch can be).
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.
Monday, July 27
- Mars Perserverance Pre-Launch News Conference, virtual, 1:00 pm ET (NASA TV)
- Mars Perseverance Mission Engineering and Science Briefing, 3:00 pm ET (NASA TV)
Tuesday, July 28
- State of the Space Industrial Base 2020 (CSIS/DIU), virtual, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
- House Rules Committee Meets on FY2021 Minibus Appropriations, virtual, 11:00 am ET
- Virgin Galactic Cabin Reveal, virtual, 1:00 pm ET
- NASA Mars Sample Return Briefing, virtual, 2:00 pm ET (NASA TV)
- SASC Nomination Hearing on Lt. Gen. James Dickinson to be USSPACECOM Commander, 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building, 2:30 pm ET (webcast)
- NASA Briefing on Mission Tech and Humans to Mars, virtual, 4:00 pm ET
Tuesday-Wednesday, July 28-29
Tuesday-Thursday, July 28-30
Wednesday, July 29
- Spaceflight Safety: Looking Back, Looking Ahead (SWF), virtual, 10:00-11:30 am ET
- Boeing 2Q2020 Financial Results Telecon, virtual, 10:30 am ET
- NASA Administrator and Center Director Briefing on Mars Perseverance, virtual, 12:00 pm ET
- SpaceX Demo-2 Return to Earth Flight Readiness Review Briefing, Johnson Space Center, approx 6:00 pm ET (NASA TV)
Wednesday-Friday, July 29-30
- National Academies Committee on Future Use of NASA Airborne Platforms to Advance Earth Science Priorities, virtual
- House of Representatives to Consider FY2021 Minibus Appropriations Bill Including CJS, Defense, and THUD (time TBA)
Thursday, July 30
- Launch of Mars Perseverance, 7:50 am ET (NASA TV begins 7:00 am ET)
- Northrop Grumman 2Q2020 Financial Results Telecon, virtual, 9:00 am ET
- National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group, virtual, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm ET
- Mars Perseverance Post-Launch Briefing, virtual, 11:30 am ET
- Removing Obstacles and Streamlining Launch (Aerospace Corp.), virtual, 1:00 pm ET
Friday, July 31
- Quest for a Legal Frontier Between Airspace and Outer Space (IASL/IAASS), virtual, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm ET
- SpaceX Demo-2 Crew News Conference from ISS, Earth orbit, 10:45 am ET
- Justice in Space (ABA), virtual, 1:00-1:30 pm ET
Saturday-Sunday, August 1-2
- Return of SpaceX Demo-2 Crew (Continuous NASA TV coverage 5:15 pm Saturday through splashdown on Sunday)
- Saturday, Farewell Ceremony on ISS, 9:10 am ET (NASA TV)
- Saturday, undocking, 7:34 pm ET
- Sunday, splashdown, 2:42 pm ET
Saturday-Thursday, August 1-6
- 34th Small Satellite Conference (virtual)
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