Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for October 3, 2022: Jared Isaacman talks Polaris Dawn, Hubble, and Mars; Crew-5 hopefully on track for launch Wednesday; Starliner-1 crew members announced. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of October 2-8, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess except for pro forma sessions.
Lt. Gen. Bradley Chance Saltzman was confirmed this week to be the new Chief of Space Operations of the U.S. Space Force. His promotion to General was also approved. Saltzman will be only the second person to serve as CSO, succeeding Gen. Jay Raymond who took the reins the moment Space Force became a reality on December 20, 2019.
NASA said today it will wait until November to make the next attempt to launch the Artemis I test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Hurricane Ian forced the agency to roll Artemis I back to the safety of the Vehicle Assembly Building. NASA will take advantage of the opportunity to do a thorough checkout and skip the October launch period. A specific launch date will be announced later.
The iconic Hubble Space Telescope, repaired and upgraded five times by astronauts on NASA’s space shuttle, may be getting another visit. Today NASA and SpaceX revealed they are studying whether it is possible to send astronauts back to Hubble one more time on a Crew Dragon. If so, billionaire Jared Issacman may use one of his three Polaris missions to do just that.
The return of three Russian crew members from the International Space Station today as part of an ongoing crew rotation involving U.S., Russian, European and Japanese astronauts underscores again how the ISS partnership is an oasis amidst deteriorating terrestrial relationships. As Russian President Vladmir Putin is poised to annex part of Ukraine and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow advises all U.S. citizens to leave Russia, the routine do-si-do of ISS crews belies the grim geopolitical environment here on Earth.
The launch of NASA’s Artemis I Moon rocket is not the only casualty of Hurricane Ian, which is bearing down on Florida at this very moment. NASA also is postponing the launch of Crew-5 to the International Space Station and the United Launch Alliance is delaying the launch of two commercial communications satellites for SES. The Crew-5 and SES launches are expected to slip just a couple of days, but NASA may wait until November to try the Artemis I launch again.
A spacecraft smashed into an asteroid this evening. No worries, that’s what it was supposed to do. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, tested whether the kinetic energy imparted during a collision could change an asteroid’s orbit. This asteroid, Dimorphos, the tiny moon of another asteroid, Didymos, poses no threat to Earth, but asteroids have plagued our planet in the past and this could be a method for deflecting them in the future.
With Hurricane Ian headed to Florida, NASA has decided to roll the Artemis I Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the safety of the Vehicle Assembly Building. The 322-foot tall rocket is currently at Launch Complex-39B, completely exposed to whatever weather conditions Ian brings to the Space Coast. First movement is planned tonight at 11:00 pm ET for the 4-mile trip, which takes 8-12 hours.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 25-October 1, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session for part of the week.