The nomination of Barry Lee Myers to head NOAA cleared the Senate Commerce, Science and  Transportation Committee today on a party-line vote. Nominated by President Trump in 2017 and again in 2018, he was not confirmed by 115th Congress because of controversy over his ties to AccuWeather, which is owed by his brother and where he worked for a large part of his career.  He severed his employment with the company early this year and was renominated in January.

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Boeing and NASA announced another delay to the uncrewed and crewed test flights of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew system today.  The uncrewed test flight now will not take place until at least August.  The crewed test flight will be in “late 2019.”  The agency also said the crewed test flight, whenever it occurs, will be for an “extended mission,” though the duration has not yet been determined.

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The Democratic leaders of the House Science, Space, and Technology (SS&T) Committee gave the Trump Administration’s proposal to put astronauts back on the Moon by 2024 a cool reception today.  Committee chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) asked whether it was just “hot air” — rhetoric without a plan and credible cost estimates.  NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine promised a revised NASA budget request with that information in the next two weeks.

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NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine held a Town Hall meeting with NASA employees today to talk about Vice President Mike Pence’s directive that NASA return astronauts to the Moon by 2024.  The forum was open to other questions, however, and one was about NASA’s reaction to India’s antisatellite (ASAT) test last week.  Bridenstine minced no words.

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Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) have reintroduced their Space Weather Research and Forecasting Act.  The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will mark it up on Wednesday.  This is the third try for the legislation, which passed the Senate in the 115th Congress, but not the House.  Its purpose is to clarify agency roles and responsibilities. [UPDATE: The bill was approved by the committee without amendment on April 3, 2019.]

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The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will meet on Wednesday to mark up several bills including a revised version of the Space Frontier Act.  Last year’s version passed the Senate, but was defeated in the House, during the waning days of the 115th Congress.  The new version is very similar, but adds a section addressing one of the criticisms that doomed it in the House. [UPDATE: The committee approved the bill without amendment on April 3, 2019.]

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of March 31-April 6, 2019 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

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India became the fourth country in the world to demonstrate the ability to destroy a satellite in Earth orbit with a ground-based missile today. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally made the announcement via television.  USAF Lt. Gen. David D. Thompson, Vice Commander of U.S. Air Force Space Command, confirmed the test during an appearance before a Senate committee this afternoon and said the Air Force has identified 270 pieces of space debris so far.

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At its meeting in Huntsville, AL today, the National Space Council adopted the following recommendations unanimously and without debate. The text was provided by the Space Council.

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NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said today that commercial rockets cannot substitute for the Space Launch System on Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1).  He revealed that NASA was studying that possibility at a Senate hearing on March 13.  The analysis showed it would not be feasible within the available time frame and budget, however.  Bridenstine is determined to launch EM-1, an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft around the Moon, in June 2020 despite reports of new SLS schedule delays.

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