The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will consider the nominations of James Morhard to be NASA Deputy Administrator and Kelvin Droegemeier to be Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) next week.  Morhard’s nomination took many by surprise.  He has no aerospace experience and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine had publicly advocated for someone else.  Droegemeier’s nomination has been greeted with praise across-the-board.

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Russia’s space state corporation Roscosmos announced Sunday that NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will meet with Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin in October at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.  A NASA spokeswoman said today, however, that details of Bridenstine’s trip to see the Soyuz MS-10 launch “are still being worked on and are not confirmed.”

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Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for August 14, 2018:  U.S. worries about “abnormal behavior” of Russian satellite; CNBC reports on possible SpaceX connection in Tesla buyout proposal.  Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.

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In a ceremony at Fort Drum, NY, today, President Donald Trump signed into the law the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  Coming just four days after Vice President Mike Pence laid out the Administration’s goal to create a Department of the Space Force in next year’s NDAA, the President used a portion of his remarks to reiterate the threats he sees as necessitating that action.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next THREE weeks, August 13-August 31, 2018 and any insight we can offer about them. The House is in recess (except for pro forma sessions) through September 4.  The Senate returns to work this Wednesday, August 15, after a truncated August break.

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NASA will try again to launch the Parker Solar Probe on Sunday morning at 3:31 am ET.  The first attempt was scrubbed this morning 1 minute and 55 seconds before launch because of a “gaseous helium red pressure alarm” in the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket.  ULA later confirmed that another attempt will made Sunday.  The weather forecast, however, is only 60 percent “go.” [UPDATE, AUGUST 12:  Liftoff took place at 3:31 am ET on Sunday, August 12.]

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Vice President Pence announced today that the Trump Administration wants to stand up a sixth military department, a U.S. Department of the Space Force, by 2020. The Administration will request the needed funding and statutory authority from Congress in its FY2020 budget request, which should be sent to Congress in February 2019. The Administration’s goal is for Congress to include the new authority in the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

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Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for August 8, 2018:  NASA picks 10 “tipping point” technology ideas; NASA gives credit where credit is due; South Africa’s Peter Martinez is new head of Secure World Foundation.  Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released its mid-term review of the 2011 planetary science Decadal Survey today.  Mid-term reviews assess how well NASA is implementing the Decadal Survey’s recommendations.  Overall, NASA is doing a good job, it says, but the costs for the Europa Clipper mission and the future of the robotic Mars exploration program are worrisome.

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CNN and other media outlets are reporting that Vice President Mike Pence will speak at the Pentagon on Thursday about the Space Force.  We asked the Vice President’s office for confirmation, but did not receive a reply by press time.  We will update this article if/when we do.  Secretary of Defense Mattis addressed the Space Force issue during a press gaggle today. [UPDATE, August 8:  An Administration official confirms to SpacePolicyOnline.com that the Vice President will deliver remarks at the Pentagon on August 9 regarding creation of a Space Force.]

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