The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved its version of the FY2019 Transportation-HUD (THUD) funding bill that includes FAA’s space office. Like the House, it ignored the Trump Administration’s proposal to reduce funding for the office and increased it instead. The Senate committee approved a smidgen more than its House counterpart.
The Senate plans to begin debate on its version of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) tomorrow. Unlike the House-passed bill, the Senate version does not make any broad changes to how DOD is organized to manage its space programs. The House Appropriations Committee released its FY2019 DOD appropriations bill today. Subcommittee markup is tomorrow.
Six weeks into his new job, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine fielded questions from reporters today about a variety of NASA programs and the agency’s future. By coincidence, the media roundtable took place the same day the Pew Research Center released a new survey of American opinions about NASA indicating the public is more interested in studying climate science than sending astronauts to the Moon or Mars, but continues to hold NASA in high esteem.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for June 5, 2018: Northrop Grumman-Orbital ATK merger gets government approval; CSIS and SWF talk counterspace threats. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
Former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin is the new Director of Russia’s space state corporation Roscosmos. Famous in U.S. space circles for tweeting that America could use a trampoline to get to the International Space Station (ISS) instead of Russian rockets, he was dismissed from his earlier job by Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly after Putin won reelection last month. He is a controversial individual who has been under U.S. and European sanctions since 2014.
NASA is in the process of evaluating the report from the Independent Review Board chaired by Tom Young to assess the status of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Established in March, the Board was due to submit its report on May 31. NASA said today that the Board has completed its work and briefed NASA. The report will be released later this month after NASA determines the impact on cost and schedule.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of June 3-9, 2018 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for May 31, 2018: NASA makes 10 ISRU contract awards; Luca Parmitano to return to ISS; public comment sought on NOAA satellite architecture study. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for May 29, 2018: astrophysics Decadal Survey to remain on schedule; Jeff Bezos and the Moon; shuttle astronaut Don Peterson dies. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
China is planning to launch a three-module China Space Station (CSS) that will be ready for operations around 2022. In cooperation with the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), it is seeking applications from U.N. member states, especially developing countries, to conduct experiments there. As part of its solicitation, it is sharing a 24-page handbook describing in broad terms the research capabilities that will be available.