NASA’s Cassini spacecraft melted into Saturn’s atmosphere today, ending the 20-year mission that sent back troves of data about Saturn, its many moons, and its glorious rings. Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker captured the mood by noting that if there was one thing she could say to the probe, it would be “Thanks for the ringside seat….We’ll be back.”
Here are our tidbits for today, September 14, 2017. These are nuggets that may not warrant a full-length article, but we hope you will find interesting. Enjoy!
The House passed H.R. 3354 today, a bundle of eight of the 12 regular FY2018 appropriations bills. It includes the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill that funds NASA and NOAA, and the Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) bill that funds the FAA’s space office. The House passed another bundle in July with the other four regular appropriations bills, including defense. That means that for the first time in a long time, the House has passed all of the 12 regular appropriations bills before the beginning of the fiscal year. It’s still a long way from completion, but a milestone nonetheless.
Welcome to SpacePolicyOnline.com’s new feature Today’s Tidbits. Events and other happenings of interest to space policy aficionados occur frequently that do not lend themselves to full length stories. We often tweet about them (@SpcPlcyOnline), but not everyone uses Twitter. Today’s Tidbits will capture those we think are of most interest, and, where appropriate, point you to our Twitter feed just in case you are a tweep, but haven’t had time to look through your timeline. We may also reference other sources for anyone who wants to get a fuller picture. We hope you find it useful.
Here is our list of space policy events for the week of September 11-15, 2017 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
In remarkably short order, the House and Senate have passed a bill that provides an initial $15 billion in hurricane relief and keeps the government operating and extends the debt limit and the flood insurance program until December 8, 2017. President Trump has indicated that he will sign it into law. It is a short term solution, but one that will be welcomed in many quarters. [UPDATE: President Trump signed the bill into law this afternoon (Friday)].
The first of NOAA’s new generation of polar orbiting weather satellites, JPSS-1, is now scheduled for launch on November 10, 2017 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. The launch has been delayed several times and most recently had been scheduled for this month.
President Trump had a phone call with NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer to welcome them home yesterday. The two landed in Kazakhstan on Saturday night and flew back to Houston via Cologne, Germany. He congratulated them and called the record-breaking Whitson an “inspiration to us all.”
President Trump’s nomination of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) to be the next NASA Administrator has raised questions about what qualifications are needed to serve in that position. SpacePolicyOnline.com has created a new fact sheet summarizing the educational background and professional experience of previous NASA Administrators.
Here is our list of space policy events for the week of September 4-8, 2017 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.