Today NASA announced a new organizational structure to carry out its program of human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Amit Kshatriya will lead the new Moon to Mars Program Office. The move responds to congressional direction in the 2022 NASA Authorization Act.
NASA and Roscosmos are studying data from the reentry of the damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft to determine whether astronauts would have been able to survive conditions inside the capsule. Soyuz MS-22 returned to Earth empty yesterday because all of its coolant escaped into space in December and the two agencies did not want to expose the Russian-American crew to unknown risks.The crew is still aboard ISS and will return in a replacement spacecraft in September with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio setting a new American duration record of 371 days in space.
The Crew Flight Test of Boeing’s commercial crew spacecraft, CST-100 Starliner, has slipped again by several months. NASA and Boeing said today the test flight carrying two NASA astronauts will take place no earlier than July 21 and even that date is contingent on deconflicting with a U.S. Space Force launch about the same time.
Lockheed Martin has created a subsdiary, Crescent, to provide communications and navigation services on the Moon. Crescent will own and operate a constellation of satellites around the Moon to enable uninterrupted communications between Earth and people and spacecraft in orbit and on the lunar surface, including the farside.
The first woman to head NASA’s human spaceflight enterprise will retire at the end of April, NASA announced today. Kathy Lueders will be succeeded by her deputy, former astronaut Ken Bowersox, effective May 1. Bowersox has extensive experience not only flying in space, but in top positions in what is now the Space Operations Mission Directorate.
Here are links to all the articles published on SpacePolicyOnline.com during the week of March 19-26, 2023, including our “What’s Happening in Space Policy” for this coming week. Click on the titles to read the entire articles.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of March 26-April 1, 2023. The House and Senate are in session this week at least through Thursday before both head out for a two-week spring break.
Canada now has joined Japan and the European Space Agency in committing to continued support of the International Space Station through 2030. The announcement was made today during President Biden’s visit to Canada where he addressed the Canadian Parliament and highlighted the imminent announcement of the Artemis II crew, which will include a Canadian astronaut.
Blue Origin said today the failure of the New Shepard-23 launch last September was due to an engine nozzle failure. No one was injured. The capsule was carrying a variety of scientific payloads, not people, and landed safely. Those payloads will fly again on the next New Shepard flight. The FAA says its investigation remains open while it reviews Blue Origin’s report and FAA approval is needed before that next flight takes place.
The head of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate urged her science community colleagues to stick together as pressures mount on the science budget. Despite a record level of funding in the FY2024 budget request, inflation, lingering supply chain issues, and the monetary demands of high priority flagship missions mean some projects will be delayed. Rather than focusing on what is not in the request, however, she wants the community to rally around what is there.