Keep Exploring: Ex-NASA official at CU’s Conference on World Affairs: ‘We have to keep exploring’ Former NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman told the audience at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Conference on World Affairs that space exploration must go forward. “All of this exploring is not for the faint of heart,” explained Newman. “But… [Continue Reading]
Orion and Space Launch System Senate Letter to President: Hatch Urges Continued Support of Space Explorationin Letter to President Trump Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the senior Republican in the United States Senate, led 23 of his colleagues in a letter to President Trump highlighting the importance of space exploration infrastructure, including the SpaceLaunch System (SLS),… [Continue Reading]
Commercial Crew on Schedule for 2018: Commercial Crew on tight but achievable timeline for crewed flights in 2018 Boeing and SpaceX are showing signs of achieving crewed test flights of their CST-100 Starliner and Dragon spacecapsules by the end of 2018. Both are developing systems to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station… [Continue Reading]
President Signs: Trump touts bipartisanship of NASA reauthorization in weekly address In a video address early Saturday, President Trump pointed to his signing of the 2017 NASA Transition Authorization Act last week as an effective example of Washington bipartisanship. The president said with the NASA Transition Authorization Act, “we renew our national commitment to NASA’s… [Continue Reading]
NASA Funding: FY2018 budget may be topic A, but FY2017 still not settled Though Congress is soon to get more details from the Administration on the proposed 2018 budget, the White House and lawmakers must still come to terms on a spending plan for 2017. Unable to agree on a budget last year, lawmakers and… [Continue Reading]
Senate: Senate passes 2017 NASA Transition Authorization Act The U.S. Senate passed an updated NASA authorization measure on Friday, one similar to a House measure approved in the last Congress. Formulated with bi-partisan support, the Senate measure urges NASA to study how the Orion capsule might serve as a backup to the commercial crew vehicles… [Continue Reading]
New ISS Airlock: The International Space Station will get a new, private airlock in 2019 Houston-based Nanoracks has reached an agreement with NASA for the installation of a cargo airlock on the U.S. segment of the International Space Station, possibly at the Tranquility module. Boeing will assemble and install a compatible berthing mechanism. The new… [Continue Reading]
Orion Update: Insider exclusive: Orion designed to keep crew in the ‘loop’ Lockheed Martin, NASA’s prime contractor for development of the Orion crew module, is paying close attention to the requirements and limitations of future crew members as it proceeds, according to the company’s crew module director. Work is underway at NASA’s Johnson Space Center… [Continue Reading]
Commercial Crew: Commercial crew providers remain confident in schedules Prepare for the inaugural launches of astronauts by Boeing and SpaceX in 2018, representatives of the two companies are declaring in response to a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office audit that cautions the flights could be delayed until 2019. Boeing’s Starliner 100 and SpaceX’s crewed Dragon are… [Continue Reading]
Crewed EM-1 Mission: Panel urges caution as NASA studies flying crew on first SLS; ESA deal hinges on what Trump does with NASA’s human spaceflight plans;NASA just got real about returning to the moon; Expert panel supports study to accelerate first crewed SLS mission; Trump makes NASA add astronauts to moon mission, could save $10… [Continue Reading]