Public Policy and Government Affairs

Last month, President Obama signed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 into law to avoid a government shutdown and fund the Federal government through the final six months of the 2013 fiscal year. While the bill provides the Department of Defense and NASA with an updated budget for FY 2013, rather than have…

A number of oversight hearings affecting space and cyberspace were held during March in Washington, D.C. The following is an overview of those hearings: Senate Armed Services Committee  “U.S. Strategic Command and U.S. Cyber Command in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2014 and the Future Years Defense Program” March 12 Testimony at…

Space Foundation Chief Executive Officer Elliot Pulham heavily cited the Space Foundation’s recent publication, PIONEERING: Sustaining U.S. Leadership in Space, when he testified before the Subcommittee on Space Feb. 27 in Washington, D.C. The Subcommittee, which is part of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, held the hearing to review The Space…

The Space Foundation has updated our document that outlines committee and subcommittee assignments for the 113th Congress. The update includes recent action by several key committees to assign members to subcommittees with direct oversight for space and cybersecurity policy matters. The Senate Strategic Forces Subcommittee announced its leadership and membership roster for the 113th Congress:…

The Senate Armed Services Committee held an oversight hearing in February on “Impacts of Sequestration and/or a full-year Continuing Resolution (CR) on the Department of Defense.” Testimony made at the hearing indicated that sequestration and the full-year Continuing Resolution will have a deleterious impact on the DoD’s future readiness and ability to transition away from…

The Space Foundation, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and Secure World Foundation (SWF) teamed up to host a luncheon and panel discussion on Capitol Hill on Feb. 20 to address the importance of sustainability in outer space. The briefing was a reminder for policy makers that the United States relies upon space…

Inspired by the Space Foundation’s PIONEERING: Sustaining U.S. Leadership in Space report, Space Foundation Special Advisor – Human Spaceflight (and former NASA astronaut) Dr. Leroy Chiao penned an editorial that appeared on Discovery.com Jan. 24. Talking about the current state of manned space travel, Chiao says “What happened? Did America somehow lose, or see a diminished pioneering…

The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, in partnership with the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and the Colorado Space Coalition – will hold a half-day event from 9:00-11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 5, at the History Colorado Center, 1200 Broadway, Denver, focused on the best ways to advance…

Two students from the MIT Externship Program spent their winter Independent Activity Period between fall and spring semesters as interns at the Space Foundation’s Washington, D.C., office. In addition to exposure to government affairs and space policy activities, they assisted with the production of the soon-to-be-published The Space Report 2013. The two interns are: Claire…

When the Space Shuttle program ended in July 2011, the United States lost its capacity to launch humans into space. U.S. astronauts are now flying to space in Russian spacecraft, and if the nation does regain such a capability, it may be provided by commercial companies. In the interim, NASA has initiated the development of…