Washington Updates

This week, Richard Branson and the Unity 22 crew, comprised of Sirisha Bandla, Beth Moses, Coplin Bennet, and pilots Michael Masucci and Dave Mackay, successfully completed the first fully crewed flight for Virgin Galactic and made a giant leap towards commercial suborbital spaceflight. Next week, Blue Origin will fly the oldest and youngest people ever…

The week the Senate is out of session while the House Appropriations Defense Committee held closed markup sessions. Over 50 years in the making, Mary Wallace “Wally” Funk will fly to space.  Richard Branson announced July 11 as the new spaceflight date. Additionally, the space community remembers the Soyuz 11 crew, the only spacefarers to…

This week the House and Senate held hearings for FY2022 budget requests. Juneteenth becomes first new U.S. National Holiday in nearly 40 years. Pam Melroy was confirmed as NASA Deputy Administrator and Rick Spinrad also passed on voice vote to become NOAA Administrator. Sign Up for Space Symposium 365 Register here to access key events…

This week, Eric Lander was sworn in as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). NASA announced two new exciting missions, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, to Venus at the State of NASA event. Register for the 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs this August Confirmed Speakers for Space Symposium include: Senator…

The space community celebrated National Space Day last week. This week, the House voted on a bundle of STEM bills and held a hearing with Administrator Nelson on the FY2022 Budget for NASA. The Senate held a nomination hearing for Pam Melroy to be Deputy Administrator of NASA, and Rick Spinrad to be Under Secretary…

This week, Vice President Harris swore in former Senator Bill Nelson as the 14th NASA Administrator. The space community celebrated May the Fourth. Register for the 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs this August This year Space Symposium will be a hybrid event, providing both live programming for in-person attendees, as well as digital access…