Washington Updates

This Week in Washington The Dominican Republic and Estonia have officially joined the Artemis Accords as the 44th and 45th signatories. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is participating in an official visit to Romania and Bulgaria to meet with key government and space officials. SpaceX completed the fifth test flight of its Starship rocket, successfully “catching”…

This Week in Washington The House of Representatives passed the NASA Reauthorization Act in a 366-21 vote. The bill now advances to the Senate for consideration. Colonel Nick Hague is the first Guardian to launch into space as part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. NASA and the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) signed a MoU to…

This Week in Washington The HSST Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing on “Encouraging Commercial Space Innovation While Maintaining Public Safety” which addressed challenges related to the FAA’s Part 450 launch and reentry licensing requirements. Read Space Foundation’s summary of the hearing here. Congress voted to pass the Launch Communications Act which would modernize…

This Week in Washington The House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics will hold a hearing next week on commercial space activities. NASA announced that Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will undock from the ISS on Friday evening and return to Earth early Saturday. At the U.S.-Japan Comprehensive Dialogue on Space, both countries reaffirmed…

This Week in Washington NASA announced a media event on August 24 with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson to discuss the Boeing Crew Test Flight. John Hill assumed the role of Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy. The FAA postponed public hearings on the environmental review for increased SpaceX Starship launches from Texas. United States Space Policy Updates…

This Week in Washington Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced S.4952, the Dark and Quiet Skies Act. Canada and the U.S. have concluded negotiations for the Canada-U.S. Technology Safeguards Agreement. NASA is evaluating options to have astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew to the ISS aboard the Boeing CST-100 Starliner,…