Washington Updates

During June, space-related bills continued to move on Capitol Hill. On the civil side, on June 3, the House adopted an amendment sponsored by Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) and co-sponsored by Bill Posey (R-FL) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), which added $250,000 to the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) in the FY2016 Transportation-Housing and Urban…

The month of May was a transformative time for many pieces of space legislation. Legislative proposals for civil, commercial and national security space were introduced, marked up and voted on. Here’s a top-line view of where they stand at present. Civil Space: On May 20, the House Appropriations Committee approved the FY16 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations…

While our entire Space Foundation team was focused on executing the 31st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, significant developments were taking place throughout the month here in Washington. After a unanimous vote on April 27, Dava Newman was confirmed by the Senate as Deputy Administrator of NASA. Newman will succeed Lori Garver, who departed NASA…

Wanda Austin, Ph.D., Aerospace Corporation president and CEO, has been selected by President Barack Obama to serve on President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Austin also serves on the Space Foundation Board of Directors. PCAST is an advisory group of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers who directly advise the President and the…

by Jillianne Pierce, Space Foundation Government Affairs Associate With the President’s Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) Budget Request released in February, March is generally a busy time for committees on the Hill to begin to adjudicate all portions of the federal budget. This March, space was no exception. On March 3, the U.S. Senate Committee on…

Space Foundation Chief Executive Officer Elliot Pulham was a featured speaker at The Planetary Society’s workshop Humans Orbiting Mars, held March 31 and April 1, and hosted by the Space Policy Institute, George Washington University. The workshop theme was “A Critical Step in an Executable, Affordable and Sustainable Mars Exploration Program,” with the goal of…