Washington Updates

On March 26, the House Science, Space, & Technology Committee held a hearing entitled, “A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Request for Science Agencies.” Members of the Committee agreed that investing in science and innovation was important for the United States’ maintaining a competitive economy and inspiring young people to study science,…

On March 12, the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces held a hearing entitled, “Military Space Programs.” The hearing covered a broad spectrum of issues facing the space community including, concept studies for future military satellite architectures, updates on current satellites under production, the future of EELV competition and the space situational awareness architecture,…

In March, the Space Foundation issued a statement supporting the Administration’s FY15 budget proposal for NASA, calling the budget proposal a “balanced approach to sustaining key NASA programs and capabilities, while increasing emphasis on next generation capabilities — within a budget constrained environment.” “The president’s proposal of $17.46 billion in FY15 funding for NASA is very…

On March 5, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense held a hearing, “National Security Space Launch Programs.” The Department of Defense (DoD) has begun implementation of a new Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) acquisition strategy to maintain reliability and stability in the industrial base, while reducing costs and introducing competition. The first phase of the…

The White House released its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request to Congress on March 4. The budget is normally issued in early February, but was delayed due to a delay in finalizing FY 2014 funding. The Space Foundation has produced two reports, providing overviews and comparisons of the Fiscal Year 2015 budgets. The reports include…

In February, a team from the Space Foundation’s Washington, D.C., office visited Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Va., and toured the mission control centers, as well as the spacecraft manufacturing facilities. It is at this location that the company’s spacecraft are designed, built and tested, including civilian, commercial and national security spacecraft. The tour included a…