Washington Updates

Since 2010, the Space Foundation has held an annual international space cooperation event in the nation’s capitol. On Jan. 22, the Space Foundation celebrated United States and Canadian space cooperation at a reception at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Space Foundation and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the event recognized the…

The update from Washington, D.C., is by Space Foundation Government Affairs Associate Tommy Sanford Dec. 2 – The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Space Launch Liability Indemnification Extension Act, H.R 3547. The bill would extend the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commercial launch indemnification authority for another year. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced a similar…

On Thursday Nov. 21, President Obama signed the new National Space Transportation Policy. Under the policy, NASA will continue to lead the expansion of a domestic commercial space industry for low-Earth orbit transportation, while developing a heavy lift launch capability to take humans further than they have ever explored. This was the product of an…

The update from Washington, D.C., is by Space Foundation Government Affairs Associate Tommy Sanford Nov. 5:  The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence approved S. 1681, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The legislation’s accompanying committee report, S. Rpt. 113-120, contains language that would require the Intelligence Community (IC) to review policies related…

The Space Foundation routinely tracks relevant NASA, NOAA and National Security Space authorization and appropriations bills. Now, with increasing attention to all-things-cyber, the Space Foundation is expanding its reporting to include similarly-styled documents with respect to cyberspace. There are many legislative proposals currently being considered in Congress regarding cybersecurity, and certainly more can be expected.…

On Sept. 20, the House Science, Space, & Technology Subcommittee on Space held a hearing on “NASA Infrastructure: Enabling Discovery and Ensuring Capability.” The hearing was called to review the findings of NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) February 2013 report on NASA’s aging infrastructure and antiquated facilities. Paul Martin, inspector general for NASA, testified…