Blue Origin took more steps towards the first launch of the New Glenn rocket yesterday with a successful static fire test and getting a launch license from the FAA. The company has been hoping to launch before the end of the year, but it seems likely to slip into 2025.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), who was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Space Force five years ago, thinks it is time for the new military service to grow. In the beginning, the mantra was that it would be a small, lean organization, but much has changed. More personnel, with the right skill sets, along with continued acquisition reform are needed to meet the growing threat.
President Biden signed the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act into law this evening despite his strong opposition to a social policy provision added at the last minute by House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next two weeks, December 22, 2024-January 4, 2025, and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate have completed their work for the 118th Congress and will convene for the 119th Congress on January 3, 2025.
Thailand and Liechtenstein just joined the Artemis Accords, bringing the number of signatories to 52. Mike Gold, who was instrumental in creating the Accords, considers that a significant milestone because it is half the membership of the U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. The Accords now constitute a “true global consensus” on principles for responsible behavior on the Moon.
A government shutdown has been avoided as Congress finally passed a new Continuing Resolution at the last minute keeping the government open through mid-March. The House approved the same bill it defeated yesterday after removing a debt limit provision and the Senate followed suit about 40 minutes after the midnight deadline. President Biden signed the bill into law a few hours later.
The shutdown saga continued today as Republican House leadership brought a pared down Continuing Resolution to the floor for a vote knowing it probably would fail, and it did, with both Republican and Democratic opposition. Just over 24 hours before the current CR expires, the path forward is unclear.
Donald Trump will not be sworn in as President until January 20, but his influence is already being felt as Congress tries to keep the government operating after Friday midnight. House Speaker Johnson’s weeks-long effort to craft a new Continuing Resolution that could garner enough Republican and Democratic votes to pass, released last night, is in jeopardy with Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and government efficiency commission co-chairs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy vigorously fighting against it. With the clock ticking to avoid a government shutdown, the road ahead is murky.
Two days later than planned, a new Continuing Resolution was introduced in the House this evening to keep the government operating. Congress has not passed any of the FY2025 appropriations bills and the existing CR expires Friday at midnight. If another CR is not passed before that, government activities funded by the annual appropriations bills will be suspended.
The two NASA astronauts who are spending much longer aboard the International Space Station than planned are having their mission extended yet again. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived on Boeing’s Starliner Crew Flight Test in June and now are part of Crew-9. They were supposed to come home in February after their replacements arrive on Crew-10, but Crew-10’s launch was just postponed because SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon spacecraft is not ready yet.