In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Looming negotiations among members of the U.S. House and Senate over a budget continuing resolution to avoid a federal government shutdown with the October 1 start of the 2020 fiscal year could jeopardize efforts by NASA to accelerate a human return to the surface of the Moon in 2024. Deadlines in space are a part of the success formula, as JFK’s “We choose to go to the Moon….” speech reminds us.  NASA’s many missions inspire, fuel STEM.

Human Space Exploration

House passes short-term spending bill, punting shutdown fight to November
Washington Post (9/19): On Thursday, the U.S. House passed a stopgap budget measure, or continuing resolution (CR) intended to prevent a federal government shutdown through November 21. It covers the period beginning October 1, the start of the 2020 fiscal year. The House and Senate have not completed work on a 2020 budget. The Senate plans to vote on a CR next week. If passed by both chambers and signed by President Trump, the CR will hold spending at 2019 levels, a concern for NASA’s Artemis initiative to accelerate the return of human explorers to the lunar surface from 2028 to 2024. 

House passes 7-week CR and bills honoring Hidden Figures and Christa McAuliffe
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/20): The budget continuing resolution, or CR,  passed by the U.S. House on Thursday in order to keep the federal government temporarily open without a budget for the 2020 fiscal year which begins October 1 has no provision that would permit NASA to sign contracts with commercial companies for the lunar landers proposed by the agency to accelerate the return of human explorers to the lunar surface to 2024. The U.S. Senate, which must pass a continuing resolution by September 30 as well to keep the government open, is mired in debate over military spending and appropriations for a border wall.

The necessity of returning to the Moon (Op Ed)
Aerospace America (9/18): For 50 years, Americans have taken the Moon for granted. Planetary scientist and former astronaut Tom Jones argues that returning there soon is an essential step toward other worlds, and continued leadership on this one.

NASA’s mission should not be whittled down (Op Ed) 
The Hill (9/18): In an op-ed, Ellen Stofan, a former NASA chief scientist, urges those who wish to narrow the agency’s multi-faceted objectives, ranging from human space exploration and Earth and planetary science to aeronautics as well as solar and astrophysics, to resist. Now director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum, Stofan was struck by the large crowd that gathered in July on the National Mall in Washington to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. “I was struck by the wonder and awe that the space program can still inspire,” writes Stofan, noting that inspiration provides the nation with a valuable STEM boost.

JFK started it; Texans have made it happen (Op Ed)
Houston Chronicle (9/18): NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, in an op-ed, recalls JFK’s inspirational “We choose to go to the Moon…” speech, delivered September 12, 1962 in the football stadium of Rice University in Houston. Bridenstine, a Rice graduate, praises Texans, especially those at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), for their role in achieving the former president’s goal of landing astronauts on the Moon through the Apollo program before the 1960’s came to a close. “Kennedy acknowledged the difficulty rising generations of young Americans would encounter in accomplishing the Apollo program’s goal. But, he believed the challenge would bring out our best,” writes Bridenstine.

NASA leader vows to seek answers about Space Station from Russia
Houston Chronicle (9/19): NASA Admininstrator Jim Bridenstine said he will speak with Dmitry Rogozin, his counterpart at Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, about the source of a small pressure leak discovered in the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) on August 30, 2018 and specifically in the wall of a Soyuz crew capsule docked to the orbiting lab. Earlier this week, Rogozin said the cause of the leak had been determined but that he had no plans to disclose it. Bridenstine was in Houston for a speaking engagement.

Space Science

Space medicine isn’t just for astronauts. It’s for all of us
CNET (9/19): Dr. Serena Aunon-Chancellor, NASA astronaut, electrical engineer and medical doctor, returned from a more than six month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) late last year.  Her experience and skill set provides insight into how human health research in space also applies to fitness on Earth.

Chandrayaan-2: NASA lunar orbiter photographs Vikram landing site but lander not spotted yet
India Today (9/19): Tuesday, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which was launched in 2009 to help locate candidate landing sites on the Moon for future human missions, attempted to locate India’s Chandrayaan-2 lander, called Vikram. An early analysis of the imagery was unable to reveal the Vikram, perhaps because of very shadowy conditions. The lander lost communications with Earth during the final moments of an automated powered descent to the surface of the Moon’s south pole on September 6th, U.S. time. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is investigating the spacecraft’s fate.

Other News

China, Russia to cooperate on lunar orbiter, landing missions
SpaceNews.com (9/19): China and Russia have agreed to cooperate in the future on a pair of lunar orbiter and lander missions planned for the early to mid-2020’s and committed to a joint lunar and deep space data center. Documents were signed Tuesday in St. Petersburg by Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, and Zhang Keqiang, head of the China National Space Administration. The move suggests that other countries believe China is committed to the Moon over the long term, according to an assessment from Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College, expressing her personal view.

China launches new remote-sensing satellites
Xinhua (9/19): A Chinese Long March 11 booster placed five small commercial remote sensing satellites into orbit as part of a growing spacecraft constellation.