Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-08-2017 06:56 AM
For the first time in nearly six and a half years, Congress has passed a NASA authorization bill with the approval of such a bill March 7 in the House of Representatives, reports SpaceNews.
The bill authorizes $19.5 billion in spending for NASA in fiscal year 2017. More importantly, it includes a number of policy provisions directing NASA’s activities. They range from development of a detailed plan for NASA’s human exploration programs, with the long-term goal of sending humans to Mars, to giving NASA the ability to establish long-term medical monitoring of former astronauts...
The bill is nearly identical to a bill the Senate passed in December, just after the House adjourned for the year. The new version includes a few provisions not found in the earlier one, including language directing NASA to study the use of the Orion spacecraft as a crew transfer vehicle for the International Space Station as a stopgap if commercial crew vehicles suffer additional delays.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-21-2017 11:18 AM
President Donald Trump signed S.422, the NASA Transition Authorization Act, on Tuesday (March 21):
Joining him at the ceremony were NASA astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Chris Cassidy, chief of the astronaut office, who presented the President a NASA flight jacket (photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls):
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-25-2017 11:16 AM
The President devoted his weekly address to the signing of the NASA Transition Authorization Act: