Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM September 2018 | Page 36

Human Space Exploration Update
By: Jimmy Spence
Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership
[e-mail]
• NASA's Orion spacecraft test module passes weight test, headed to Ohio for more work  At NASA's Johnson
Space Center (JSC) work continues on preparations for a critical April 2019 launch abort test of the Orion Crew
Capsule, which is being developed to launch and land astronauts assigned to future missions of human deep
space exploration. The abort system is designed to propel Orion and its four astronauts to safety if their Space
Launch System (SLS) rocket were to malfunction on the launch pad or early in flight.
• Digging into the details of Orion's EM-1 test flight  NASA's Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) is shaping up into
rigorous test of not only NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion capsule, but also their integration with
the European Service Module that will provide in-space power and propulsion. The multi-week test flight, which
will not be conducted with astronauts, will place the Orion capsule in a distant retrograde orbit around the
Moon. EM-1 is planned by mid-2020
• Vice President Pence announces first steps towards creating a new military branch for space  Vice President Mike
Pence on Thursday ended any speculation over whether the Trump White House intends to establish a Space
Force as a sixth branch of the U.S. military. "The time has come to establish the United States Space Force. It's
not enough to have an American presence in space, we must have dominance," said Vice President Mike Pence
from the White House. Now, Congress must agree.  (See also:  Pence calls for new U.S. Department of the Space
Force by 2020)
• Commercial Crew Astronauts Visit Boeing Facility, Launch Pad Five Commercial Crew astronauts recently visited
Boeing’s facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Boeing is manufacturing the CST-100 Starliner at a former shuttle
processing facility at Kennedy Space Center.  NASA is partnering with the private company, along with SpaceX,
to taxi astronauts to the International Space Station.
• Senate committee approves Space Frontier Act The Space Frontier Act, which includes bipartisan provisions that
would extend NASA's direct support of the International Space Station from 2025 --as proposed by the White
House -- to 2030,  moves from the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to the full
Senate for consideration. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who chairs the Committee's Space, Science and Competitiveness
Subcommittee, is hopeful the measure could reach the president for signature by the end of this congressional
session. But the 2025/2030 Station support date issue and other provisions conflict with the administration's
priorities. (See also:  NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine: 2024 Space Station funding cut off may not be
possible and  NASA IG skeptical of NASA's commercial space station timetable)
• Lockheed Martin gives first look into where astronauts may live on missions to deep space Lockheed Martin is
among a half dozen companies under contract to NASA to develop prototypes for a four person "RV" concept
to serve as a habitat for U.S. space explorers who depart NASA's planned human tended, Lunar Gateway for
destinations deeper into space. Lockheed uses the Donatello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, which dates to
the shuttle era for the launching of supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) during the assembly
years. NASA could select a design a concept by the end this year.
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