President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to develop an advanced missile defense system, referred to as the “Iron Dome for America,” has sparked significant debate. While the initiative aims to protect the United States from a range of missile threats, including ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, it has elicited both support and criticism.
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One of the crazy ideas that have been floated by President Trump in his second term has been to annex Greenland as the nation’s 51st state. The nation hosts a key Space Force Base that deals with early warning missiles coming from Russia or China.
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You might have thought our discussion of Starliner‘s crew was over, at least until the crew returned home on SpaceX’s Crew-9 Dragon. However, it seems like President Trump and Elon Musk are looking to make Boeing’s issue a political matter by calling for their return “as soon as possible.” Even though they are safe and have had no issues staying up on the station for an extended mission.
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A recent Space Capital report states that the massive defense primes of Boeing and Airbus could divest themselves of space entirely. Given the new administration’s wish to potentially sack SLS, could companies like Boeing be out of space entirely?
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According to Reuters, SpaceX lobbyists might have successfully convinced the newly sworn-in President Trump to shutter the National Space Council. SpaceX seems to believe the council was a “waste of time,” and the White House might think it’s too much bureaucracy.
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In 2017 President Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1, setting NASA on a mission to return its astronauts to the surface of the Moon using the already in development Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft. It has come a long way, survived one transition of power, but is likely to be taken to battle in Congress.
President Trump, now the 47th President of the United States, mentioned space only once during his address, and it had nothing to do with Artemis and everything to do with a destination a tad bit further away: Mars.
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President-elect Trump shared on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he plans to nominate private astronaut and businessman Jared Isaacman as NASA Administrator. While Isaacman has had massive success in the private market and building his own space program, does he have the “Right Stuff” to lead the world’s premier space agency?
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Over the last four years, one of the many contested decisions made by President Trump was the moving of Space Command‘s headquarters from Colorado to Alabama. While many viewed it as a political move, some viewed it as a right for the state to have.
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SpaceX is making its quickest turnaround yet for the Starship rocket, hopefully launching some five weeks after Flight 5. This mission will have more big milestones for the company while other companies still work towards competing with its older Falcon 9 rocket.
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Former President Trump came away Tuesday night with a decisive Electoral College victory to return to the White House next year. With this being his second term, how could these next four years look for NASA, the Space Force, and commercial companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin?
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Six internal emails were leaked this week that share statements from United Launch Alliance Vice President Robbie Sabathier to a lobbyist about NASA’s “incompetent” leaders and favoritism towards SpaceX.
The emails leaked from the ULA employee also contain wild speculation that contracts awarded to SpaceX by NASA were tied to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s inferred support for former President Trump.
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President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are in the midst of an unconventional campaign cycle for the 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Trump, who attended the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon launch on Saturday, is vying for a second term in office. Mr. Biden, who has largely relied on virtual rallies during the COVID-19 pandemic, is the presumptive nominee for the party out of power.
Both presidential candidates have addressed the first SpaceX mission to send NASA astronauts to space this week.
Vice President Mike Pence who chairs the Space Counsel is expected to be in attendance when NASA and SpaceX send astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS from the U.S. next week, and now President Trump has weighed in:
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President Trump issued an executive order on April 6 to encourage commercial companies to work with NASA and its Artemis program.
Specifically, the ordered denounced the Moon Treaty in an effort to ease concerns for international partners concerned with policy on the use of lunar resources.
Now the Trump administration appears to be going one step further with a new international agreement that not only doesn’t recognize but counters the Moon Treaty.
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President Trump signed a new executive order on Monday called “Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources.”
The goal of the policy, which is supported by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, is to encourage commercial companies to participate in NASA’s Artemis program to return to the Moon and beyond.
The White House acknowledges international space policy uncertainty that it says has discouraged potential partners from working with NASA.
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