December 20 News Items

SpaceX Successfully Completes NASA Review for Dragon Support to Space Station (Source: SpaceRef.com)
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has completed the Systems Requirements Review (SRR) for what will be the third Falcon 9 / Dragon demonstration under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. NASA representatives attended the event, held on the first day of regular business operations at SpaceX's new headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Under COTS, SpaceX will conduct three Falcon 9 / Dragon flights, demonstrating the ability to approach, berth, and ultimately deliver cargo to the $100 billion International Space Station (ISS), and return cargo to Earth. On this third demonstration, the Dragon spacecraft will approach the ISS and hold its position nearby. Then, according to the SpaceX plan, a robotic arm on the station will capture Dragon and guide it to a berthing port on the Harmony module.

"When the hatch opens, a new era in space transportation will begin," said Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. "By providing commercial delivery services to orbit, SpaceX will transform the way the government and private entities access space. The Falcon 9 / Dragon system will ensure that there is no gap in US space transportation capabilities following retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2010." Visit http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=24316 to view the article.

NASA: No Launch Decision Until After Christmas (Source: WESH)
NASA won't decide when to launch the shuttle until after Christmas. That will make it difficult to get Atlantis off the ground by the scheduled launch date of Jan. 10. Tuesday's test of the shuttle's fueling system identified the cause of a problem that caused launch delays earlier this month. Now the question is how to fix it. It won't be an easy job and mission managers will meet Dec. 27 to finalize plans for how to do it.

Aerospace States Plan Hearing on Export Controls on Mar. 11 (Source: ASA)
The Aerospace States Association will hold a hearing on the issue of export controls on March 11, 2008, on Capitol Hill. The public is invited. Speakers include Congressman Manzullo, Mario Blakey (former FAA Administrator and current President/CEO of AIA), and Professor Bob Twiggs of Stanford University. Congressman Brad Sherman and Miles O'Brien of CNN have been invited. The full agenda is posted at http://www.californiaspaceauthority.org/images/pdfs/080311-ASA-Hearing-export-controls.pdf

Bill Introduced to Mitigate ITAR Consequences (Source: CSA)
Rep. Brad Sherman (Democrat, CA) introduced legislation that would mitigate and/or elilminate unintended consequences of current ITAR export control and international technology transfer laws, regulations, and policies. The legislation (H.R. 4246) was introduced on Nov. 15 and has three original co-sponsors. For a copy of the bill, visit http://thomas.loc.gov and enter the bill number.