Ross Promises Support for NOAA Weather and Climate Research, Sharing Data With Public http://ift.tt/2kpuKwX Secretary of Commerce-designate Wilbur Ross has assured Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) that he supports weather and climate research, monitoring and reporting at the Department of Commerce, of which NOAA is a part, and providing that data to the public. Nelson is [...]
Trump Picks Heather Wilson as Next Secretary of the Air Force http://ift.tt/2klOamF The White House announced today that President Trump will nominate former Rep. Heather Wilson to serve as Secretary of the Air Force (SecAF). Wilson represented the 1st district of New Mexico from 1998-2009 and currently is President of the South Dakota School of [...]
Mattis Confirmed as Secretary of Defense http://ift.tt/2jX5I55 General James Mattis (USMC, Ret.) was confirmed by the Senate today as the new Secretary of Defense (SecDef). The 98-1 vote took place just hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. One of Trump's first acts as President was signing [...]
McCain Proposes Dramatic Spending Boost for Defense, Including Space http://ift.tt/2jm5wwf Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) has released a blueprint for a dramatic boost in defense spending. His plan, Restoring American Power, calls for repealing the law that created sequestration and adding $430 billion for defense spending over 5 years above the [...]
NASA "Beachhead Team" Taking Shape, Lightfoot Optimistic About NASA's Future http://ift.tt/2jwIS6D NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot, who will become Acting Administrator on Friday at noon, expressed optimism today about NASA's future under the incoming Trump Administration. During a speech to the Maryland Space Business Roundtable, he also said that some of the Trump landing team [...]
Benjamin Friedman to be Acting NOAA Administrator http://ift.tt/2jhqg8e Benjamin Friedman, NOAA's Deputy Under Secretary for Operations, will serve as Acting NOAA Administrator beginning on Friday at noon. Administrator Kathy Sullivan is a presidential appointee and her tenure ends along with President Obama's when Donald Trump is sworn in as the next President. Until new presidential [...]
Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Bill Makes a Comeback http://ift.tt/2jU1bDH The House passed a new iteration of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act on January 9. H.R. 353 is the latest version of legislation that passed the Senate in the closing days of the 114th Congress, but did not clear the House. The bill's [...]
What's Happening in Space Policy January 16-20, 2017 http://ift.tt/2jykn6o Here is our list of space policy events for the week of January 16-20, 2017 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate will be in session most of the week; the House will be in session only on Friday. During the Week The [...]
SpaceX Successfully Returns to Flight with Iridium NEXT Launch http://ift.tt/2iU0dmQ SpaceX successfully returned its Falcon 9 rocket to flight status today, launching 10 Iridium NEXT communications satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. It also succeeded in landing the Falcon 9 first stage on one of its autonomous spaceport drone ships (ASDS) off the California [...]
Lightfoot to be Acting NASA Administrator, CFO Radzanowski to Stay On http://ift.tt/2jKGXfl In a farewell "town hall" meeting with employees today, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Deputy Administrator Dava Newman said thanks and farewell to agency employees. Both are political appointees and will end their tenures at noon on January 20 when President Obama leaves [...]