Polaris

Joseph Diggs, a science teacher in Anne Arundel county, MD, was doing a different kind of educating (and in a much grander classroom) on Monday. Diggs was one of 130+ people who traveled to DC for the Planetary Society’s Day of Action, during which people lobby their representatives to support scientific exploration of the cosmos. […]

As lawmakers settle back into DC following the August recess, Congress is facing a long list of space to-dos—but not a lot of time to tackle them. Members have a little over two weeks to tackle three major priorities with deadlines at the end of September: passing a fiscal 2024 funding bill, deciding whether to […]

The process of moving the nation’s space traffic management mission from DoD to the Commerce Department has been slow—but Richard DalBello told Payload that’s very much on purpose. “There was an idea present when we started that somehow this would be simple,” DalBello, head of the Office of Space Commerce, said. “This is tremendously complicated…. […]

The UAP craze that enveloped DC this summer has officially gone mainstream. At last week’s Republican presidential primary debate, Chris Christie fielded a question about whether he would be honest about the existence of aliens if he’s elected to the nation’s highest office. “The job of the president of the United States is to level […]

What do Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Argentine President Alberto Fernández have in common? They all met with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson this summer. Nelson is embracing—and elevating—his role as the nation’s space diplomat, and his long history on Capitol Hill means he doesn’t clam up when […]

The Alabama delegation has a clear message for those celebrating last week’s decision to keep US Space Command in Colorado: don’t pop the champagne cork just yet.  Next chapter: For some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the Biden administration’s decision to reject DoD’s original decision to move the command to Huntsville, AL marks the loss of […]

Astronauts like Sally Ride and Judith Resnik made history by shattering the glass ceiling to space, but a bipartisan group of lawmakers says it’s time to recognize the group of women who made the first cracks.  Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Young Kim (R-CA), Haley Stevens (D-MI), and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), the four co-chairs of the […]

The fight over where US Space Command will put down roots has become a central part of the debate on this year’s NDAA, and the longer the industry awaits a final decision, the more charged the spat becomes. How we got here: A quick recap if you’ve somehow avoided this years-long saga. In January 2021, […]

Virgin Galactic sent three Italian researchers to the edge of space last month, and is expecting to launch its first tourists as soon as Aug. 10. Three people—including businessman and race car driver John Shoffner—hitched a ride on a SpaceX Crew Dragon for an eight-day stay on the ISS in May. And Blue Origin, which […]

It’s a common refrain at space events of all shapes and sizes: satellites enabled the GPS that helped your Uber find its way here.  But what’s accepted among space insiders is not such common knowledge in the broader public, and the Chamber of Commerce is ramping up its space efforts to spread the word so […]