T+164: An Announcement, and a Check-in on International Space Policy and NSSL Phase 2

To start, there’s exciting news! My son is due at the end of August, and so I’ll be taking some time off after he arrives. Before that, I wanted to check in on two storylines.

Professional shit-stirrer Dmitry Rogozin made it pretty clear that Russia is not interested in the Artemis Program, while various countries around the world partner with NASA on it. And we’re only a few weeks out from the NSSL Phase 2 awards and there is some related budgetary considerations being debated, so it’s a good time to circle back on that.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 38 executive producers—Brandon, Matthew, Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Nadim, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, Grant, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Adam, and seven anonymous—and 392 other supporters.

Topics

• Rogozin Not Interested in Cooperating with U.S. on Lunar Program, Prefers China – SpacePolicyOnline.com
• Space Exploration Transcends All Terrestrial Borders – Administrator Jim Bridenstine
• NASA Administrator Signs Declaration of Intent with Japan on Artemis | NASA
• Building the next Canadarm - Canada.ca
• Australian Government Commits to Join NASA in Lunar Exploration | NASA
• NASA Artemis Accords
• Episode T+158: Doug Loverro Resigns, and a Bit About the Artemis Accords - Main Engine Cut Off
• Air Force awards launch vehicle development contracts to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, ULA - SpaceNews
• ULA, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman submit bids for national security launch procurement contract - SpaceNews
• Smith encouraged by Senate NDAA proposal to increase funding for space launch technology - SpaceNews
• Independent study of launch market says U.S. Air Force should support three domestic providers - SpaceNews

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