Congress, NASA, Other

Upcoming: Canadian space policy rollout, House hearing on NASA property

Canada is expected to roll out a new national space policy later this week. The Canadian Press reports that Industry Minister James Moore, whose portfolio includes the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), will unveil the new policy on February 7 at 10 am in Ottawa. Neither Industry Canada nor CSA have formally announced plans to release the policy, although Canadian Press reports CSA sent invitations to the event have been sent to industry. The Canadian space community has sought such a policy for some time, but previous efforts had falled by the wayside; in December, Moore said a new long-term policy was complete and would be released in early 2014.

Florida Today reported Sunday that Rep. John Mica (R-FL) will hold a hearing at the Kennedy Space Center next Monday on how NASA has handled the distribution of excess property in the post-Shuttle era. The field hearing of the government operations subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform hearing, chaired by Mica, will take place at 9 am EST on February 10 at the Debus Center of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. (The hearing does not yet show up on the subcommittee’s website.) Mica told the Orlando Sentinel in November that he planned to hold the hearing to see what else NASA can do to rid itself of facilities it no longer needs. NASA has already entered into agreements with various companies and organizations to lease or otherwise take over operations of Shuttle processing facilities, the Shuttle Landing Facility runway, and Launch Complex 39A.

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