A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

• Schedule:
  • What’s Happening in Space Policy December 9-15, 2018 – SpacePolicyOnline.com
• NASA commercial:
  • Update:
    • [Slides from recent CCP review at NAC meeting] – Commercial Crew (CCtCAP) – Discussion Thread
    • Commercial Crew Program (CCP) Status, Phillip McAlister, NASA  (pdf)
  • NASA and SpaceX still aiming for January commercial crew test flight – SpaceNews.com
  • Musk Meets With NASA on SpaceX Launch Key to Flying Astronauts – Bloomberg
• Political space:
  • Update: Congress and commerce in the final frontier (part 1): A brief legislative history of US commercial space law – The Space Review
  • Culberson optimistic about 2019 spending bill and Europa mission funding – SpaceNews.com
  • Culberson Optimistic Restrictions on US-China Space Cooperation Will Remain – SpacePolicyOnline.com
  • Congress Clears Bill to Fund Government Through December 21 – SpacePolicyOnline.com
• US military space:
  • Is It Time for ‘Space Arms Control’? | The National Interest
  • After two-year defense buildup, Pentagon still lags in technology innovation – SpaceNews.com
  • Griffin: Pentagon ‘scrambling’ to figure out space reorganization – SpaceNews.com
• Space settlement:
  • Four Legal Challenges to Resolve Before Settling on Mars – Futurism
  • Looking Ahead to 2019 | Space Studies Institute
• Canadian space:
  • Space Mining and Innovation Should Be Encouraged Through the Tax Code, According to NRCan and CATA Alliance – The Commercial Space Blog
• Chinese space:
  • Why Boeing Just Backed Out of Satellite Deal With a China-Funded Firm. | Fortune
  • Here’s what you need to know about the Chang’e-4 mission to the far side of the Moon | gbtimes.com
  • China launches two satellites for Saudi Arabia – Xinhua | English.news.cn
  • Long March 2D launches SaudiSAT-5A/B – NASASpaceFlight.com
• Ethiopian space:
  • Ethiopia’s satellite plans come with strings attached | Africa Times
• Euro space:
  • The rocket tower being built in tropical jungle – BBC
• Indian space:
  • Can India be the next space startup haven, or will China beat us to it? – ThePrint.in
  • India, Russia to create working group on cooperation in manned cosmonautics – TASS
  • Japan-India ‘Space Dialogue’ to include surveillance sharing – Nikkei Asian Review
• New Zealand Space:
  • Rocket Lab: The extraordinary story of how New Zealand entered the space race – The Listener
• Russian space:
  • Russia’s crumbling Baikonur spaceport is Earth’s only launch pad for manned flights – ABC News
  • Roscosmos claims it is victim of smear campaign in Russian, foreign media – TASS
  • Rogozin to supervise key int’l space projects – Roscosmos – Interfax
  • Roscosmos in talks on deploying GLONASS stations in US – TASS
• South Korean space:
  • Promoting space industry – Korea Times
  • Thales Alenia Space to build four radar satellites for South Korea – SpaceNews.com

Webcasts:

** The Space Show – Fri, 12/07/2018 – Dr. George Fox discussed “hardy Earth organisms survive mission sterilization, humans to Mars, Planetary Protection, the lunar environment, RNA sequencing, and more”.

** Dr. Robert Zubrin – Why a lunar base is better than LOP-G – 21st Annual Mars Society Convention