An official with NASA has said the agency plans to push back the initial launch of the Space Launch System from November 2018 to a new target date in 2019 due to development issues with SLS and the Orion spacecraft, Space News reported Thursday.

Jeff Foust writes Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA, said in an April 12 letter to the Government Accountability Office that the space agency would propose a new launch readiness schedule for Exploration Mission-1 by Sept. 30.

Gerstenmaier added that NASA has begun to evaluate the EM-1 launch date in consideration of various activities such as the development of the Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal 2018 and the tornado in February that caused damage to the Michoud assembly facility in Louisiana, the report added.

GAO said in a report published Thursday that NASA should propose a feasible launch schedule for EM-1 amid technical challenges with the Orion crew vehicle, SLS and Exploration Ground Systems.

The congressional watchdog cited several challenges associated with the three programs that “may impact their remaining schedule reserve.”

Those challenges include delays in Orion’s European Service Module, postponement of welding work on the SLS program’s core stage and plans to subject the EGS program to hardware installation and testing, according to the GAO report.

The Federal Communications Commission wants public comments on a plan to put an end to a regulatory framework that treats internet as a public utility and restore internet freedom through the reinstatement of market-based policies.

FCC said Thursday it plans to re-establish the classification of broadband internet access as an information service and scrap the internet conduct standard.

The agency also has proposed to oversee internet service providers’ privacy practices, reassess its enforcement regime to determine whether ex-ante regulatory involvement is needed and reinstate the classification of mobile broadband access as a private mobile service.

The commission also wants to lift the bright-line regulations in the agency’s Title II Order and carry out a cost-benefit analysis of keeping the internet conduct rule and classification of broadband internet as a telecommunications service, among other measures.

Responses to the notice of proposed rulemaking are due July 17, while feedback on submitted comments will be accepted through August 16.

FCC released the notice a week after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai met with executives of tech companies to seek feedback on his plan to overturn certain aspects of “net neutrality” rules.

The Federal Aviation Administration has released more than 200 facility maps that provide information on areas and altitudes near airports where operators can fly their unmanned aerial systems.

FAA said Thursday the facility maps are designed to help drone operators boost the quality of their Part 107 airspace authorization requests and help the agency simplify commercial drone authorization process.

The agency offered a preview into the maps on April 10 as part of efforts to help users align requests for small UAS operations with approved locations and altitudes.

Air traffic personnel will utilize the maps to manage Part 107 airspace authorization requests and FAA said it will add new maps every 56 days through the end of the year.

Requests for operations on altitudes that exceed the limits depicted on the maps will require additional safety analysis and coordination with FAA prior to the approval of such applications, the agency added.

The Department of Homeland Security‘s science and technology directorate, Customs and Border Protection agency and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center have created a new tool that will support impostor detection training efforts.

DHS said Thursday that the alliance has developed the Eye-dentify system, a new component for the ScreenADAPT visual search training platform, designed to help instructors detect an agent’s eye movements and determine a trainee’s eye patterns when conducting ID and face analysis tasks.

Michael Shekot, branch chief of the CBP Officer Basic Training group, said that eye-tracking technologies help boost visual search patterns previously unavailable using traditional methods.

He added that platforms such as the Eye-dentify systems helps offer feedback on trainee performance and mitigate the root causes of current training challenges.

CBP has used the Eye-dentify platform for new-hire training classes conducted at FLETC. DHS noted that the agency also plans to utilize the platform for other tasks such as pre-assault and suspicious behavior detection.

“We want to continue to engage even more stakeholders across the Homeland Security Enterprise and get the technology to our font-line agents and officers that will benefit the most from advanced, innovative and adaptive training,” said Darren Wilson, program manager at DHS S&T’s First Responders Group.

The Senate voted 60-38 Thursday to confirm Alexander Acosta, former member of the National Labor Relations Board, as secretary of the Labor Department, The Hill reported Thursday.

Tim Devaney writes Acosta is expected to deal with the fiduciary rule, policy to raise the overtime threshold and other labor regulations proposed during the Obama administration.

Acosta previously held government positions that require Senate confirmation such as head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division and U.S. attorney in Florida.

He received Senate confirmation two months after President Donald Trump nominated him for the DOL post.

Acosta is current dean of the Florida International University’s law school and former chairman of the U.S. Century Bank in Florida.