President Trump is nominating Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess to be the next U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations as Gen. B. Chance Saltzman’s four-year term comes to an end. Established in 2019 during President Trump’s first term, the Space Force is the youngest military service and Schiess will be only the third person to serve in that position if confirmed by the Senate.
The House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee approved the FY2027 bill that funds NASA today on a party-line vote, with all Democrats in opposition. Most of their objections were over parts of the bill unrelated to NASA, but concerns were voiced in particular about cuts to NASA science programs.
President Trump welcomed the Artemis II crew to the White House today. During a press conference, he praised the three Americans and one Canadian who flew around the Moon earlier this month for the first time since 1972. Asked if he thinks Americans will land on the Moon during his term in office, Trump rated it as a “good shot,” but “we’ll see.”
The House Appropriations Committee is poised once again to reject the deep cuts to NASA proposed by the Trump Administration for FY2027. The Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee is recommending $24.4 billion, the same as FY2026, instead of the $18.8 billion requested. The subcommittee will mark up the bill tomorrow, the first step in the lengthy annual appropriations process.
Senate appropriators from both sides of the aisle are joining their House counterparts in opposing President Trump’s proposed 23 percent cut to NASA for FY2027. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman once again defended the request at a hearing today before the Senate Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee. The hearing covered familiar ground, but Isaacman shared one surprising bit of potentially good news about the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) told NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman today that he finds the agency’s FY2027 budget request “disappointing.” On a bipartisan basis, he and other members of the House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee expressed enthusiasm for NASA and Isaacman’s leadership even as Isaacman insisted NASA can do more with less. The Trump Administration’s FY2027 request is a 23 percent reduction from FY2026.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 26-May 2, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
Latvia and Jordan joined the Artemis Accords this week, bringing to 63 the number of countries that have adopted the U.S.-led set of principles for responsible behavior on the surface of the Moon. They are the first to sign since NASA announced its new plan for the Artemis program on March 24, and since the four Artemis II astronauts — three American and one Canadian — flew around the Moon for the first time in 53 years.
On a bipartisan basis, members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee left no doubt today that they oppose the dramatic cuts to NASA included in the Trump Administration’s FY2027 budget request. The President’s Budget Request or PBR calls for a 23 percent cut to the agency overall, with reductions to every part of the agency except human exploration.
NASA said today that the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will launch in September, eight months ahead of schedule and under cost. Originally called the Wide-Field Infrared Space Telescope or WFIRST, it will survey the universe broadly rather than in the greater detail of the James Webb Space Telescope launched in 2021. The two complement each other, with Roman identifying targets that JWST can examine in greater detail, for example, but that is only part of what Roman will do.