What’s Happening in Space Policy June 1-8, 2025

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week plus a day of June 1-8, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

Well, we thought the Big Event this week would be Senate consideration of Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA Administrator, but President Trump decided to withdraw the nomination yesterday. We don’t have any additional insight today as to what prompted the decision nor any confirmation about who his replacement will be. We’re keeping an ear out for anything worth reporting. Isaacman took the news graciously.

lI am incredibly grateful to President Trump @POTUS, the Senate and all those who supported me throughout this journey. The past six months have been enlightening and, honestly, a bit thrilling. I have gained a much deeper appreciation for the complexities of government and the…

— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) June 1, 2025

Perhaps the Big Event then will be ispace’s landing of the RESILIENCE lander and the TENACIOUS micro-rover on the Moon. That’s on Thursday afternoon here in the United States, early Friday morning in Japan. ispace will provide live coverage, but not of the landing itself. “While there will be no live images of the landing, a simulation featuring real-time telemetry from the HAKUTO-R Mission Control Center will be broadcast. Images are expected to be released after the landing is confirmed.”

Launched on January 15, the SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon spacecraft with RESILIENCE and TENACIOUS aboard took the long route to the Moon and arrived in lunar orbit on May 6 EDT (May 7 JST). They’ve been doing testing and otherwise getting ready for descent since then, providing lots of updates on X (@ispace_inc).  This is ispace’s second attempt at landing. The first in 2023 went very well until the last moment when it failed due to a software error.  ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada’s motto is Never Quit the Lunar Quest and so they are trying again and have two more planned. The Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, one of their sponsors, is the SMBC part of the name. Hakuto is Japanese for white rabbit.

Or the Big Event might be Sunday’s launch of the next private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom-4.  That’s scheduled for 9:11 am ET next Sunday morning which is why we’re including it in this week’s What’s Happening since we won’t publish the next edition until after that. Peggy Whitson, formerly with NASA now with Axiom Space, once again is commanding the mission and has three international crewmates: Shubhanshu Shukla, Pilot, from India; Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, Mission Specialist, from Poland and a reserve member of ESA’s astronaut corps; and Tibor Kapu, Mission Specialist, from Hungary.  Axiom will have a pre-launch press conference with the crew on Tuesday that’s open only to media, but the video usually is posted on YouTube later. They’ll be flying SpaceX’s brand new Crew Dragon. Hopefully they’ll reveal its name during the press conference.

There are lots and lots of other great events including several congressional hearings this week, far too many to highlight here. We’ve listed all the ones we know about as of Sunday morning below. Check back throughout the week for others we learn about later and add to our Calendar or changes to these.

Monday, June 2

• Lunar Policy for a Thriving Lunar Economy (NIST/OSC), virtual, 2:30-3:30 pm ET

Monday-Wednesday, June 2-4

• Space Tech Expo|USA 2025, Long Beach, CA

Tuesday, June 3

• Axiom-4 (Ax-4) Crew Pre-Launch Press Conference (media only), virtual, 11:00 am ET
• Simulating the Expansion of Human Civilization via Large-Scale Space Migration (BEI), virtual, 12:00-1:30 pm ET
• 2nd Annual State of Science Address by National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt, 2101 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 3:00-5:00 pm ET (webcast)
• U.S. Space Force CSO Gen. Chance Saltzman Speaks at the X Change Conference, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC, 3:30 pm ET

Tuesday-Thursday, June 3-5

• NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), Tucson, AZ/online

Tuesday-Friday, June 3-6

• XXV Space Resources Roundtable (Colorado School of Mines), Golden, CO

Wednesday, June 4

• Warfighters in Action: Col. Nick Hague (AFA), 1201 S. Joyce St., Arlington, VA/virtual, 10:00 am ET
• House Appropriations Sbcmt Hearing on FAA’s Budget, 2358-A Rayburn House Office Building, 10:00 am ET (webcast)
• Senate Appropriations Sbcmt Hearing on Dept of Commerce’s Budget, 192 Dirksen Senate Office Building, 10:00 am ET (webcast)
• America’s Golden Dome Explained (CSIS), virtual, 10:00-10:45 am ET

Wednesday-Thursday, June 4-5

• ISAM Conference 2025, Belfast

Thursday, June 5

• 2025 ABA Space Law Symposium, Hogan Lovells, 555 13th St., NW, Washington, DC, 7:30 am-5:30 pm ET
• HASC Dept of the Air Force Posture Review, 2118 Rayburn House Office Building, 10:00 am ET (webcast)
• House Appropriations Sbcmt Hearing on Dept of Commerce Budget, 2359 Rayburn House Office Building, 11:00 am ET (webcast)
• ispace Lands RESILIENCE Lander and TENACIOUS Micro-Rover on the Moon, 3:24 pm EDT (livestream begins 2:15 pm EDT)

Sunday, June 8

• Launch of Axiom-4 Private Astronaut Mission to ISS, KSC, 9:11 am ET