What’s Happening in Space Policy October 26-November 1, 2025

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of October 26-November 1, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them.  The Senate is in session this week.  The House continues to be in recess indefinitely except for pro forma sessions.

During the Week

The shutdown situation is unchanged.  Both sides are wagering the public will blame the other as federal workers and their contractors increase their credit card debt or head to food banks because they’re not getting paid, parents lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for their children, Air Traffic Controllers and other “excepted” employees who must work despite not being paid call in sick, and those who rely on Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year learn how much their premiums and co-pays will go up. The latter has a November 1 milestone when many will get the news about their health care cost increases. It seems Congress has little interest in ending the shutdown until then, expecting one side or the other to shoulder the blame and become more willing to negotiate.

House Speaker Mike Johnson continues to refuse to bring the House back into legislative session until the Senate passes his version of the Continuing Resolution (CR). They have met only in pro forma sessions (where legislative business is not conducted) since September 19. That means no work is getting done on anything, especially the FY2026 appropriations bills. The fact that Congress hasn’t passed those bills is why there’s a shutdown. Johnson’s CR was to provide a seven-week respite, through November 21, to get that work done, but nothing has happened since September 19. Recognizing that even if the Senate passes the House CR tomorrow there’s not enough time to get the bills done within that window, they’re now looking at a new CR. The debate is over how long it should last — another few weeks, few months, the rest of FY2026 or even past next year’s mid-term elections.

The Senate has rejected Johnson’s CR 12 times now with the same people voting the same way.  Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s hope of convincing five more Democrats/Independents to vote in favor of the bill — joining Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada), John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) and Angus King (I-Maine) — hasn’t come to pass. He’s stopped allowing votes on the Democratic alternative, although it never passed either. Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky opposes both CRs, which is why Thune needs eight Democrats/Independents to vote with him rather than seven in a Senate that’s split 53-47.

Republicans and Democrats each brought up bills last week to pay federal employees during the shutdown, but they were defeated. Republicans wanted to pay only the “excepted” workers who still have to show up every day. Democrats wanted to pay all federal workers. President Trump reallocated $8 billion in DOD RDT&E funds to pay the military two weeks ago so they wouldn’t miss their paychecks, but another tranche would have to be found now. A private individual donated $130 million, but that’s not nearly enough. How much pain the public must endure before someone blinks is something we can’t begin to answer.

Wish we had better news. It’s a mess. There’s just no other way to say it. As we remind everyone every week, anything can happen in Washington, so stay tuned. But there is a general feeling that nothing will change without the intervention of President Trump, who is on foreign travel this week.

The Senate is working, at least.  On Tuesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of Marc Berkowitz to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy. The position was created by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act and held by John Plumb in most of the Biden Administration, but there were earlier iterations. Berkowitz was Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Space Policy before joining Lockheed Martin as Vice President for Strategic Planning in 2003. He retired from the company after 20 years and most recently has been an advisor to the government and independent consultant. Air & Space Forces (AFA) magazine has a nice summary of an essay Berkowitz recently wrote with former DOD official Chris Williams on why the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command should be merged with the National Reconnaissance Office. The essay is in a book, “Contested Space: Ensuring Effective U.S. National Security Space Capabilities in an Increasingly Contested Environment,” edited by Williams and Jim Frelk. They had a book launch event at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute in July. Berkowitz didn’t participate, but for anyone who wants to learn more about the book, the SPI video is posted here.

NASA teams operating the International Space Station and existing spacecraft as well as those working on the Artemis program, are among the “excepted” federal employees who are continuing to work even though they are not getting paid. Last night EDT (this morning in Japan), JAXA launched the first of its new HTV cargo ships, HTV-X1, to the ISS after a several day weather delay (we wrote about HTV-X last week). It will dock at the ISS on Wednesday.

Another Russian spacewalk will take place the day before (Tuesday).  NASA will provide live coverage of the spacewalk and of HTV-X1’s arrival, but with minimal technical commentary because of the shutdown.  NASA hasn’t shared the timing of the spacewalk so check our Calendar entry for updates, but HTV-X1 will be captured by the robotic Canadarm2 about 11:50 am EDT on Wednesday with NASA coverage beginning at 9:05 am EDT. Canadarm2 will be operated by JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and NASA astronaut Zena Cardman. HTV-X1 will later be installed onto a port by ground control teams.  NASA’s been using its YouTube channel to provide coverage of these events since the shutdown rather than NASA+.

Speaking of space stations, China is getting ready to launch a new crew, Shenzhou-21, to their Tiangong-3 on Friday.  As usual, China provides minimal information pre-launch. They don’t formally announce the date, time or crew until a day or so in advance, instead sharing only that the rocket and spacecraft are being rolled to the pad and launch will take place at the “appropriate time.” Space reporter Andrew Jones, who closely follows China’s space program, posted on Bluesky that the launch is expected on Friday about 15:40 UTC, which is 11:40 am EDT and 11:40 pm in China.

Shenzhou-21 crewed mission: Long March 2F Y21 has been rolled out to the pad at Jiuquan spaceport. Launch expected ~15:40 UTC Oct. 31. Crew to be revealed the day before launch. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/EWvYlYxVFp…

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— Andrew Jones (@andrewjonesspace.bsky.social) October 24, 2025 at 1:30 AM

Some meetings, like NASA’s Lunar Exploration and Analysis Group (LEAG) scheduled for this week, have been postponed or cancelled because of the shutdown, but others are modifying their speaker lists and moving on. (LEAG now will meet in January.)

Among those persevering in this challenging environment is the American Astronautical Society’s Von Braun Exploration Symposium at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.  Even without the government speakers, it’s a first class event beginning tomorrow (Monday) and running until Wednesday. “Igniting Innovation” includes panels on “Artemis III and Beyond: Establishing a Lunar Presence,” “Building the Lunar Economy Through Establishing Infrastructure,”  “The Economic Frontiers of Low Earth Orbit,” and, fittingly at this moment in time, “Managing Risks in a Fiscally Constrained Environment.”  Former NASA Administrators Charlie Bolden and Jim Bridenstine will speak at Wednesday’s luncheon.  A paid virtual option is available. Times on the agenda are CENTRAL Daylight Time (add one for EDT).

One other “event” we’ll mention since it will happen before we publish next week’s edition is that Daylight Saving Time ends in the United States next Sunday morning at 2:00 am.  Yes, it’s that time of year already!  Don’t forget to “fall back” one hour. That extra hour of sleep is awesome.

Bear in mind that other parts of the world change their clocks at various times so if you’re planning to participate in any virtual international meetings, be sure to check the time zone. Europe and the UK “fell back” today to Central European Time (CET) and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) respectively, for example.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below. Check back throughout the week for others we learn about later and add to our Calendar, or changes to these.

Monday-Wednesday, October 27-29

• AAS Von Braun Exploration Symposium, Huntsville, AL
• Reinventing Space (BIS), London, UK

Tuesday, October 28

• Space for European Resilience (EU/ESA/ESPI), Mix Brussels Hotel, Brussels, Belgium
• Russian Spacewalk at ISS, time TBA (NASA will provide live coverage)
• SASC Hearing on Nomination of Marc Berkowitz to Be ASD Space Policy, SD-G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building, 9:30 am EDT (webcast)
• FCC Open Commission Meeting, 45 L St. N.E., Washington, DC/online, 10:30 am-12:30 pm EDT (check FCC’s website to see if it is being held or not)

Tuesday-Wednesday, October 28-29

• Europe as a Space Power — Directionality & Priorities of Strategic Action (ESPI), Vienna, Austria
• Defence in Space 2025, London, UK

Tuesday-Thursday, October 28-30

• Silicon Valley Space Week, Computer Science Museum, Mountain View, CA
  • October 28-29, Satellite Innovation
  • October 29-30, MilSat Symposium

Wednesday, October 29

• Boeing Third Quarter 2025 Financial Results Telecon, virtual, 10:30 am ET (audio livestreamed)
• JAXA’s HTV-X1 Arrives at the ISS, capture about 11:50 am EDT (NASA coverage begins 9:05 am EDT)

Thursday, October 30

• ESA Sentinel-1D Pre-Launch Briefing, Paris, FR/online, 3:30 am Eastern Daylight Time (8:30 am Central European Time, CET)

Friday, October 31

• UNCONFIRMED Launch of China’s Shenzhou-21 Crew to Tiangong-3, Jiuquan, China, 11:40 am EDT (15:40 UTC, 11:40 pm Beijing Time)

Sunday, November 2

• Daylight Saving Time Ends in the United States, 2:00 am