China’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft has successfully returned to Earth from the Tiangong space station. No one was aboard. Apparently damaged by space debris, it was deemed unsafe to return the crew and they came home on Shenzhou-21’s spacecraft in November. The Shenzhou-21 crew, which remains aboard Tiangong, repaired the window using a specially designed treatment delivered on Shenzhou-22 that apparently was effective.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 18-24, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House is in session this week. The Senate is in recess except for pro forma sessions.
NASA is proceeding with plans to roll the Space Launch System rocket with the Orion crew capsule out to Launch Complex-39B at Kennedy Space Center tomorrow morning. The SLS/Orion combination soon will launch four astronauts around the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era, but the exact date depends on tests that can only be conducted after it is at the pad. The earliest is February 6, but everything would have to go exactly right for that to happen. [UPDATE: SLS/Orion did roll to the pad on January 17, settling in “hard down” at 6:42 pm ET.]
The Senate passed a second minibus of three FY2026 appropriations bills this afternoon that includes the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill, which funds NASA and NOAA. It is the final congressional step towards funding those agencies for the rest of this fiscal year at levels much closer to FY2025 than the deep cuts proposed by the Trump Administration. President Trump still must agree to sign it into law. The bill funds Energy-Water and Interior-Environment as well as CJS. If enacted, it would mean departments and agencies in six of the 12 appropriations bills would be set for the rest of FY2026. The other six, including Defense, remain under consideration. [UPDATE: Trump signed the minibus on January 23.]
Four astronauts splashed down near San Diego this morning, four weeks earlier than planned. One of the four is experiencing a “medical concern.” NASA declines to specify the person or the malady for privacy reasons. All four appeared healthy as they exited the spacecraft onboard SpaceX’s recovery vehicle.
Portugal became the 60th country to join the Artemis Accords today. It’s another milestone for the U.S.-led principles for responsible behavior on the Moon. The Accords recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of when the first eight countries — Australia, Canada, Japan, Italy, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States — signed the non-binding principles in October 2020.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 11-17, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
NASA is getting ready for the launch of Artemis II as early as next month. The launch window for the first flight of astronauts around the Moon since the Apollo program opens on February 6 and NASA plans to roll the rocket out to the launch pad on January 17, a week from today. A lot of work still needs to be done and tests to be conducted, so the four-person American-Canadian crew may need to wait a bit longer, but NASA is sharing the launch dates and times available in February, March and April.
Today NASA announced that Crew-11 will begin its return to Earth from the International Space Station on Wednesday, January 14. The unexpected early departure is due to a medical condition afflicting one of the crew members. NASA declines to say what it is or which astronaut is affected for privacy reasons, but the crew is returning about a month earlier than anticipated.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has decided to bring Crew-11 home early because of a medical concern affecting one of the crew members. NASA is not revealing who it is to protect their privacy, but stresses this is not an emergency, only a prudent step so the person can get proper diagnosis and treatment. Crew-11 is close to the end of its mission in any case and NASA is evaluating whether Crew-12 can launch earlier than currently planned.