After almost a month in quarantine and two weeks after their scheduled launch, the four-person Axiom-4 private astronaut mission lifted off this morning enroute to the International Space Station. Weather and a technical problem with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket delayed the launch for two days. After that NASA wanted time to assess the status of air leaks on the International Space Station. Finally this morning they reached orbit and once there shared the name of their brand new SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft — Grace.

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A group of Senate Republicans led by Alaska’s Dan Sullivan and North Dakota’s Kevin Cramer introduced the Golden Dome Act today to authorize President Trump’s new missile defense shield. Indiana’s Rep. Mark Messner is introducing it in the House. Although Congress is expected to approve $25 billion in funding for Golden Dome in the reconciliation bill, legislation has not been enacted to formally establish the program. The bill’s sponsors plan to incorporate it in the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act.

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Japanese lunar lander company ispace has determined that their second mission to the Moon crashed because of a hardware failure in the Laser Rangefinder that should have told the spacecraft how close it was to the ground. They already are working on their two next missions and do not anticipate schedule delays, but the cost will go up by about $10 million to make the landing system more robust and allow for more testing.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of June 22-28, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

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ESA celebrated its 50th birthday at this week’s Paris Air Show, signing agreements for future space missions, releasing a space technology vision, and reinforcing its association with the European Union. One of NASA’s oldest partners, ESA is moving forward despite global uncertainty in general and cooperation with NASA in particular. The deep cuts in President Trump’s FY2026 budget request could affect many NASA-ESA joint programs including NASA’s participation in the space-based gravitational wave detector LISA. Nonetheless, ESA optimistically signed an agreement with OHB to begin LISA’s construction.

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SpaceX’s Starship exploded on the launch pad at Starbase, TX just after midnight EDT during a static fire test in preparation for an upcoming launch. Starship, the second stage of the massive Super Heavy/Starship space transportation system, is designed to take payloads and people to Earth orbit and beyond, but failed during its last three test flights. Today’s explosion is another setback. SpaceX is under contract to NASA to have Starship ready to put astronauts on the lunar surface two years from now.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of June 15-21, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House is in recess this week. The Senate is in session Monday-Wednesday.

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NASA, SpaceX and Axiom Space are looking at Thursday, June 19, for the launch of Axiom-4 as NASA continues to evaluate the apparent success of recent repairs in the Russian segment of the International Space Station. A tunnel leading to a docking port at the far end of the Russian segment has experienced air leaks for several years and defied previous remedies, but the tunnel now is holding pressure. NASA wants a few more tests before docking another spacecraft, however, and on Thursday abruptly postponed the launch of Ax-4. NASA said they now are “reviewing launch opportunities” and June 19 is the earliest.

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The European Union and the European Space Agency are emphasizing the need for European readiness to use and protect space assets and ensure autonomy for access to space as global events create a “perfect storm” for Europe. One factor for ESA is the Trump Administration’s proposed deep cuts to NASA’s budget that would impact many NASA-ESA projects. ESA is “doing its homework” and reinforcing relationships with other countries like Canada, India, Japan and the UAE.

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The House Appropriations committee took the first step in crafting a FY2026 bill to fund the Department of Defense today, albeit reluctantly. Appropriators from both parties lamented the paucity of data they have about what the money will be used for, but decided to move ahead and mark up their bill at subcommittee level this afternoon. Full committee markup is scheduled for Thursday. President Trump’s request would cut about $2.5 billion from the U.S. Space Force’s budget, but the committee would restore it and add a little more. [Update: the full committee approved the bill on June 12.]

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