Two Shenzhou-21 taikonauts conducted a spacewalk yesterday that included inspecting the damaged window on Shenzhou-20 that remains docked to the Tiangong space station. Last month the Shenzhou-20 crew had to return to Earth using Shenzhou-21’s spacecraft because the window is cracked, apparently by a piece of space debris. China later launched Shenzhou-22 without a crew for Shenzhou-21 to use to return to Earth next spring at the end of their 6-month mission.

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A new report from a National Academies committee today lays out a science strategy for human exploration of the surface of Mars. Sponsored by NASA, the committee was asked to identify science priorities and campaigns to execute them in light of the current focus on sending human explorers, not just robots, to the Red Planet.

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NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and his two Russian colleagues, Sergey Ryzhikov and Aleksey Zubritsky, have safely returned to Earth after eight months on the International Space Station. Their replacements arrived on November 27, continuing the cadence of spaceflights that have ensured permanent occupancy of the ISS for the past 25 years.

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The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee again approved Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA Administrator today. This is Isaacman’s second time through the process because President Trump withdrew the nomination after the first vote, but later reinstated it. The next step is a vote by the full Senate, which could happen very soon.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of December 7-13, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

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Republicans and Democrats on a House committee today shared common ground on not letting China outpace the United States in space, but witnesses were generally pessimistic that NASA is on a path to beat China back to the Moon. They also stressed it is not just about returning to the lunar surface before China, but establishing a sustained presence there as well as continuing to lead in space science. …

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Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA Administrator could be approved by the Senate in the next three weeks. During his mostly-friendly second confirmation hearing today, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee said they hope he will be in his new job before the end of the year. The committee will vote on the nomination next Monday. The full Senate can take it up anytime thereafter and is scheduled to complete its work for 2025 by December 19.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 30-December 6, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

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As ESA celebrates its 50th anniversary, the agency’s 23 Member States just pledged a record 22 billion Euros for the next three years of programs from space and earth science to space transportation to human and robotic exploration to space safety and more. ESA’s budget is set by its Member States every three years and this is a 32 percent increase (17 percent when corrected for inflation) over 2022. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher called it an “important moment” for Europe’s autonomy and leadership in space.

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The Russian launch pad used to send Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, Site 31, suffered damage today as a result of the launch of Soyuz MS-28. Roscosmos acknowledged the situation in a post on Telegram, but provided few details. Other experts on Russia’s space program posted that the “maintenance cabin” platform apparently collapsed into the flame trench below. Site 31 is Russia’s only launch pad for sending crews into orbit.

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