NASA is considering an early return of Crew-11 because one of the astronauts is ill. For privacy reasons the agency is declining to say who it is or identifying the medical condition. For now, NASA is “evaluating all options.” Yesterday they postponed a spacewalk that was scheduled for today, but it’s not clear if either of those astronauts is the one who is ill.
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees released the text of their joint conference agreement on the FY2026 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill today with a wholesale rejection of the dire cuts to NASA proposed by the Trump Administration. The committees had individually indicated they would not accept Trump’s 24.3 percent cut and the joint agreement calls for only a comparatively small reduction of $400 million from NASA’s $24.8 billion FY2025 budget in appropriations. NASA also was allocated substantial FY2026 money through the reconciliation bill, making the outcome — if enacted — a vast improvement over what the agency was facing a few months ago.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 4-10, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next two weeks, December 28, 2025-January 10, 2026, and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess except for pro forma sessions until January 5, 2026 (Senate) and January 6, 2026 (House) when the second session of the 119th Congress begins.
Blue Origin announced today that Tory Bruno is joining them as head of their new National Security Group. Until Monday, Bruno was the President and CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA), which is a Blue Origin competitor as well as a customer for Blue’s BE-4 engines.
The owners of the United Launch Alliance rocket company announced today that CEO Tory Bruno has left the company to pursue another opportunity. In the surprise statement, Lockheed Martin and Boeing said Chief Operating Officer John Elbon will step in as interim CEO and Mark Peller will become COO. Bruno said in a post on X that his work at ULA is “now complete” and he will be cheering ULA on.
One day after being sworn in as NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman held a Town Hall meeting with the NASA workforce to introduce himself and answer questions. He praised President Trump’s new Executive Order, assuring everyone that Trump is a strong supporter of NASA’s mission as are others both in the White House and Congress. Acknowledging the current state of budget uncertainty, he stressed the need for NASA to spend every dollar wisely.
The first wheelchair user flew into space today on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. Michi Benthaus, who was injured in a mountain biking accident in 2018, achieved her dream of becoming an astronaut despite her disability with the help of Hans Koenigsmann, a former SpaceX executive.
President Trump issued a new Executive Order today aimed at ensuring U.S. space superiority. The order covers all three sectors — civil, national security, and commercial — and comes on the same day that Jared Isaacman was sworn in as the 15th NASA Administrator.
The Senate confirmed Jared Isaacman as NASA’s 15th Administrator this afternoon by a vote of 67-30. Isaacman’s path was more convoluted than usual with President Trump nominating him in January, withdrawing it in May, and reinstating it last month. He takes over an agency reeling from DOGE personnel cutbacks and amid widespread concerns about the future of the agency’s science portfolio, but the budget outlook is not as grim as it appeared just a few months ago. [Update: Isaacman was sworn in the next day, December 18. See below.]