Government shutdown notwithstanding, 20 scientific organizations and the Congressman who represents NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center made the case for NASA science during a rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. At the same time, some scientists see this as a time to begin thinking differently about how NASA science missions are developed because funding challenges are not likely to disappear soon.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of October 5-11, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House is not except for pro forma sessions.
The Senate again failed to pass a Continuing Resolution today to reopen government agencies like NASA that are closed due to a lapse in appropriations. They plan to try again on Monday, but House Speaker Mike Johnson decided this afternoon to keep the House out of session next week as a further attempt to force the Senate to agree to the House-passed CR. If the Senate does not agree to his CR, the shutdown cannot end at least until the House returns to approve any changes. As of now, that would be October 14.
The Senate defeated Republican and Democratic bills this evening that would have kept the government fully operating after midnight when FY2025 ends. The Democratic bill was defeated on party lines. The Republican bill was defeated with two Democrats and one Independent in favor and one Republican opposed. How long the government shutdown will last is anyone’s guess.
President Trump and congressional leaders left their meeting at the White House this afternoon with no deal to avert a government shutdown at midnight tomorrow night. If nothing changes, agencies like NASA will have to pause all non-essential operations at 12:01 am Wednesday after FY2025 ends with no appropriations for FY2026. Also today, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee issued a report asserting the White House has been requiring NASA to adhere to proposed FY2026 budget cuts even though Congress has not acted on NASA’s appropriations bill yet.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 28-October 4, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The congressional schedule is in flux. The Senate will be in session Monday and Tuesday. The House will not. What happens after that depends on government shutdown negotiations.
NASA said today they are requiring Sierra Space to conduct a free flyer demonstration of the Dream Chaser spacecraft before the first cargo mission to the International Space Station. The contractual requirement that NASA buy seven cargo flights is also eliminated. Dream Chaser has yet to make a spaceflight after more than a decade of development and the demonstration flight is not even expected until the end of 2026. Sierra Space called the changes a “strategic transition.”
Today the four Artemis II crew members announced the name they have chosen for their Orion capsule — Integrity. During an hour-long news conference, they conveyed readiness for their mission to fly around the Moon a few months from now and hope that it might bring about “peace and hope for all humankind.”
NASA introduced its 24th class of astronauts today, six women and four men. It is the first astronaut class with more women than men and the first with an American who already has made an orbital spaceflight — Anna Menon, a biomedical engineer who was a member of Jared Isaacman’s Polaris Dawn crew in 2024. The 10 astronaut candidates will train for two years before becoming eligible for NASA missions to Earth orbit, the Moon and beyond.
NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel is warning that SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) could be “years late” for the Artemis III mission that is supposed to take place in mid-2027. The assessment comes after three ASAP members visited SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, TX and met with top SpaceX officials. While they were quite impressed with SpaceX’s manufacturing and operations tempo, they nonetheless found the schedule for HLS is “significantly challenged.”