SpaceX achieved a second successful Starship test flight in a row this evening. Integrated Flight Test-11 or IFT-11 lifted off from Starbase, Texas and splashed down in the Indian Ocean about an hour later, welcome news after three failures earlier this year. This was the last flight of this version of Starship, however, so the next launch will introduce new uncertainties as the United States strives to get American astronauts back on the Moon before China gets there — a goal for which Starship is essential.

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The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is laying off another 550 workers beginning tomorrow.  JPL Director David Gallagher said the move is due to an ongoing reorganization that began in July, not because of the government shutdown. The number represents an 11 percent cutback and comes on top of two layoffs last year.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of October 12-18, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House is in recess indefinitely except for pro forma sessions.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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