The space community is still trying to grasp the implications of the Trump Administration’s proposal to slice almost 25 percent out of NASA’s budget, adding money for Moon-to-Mars and cutting it everywhere else. Details are pending and some hope the proposal never becomes reality once a NASA Administrator is in place and Congress weighs in, but for now the proposal is the plan. One former NASA official wonders if it signals a seismic shift, from the bright space future envisioned in Star Trek to the darker world of Frank Herbert’s Dune.

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Intuitive Machines’ second lunar lander, IM-2, landed on its side near the Moon’s South Pole because of altimeter interference and lighting conditions according to the company’s president and CEO. During an earnings call this morning, Steve Altemus expressed confidence that the next mission, IM-3, will land upright and ready to operate.

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The Trump Administration reportedly plans to keep the National Space Council as the White House mechanism for coordinating U.S. space policy.  Created by Congress in 1989, some presidents have used a Space Council and others have not, but President Trump did in his first term and apparently will again. By law, the Space Council is chaired by the Vice President, so it will be JD Vance in charge this time with a full plate of civil, commercial, and national security space issues to coordinate across multiple government agencies.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 11-17, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

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Lori Glaze, NASA’s Acting Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development, said today the Artemis II crewed flight test could lift off from Kennedy Space Center as early as February 2026. That would be nine months from now and two months earlier than the current schedule — “tomorrow” in aerospace time. She also stressed that the Trump Administration’s interest in human exploration of Mars does not mean they are moving away from the goal of sustained presence on the Moon.

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NASA is still looking for ideas on how to get the VIPER rover to the Moon. The rover is already built, but the agency canceled plans to use a commercial lander to deliver it to the lunar surface. After soliciting ideas from industry to see if anyone would take the project over at no further cost to NASA, the conclusion is that none were suitable. Today the solicitation was withdrawn.

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President Trump has nominated Matt Anderson, a retired Air Force pilot who now works for CACI International, to be NASA Deputy Administrator.  Anderson would replace Pam Melroy, another retired Air Force Colonel though Melroy also was a NASA astronaut who piloted and commanded space shuttle missions. Anderson may not have NASA experience, but he has connections to the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Space Command, and the Space Force Association.

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Laurie Leshin is stepping down as the Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on June 1.  Dave Gallagher, JPL’s Associate Director for Strategic Integration, will be her successor. Leshin’s three-year tenure has been marked by great successes like the launch of Europa Clipper, but also challenges that range from protecting JPL from the fires that engulfed the Los Angeles area earlier this year to trying to find a way forward for the troubled Mars Sample Return mission.

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The head of the European Space Agency responded to the Trump Administration’s proposed deep cuts to NASA programs today by saying ESA still wants to cooperate with NASA, but will be assessing alternative scenarios. The two space agencies have a long, extensive history of cooperation in human and robotic spaceflight that today includes the International Space Station, the Artemis program, and scientific missions like Mars Sample Return. All of those would be upended if the proposed cuts are enacted.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 4-10, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

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