The Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) required before the launch of Artemis II has been postponed from January 31 to February 2 because of bitter cold weather in Florida. NASA’s strict weather rules prohibit both the test and launch in frigid temperatures. Now the earliest possible launch date for Artemis II is February 8 and the actual date could affect when NASA sends the next crew to the International Space Station.
NASA said this evening that the Wet Dress Rehearsal or WDR in advance of the launch of Artemis II is now planned for “as early as” Saturday, January 31. The WDR is a practice countdown including fully fueling the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Artemis II will send four astronauts around the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era. NASA will not decide on a launch date until after the WDR, but if everything goes perfectly, it could be as soon as February 6.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 25-31, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The Senate is in session this week. The House is in recess except for pro forma sessions.
The four members of Crew-11 met with reporters today to discuss their nearly six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Such news conferences are routine, but this time the crew returned four weeks early because one is experiencing a medical issue. They declined to say who or what it is for privacy reasons, but appeared as enthusiastic about their flight as any of their predecessors.
China’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft has successfully returned to Earth from the Tiangong space station. No one was aboard. Apparently damaged by space debris, it was deemed unsafe to return the crew and they came home on Shenzhou-21’s spacecraft in November. The Shenzhou-21 crew, which remains aboard Tiangong, repaired the window using a specially designed treatment delivered on Shenzhou-22 that apparently was effective.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 18-24, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House is in session this week. The Senate is in recess except for pro forma sessions.
NASA is proceeding with plans to roll the Space Launch System rocket with the Orion crew capsule out to Launch Complex-39B at Kennedy Space Center tomorrow morning. The SLS/Orion combination soon will launch four astronauts around the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era, but the exact date depends on tests that can only be conducted after it is at the pad. The earliest is February 6, but everything would have to go exactly right for that to happen. [UPDATE: SLS/Orion did roll to the pad on January 17, settling in “hard down” at 6:42 pm ET.]
The Senate passed a second minibus of three FY2026 appropriations bills this afternoon that includes the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill, which funds NASA and NOAA. It is the final congressional step towards funding those agencies for the rest of this fiscal year at levels much closer to FY2025 than the deep cuts proposed by the Trump Administration. President Trump still must agree to sign it into law. The bill funds Energy-Water and Interior-Environment as well as CJS. If enacted, it would mean departments and agencies in six of the 12 appropriations bills would be set for the rest of FY2026. The other six, including Defense, remain under consideration. [UPDATE: Trump signed the minibus on January 23.]
Four astronauts splashed down near San Diego this morning, four weeks earlier than planned. One of the four is experiencing a “medical concern.” NASA declines to specify the person or the malady for privacy reasons. All four appeared healthy as they exited the spacecraft onboard SpaceX’s recovery vehicle.
Portugal became the 60th country to join the Artemis Accords today. It’s another milestone for the U.S.-led principles for responsible behavior on the Moon. The Accords recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of when the first eight countries — Australia, Canada, Japan, Italy, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States — signed the non-binding principles in October 2020.