What’s Happening in Space Policy January 18-24, 2026

What’s Happening in Space Policy January 18-24, 2026

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 18, 2026 3:56 pm ET | Last Updated: February 2, 2026 5:02 pm ET

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.

During the Week

Before we begin discussing the week ahead, we want to highlight NASA’s successful roll-out of the Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft to Launch Complex-39B yesterday. SLS/Orion, attached to the Mobile Launcher, began the move from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center atop the Crawler-Transporter at 7:04 am ET and was settled in at the pad at 6:42 pm ET.

NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen illuminated by lights at Launch Complex-39B after it arrived on January 17, 2026. Photo credit: NASA/Keegan Barber. The orange section is Boeing’s core stage, which is powered by four L3Harris Aerojet Rocketdyne engines. Above that in white are United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, Lockheed Martin’s Orion crew capsule with Airbus Defence and Space’s Service Module below it and the Launch Abort System above. Northrop Grumman’s Solid Rocket Boosters are on each side. Boeing is prime contractor for SLS, Lockheed Martin for Orion and the LAS, and Amentum for Exploration Ground Systems.

The next step is the Wet Dress Rehearsal, a practice countdown that includes filling the SLS with propellant (making it “wet”). NASA told SpacePolicyOnline.com it plans to do that no later than February 2.  We’ll keep you posted on those plans as they develop.

This week begins tomorrow (Monday) with a Federal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Government offices are closed.

Often the House and Senate take the week of the MLK holiday off, but this year only the Senate is doing that. The House is in session starting Tuesday and will take next week off instead even though the Continuing Resolution (CR) expires on January 30. Both chambers are trying to avoid another shutdown, but the clock is ticking. Congress has passed six of the 12 FY2026 appropriations bills (Agriculture, CJS, Energy/Water, Interior, Leg Branch, MilCon/VA), but the other six are still in the works.

The House passed two of them last week: Financial Services-General Government or FSGG that includes the FCC, and National Security-State Department (or State-Foreign Ops in the Senate). The other four may be grouped together and considered this week: Defense, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS, and Transportation-HUD (which includes the FAA and the Office of  Commercial Space Transportation). The Homeland Security bill, which funds ICE, is particularly controversial right now, however, and may be taken up separately. When they return, the Senate is expected to combine whatever the House is able to pass into a single bill and try to complete action before January 30. The two chambers could always agree to another CR covering any bills that don’t make it through by then, but the House would have to do that before they leave on Friday since they’ll be in recess during that final crucial week. At least that’s the current plan. As we say frequently, anything can happen in Congress.

Elsewhere, an event that may be of particular interest is Wednesday’s post-flight news conference with NASA’s Crew-11. They returned to Earth early Thursday morning, splashing down about four weeks earlier than expected because one of them is ill.  NASA is not saying who it is or what the medical problem may be, but they all looked healthy as they exited Crew Dragon Endeavour onto SpaceX’s recovery ship off the coast of San Diego. They all spent the night at a local hospital — presumably so the identity of the ill crew member could remain a secret — and flew back to Houston on Friday. Photos posted by NASA of them exiting the aircraft similarly showed four big smiles: (left to right) Mike Fincke, NASA (Pilot); Zena Cardman, NASA (Commander); Kimiya Yui, JAXA (Mission Specialist); Oleg Platonov, Roscosmos (Mission Specialist).


NASA says they’ll discuss their 6-month “science expedition aboard the International Space Station.” It’s unlikely we’ll learn anything more about what brought them back to Earth before their tour of duty was completed. NASA astronaut Chris Williams remains aboard the ISS along with his Russian crewmates Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev (NASA spells their first names that way), who arrived in November on Soyuz MS-28.  NASA includes a Russian, and Roscosmos includes an American, on each spaceflight to ensure at least one person from each country is aboard at any given time to operate the interdependent U.S. and Russian segments. Crew-11’s early return demonstrates why that’s such a good idea. Crew-12 was scheduled to launch on February 15 and NASA is trying to accelerate that a few days to return the ISS to its usual crew complement of seven — three Russians and four from NASA and the other ISS partners (Canada, Japan and Europe).

This week NASA will also observe its annual Day of Remembrance honoring fallen astronauts. It’s held on the fourth Thursday every January, which comes rather early this year. The Day is close to the dates of America’s three spaceflight tragedies: the Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967, Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986, and Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003. A wreath-laying ceremony is held at Arlington National Cemetery and a remembrance ceremony sponsored by the Astronaut Memorial Foundation at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.  They’re having a special screening of a new documentary on Apollo 1 that evening. Other NASA Centers hold their own tributes.

That very day Blue Origin will launch its next passenger flight, New Shepard-38, with six people for the 10 minute suborbital flight above the imaginary line at 100 kilometers that separates air and space and back down to the West Texas desert. Blue Origin will webcast the launch beginning 30 minutes before liftoff. The launch window opens at 9:30 am ET.

Crew of Blue Origin’s NS-38 suborbital flight. Credit: Blue Origin

Also this week, Space News and Johns Hopkins University will hold their next Discovery Series event on Wednesday evening at JHU’s Hopkins Bloomberg Center Theater in D.C.

Gen. Shawn Bratton, U.S. Space Force

“Space Force 2040 and the Future Fight” features Gen. Shawn Bratton, Vice Chief of Space Operations for the U.S. Space Force. Among those joining him is John Plumb who is currently the Head of Strategy at K2 Space. Plumb has a long career in national security both in uniform and as a civilian, including serving as the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy from April 2022-May 2024.  Also on the agenda are Susanne Hake, EVP and General Manager, U.S. Government, for Vantor (the rebranded Maxar Intelligence), and Dennis Woodfork, Mission Area Executive, National Security Space, at JHU’s Applied Physics Lab.

Bratton also will speak Thursday evening at a Leadership Dinner hosted by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) in McLean, VA.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below. Check back throughout the week for others we learn about later and add to our Calendar or changes to these.

Monday, January 19

Tuesday, January 20

Tuesday-Thursday, January 20-22 

Wednesday, January 21

Wednesday-Thursday, January 21-22

Thursday, January 22

This article has been updated.

Last Updated: Feb 02, 2026 5:02 pm ET

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