What’s Happening in Space Policy July 12-18, 2026

What’s Happening in Space Policy July 12-18, 2026

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 12, 2026 4:30 pm ET | Last Updated: July 12, 2026 4:32 pm ET

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of July 12-18, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

It’s a busy week, with several important congressional hearings, the next launch of SpaceX’s Starship (IFT-13), the launch of NASA’s Anil Menon with two Russian colleagues to the ISS, and much more, but we’ll start with the news this morning of the passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina).

The sudden passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will further complicate passage of legislation to fund the government. Photo credit: Graham’s website.

Politico has a good overview of the broad impact his death will have in the Senate, but from a space policy perspective, his role in shaping government funding is perhaps the most significant. Graham chaired the Senate Budget Committee, which is instrumental in crafting reconciliation bills, including the third bill the administration is determined to pass this Congress. It includes $350 billion for defense, including most of the money for Golden Dome. There’s been a lot of pushback on both sides of the aisle against a third bill (the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act was first, then the bill that just passed to fund ICE and CBP) and Graham was an influential champion for it. How it will fare now remains to be seen.

Graham also chaired one of the 12 Senate Appropriations subcommittees, State-Foreign Operations. The hospitalization of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), chair of the Defense Subcommittee, is already slowing action there. Appropriations chair Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) postponed consideration of the first set of bills, including the Commerce-Justice-Science bill that funds NASA, anticipating votes would be on a party-line basis and all Republicans must be present to avoid a tie (in which case the motion fails). Now Collins and Senate leadership need to choose who will replace Graham as a “cardinal,” one of the most coveted positions on Capitol Hill, on top of everything else.

Strictly from the standpoint of getting the funding needed for defense and civil space activities and avoiding another government shutdown on October 1, Graham’s death further complicates an already fraught situation. Others will be appointed to fill his committee seats and the Governor of South Carolina will appoint someone to fill the rest of his term, which ends this year (he was running for reelection), but it is more unclear than ever what Congress will be able to accomplish between now and the end of the year.

Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess, nominee for Chief of Space Operations, U.S. Space Force. Photo credit: USSF.

As of today (Sunday), at least, Senate business will continue as planned this week.  That includes beginning consideration of the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), S. 4784. Graham was expected to be a leading voice in favor of U.S. engagement overseas and defense spending. McConnell holds similar views. Senate leadership might decide to postpone action until McConnell returns, whenever that is. (The bill is stalled in the House in any case. That’s largely because Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida, is determined to attach President Trump’s voting bill to it. She and a small group of others blocked its consideration along with other legislation two weeks ago leading Speaker Johnson to send everyone home two days early for the July 4 recess. The NDAA is not on the House schedule this week.)

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold two nomination hearings this week.  On Tuesday, they’ll hold the hearing that was postponed from June 25 because the Senate went home early for the July 4th break. Two of those four nominees are for space-related positions:  Roger Mason to be Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and Erich Hernandez-Baquero to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration (ASAF/SQ).

On Thursday, SASC will consider the nomination of Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess to be promoted to General and serve as Chief of Space Operations of the U.S. Space Force, succeeding Gen. B. Chance Saltzman. Schiess is currently Deputy Chief of Space Operations.

Across Capitol Hill, on Wednesday, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s space subcommittee will hear from Taylor Jordan, Director of the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) at the Department of Commerce, about OSC’s mission authorization proposal.  Since the Obama Administration, Congress and the White House have been debating how to regulate novel commercial space activities that are not already regulated by the FAA, OSC’s Office of Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA), or the FCC. The long history is far too complicated to summarize here, but Jordan will explain the latest iteration. Key points from OSC’s website:

Jordan is the only witness. OSC invited stakeholder feedback via email beginning in March. Perhaps he’ll share what the reaction has been since no one from industry will be there.

Off the Hill, the BIG event will be the 13th Starship Integrated Flight Test, IFT-13, on Thursday if all goes according to plan. SpaceX published a second video showing Starship’s behind-the-scenes activities. The first was “Test Like You Fly,” leading up to IFT-12. This one,”Critical Path,” picks up where that left off. The videos are really well done and quite interesting.  IFT-12 was a success overall, but there were anomalies. SpaceX explains what happened and what they’ve done to fix them on the IFT-13 website.


This is another suborbital test flight. Starship transits through space on its way from Texas to the Indian Ocean, but has not yet gone into orbit. The Starlink satellites it deploys during these test flights are on the same path as Starship, so also don’t go into orbit, but “demise upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment.” Twenty Version 3 (V3) Starlinks will be deployed this time and they’ll extend their solar arrays and antennas and attempt to connect with Starlinks that are in orbit. Six of them also will transmit imagery of Starship to ground operators to analyze Starship’s heat shield. The 90-minute launch window opens on Thursday at 5:45 pm CENTRAL Time (6:45 pm ET).  SpaceX’s webcast begins about 30 minutes before liftoff. The best way to keep track of launch status is on X (@spacex) or the IFT-13 website.

Also launching this week is the next Soyuz crew to the ISS.  We wrote about the mission with cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina and NASA astronaut Anil Menon in last week’s What’s Happening. The launch is still on schedule for Tuesday morning ET with docking about three hours later. NASA will provide live coverage of launch, docking, and hatch opening/welcome ceremony.

Soyuz MS-29 is scheduled to liftoff Tuesday morning ET.  L-R: Anil Menon (NASA), Pyotr Dubrov (Roscosmos), and Anna Kikina (Roscosmos). Photo credit: NASA & Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

Lots more happening this week as well, but we’ll have to leave it there.

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.

Tuesday, July 14

Wednesday, July 15

Thursday, July 16

Friday, July 17

Saturday-Sunday, July 18-19

Last Updated: Jul 12, 2026 4:32 pm ET

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