What’s Happening in Space Policy July 20-26, 2025

What’s Happening in Space Policy July 20-26, 2025

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 20, 2025 5:39 pm ET | Last Updated: July 21, 2025 5:55 pm ET

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of July 20-26, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

Happy International Moon Day! Today is the 56th anniversary of Apollo 11 NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming the first humans to set foot on the Moon while Mike Collins orbited overhead.

NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin as photographed by Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface, July 20, 1969. Credit: NASA

Armstrong passed away in 2012 and Collins in 2021, but Aldrin is still quite active at 95 and posted images of that historic day on X today.

President Trump issued a statement heralding the anniversary and Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy asserted on X that “we’re going back to the Moon &, this time, we’re STAYING! Then we’re going to MARS!”


Six NASA crews landed on the Moon through December 1972, but no one since then. NASA is trying to get astronauts back on the Moon in mid-2027 through the Artemis program as the beginning of sustainable lunar exploration and utilization with commercial and international partners.

One factor in how quickly they can do that is money. Congress is making progress on NASA’s FY2026 appropriations bills. The Senate Appropriations Committee completed their version of the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill last Thursday. The House CJS subcommittee reported their bill last Tuesday. The full House Appropriations committee will take it up this Thursday, July 24 (coincidentally the anniversary of the day Apollo 11 returned to Earth). The House and Senate appear aligned on keeping NASA funded at its current level instead of the $6 billion cut proposed by the Trump Administration.

They also are making progress on other space-related appropriations bills. The House passed the Defense Appropriations bill just after midnight on Friday. The House Appropriations Committee completed markup of the Transportation-HUD (THUD) bill that funds the FAA and its Office of Commercial Space Transportation last Thursday. The Senate Appropriations Committee will take up their THUD bill this Thursday. The Senate committee hasn’t marked up Defense yet.

If the current schedule holds, the House will begin their summer recess at the end of this week, returning on September 2. The Senate’s schedule shows them beginning recess a week later, but in a post on his social media site, President Trump called on Senate Majority Leader Thune to cancel recess so they can confirm more of his nominees. We’ll see what happens.

AIAA’s massive ASCEND conference in Las Vegas is Tuesday-Thursday, co-located with the AIAA Aviation Forum. After NASA canceled their support for the annual ISS Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC), AIAA offered to include some of those sessions at ASCEND, so anyone looking for ISSRDC content, check the ASCEND schedule. The schedule really is massive — too much to try and summarize here — but it looks fantastic as always.

The Space Foundation is holding a Global Economic Summit in Arlington, VA on Tuesday with an impressive list of speakers. Among them are Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), chairman of the Senate Appropriations CJS subcommittee, and two House members, Rep. Jeff Crank (R-CO) from the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL), chairman of the space subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Perhaps the biggest draw, however, is a fireside chat between Gen. Jay Raymond (Ret.) and Gen. Michael Guetlein who was just confirmed last week to head the Golden Dome missile defense shield project. Perhaps he can explain exactly what it will entail. Not much information has been shared by the White House yet.

Among the many other excellent events this week are meetings of the National Academies’ Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) and Space Studies Board (SSB). They meet individually on Wednesday (ASEB) and Friday (SSB) with a joint meeting in the middle (Thursday).

Vanessa Wyche, NASA Acting Associate Administrator, will speak to a joint meeting of ASEB and SSB on Thursday.

Top NASA officials are on the agenda throughout the three days: Bob Pearce (aeronautics) and Clayton Turner (space technology) on Wednesday; Vanessa Wyche (Acting Associate Administrator), Ken Bowersox (space operations), and David Mitchell (mission support) on Thursday; and Mark Clampin (Deputy AA for science) and Lori Glaze (exploration) on Friday. NOAA’s Irene Parker will also speak on Friday.

Lots of interesting panels, too.  On Thursday, for example, there’s a congressional staff panel with Brent Blevins and Pam Whitney from House SS&T and Andrew Miller, Dave Turner, and Maddy Davis from Senate Commerce. They’re followed by a panel on “U.S. Global Space Science Leadership in a Global Context” with Scott Pace (George Washington University), Rachel Lindbergh (Congressional Research  Service), and Jared Stout (Axiom Space).  It’s a really great three-day event, and it’ll be livestreamed.

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.

Sunday, July 20

Monday, July 21

Tuesday, July 22

Tuesday-Thursday, July 22-24

Wednesday-Friday, July 23-25

Thursday, July 24

Thursday-Friday, July 24-25

 

This article has been updated.

Last Updated: Jul 21, 2025 5:55 pm ET

User Comments



SpacePolicyOnline.com has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.  We do not post comments that include links to other websites since we have no control over that content nor can we verify the security of such links.

SPACEPOLICYONLINE.COM

About | Contact | Privacy