What’s Happening in Space Policy June 29-July 5, 2025

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of June 29-July 5, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate schedules are in flux.

During the Week

Overall it’s a relatively quiet week. Friday, July 4, is a federal holiday, Independence Day, and many are taking the entire week off.

That was Congress’s idea, too, but President Trump really wants them to meet the self-imposed deadline of getting the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1), also known as the reconciliation bill, to his desk by July 4, so they changed their plans. The Senate remains in session this weekend and the House will return if/when the bill passes that chamber.

Several Senate Republicans object to various provisions in the bill, but enough voted in favor of a procedural step late last night to move the bill along. Democrats then used a procedure that requires the entire 940-page bill to be read aloud to unveil its contents. That’s underway as we write this. After that a series of amendments will be debated, which could take all night and into tomorrow (Monday) after which Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) will call a vote.

Quite a few provisions didn’t pass the Byrd Bath test and the bill’s text has changed in response, but at the moment the $10 billion for NASA is still there. In fact, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, added a provision in his revised text allocating $85 million to transfer a “space vehicle” to a NASA field center “involved in administration of the Commercial Crew Program” to be placed on public exhibition. Presumably that refers to moving Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to Johnson Space Center as he and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) have proposed. The House-version of the bill didn’t include NASA.

The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) updated its text as well and has billions for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) scattered throughout the bill.  Most is in the integrated air and missile defense and INDOPACOM support sections. By our unofficial count, there’s $15.3 billion for USSF in integrated air and missile defense and $5.9 billion in INDOPACOM support. One surprise addition in the latter section is $1 billion for the X-37B spaceplane. Those are figures proposed by SASC.  By comparison, DOD finally released the details of the FY2026 request and they’re expecting $13.8 billion for USSF through the reconciliation process, so this would top that.

The bill still has a long way yet to go.  Assuming it passes the Senate tomorrow, it has to go back to the House. Several Republicans on that side of the Hill object to some provisions, too, but Trump has been quite successful so far in getting enough Republicans to pass legislation he wants. House Speaker Johnson has said he will hold to the House rule that members get 72 hours to review legislative text before voting, and that he will give Members 48 hours notice before a vote is called so they have time to return to Washington. If the bill passes the Senate tomorrow, that would mean a House vote mid-week.

The bill remains quite controversial even in Republican circles. Last night Elon Musk posted on X: “Polls show that this bill is political suicide for the Republican Party.” The reasons are unrelated to the space provisions and thus are outside the purview of this website, but it’s going to be a rocky week inside the Beltway.

Apart from the reconciliation drama, as we said it’s a quiet week, but with some interesting events. Col. Robert Davis, Program Executive Officer for USSF Space Systems Command’s Space Sensing Office, will chat with the Mitchell Institute during a Tuesday webinar. USSF Gen. Michael Guetlein, Trump’s choice to lead the Golden Dome missile defense shield program, speaks to the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) on Wednesday evening in McLean, VA. On Thursday, Russia will launch a Progress cargo resupply spacecraft to the ISS with docking on Saturday.

We’ll also highlight that tomorrow is International Asteroid Day.  In 2016 the United Nations designated June 30 as Asteroid Day globally. June 30 is the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia that leveled trees over an area of 2,000 square kilometers (800 square miles). An air-burst of an asteroid as it plummeted through the atmosphere is thought to be the culprit.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced a resolution (S. Res. 302) last week marking the 10th anniversary of the first celebration of Asteroid Day in 2015, a year before the U.N. designation.  Kelly noted he was one of the original signatories to the “100x Declaration” to increase public understanding of asteroids and the risks near-Earth asteroids can pose. Many organizations around the world hold Asteroid Day events. The Luxembourg-based non-profit Asteroid Foundation is the home of Asteroid Day in close association with the U.S. B612 Foundation. B612 President Danica Remy has a useful summary of the Day’s origin and evolution.

Searching for Earth-threatening asteroids is the task of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO).  Coincidentally or not, NASA’s Office of Inspector General just released a new audit of PDCO’s efforts. The report is generally favorable about what PDCO is accomplishing, but cautions that limited budgets and staffing are challenges to achieving the goals in its strategic plan.

Sunday, June 29

• Blue Origin New Shepard-33 Launch, West Texas, launch window opens 9:30 am ET

Monday, June 30

• International Asteroid Day, global

June 30-July 4, Monday-Friday

• U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), Vienna, Austria (continued from last week)
• 7th International Symposium on Space Sailing (ISSS 2025), Delft, The Netherlands

Tuesday, July 1

• Schriever Spacepower Series witih SSC’s Col. Robert Davis (Mitchell Inst), virtual, 2:00 pm ET

Wednesday, July 2

• Leadership Dinner with Gen. Michael Guetlein, U.S. Space Force (INSA), Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, 7920 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, VA, 5:30-9:30 pm ET

Thursday, July 3

• Launch of Progress MS-31 to the International Space Station, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, 3:32 pm ET (NASA+ coverage begins 3:10 pm ET)

Friday, July 4

• Independence Day (Federal Holiday)

Saturday, July 5

• Progress MS-31 Docks at the International Space Station, Earth orbit, 5:27 pm ET (NASA+ coverage begins 4:45 pm ET)