What’s Happening in Space Policy November 23-29, 2025

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 23-29, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess this week except for pro forma sessions.

During the  Week

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a federal holiday, and many will be taking all or part of the week off, including Congress.  So it’s pretty quiet here, but there are at least three important events happening elsewhere, two of them on Thanksgiving.

First, late in the evening tomorrow (Monday) EST, Chinese space watchers are expecting the launch of an uncrewed Shenzhou-22 to the Tiangong space station even though China has not confirmed it. Journalist Andrew Jones who closely follows China’s space program from Helskini, Finland (@AJ_FI on X) reports that airspace closure notices for the Jiuquan launch site in the Gobi desert suggest the launch is November 25 at 04:10 UTC. That’s 11:10 pm November 24 EST.  [UPDATE, November 24: China’s Xinhua news agency confirms the launch is November 25 Beijing Time.]

Shenzhou-22: launch of SZ-22 on a Long March 2F set for ~04:10 UTC Nov. 25 from Jiuquan, according to airspace closure notices. This will be uncrewed, carry cargo, but most importantly it’s the lifeboat for the Shenzhou-21 crew aboard Tiangong. https://t.co/xB8RKfS7E9

— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) November 17, 2025

China typically doesn’t confirm human spaceflight launches until about 24 hours before a launch, although they often show photos of the launch vehicle being rolled to the pad a few days earlier. We haven’t seen that yet, but that doesn’t mean the launch won’t take place on November 24 EST.  This is a very atypical situation brought about by a space debris strike on the Shenzhou-20 capsule that required them to come home in Shenzhou-21’s capsule, leaving that crew aboard the space station without a lifeboat or a way home until a new spacecraft arrives.

China rotates space station crews roughly every six months just as International Space Station crews have replaced each other over the past 25 years.  Shenzhou-21 arrived on October 31 to replace Shenzhou-20. However, as the Shenzhou-20 crew was preparing to return, they discovered the viewport window on the spacecraft had tiny cracks. Chinese officials deemed it unsafe to return them to Earth and they came home in Shenzhou-21’s capsule leaving the damaged Shenzhou-20 there. China now is accelerating the launch of the next spacecraft in the series, Shenzhou-22, and sending it up empty except for cargo, for the Shenzhou-21 crew to use.

Russia did the same thing when their Soyuz MS-22 capsule was damaged about three years ago, although the ISS had an American spacecraft also docked there and in a dire emergency all seven ISS crew members could have used it as a safe haven. Soyuz MS-23 was launched empty and brought the Soyuz MS-22 crew home, although they ended up staying on the ISS for a year instead of six months to maintain the regular cadence of launches.

That cadence has continued and the next Soyuz will launch on Thanksgiving Day. Soyuz MS-28 is set for liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:27 am EST with NASA’s Chris Williams and Roscosmos’s Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev. (NASA spells the Russian first names that way, one is Sergey and the other Sergei, so we are following their lead.) They’ll dock at 7:38 am EST, with hatch opening expected around 10:10 am EST.

NASA will provide live coverage of launch, rendezvous and docking,  hatch opening and welcoming remarks on NASA+, Amazon Prime and its YouTube channel. Although Russia’s six-month rotations have been the norm, this crew is scheduled to remain for eight months as Russia reduces its Soyuz launch rate from four every two years to three every two years.

Also on Thanksgiving, ESA will hold a press conference at 7:00 am EST (1300 Central European Time–CET) to share the results of the Council of Ministers 2025 (CM25) meeting taking place Wednesday and Thursday in Bremen, Germany. Key government officials from each of ESA’s 23 Member States are meeting to decide on ESA’s budget and programs for the next three years. It’s an important decision point as ESA celebrates its 50th anniversary and emphasizes Europe’s need for “autonomy and resilience” in space, including security. As ESA puts it, CM25 “will make crucial decisions on how space will help to elevate the future of Europe.”

ESA will livestream three portions of the meeting on Wednesday as well as Thursday’s press conference. Times are shown in CET (subtract 6 for EST).

Though it’ll be an especially busy day for space aficionados, we hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving.

 

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

Monday, November 24 EST

• UNCONFIRMED Possible Launch of Uncrewed Shenzhou-22 to Tiangong, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China, 11:10 pm EST (November 25, 04:10 UTC)  UPDATE, November 24: Xinhua confirms the launch is on November 25 Beijing Time.]

Wednesday, November 27

• ESA Council of Ministers 2025 (CM25), Bremen, Germany, livestreamed sessions on ESA TV (CET=Central European Time)
  • 1330 CET – Meeting begins with the formalities of election of the Chair of CM25, adoption of the agenda and statements by the Chair of CM25, and the Chair of ESA Council
  • 1405 CET – The Director General’s proposal on Elevating the Future of Europe through Space
  • 1435 – 1730 CET — Statements from the ESA Member States, Associate Member States, Cooperating States, and Observers (there will be a 30-minute break at approximately 1600 CET)

Thursday, November 28

• Thanksgiving Day in the United States (Federal Holiday)
• Launch and Docking of Soyuz MS-28 (live coverage on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and NASA’s YouTube channel)
  • Launch, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, 4:27 am ET (coverage begins 3:30 am ET)
  • Docking at ISS, 7:38 am ET (coverage begins 6:45 am ET)
  • Hatch Opening, 10:10 am ET followed by welcoming remarks (coverage begins 9:50 am ET)
• ESA Council of Ministers CM25 Press Conference, Bremen, Germany, 1300 CET (7:00 am EST), watch on ESA TV