NASA is getting ready for the launch of Artemis II as early as next month. The launch window for the first flight of astronauts around the Moon since the Apollo program opens on February 6 and NASA plans to roll the rocket out to the launch pad on January 17, a week from today. A lot of work still needs to be done and tests to be conducted, so the four-person American-Canadian crew may need to wait a bit longer, but NASA is sharing the launch dates and times available in February, March and April.

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Today NASA announced that Crew-11 will begin its return to Earth from the International Space Station on Wednesday, January 14. The unexpected early departure is due to a medical condition afflicting one of the crew members. NASA declines to say what it is or which astronaut is affected for privacy reasons, but the crew is returning about a month earlier than anticipated.

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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has decided to bring Crew-11 home early because of a medical concern affecting one of the crew members. NASA is not revealing who it is to protect their privacy, but stresses this is not an emergency, only a prudent step so the person can get proper diagnosis and treatment. Crew-11 is close to the end of its mission in any case and NASA is evaluating whether Crew-12 can launch earlier than currently planned.

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Today the House passed three more final FY2026 appropriations bills — a minibus — that represent a compromise between the House and Senate over funding for Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS), Energy-Water, and Interior-Environment. The CJS bill funds NASA and rejects the deep cuts proposed by the Trump Administration. Instead of reducing NASA’s funding to $18.8 billion, it keeps the agency at roughly the same level as FY2025 — $24.4 billion.  NASA also received funding in the reconciliation bill.

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NASA is considering an early return of Crew-11 because one of the astronauts is ill. For privacy reasons the agency is declining to say who it is or identifying the medical condition. For now, NASA is “evaluating all options.” Yesterday they postponed a spacewalk that was scheduled for today, but it’s not clear if either of those astronauts is the one who is ill.

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The House and Senate Appropriations Committees released the text of their joint conference agreement on the FY2026 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill today with a wholesale rejection of the dire cuts to NASA proposed by the Trump Administration. The committees had individually indicated they would not accept Trump’s 24.3 percent cut and the joint agreement calls for only a comparatively small reduction of $400 million from NASA’s $24.8 billion FY2025 budget in appropriations. NASA also was allocated substantial FY2026 money through the reconciliation bill, making the outcome — if enacted — a vast improvement over what the agency was facing a few months ago.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of January 4-10, 2026 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next two weeks, December 28, 2025-January 10, 2026, and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess except for pro forma sessions until January 5, 2026 (Senate) and January 6, 2026 (House) when the second session of the 119th Congress begins.

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Blue Origin announced today that Tory Bruno is joining them as head of their new National Security Group.  Until Monday, Bruno was the President and CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA), which is a Blue Origin competitor as well as a customer for Blue’s BE-4 engines.

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The owners of the United Launch Alliance rocket company announced today that CEO Tory Bruno has left the company to pursue another opportunity. In the surprise statement, Lockheed Martin and Boeing said Chief Operating Officer John Elbon will step in as interim CEO and Mark Peller will become COO. Bruno said in a post on X that his work at ULA is “now complete” and he will be cheering ULA on.

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