In four weeks, NASA will introduce a new class of astronauts as it begins gearing up for the launch of Artemis II, the first time humans will travel around the Moon since the Apollo era. NASA hasn’t announced the date other than saying it will be no later than April 2026, but will start building the excitement with three briefings in conjunction with the astronaut candidate ceremony.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week plus a day of August 17-24, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess until September 2 except for pro forma sessions.
President Trump issued a broad Executive Order this afternoon addressing commercial space activities overseen by the Department of Transportation and the Department of Commerce. Among the provisions, DOT must reform regulations for commercial space launch and reentry and several agencies working together are to advance development of spaceport infrastructure. DOC must propose a process for regulating novel space activities — commonly referred to as mission authorization — and the Secretary of Commerce must elevate the Office of Space Commerce to the Secretary’s office.
ULA’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket lifted off on a national security mission for the first time this evening. One payload aboard the U.S. Space Force’s USSF-106 mission is the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 that is testing new technologies for future satellite navigation systems like GPS. NTS-3 is a small spacecraft on a very big rocket being launched in one of its most capable configurations. The USSF is not saying what else is aboard.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of August 10-16, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess until September 2 except for pro forma sessions.
NASA’s Crew-10 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean this morning after five months on the International Space Station. Two private astronaut crews, Fram2 and Axiom-4, made West Coast splashdowns earlier this year, but this is the first NASA crew to land there.
Retired NASA astronaut Jim Lovell passed away yesterday at the age of 97. He will be long remembered as commander of Apollo 13, the historic 1970 mission to the Moon that instead of ending in catastrophe, became a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of the crew and their colleagues back on Earth who were determined to prove that “failure is not an option.”
ULA President Tory Bruno is optimistic the company will reach its goal of two launches a month by the end of 2025. That’s later than planned and total launches for this year will be just nine, but liftoff of the first U.S. Space Force mission on ULA’s new Vulcan rocket next week will kick off a burst of activity that extends into 2026 and 2027. The growing number of launches from Florida’s Space Coast already is creating congestion and Bruno worries about the impact of SpaceX’s plans to launch Starship from there as many as 44 times a year.
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has approved moving a space shuttle to Houston in accordance with language in the reconcilation act. NASA will only confirm that a decision was made, not what it is. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), however, issued a press release thanking Duffy and since he introduced legislation to move Space Shuttle Discovery to Johnson Space Center the implication seems clear. Discovery is currently at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Chantilly, VA. The NASM says it owns Discovery and has not been contacted by NASA.
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy wants a nuclear fission reactor on the Moon to support sustained U.S. presence there. Asserting that the United States is in a Moon race with China, he insists that NASA must establish a base at the South Pole and “claim that for America.” Meanwhile, the chairmen of NASA’s House and Senate oversight committees wrote to Duffy today asking when and how he will spend the $10 billion Congress provided for NASA in the reconciliation bill that was enacted a month ago.