Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 13-19, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess for two weeks, except for pro forma sessions.
Just two days ago, NASA Administrator-nominee Jared Isaacman spoke glowingly about Trump Administration plans for a “Golden Age of Science & Discovery” at the agency. Yesterday, however, the Office of Management and Budget sent NASA details on what the White House plans to request for FY2026 reportedly showing a 50 percent cut to the science budget as part of an overall 20 percent cut to the agency’s top-line.
At his confirmation hearing today, NASA Administrator nominee Jared Isaacman told Senators that returning astronauts to the Moon and sending them to Mars is not an either/or choice. The two can proceed on parallel tracks along with science programs, operating the International Space Station and building a commercial economy in low Earth orbit, all with NASA’s current budget. He was evasive in answering questions about Elon Musk’s role in getting him the nomination, however, but directly responded “no” when asked if he has been communicating with Musk since President Trump formally nominated him.
Jared Isaacman will introduce himself as an entrepreneur, pilot, astronaut, and science advocate at his confirmation hearing tomorrow morning. President Trump’s choice to be the next NASA Administrator, Isaacman acknowledges he’s not well known, nor a typical nominee for the job, but has a robust vision for the nation’s future in space.
The Soyuz MS-27 crew arrived at the International Space Station this morning to replace Soyuz MS-26, continuing the 24-year pattern of maintaining permanent human presence through regular crew rotations. Soyuz MS-26 and Soyuz MS-27 are each composed of two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut highlighting the international character of the U.S.-Russian-Canadian-Japanese-European outpost in Earth orbit.
The chairman of the Senate committee that will vote on whether to advance Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA Administrator said today that Isaacman is committed to landing astronauts on the Moon before going to Mars. Questions are swirling about whether the Trump Administration still sees the Moon as a steppingstone to Mars or if they want to abandon the Moon in favor of a singular focus on Mars, the passion of President Trump’s close advisor Elon Musk.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of April 6-12, 2025 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
The four crew members of Fram2, a private astronaut mission that circled the North and South Poles for the first time, are back home. Calling themselves “Framonauts,” they spent three-and-a-half days in space aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience. They returned to Earth today marking another first — the first Crew Dragon to splash down off the coast of California instead of Florida. SpaceX is moving all Dragon splashdowns to the West Coast to better control where remnants of the spacecraft’s “trunk” land after it separates during reentry.
A congressionally chartered commission that monitors U.S.-China economic and security affairs heard from the head of the U.S. Space Force and a panel of experts today that China is the major space competitor to the United States. Russia’s military space program remains formidable, but civil and commercial activities have withered. The United States continues to be the global leader across all space sectors, but keeping that edge will be a challenge without more resources and preventing the “hollowing out” of the nation’s scientific base because of the DOGE cutbacks.
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA Administrator next week. If confirmed, he will be the agency’s 15th Administrator.