Tory Bruno Leaves ULA, John Elbon Takes Over As Interim CEO spacepolicyonline.com/news/tory-br...

I am going to assume for now that the Space Force elset is accurate, and guess that H3/QZS reentered at first perigee over the S Atlantic at around 0250 UTC.

The perigee of the QZS-5/H3 is hard to estimate given currently available data. Somewhere between -250 and +350 km, but I am currently leaning towards +200-ish

Possible problem with the H3 launch, looks like the second burn of stage 2 may have shut down early. Waiting for confirmation one way or the other

Tory Bruno has left ULA for other opportunities. John Elbon is in charge for now.

The Artemis II crew completed the countdown demonstration test today. NASA is targeting as early as February for the launch. Feb 6 is the 1st opp that month, but there's lots of work to do before then, including the SLS static fire test, so certainly not a sure bet. www.nasa.gov/image-articl...

NASA Meets New Administrator Jared Isaacman spacepolicyonline.com/news/nasa-me...

First Wheelchair User Flies to Space spacepolicyonline.com/news/first-w...

Super congrats to Thomas Zurbuchen, recipient of AIAA's Public Service Award! Very, very well deserved. Full list of AIAA's 2026 premier award winners incl Mark Lewis for the Distinguished Service Award & ISRO for the Goddard Astronautics Award: aiaa.org/2025/12/16/a...

President Trump has already signed the FY2026 NDAA into law, a pretty fast turnaround. It only cleared the Senate yesterday about noon. www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-st...

planet4589.org is back up on the new server, appears working ok from where I am

Our December newsletter is out! 🎉 Catch up on key insights, publications, and a 2025 wrap-up by Dr. Peter Martinez. 👉 bit.ly/3Y2u0yI Don’t miss future updates. Follow our newsletter on LinkedIn to stay informed and engaged with SWF’s work. #SpacePolicy #SpaceSustainability #SpaceSecurity

Europa Clipper has observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS with its ultraviolet spectrograph instrument! News here: www.swri.org/newsroom/pre...

Are the Chinese giving us the ride to the Moon because 2028 seems...ambitious, given how Starship is faring. Also this changes the directive to provide SSA data for free, instead saying that it should be available "for commercial and other relevant use" www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

According to SpaceX, on Dec 17 one of the Group 11-30 satellites, Starlink 35956 (66629, 2025-271N), suffered a failure with venting of the propulsion tank and release of some debris objects. This is reflected in a 3km dip in the orbit tracking seen here

And congratulations to the American Astronautical Society's 2025 class of Fellows! astronautical.org/2025/12/18/2...

Congratulations to AIAA's 2026 class of Honorary Fellows and Fellows! aiaa.org/2025/12/15/a...

Here's a new, better picture of Isaacman being sworn in with his mother AND father in the photo and identifying who they are. From left: US District Judge Timothy Kelly, Donald Isaacman (father), Sandra Marie Isaacman (mother), Jared Isaacman (son & NASA Administrator.) www.nasa.gov/news-release...

President Trump is giving federal employees a three-day holiday break, with Dec 24 and Dec 26 both declared holidays in addition to Christmas Day. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Note To The NASA Workforce From Administrator Jared Isaacman nasawatch.com/ask-the-admi... #NASA

Malaysia ratified the U.N. Outer Space Treaty on October 21. www.state.gov/wp-content/u... They signed it in 1967, but didn't ratify it till now, just before they joined the Artemis Accords on Oct 26.

New Executive Order from President Trump on the day Isaacman is sworn into office: Ensuring American Space Superiority. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Jared Isaacman has been sworn in as NASA Administrator. www.nasa.gov/news-release...

The final vote is still underway, but it's 62-23 already so he's got it.

The Senate is starting to debate Isaacman's nomination.

The Senate plans to vote on Isaacman's nomination to be NASA Admin tomorrow (Wed, 12/17) after they vote on National Def Auth Act (NDAA) around 11:30 am ET. 1st Isaacman vote will be to invoke cloture. If invoked (as expected) *up to* 2 hrs of debate, then vote on confirmation.

NASA lost contact with MAVEN, which is orbiting Mars, on Dec 6, but now have recovered a fragment of tracking data suggesting it was rotating in an unexpected manner and its orbital trajectory may have changed after emerging from behind Mars. 1/2

Pick of the week is the potential confirmation of Jared Isaacman as NASA Administrator. But it's a super busy week with many great events, and then a break until the New Year. What’s Happening in Space Policy December 14-31, 2025 spacepolicyonline.com/news/whats-h...

Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) and Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) have re-introduced the Space Resources Institute Act, HR 6638. Essentially identical to HR 4152 (Caraveo) from the last Congress. Similar bills in 117th and 116th Congresses. foushee.house.gov/media/press-...

Defense One has an interesting history of the divide in the Space Force between operations and acquisition career paths--how it came to be (starting with Rumsfeld Commission), why it's a problem, and what Congress is doing to end it. www.defenseone.com/threats/2025...

House SS&T hrg next Thursday (Dec 18), 10:00 am ET, is on "Research Security: Examining the Implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act and NSPM-33" with witnesses from NSF, NASA (Daniel Evans, Asst Dep Assoc Admin for Research), NIH and Dept of Energy. science.house.gov/2025/12/subc...

At celebration of 5 yrs of Artemis Accords at Meridian Intl just now, Amit Kshatriya said "we're two months away from flying to the Moon for the first time in 54 years." So they're still looking at Feb for Artemis II it seems. Livestream on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYEx...

Chinese Spacewalkers Inspect Damaged Shenzhou-20 Window spacepolicyonline.com/news/chinese...

The House just passed the FY2026 NDAA despite vocal criticism from NTSB Chair Homendy and R+D leaders of Senate Commerce Cmte that Sec 373 makes DC airspace even less safe than before the January collision that killed 67 people. x.com/cspan/status... www.commerce.senate.gov/2025/12/cruz...

Human Exploration of Mars Gets a Science Strategy spacepolicyonline.com/news/human-e...

Soyuz MS-27 Back on Terra Firma spacepolicyonline.com/news/soyuz-m...

Watching NASA YouTube, Soyuz MS-27 has landed -- they've stated the coordinates -- but there was no actual visual of the landing. NASA's Rob Navias just said it was a nominal reentry with an unofficial landing time of Dec 9 12:03:30 am EST (Dec 8, 11:03:30 pm CST in Houston).

Meanwhile, up in Earth orbit, Soyuz MS-27 has just undocked from the ISS at 8:41:30 pm ET. Will land in Kazakhstan at 12:04 am ET. NASA's Jonny Kim, Roscosmos's Sergey Ryzhikov and Aleksey Zubritsky returning home after 8 months (the new standard for Soyuz missions).

Isaacman’s NASA Nomination Clears Senate Commerce Committee Again spacepolicyonline.com/news/isaacma...

Isaacman was approved by a vote of 18-10. It was 19-9 last time -- Sen Andy Kim (D-NJ) changed to a no. Here's how the Senators voted tonight:

NASA has issued a statement that Isaacman was approved, but not whether the cmte had a recorded vote and if so, how many votes he got.

Well, the Sen Cmrc Executive Session where they are voting on Isaacman's nomination is NOT being livestreamed. Just spoke to the cmte and they apologize, their press release was in error, they never planned to livestream it. They'll issue a press release later w/results.

For anyone planning to attend the vote on Jared Isaacman's nomination in-person this evening at 5:30 pm ET, they've changed the room. Now it'll be in S-207 (not S-216 as previously announced). And still livestreamed on the Commerce Committee's website and YouTube.

Text of the FY2026 NDAA came out late yesterday. Here's a link. Remember it's an AUTHORIZATION bill, not approps. Recommends funding levels, but doesn't have any money to spend. armedservices.house.gov/ndaa/fy26-nd...

Pick of the week is tomorrow's (Monday's) Senate Cmrc Cmte vote on Jared Isaacman's nomination to be NASA Administrator, but there's SO much more! What’s Happening in Space Policy December 7-13, 2025 spacepolicyonline.com/news/whats-h...

Taylor Jordan was appointed as Dir of NOAA's Office of Space Commerce on Tuesday. space.commerce.gov/department-o... Same day as OSC's "Financing the Final Frontier" event. spacepolicyonline.com/events/finan... It's in addition to being Asst Sec of Cmrc for Env Obs & Prediction, a top job at NOAA.

Getting Back to the Moon Before China No Sure Bet spacepolicyonline.com/news/getting...

House SS&T hearing on China should start shortly at 9:00 am ET. "Strategic Trajectories: Assessing China’s Space Rise and the Risks to U.S. Leadership" with Dean Cheng, Clayton Swope, Patrick Besha, and Mike Griffin. Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0vI...

Isaacman’s Second Hearing Mostly Friendly, Nomination Could Clear Senate Soon spacepolicyonline.com/news/isaacma...

Fmr SpX'er Hans Koenigsmann and his friend Michi Benthaus will fly on next New Shepard. He announced in October they'd make the flight together. An engineer at ESA, she's been confined to a wheelchair since 2018 due to a mountain biking accident. www.blueorigin.com/news/new-she...