Top Stories From SpaceCom 2025
 | | This week, SpaceNews journalists are reporting from SpaceCom, the Global Commercial Space Conference & Exhibition, held in Orlando, Florida. We'll be bringing highlights to your inbox — for full coverage, go to SpaceNews.com. | | | | | By Jeff Foust, Jan. 30, 2025 | | | | | Companies involved in the Artemis lunar exploration campaign urged the new administration to retain the current architecture, arguing it still offers the fastest way to return humans to the moon.
The Trump administration has not made any public changes to Artemis since taking office Jan. 20. However, administration advisers like Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, have been critical of the existing approach, with Musk stating in December that it was "a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program" and that "something entirely new is needed."
During a panel about the upcoming Artemis 2 mission at the SpaceCom conference here Jan. 29, Kirk Shireman, Orion program manager at Lockheed Martin, said he's familiar with the uncertainty that comes with changes in administrations, and urged employees to tune out the distraction. "The best thing we can do is keep your head down and work as hard as you can."
He said NASA's current approach to Artemis, which uses the Orion spacecraft launched on the Space Launch System rocket, as well as the lunar Gateway and landers being developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX, remained effective despite criticism about costs and delays. Read More | | | | | | | Clearer career pathways needed to sustain space industry growth By Jason Rainbow The commercial space industry should establish standardized career paths to attract the talent needed for its rapid expansion, a panel of professional services specialists said at the conference. Despite existing for decades before the IT boom, the space industry has lagged in developing structured workforce pathways. With space now at a commercial inflection point, the industry is struggling to find enough workers to sustain its rapid growth, said George Pullen, chief economist at boutique think tank MilkyWayEconomy. Read More
FAA optimistic launch companies will switch to new regulations by 2026 deadline By Jeff Foust Federal Aviation Administration officials say they are increasingly confident that they can move commercial launch licenses to a new set of regulations by a March 2026 deadline despite industry complaints about the rules. Read More
Satellite backlog emerges as key constraint at the nation's busiest spaceport By Sandra Erwin The U.S. Space Force is grappling with a persistent constraint in the commercial space boom: not enough room to prepare satellites for launch. Despite having the capacity to handle more rocket launches, a senior official said payload processing facilities at major spaceports are becoming a critical bottleneck in launch operations. Read More | | | | What's New With SpaceNews? |  | | Check out the latest episode of our new podcast, Space Minds. Join David Ariosto, Mike Gruss and journalists from the SpaceNews team for compelling interviews with scientists, founders and experts who love to talk about space, and their takes on the week's biggest news.
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