Plus: The next Starliner flight will probably be uncrewed.
| Welcome to our roundup of top SpaceNews stories, delivered every Friday! This week, Trump makes an unprecedented decision to put a cabinet member in charge of NASA, ESA advances companies in its launcher contest, NASA says there's a "strong chance" the next Starliner launch will be uncrewed and more.
If someone forwarded you this edition, sign up to receive it directly in your inbox every Friday.
| | | | | OUR TOP STORY
| | By Jeff Foust In an unprecedented move, President Donald Trump announced late July 9 that he has named Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, to take over as acting NASA administrator.
In a social media post, Trump said he was appointing Duffy as "interim" administrator of NASA, while Duffy apparently retains his Senate-confirmed position of secretary of transportation.
The move came as a surprise to the space community. NASA has been led on an acting basis since the start of the Trump administration by Janet Petro, director of the Kennedy Space Center. There had been no rumors that Petro would be replaced, let alone have Duffy take over.
| | | | | | | CIVIL
| | The Senate Appropriations Committee was set to formally approve a commerce, justice and science spending bill that rejected the administration's proposed cuts to NASA during a July 10 markup session along with two other appropriations bills. But the bill is in limbo after a dispute among senators about an unrelated provision.
In letters sent July 7 to the leadership of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees that fund the Commerce Department, seven industry groups asked appropriators to fund the Office of Space Commerce's Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS, at the $65 million allocated for it in 2025 rather than zero it out as the administration requested in its fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.
| | MILITARY
| | Raymond Sharp, vice president of Northrop Grumman's missile defense solutions business unit, said the company is drawing on decades of missile defense expertise and space operations to position itself as a key contractor for Golden Dome, a $25 billion homeland defense program that represents one of the largest military procurement efforts in recent years.
The U.S. Space Force rolled out its first International Partnership Strategy, a blueprint for how America's newest military branch intends to transition from sporadic global cooperation to a more deliberate and integrated space coalition with trusted allies. Framed around the idea that "spacepower is the ultimate team sport," the strategy reflects a growing recognition that the U.S. cannot go it alone in orbit. | | | | | | | LAUNCH
| | A Chinese Shiyan satellite appears in a low-inclination orbit never before used by the country, after a week-long detection delay. It is unclear what the Shiyan-28B (01) mission is, with only a terse description provided in post-launch statements. "The satellite will be mainly used for space environment exploration and related technology tests," a Xinhua state media report read.
The European Space Agency has selected five launch vehicle startups to proceed to the next phase of a competition where they could receive contracts for satellite launches and development of upgraded vehicles.
NASA officials say there is a "strong chance" that the next test flight of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle will be uncrewed as work continues to fix issues with the spacecraft. | | | | | | | OPINION
| | By Rick Liebling There was a time when looking up at the night sky stirred a visceral sense of wonder. The moon landing, the Shuttle launches, the Voyager missions — these were moments that gripped the public imagination and filled people with a sense of shared destiny beyond Earth. But somewhere along the way, something shifted. Despite unprecedented achievements in the 21st century, we seem to have lost our collective awe when it comes to space.
Does science fiction offer the best vision of humanity's collective future beyond Earth? Check out the latest episode of our Space Minds podcast, featuring a conversation with award-winning science fiction author and physicist David Brin.
| | By Pierre Lionnet
By Jean-François Morizur
| | SpaceNews is committed to publishing our community's diverse perspectives. Whether you're an academic, executive, engineer or even just a concerned citizen of the cosmos, send your arguments and viewpoints to opinion@spacenews.com to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. The perspectives shared in these op-eds are solely those of the authors.
| | | | | |  | Latest Press Releases
| | | | | | | FROM SPACENEWS |  | | | | Sign up for our other newsletters -
First Up: The latest civil, commercial and military space news, curated by veteran journalist Jeff Foust. Delivered Monday to Friday mornings. -
Military Space: Veteran defense journalist Sandra Erwin delivers news and insights for the military space professional. Delivered Tuesday. -
China Report: Analysis of China's space activities and what it means as one of the United States' top competitors from correspondent Andrew Jones. Delivered every other Wednesday. -
SpaceNext AI: Exploring the intersection of space and artificial intelligence. Delivered Thursday. -
Video & Audio: Upcoming live programs, scheduled guests, and recent Space Minds podcast episodes, webinars and other events. Delivered Friday. -
Marketing Minute: Covering PR, marketing, and advertising trends, upcoming SpaceNews opportunities, and editorial insights for communications and marketing leaders. Delivered monthly. | | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment