Plus: China concludes GEO refueling test
Welcome to our roundup of top SpaceNews stories, delivered every Friday! This week, Isaacman stressed the importance of sending a crew to the moon at his renomination hearing, China seems to have concluded a months-long GEO refueling test, Russia's latest ISS mission damaged the launch pad and more.
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OUR TOP STORY
| | By Jeff Foust Leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee said during a hearing they hope to quickly confirm Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator. Isaacman delivered a "message of urgency" about returning astronauts to the moon before China.
At a Dec. 3 confirmation hearing by the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he believed Isaacman could be confirmed by the full Senate before the end of the year.
"The United States must remain the unquestioned leader in space exploration, and this imperative is why we need to confirm your nomination as expeditiously as possible," Cruz said. "My hope is that you'll be confirmed and in this role before the end of this year."
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CIVIL
| | SpaceX and Amazon's satellite constellations stand to get about 4% of the nearly $20 billion that states have proposed for rural broadband buildouts, representing roughly 21% of the locations under the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.
Roscosmos announced Dec. 2 that Andrey Fedyaev would replace Oleg Artemyev on the upcoming Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station for reasons neither it nor NASA have disclosed.
China's experimental Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 satellites have separated in geosynchronous orbit after being docked for months conducting apparent low-profile on-orbit refueling tests. The separation could mark a successful conclusion to a world-first refueling operation in GEO.
| LAUNCH
| | The Baiknour pad used for the launch of the latest crew to the International Space Station has sustained damage, raising questions about its ability to support upcoming missions to the station. A service platform in the base of the pad was apparently not properly secured and fell into the flame trench below, according to images from a Roscosmos video feed.
China's Landspace carried out the first launch of its reusable Zhuque-3 rocket late Tuesday, successfully achieving orbit, but failing with a first stage landing attempt. Footage circulating on Chinese social media appears to show an anomalous combustion shortly after the landing burn began, seeing the booster catch fire on descent and smash into the pad. | | |
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SPONSORED |  | Join Reuters Events for the webinar "Launch Velocity: Scale Up Without Slowing Down" on December 10, 12:00 ET.
Satellite manufacturing is at a turning point: bespoke one-off builds are out - scalable, mass production is in. To stay competitive and launch faster, an agile supply chain is mission-critical.
Moderated by CSF's Dave Cavossa, hear from Rocket Lab, Firefly Aerospace, and Sierra Space as they: Navigate global launch and regulatory complexity Overcome capital barriers with modular platforms and automation Industrialize production using AI, 3D printing, and automation for LEO satellites Master strategies for prefigured launch readiness to accelerate speed to market. | | |
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COMMERCIAL
| Spire Global has secured a contract from Deloitte to design, build and operate eight satellites that will support the consulting firm's push into on-orbit cybersecurity, the companies said Dec. 1. Spire Global will supply the spacecraft for Deloitte's planned constellation carrying Silent Shield, an intrusion-detection payload built to spot cyber threats targeting satellites.
Nuclear power startup Antares announced a $96 million Series B round Dec. 2 to fund work on developing small nuclear reactors, including for space applications. The company is working on scalable nuclear reactors that could be used for terrestrial and space applications.
Reditus Space announced $7.1 million in seed funding Dec. 1 to fly its first reusable spacecraft next summer, joining a wave of startups emerging from stealth to support microgravity research and in-space manufacturing as the International Space Station nears retirement. | | |
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SPONSORED |  | By Axelspace Japan is a lion in kittens' clothing. In both land area and population, it pales in comparison to the likes of the United States, China, India, Brazil and Russia. In influence, significance and impact, however, it consistently punches above its weight. In fact, Japan's economy is the world's fourth largest, according to the International Monetary Fund, which says the country's GDP is a massive $4.28 trillion — despite a shrinking population and a paucity of natural resources. |
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| | FROM SPACENEWS |  | Meet the 2025 Icon Award Winners: This year's recipients range from a company that successfully landed on the moon to an agency leader who transformed NASA's relationship with industry, making room for commercial lunar landers in the first place. On Tuesday in Washington D.C., we awarded this year's Icon Awards during a program at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center. Learn more about what made this year's class stand out. |
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| |  | Latest Press Releases
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