Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of June 2nd, 2025:

Human Space Exploration

• Cruz seeks $10 billion for NASA programs in budget reconciliation bill
  Coalition for Deep Space Exploration in the News;
• Musk threatens to decommission Dragon amid feud with Trump;
• NASA’s budget crisis presents an opportunity for change
  Coalition for Deep Space Exploration in the News and Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space;
• Isaacman: people with ‘axes to grind’ about Musk caused withdrawn NASA nomination;
• Some parts of Trump’s proposed budget for NASA are literally draconian
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• NASA’s future in the balance;
• SpaceX’s next private astronaut launch to ISS, Ax-4, pushed back to June 10
  Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space;
• Blue Origin launches 6 passengers on sub-orbital trip to the edge of space;

Space Science

• ispace’s Resilience lander crash lands on the Moon;
• Hubble captures a stunning spiral galaxy bursting with newborn stars;
• What life on Europa needs;
• What if the Big Bang wasn’t the beginning? Research suggests it may have taken place inside a black hole;
• A tiny star gave birth to a giant exoplanet, but no one knows how;
• What time will Japan’s ispace Resilience probe land on the Moon on June 5;
• Future telescopes could detect life managing their planet atmospheres;
• Turning the Red Planet green? It’s time to take terraforming Mars seriously, scientists say;
• What’s at the center of Mars? Maybe the stench of rotten eggs;
• Webb reveals the origin of the ultra-hot exoplanet WASP-121b;
• How Dragonfly will support the search for life on an uninhabitable world;
• Milky Way’s chance of colliding with a galaxy billions of years from now? New study puts odds at 50-50;
• NASA budget would cancel dozens of science missions, lay off thousands;
• NASA copes with details of $6 billion budget cut, leadership uncertainty;
• NASA plans to build a giant radio telescope on the ‘dark side’ of the Moon;
• The storm is subsiding (But it’s not over);

Other News

• Europe’s far-reaching Space Act nears launch;
• Marc Garneau, 1st Canadian astronaut to fly into space, dies at 76;
• How NASA advisory committees are navigating a new political landscape;
• Commercial space companies to fund launch range upgrades under $4 billion contract
  Coalition Member in the News – Amentum;
• Jared Isaacman out as NASA administrator nominee;
• Two NASA astronauts inducted into U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, one preparing for Axiom launch
  Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space;

Major Events This Week:

• Until Saturday, it was anticipated the U.S. Senate would vote in the coming days on the confirmation of Jared Isaacman to become NASA’s next administrator. On Saturday, President Trump withdrew the nomination.
• The National Institute of Standards and Technology and NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce are scheduled to host a webinar on Monday at 2:30 p.m. EDT entitled “Lunar Policy for a Thriving Lunar Economy.”
• On Tuesday from 3 to 5 p.m. EDT the National Academy of Sciences will host its second annual State of the Science Address.
• On Thursday afternoon, EDT, the Japanese iSpace RESILIENCE lunar lander is scheduled to touchdown on the Moon with the TENACIOUS micro-rover, following a January 15 launch.
• Axiom Space’s 4th, four-person private astronaut mission to the ISS is planned for launch next Sunday at 9:11 a.m. Once docked, the private astronauts plan a 14-day stay with the current seven-person ISS crew in order to carry out about sixty science and technology activities.

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