Keith’s note: The Federal Government recently issued “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance” which, if implemented, would gut the way that American science has been evaluated and conducted for the better part of a century. At a time when the avowed stance of the Administration to pursue “Gold Standard Science“ and assert global leadership in science and technology this regulation would infect it with politics, fatally hamper its ability to thrive, and turn it into lead instead of gold. Below is commentary by planetary scientist Mark Sykes (who is also a lawyer). Full text below:

Keith’s note: I wanted to take a moment of your time to talk about my friend Kathleen Connell. She is under hospice care right now. Her wife Jaye is with her and read this note to her. “I have known both Kathleen and Jaye for 30 years. I met them both when Kathleen was working at NASA Ames. In a nutshell Kathleen was part of a small cadre – of which I was a member – that helped to bring NASA’s Astrobiology program into existence. The list is too long – but Lynn Harper, Greg Schmidt, Mel Avener, Mitch Hobish, Rho Christensen, Joe Minafra, Scott Hubbard, David Morrison and so, so many others worked in the forefront and the background – one way or another – to help make Astrobiology a real thing. The most notable early accomplishment was to get Nobel Laureate Baruch Blumberg to come to a meeting at Ames and then twist his arm him to consider applying to be come the Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Little arm twisting was needed since Barry was a quick convert. Kathleen was in on every aspect of this – big and small – public and behind the scenes – often without a lot of public fanfare or acknowledgement. Without Kathleen, the road to birthing Astrobiology at NASA would have been that much harder. And look at it now. Astrobiology went from a throw-away word on a memo to a global phenomena. As Jaye reads this to you, Kathleen, just know that you did good and it will not be forgotten. Ad Astra – and thank you. – Keith”

Keith’s note: NASA announced the Artemis III crew today. Their two week mission in 2027 involves testing of the SpaceX and Blue Origin lunar landers. Whether or not either lander and its associated launch system will be good to go at that point will be interesting to watch. Stay tuned.

Keith’s note: Earlier this year it was announced that NASA’s Planetary Science Division to cease financial support for planetary science Analysis/Assessment Groups (AGs), effective the end of April 2026. The following email was sent out by USRA today: “Dear Colleagues, For many years, the Lunar and Planetary Institute has supported the planetary science community by convening meetings and maintaining records of activities associated with the Planetary Science Analysis and Assessment Groups (AGs). These materials reflect the collective efforts of the community and have contributed to shaping scientific priorities and directions in planetary science.” More below.

Keith’s note: NASA PAO has provided this update on the ISS Leak situation: “The Zvezda service module’s transfer tunnel, known as the PrK, on the International Space Station has experienced cracks since 2019 that have resulted in small atmosphere leaks and prompted ongoing monitoring and repair efforts by Roscosmos. NASA and Roscosmos have worked together to identify the root cause while Roscosmos has been applying leak mitigation measures, including temporary and permanent sealants.” More below.

Keith’s note: According to this SETI Institute discussion of the Updated Rules for Evaluating and Revealing the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence “The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) has ratified updated protocols governing how scientists evaluate, verify, and announce evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

• Why it matters: The guidelines are the first major revision in more than 15 years and address today’s realities of social media, AI-generated misinformation, deepfakes, and 24-hour news cycles.
• Key change: Any potential detection must undergo rigorous independent verification before a public announcement is made.
• Expanded scope: The protocols now reflect modern SETI research, including searches for technosignatures across the electromagnetic spectrum and other emerging detection methods.
  Researcher protections: New provisions acknowledge risks such as online harassment, doxxing, misinformation campaigns, and intense media scrutiny.
• No Reply policy remains: The protocols reaffirm that no response should be sent to an extraterrestrial intelligence without broad international consultation, including through the United Nations.“
• More

Keith’s note: Last year I was trying to retire. Circumstances at NASA changed that. I needed financial help to run a beefed-up NASAWatch to handle the traffic and y’all were very kind and funded it for a year. My long-time business partner Marc Boucher and I are now working a total overhaul of the site as it moves into the future. Lots of new things will be added. Meanwhile I am going to try and get back to my interest in Astrobiology on my Astrobiology.com website which I also host. And maybe I can finally finish my book on Astrobiology expeditions. We’re doing a soft launch of our crowd funding campaign today. FYI I am not drawing any salary from this. The funds go to what it takes to run the site and add new talent to it. Anything you can spare will help keep NASAWatch going. Thanks in advance. Ad Astra y’all.

• Note: The button below goes to the secure Stripe financial payment system. The payment will be made to SpaceQ Media Inc. which is handling our donations. It will appear as “SPACEQ MEDIA INC.” on your credit card statement. This is not a tax deductible donation.

Keith’s note: According to NASA PAO “Roscosmos has paused Friday’s structural repair efforts inside the Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, as more measurements and data is assessed. Given this development, NASA has instructed the crew members inside the Dragon spacecraft to end the safe haven procedures and return to planned operations aboard the International Space Station. We look forward to working with Roscosmos on a collaborative approach to address the leaks.” — Note: I was on BBC World News TV [Audio] , Al Jazeera English [Audio] , and Deutsche Welle [Audio] to talk about this. I will be on “America at Night” on Westwood One Radio Network at 10:05 pm EDT

Keith’s note: the second contractor insourcing wave at NASA has started at JSC. MCC staff contractors were recently insourced. Now many more JSC contractors are going to be converted in flight ops, exploration, and engineering. Job postings in July will be open to all applicants. No telework will be allowed.

Keith’s note: a modified version of the long-feared ‘Schedule F’ has arrived albeit in a somewhat truncated form. Thousands of career civil service positions are now political positions subject to new rules including greatly enhanced ease of quick dismissal. Curiously there has been no public mention of this dramatic personnel overhaul by NASA. (earlier posts).

• Implementing Schedule Policy/Career in the Excepted Service, White House: “Section 1. Purpose. The President relies on subordinates in the executive branch to help him faithfully execute the laws and advance the priorities for which he was elected by the American people. Officials in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, and policy-advocating roles (policy-influencing positions) play particularly important roles in helping him fulfill this constitutional duty. Therefore, ensuring that such employees can be removed for misconduct or poor performance is essential to protecting democratic self-government by an elected President.”
• Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Increases Accountability in the Federal Workforce, White House: “Federal employee removal procedures are lengthy and burdensome. Removals and subsequent appeals often take a year or more to process. As a result, agencies seldom remove career employees, even at senior levels, including for egregious conduct or subversion of Presidential priorities.”
• Trump signs order moving thousands of federal employees into Schedule F, Government Executive: “The official said the vast majority — around 97% — of those impacted are either GS-15s or senior leaders (SL). Jobs targeted for conversion include agency office and division heads; C-suite posts like chief information officers; regional officers and their deputies and chiefs of staff; program managers; those who help write federal regulations and attorneys involved in crafting agency or internal policies, as well as advisors, senior HR officials and grantmaking posts.”
• Trump moves about 8,000 federal positions to Schedule Policy/Career, Federal News Network: “You can have any political views, but if you allow those views to basically interfere with your willingness to actually carry out lawful orders and policy directives with the administration, then this provides a mechanism for people in those agencies to be able to be removed effectively at-will,” [Office of Personnel Management Director Scott] Kupor continued.”

Keith’s note: During the “Ignition“ event in March NASA said it would launch a new government-owned anchor or core module to the ISS and then have it remain as the nucleus of any future commercial space station. Given that every commercial space station effort more or less launches its own infrastructure this would have thrown a wrench into their plans and possibly undermined commercial investment. NASA has decided to dial that back: “In the spirit of learning from past programmatic challenges and ensuring a responsible transition from the International Space Station, NASA evaluated both the current commercial space station approach and alternative pathways. Industry has provided extensive feedback making the case for a sustainable commercial market in which NASA is one customer among many, along with assurances regarding available transportation capabilities. The industry position will now shape the path forward as NASA proceeds with the original commercial strategy. Over the coming weeks, NASA will work with stakeholders and industry to refine flexible requirements and acquisition plans, with a draft RFP expected later this month.”

Keith’s note: NASA HQ now has a new public visitor facility with some cool stuff. On the front windows of HQ are some big banners – one mentions some sort of sponsorship by/affiliation with “Freedom 250”. Meanwhile I got a press release from the Federal Circuit Center for Innovation & Law that said “America 250 program takes visitors from Dolley Madison’s parlor and NASA’s first DC headquarters …” So what is the intent of Freedom 250 vs America 250 things involving NASA? Like most people in DC, I am confused as to what is political and what is not. I’d ask NASA PAO, but they are all political there, so.

• America 250 (United States Semiquincentennial) is a non-political entity created by Congress to ensure all 350 americans can participate. America 250 was established by Congress as a bipartisan committee in 2016 focusing mostly on historical and educational events nationwide.
• “Freedom 250“ was created under an executive order by the President and supports fireworks, Patriot Games National Competition, the White House UFC mega cage fight thing and that Indy 250 race through the streets of DC.
• Some in Congress now accuse Freedom 250 of using a portion of the $150 million allocated by Congress for America 250 to fund events under the executive branch i.e Freedom 250. – There was also alot of confusion as to who was sponsoring that now-cancelled concert wherein nearly all acts cancelled when they found out it was poliical (Freedom 250) and not apolitical (America 250).
• If you look at the pictures of NASA Administrator’s private jets (private, not government) they have a Freedom 250 logo on the tail.
• If you go to the official NASA 250th birthday website it says “Freedom 250” i.e https://www.nasa.gov/freedom250/ with pictures on lots of NASA rockets and aircraft
• If you go to any random Artemis II SLS picture like this you can see America 250 logo on the SRBs – but no Freedom 250. But the Artemis II crew (including a Canadian) wore Freedom 250 patches.
• The line between America 250 and Freedom 250 is blurry. Will politics will outweigh the patriotism – and where does NASA fit into all of this? Hard to tell these days.

Keith’s note: The current administration forbids mention of Pride Month by NASA – but they cannot stomp out Pride inside, outside, and surrounding NASA.

Keith’s note: The following message was sent to NASA employees by Jared Isaacman today: “NASA Team, I want to take a moment to congratulate and recognize Will Boyington’s accomplishments as he steps down from his role as Associate Administrator for NASA’s Office of Communications to take on a new position outside of the agency.” More below

Keith’s note: I was just on CNN [Audio] talking about the New Glenn explosion last night – based mostly on video and initial reports of damage. The technical aspects, root cause etc. will take a while to emerge. Given delays with both SpaceX and Blue Origin contributions to the Artemis program this is a rather uncertain time for America’s return to the Moon. But NASA and its contractor team has bounced back before. Ad Lunam. Update: I was also on Deutsche Welle [Audio] and NewsNation with my long-time friend Leroy Chiao [Audio]. Video links below.

Keith’s note: a few minutes ago the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on its launch pad during a static test. Major damage has been reported. To state the obvious – especially in light of issues with SpaceX Starship 12 flight, this certainly changes things for NASA’s Artemis plans. Of course NASASpaceflight.com, always alert, caught the whole thing.

Once upon a time humans took short trips to the Moon. Then we stopped. Now we are going back – to stay. The prospect of an actual Moon base wherein we live and work offworld utterly fascinates me. It has for more than 50 years. Now we’re actually going to do it. How we do this whole Moon base thing absolutely captivates me. I’m going to write a lot about this on NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com as I pivot my efforts in the years ahead. I am already writing a book on how to mount Astrobiology expeditions on this world – and beyond. So these dispatches will be somewhat of an installment series from that process. More below

Keith’s note: According to this press release from the National Space Society, I will be receiving the NSS’s ‘Space Pioneer Award for excellence in mass media’. I am not exactly the award winning type. As such, I am doubly flattered by this – especially given the folks who have been similarly honored in prior years. More below.

Keith’s note: According to this press release NASA did a big Moon base reveal today. Lunar landers, rovers, and drone selections were announced. Two Moon-related BAAs will be released as well. And the NASA Moonbase website has some upgrades.

Keith’s note: I asked Achintya Bairat (social accounts) from NASA JSC if I could post this rather inspiring story he just posted on LinkedIn. Wow. What an experience. Space is a potent calling. “April 16th is a day etched into my memory forever. In the morning, I received a call for an interview for my dream job at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Two hours later, I got a call from my doctor. “We’ve diagnosed you with stage 4 metastatic cancer. If we don’t treat this now, you won’t have a future to worry about, let alone an interview.” As fate would have it, my first surgery was scheduled for the exact same time and day as my NASA interview.” More below