Keith’s note: I was on CNN This morning talking about the return of crew 11 and NASA’s new Administrator. [Audio]

Keith’s note: In case you missed it the White House recently went in – big time – on global AI leadership – here’s the plan at ai.gov. One would assume that NASA was paying attention. They did to some extent. NASA SMD just issued C.12 Foundational Artificial Intelligence for the Moon and Mars (FAIMM) stating that it is “Amended January 13, 2026: This amendment presents this new program element in ROSES-2025.” One of the prime reasons to explore Mars in the first place for the past six decades with robotics and humans has been the search for life – past or present. The NASA program for this is called “Astrobiology”. Yet no mention of the words “astrobiology” or “exobiology” or “life” or “biology” is made in c.12. There is no mention on the new NASA Astrobiology site either. Why is that? More below.

Keith’s note: Dale Andersen and his astrobiology research team departed the Ultima ice airstrip where they arrived the other day – and drove their snowmobiles south to their research base location at Lake Untersee. I posted some slightly blurry pics yesterday but now that they have their Starlink up and operational, there’s more imagery and a video to show you. Oh yes – Dale Andersen is holding a ISS Crew 11 patch. He and fellow biologist, astronaut Zena Cardman, have worked together and had planned an antarctic/space conversation – but the crew’s early return cancelled that. More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 12 January 2026: Overland Traverse Imagery – And Hello ISS

Keith’s note: Today’s overland traverse from Ultima air strip, southward, to Lake Untersee, was done by snowmobiles pulling sledges packed with gear and supplies. Dale has been doing research in the region around Lake Untersee for many years. As such they have worked out a standard path around terrain that they follow more or less – with weather altering the course slightly from one trip to another. Update: Dale Andersen and his team are now at Lake Untersee, at S 71.260082° E 13.506017° elevation of 2,645 ft. More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 11 January 2026: Overland Traverse To Lake Untersee

Keith’s note: This was posted last night from the International Space Station on LinkedIn by Mike Fincke: As many of you have heard, our crew will be coming home just a few weeks earlier than planned due to an unexpected medical issue. (Full note below)

“One real improvement this season is that we now have a dedicated place to stage everything at the Ultima airbase: a new WeatherPort hut (about 30 × 30 × 13 ft). For the first time we will be able to keep all of our gear in one spot, including the snowmobiles and the ATV, instead of chasing equipment across multiple caches. Just as important, it gives us a sheltered workspace when we need to lay things out, troubleshoot, or do maintenance without fighting the wind and drifting snow.” More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 9 January 2026: Building Our New Storage Facility

Keith’s note: Last year the White House nominated Matt Anderson to be Deputy NASA Administrator and Greg Autry to be NASA CFO (twice in 2020 & 2025). And of course Jared Isaacman was nominated twice. So … not a smooth year for NASA nominees. Since their nominations we’ve heard nothing about Autry or Anderson’s status. Yesterday Autry tweeted “On both occasions my nomination expired at year end, without a Senate vote. I have decided not to pursue confirmation again and have requested that I not be renominated.” If you look at it says “01/03/2026 Returned to the President under the provisions of Senate Rule XXXI, paragraph 6 of the Standing Rules of the Senate.” If you look at the status of Anderson’s nomination it also says the same thing. Senate Rule XXXI, paragraph 6 specifies that “Nominations that have been neither confirmed nor rejected by the Senate at the time the Senate adjourns sine die or for a period of more than 30 days are returned to the President”. So it looks like there will need to be a new CFO nominee. Matt Anderson certainly seems to be chipper and happily ready to on-board at NASA – so I guess maybe he is still the Administration’s choice. Or Jared Isaacman could just use NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya as his de-facto deputy. Dan Goldin did this throughout his tenure. I would ask NASA Public Affairs – but they ignore me these days.

Keith’s note: (reposted from LinkedIn) Message from Sami Aziz, Head of Live at NASA. Sami and his team snagged some Emmy awards and yet NASA can’t figure out how to retain this proven talent – especially as the agency is about to send a human recon mission back to the Moon. Fair winds Sami. This is baffling. (Full note below.)

Keith’s note: according to a press release “Planetary Science Caucus Co-Chairs Statement on House Passage of FY26 Full-Year Funding for Space, Science, and Exploration”: “the U.S. House of Representatives voted 397-28 to pass H.R. 6938, the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, 2026. Rep Judy Chu (CA-28) and Rep. Don Bacon (NE-02), who both co-Chair the bipartisan Congressional Planetary Science Caucus, released the following joint statement: (more below)

Keith’s note: I live-tweeted the ISS crew telecon at @NASAWatch – highlights:

• Jared Isaacman: It is in the best interest of crew II to return early. Crew 12 will launch in mid-Feb. Evaluating earlier launch opportunities.
• JD Polk: no mention will be made of a particular astronaut or diagnosis. Need to respect privacy of astronaut. That astronaut is “absolutely stable”. The incident was sufficient enough that we would like to complete work-up on the ground with full suite of medical hardware. Not a emergency departure but there is a lingering risk.
• JD Polk: Previous incidents on ISS that guide response? JD Polk – yes – we have had capabilities on orbit that very always able to treat medical things that popped up during past 25 years.
• JD Polk: Previous incidents on ISS that guide response? JD Polk – yes – we have had capabilities on orbit that very always able to treat medical things that popped up during past 25 years.
• Jared Isaacman: Will there me a medical officer on ISS? All astronauts have extensive medical training. Having a M.D. on board would not really change anything. We are exercising capabilities that were engineered into ISS – at will.
• Jared Isaacman: Good question: what in space medical capabilities need to be in place for Moon and Mars missions. ISS already has a capability. We continue to learn. We will see if that informs on-orbit space ops – then to the Moon – then deep space missions to Mars.

“Hi Keith, We arrived 6pm UTC Tuesday evening to a bright, sunny windless day with air temps just over freezing. Our flight down was nice and he aircraft should return to CPT later this morning or afternoon. Sorry I think my last couple of notes did not make it to you, it will take a couple of days to get our comms sorted out as we get organized. If all goes well we hope to start the traverse to Untersee perhaps over the weekend. As you can imagine our priority now is to get the snowmobiles up and running and to get our cargo sorted and organized, So, a busy couple of days. I hope the weather continues to be nice!” More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 7 January 2026: Arrival At Novolazarevskaya Station, Antarctica

Keith’s note: Jared Isaacman took several Trump family members for a plane ride the other day. Before you start to wag your fingers at him for this – understand that there will be many more opportunities for lots of NASA employees – and others – to get the same opportunity and that Isaacman is footing the bill for all of the expenses – in his own jets (yes he painted NASA logos on them). FYI he likes to fly lots of people in these jets and has been doing so for years. Silver Snoopys are nice. But pulling a bunch of Gs is … fun. Two tweets were posted that go into further detail. (see below).

Keith’s note: Astrobiologist Dale Andersen is heading back in Antarctica at Lake Untersee in January-February 2026 for another field season of research. After a 5-6 hr flight from Cape Town, South Africa, Dale and his team will land at the Novolazarevskaya Station ice-runway in Antarctica. They will unpack, gather their stored gear, and prepare for the overland traverse to their research camp at Lake Untersee in a few days. Update and photos here.

Keith’s note: here’s your expert summary from Marcia Smith at Space Policy Online: “The House and Senate Appropriations Committees released the text of their joint conference agreement on the FY2026 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill today with a wholesale rejection of the dire cuts to NASA proposed by the Trump Administration. The committees had individually indicated they would not accept Trump’s 24.3 percent cut and the joint agreement calls for only a comparatively small reduction of $400 million from NASA’s $24.8 billion FY2025 budget. It’s still a cut, though, and inflation will reduce the buying power of that money, but if enacted the outcome is a vast improvement over what the agency was facing a few months ago.” More at “Great News for NASA in the House-Senate FY2026 Appropriations Report“.

Keith’s note: NASA issued a release today about Habitable Worlds Observatory tech development contracts. Once again, I am baffled why news involving the search for habitable worlds – a core astrobiology thing – doesn’t use the word “astrobiology” in the release or web pages about Habitable Worlds Observatory listed in the release. So I added them to what I am posting. It is cool to get Jared Isaacman quoted – in his own words. The more engaged the Administrator is in these things the better he can support them – and explain them to Congress and the White House. Searching for life elsewhere in the universe is one of the most profound things NASA does – shoulder to shoulder with searching for the origin of the universe itself and making humans a space faring species. NASA needs to develop a better style guide and outreach plan (actually it has never had an outreach plan) so as to better explain this cross-disciplinary activities to the public as well as policy makers. If NASA wants to retain/expand its leadership in space it needs to start telling a more compelling, cohesive, and strategically-enabled story. And oh yes – a story that touches and involves everyone, everywhere. Just sayin’.

Keith’s note: Good Morning NASA. Critics wallow in the mud. Heroes live above the sky and reach for the stars. You rock Mark Kelly. Turn up the volume. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ydz5-ecdpg

Keith’s note: Astrobiologist Dale Andersen will be back in Antarctica at Lake Untersee from early January through the end of February 2026 for another field season of research, leading an international field team of graduate students and scientists from the United States, Canada, and Austria. Dale and his team are in Cape Town South Africa preparing their gear for the flight south to Antarctica. Full report

• NASA Watch @NASAWatch: Whenever #Artemis II happens it will be the first time billions will see humans leave Earth to visit another world. Yes, there are delays but when it happens let’s all applaud this new chapter in human exploration. @NASA @ExplorersClub @rookisaacman
• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin: I couldn’t agree more. This is what we do at NASA. Artemis II is the first step in America’s grand return to the Moon, and we will be very transparent about technical readiness and timelines after rollout. Preparations for Artemis II will rightly command the majority of our attention, but the missions that follow across human exploration, science, and aeronautics will be ambitious and inspiring. We are just getting started.

Keith’s note: NASA has just authored a paper on a new way for people with a wide variety of interests to use – and build – sensor technology that is a preview of the devices we will use to explore other planets. How will we develop these instruments – sensors, tricorders, scanners, smartphones – call them what you will is now underway at NASA. There is a vibrant citizen science / open science / DIY / “hacker” community in America and around the world that seeks to make interesting things out of ordinary materials. Cellphones outperform what we would have called a “super computer” just a generation ago – and they are in everyone’s pocket. Electronic parts can be bought online and how-to instructions are openly available online – globally. Full story

Keith’s note: according to Brian Hughes exits NASA, teases ‘new chapter’ “Brian Hughes, who most recently has served as Chief of Staff at NASA, says he’s exiting that role and preparing for his next move. On LinkedIn Hughes posted “NASA is entering an exciting new era under Jared and President Trump.”