Keith’s note: Space analyst Laura Seward Forczyk just tweeted that the ISS Research & Development Conference has been cancelled. If this is true (and my sources tell me that it really is true) then NASA has decided to stop telling people why LEO research is important. The FY 2026 budget reduces research on ISS – but does not cancel it. OMB documents talk about commercial LEO space stations picking up on that work from ISS. So why not promote a generation of ISS research – the basis upon which the next LEO effort will be based? Clearly NASA has absolutely no idea what they are going to do after the budget cuts take effect and 1/3 of its work force has been RIFed. Oddly there’s the ‘Beat China’ meme in these budget documents and White House rhetoric. Fine. The best way to let China win in LEO is to diminish ISS as fast as possible and let China attract more customers in the interim years. This is baffling in the extreme. Embrace The Challenge y’all.

Keith’s 28 May Update: I just did an interview with Al Jazeera about the SpaceX Starship 9 flight Audio. Keith’s 27 May note: I just did live coverage of the SpaceX Starship Flight 9 mission on Bloomberg Radio. After two last minute holds the rocket lifted off re-using a first stage that had already flown – 29 engines were being re-flown – and one of them was being flown for its third flight. After staging the first stage was brought back – but under heightened stress loads to test the vehicle. Just as the landing burn was going to happen telemetry stopped and SpaceX confirmed that “Heavy just demised” in SpaceX lingo. The Ship (second stage) made its way into space and tested some engines. The plan was to deploy 8 Starlink demonstrators but the payload door would not open properly so that task was aborted. Upon re-entry the vehicle lost control and spun and was eventually lost.

Keith’s note: I give up. When female space youtubers like Eliana Sheriff @esherifftv go out of their way to mock a mission with women going into space – comparing them to chimpanzees – why should the rest of us even bother trying to knock down all the space misogyny. Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-B_ISPE3mc

Keith’s note: Yesterday 6 people on the Blue Origin NS-31 flight crossed the Kármán line and entered “space”. More people – some of prominence – now speak of the value of – and the awe encountered in – space. Alas, lots of space folks on social media say that they’re not “astronauts”. I wonder how many space fans would change their mind if they had a chance to do the same thing. Just sayin’. FWIW soon-to-be NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (an astronaut) said this from a more lofty perspective:

Keith’s note: Apparently the crew of the Blue Origin NS-31 suborbital flight had a great time today. I did live launch/landing coverage on Bloomberg radio/YouTube and then did an interview on Deutsche Welle TV [audio].Video below Every now and then some of that space conference swag comes in useful as a prop when you need to illustrate some rocket science. In this case the squishy Blue Origin capsule.

Keith’s note: For all of you Space Symposium fans who think we’re on the verge of a commerce golden age in space or that U.S. will #MakeSpaceGreatAgain and devote big bucks to space science, Moon, Mars, new space stations, Space Force etc. Just look at what the tariff thing did in mere days to our economy. Do the math. Where is the money going to come from? Discuss this among yourselves.

Keith’s note: The Fram2 crew and their SpaceX ship “Resilience” are in orbit after a flawless ride uphill. I did launch commentary on Bloomberg Radio [audio] and was also on Deutsche Welle TV [audio].

Keith’s note: The Aerospace Industries Association just put put their self-serving and totally anodyne “Space Priorities 2025“. Its all bland happy talk – as if nothing was really happening these days when it comes to the health and well being of the aerospace sector. With all of the swirling concern over budget cuts, program cancellations, and layoffs, you’d think that a non-profit established to be concerned about the aerospace sector would be a little more proactive in discussing these threats. Guess again.

Keith’s note: The Starship 8 launch resulted in yet another flawless catch of the Heavy booster first stage and the loss of the Ship upper stage.

Keith’s note: I was just on Deutsche Welle TV talking about the IM-2 landing [audio]. The Intuitive Machines Athena Lander is on the Moon. They are shutting down things that are not needed and safing the spacecraft. Power is being generated from solar panels and surface ops have begun. Mission control is waiting for some images and other data so as to see how the vehicle is oriented on the lunar surface. Things were a little confusing to those of us looking over the team’s shoulder as the landing occurred. They apparently had multi-path issues i.e. radio waves taking multiple paths bouncing off of mountains and craters and possibly confusing things a bit. This was expected in places such as the lunar South Pole. I was also on Bloomberg Radio during the landing. I’ll be back on Bloomberg radio and television tonight for the SpaceX Starship 8 launch.

Keith’s note: Dear Trump Transition Team (whoever you are): America always has been ‘Great in Space’. No “again” is needed. Just sayin’ Ad Astra y’all.

Keith’s note: I was just on Bloomberg TV for live coverage of the SpaceX Starship 7 flight. [Audio] They recovered the first stage perfectly but they lost comms near the end of the Starship burn. This was an upgraded version of Starship. So they’ll just try again to get it right.

Keith’s note: According to Blue Origin: “New Glenn safely reached its intended orbit during today’s NG-1 mission, accomplishing our primary objective. New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines ignited on January 16, 2025, at 2:03 a.m. EST (0703 UTC) from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The second stage is in its final orbit following two successful burns of the BE-3U engines. The Blue Ring Pathfinder is receiving data and performing well.We lost the booster during descent.”

Keith’s note: In order to make sure that no one outside of the DC space bubble knows what is going on with the Federal government and space commerce, this conference will not be recorded or webcast by FAA, or NASA, or the Commercial Spaceflight Federation – or anyone. Meanwhile Blue Origin and SpaceX are launching massive commercially-developed launch vehicles. Go figure.

Keith’s note: like everyone else I stayed up to watch the New Glenn launch and did some TV talking head time too. Here’s the audio from Deutsche Welle prior to the launch scrub. I was going to be on BBC World too for post-launch coverage but then the delays changed that. Weather is going to be pacing the next launch attempt apparently. Stay tuned. [Audio]

Keith’s note: According to a Blue origin posting: “New Glenn successfully completed an integrated launch vehicle hotfire test today, the final major milestone on our road to first flight. NG-1 will carry a Blue Ring Pathfinder as its first manifested payload and will launch from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, FL.” Social media postings (as yet unconfirmed) cite a 6 January 2025 launch date target (again, unconfirmed). Soon NASA’s SLS will have two immense rockets that can out-compete it in terms of cost, performance, flight rate, and ability to be adapted and revised. And these rockets were built from scratch using 21st century experience and concepts – not a congressionally-mandated shotgun marriage of 1970s, 1980s, and early 2000’s ideas and rocket parts. Stay tuned.

Keith’s note: In case you did not already notice, the 9th floor at NASA HQ issued these two reports on human spaceflight strategy in less than a week – and yet neither one mentions the other – even thought they overlap and cross-enable. Right? Nor does NASA make any effort to link them together. Why bother. Gotta take all that use-or-lose vacation time.

• Moon to Mars Architecture
• Strategy for Sustaining Human Presence in Low Earth Orbit

Keith’s note: I was just on CNN with Wolf Blitzer to talk about today’s Starship test flight.

Keith’s note: NASA put out a report NASA’s Economic Impact Report for fiscal year (FY) 2023. In addition to its data rich/ lousy common language construction (see A Nice NASA Economic Impact Report By / For Wonks) NASA is not really spending much effort to tell people about it. In addition to the report there are additional data files and one PDF file for every state (but nothing for Puerto Rico). But other than some info from GSFC, KSC, and Armstrong, NASA PAO seems to have ignored its own websites and not sent out any media advisories or press releases relevant to local state economic impacts (no mention here) just their main release and a KSC link. NASA has once again demonstrated that it is utterly clueless and bereft of strategic thought when it comes to demonstrating its value and relevance to its stakeholders, taxpayers, and its puppet masters in DC. This is going to come back and bite the agency. It is downright embarrassing that the same agency that can look outward and back at the beginning of time and reprogram 50 year old spacecraft in interstellar space can’t explain itself to the people that pay for the whole space thing. More snarky detail below.