Civil
Stories about US and international civil space missions, including those led by NASA and ESA.
NASA-Funded Research May Create Chinese Security Risk, Report Says
NASA has potentially funded or supported hundreds of scientific collaborations since 2015 that might involve Chinese researchers, a new Congressional report says.
NASA Lays Out Preliminary Artemis III Mission Plan
Artemis III, expected to fly in 2027, will bring astronauts to LEO to test capabilities that will be necessary for the planned Moon landing in 2028.
Isaacman Continues to Defend Budget Cuts to Congress
The hearing also gave Isaacman a chance to provide more detail on the agency’s top objective: accelerate the US return to the Moon.
Lawmakers Promise to Reject Proposed NASA Cuts—Again
“I simply do not believe that this budget proposal is capable of supporting what President [Donald] Trump himself has directed the agency to accomplish,” Babin said.
Axiom Space’s Suit Set to Fly in 2027
“From a production standpoint, we’re putting together the first qualification suit,” Michael López-Alegría, the company’s chief astronaut, told Payload. “That continues regardless of what they say.”
Voyager Technologies Wins Its First Private ISS Mission
Axiom Space was the only provider for the first five PAMs awarded by NASA, but new players have entered the competition in 2026.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman On Artemis, Budget, And Establishing a Lasting Space Vision
“There’s a lot of passionate people out here. They can do incredible things from a scientific perspective,” Isaacman told Payload. “I don’t know how many of them have ever pulled together a financial model, and driven execution on some of these things, to say what should or shouldn’t be the right budget.”
CLD Companies Say NASA Is Wrong. NASA Says Prove It.
“I’m not surprised that CLD providers didn’t like what we had to say,” Isaacman told Payload on the sidelines of the Space Symposium. “So, prove we got it wrong.”
White House Requests $18.8B FY27 Budget for NASA
The budget proposal includes the same top line as the administration’s fiscal 2026 request, and would make similar cuts to NASA’s science and STEM missions.
CLPS Companies Excited For NASA’s ‘Opportunity Bomb’ Lunar Plan
Last week, NASA laid out a vision for a lunar base that’s built and supplied through monthly uncrewed lunar landings, with launches beginning as soon as next year.It’s no surprise that CLPS companies are raring to go.
Q&A With Lunar Base Manager Carlos Garcia-Galan
At the start of last week, Carlos Garcia-Galan was working on NASA’s program for a lunar-orbiting habitat. Last Tuesday, however, he became the person overseeing the space agency’s ambitious plan to build a lunar surface base at record speed. During last week’s Ignition event at NASA HQ, Payload sat down with Garcia-Galan, the program executive…
Jared Isaacman Hits 100 Days In Office With a Bang
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has one message: Get in, we’re going to the Moon.
NASA Priorities Get a Major Makeover
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman had a vision for a robust, commercially driven lunar economy, supported by surface infrastructure. Now, he also has a plan.
