As chair of the second meeting of the White House National Space Council, Vice President Kamala Harris has announced efforts to inspire and expand the country’s space workforce through a new STEM educational initiative.

Against a backdrop of tough geopolitical and economic issues, Director General Josef Aschbacher has to convince the agency’s 22 member states that those difficulties are precisely why they need to invest more into space.

Virgin Galactic is reviewing initial responses to RFPs for structural and systems components for the company’s planned new Delta-class spaceplanes as it looks ahead to serial production.

The FCC has recommended shortening the maximum period for post-mission disposal of low-Earth-orbit satellites to five years or less, down from 25 years, as concerns grow about space junk, traffic and collisions.

Houston-based Axiom Space, one of two companies selected by NASA to develop, manufacture and operate spacesuits for Moon-walking astronauts, has been awarded a $228.5 million task order for the first purchase under NASA’s public-private Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services program.

A panel of experts assembled by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has expressed optimism that NASA, two cabinet departments and the commercial sector are prepared to address the challenges of embracing space-nuclear power and propulsion.

Airbus is testing a pair of UK defense cubesats in readiness for the first orbital launch from the UK.

Meteosat Third Generation-I1, an Earth-observation satellite designed to provide significantly improved weather data, is in the final stages of integration at Thales Alenia Space’s assembly facility.