Space in July 2025: Budget Battles, Scientific Breakthroughs, and the New Space Race / Updated: 2025, July 9th, 00:00 CET
The FY2026 NASA budget proposal would cut overall funding by 24.3%, with science funding slashed by nearly 47%. Congress moved to restore nearly $10 billion for NASA’s human spaceflight programs including Artemis, SLS, Orion, and the Gateway lunar station, while transferring Space Shuttle Discovery to Houston and upgrading the Stennis Space Center. SpaceX accounted for 83% of U.S. launches in 2024 and marked its 500th Falcon 9 launch, while Starlink now operates more than 7,900 active satellites. The TraCSS space traffic coordination system faces an 84% budget cut, with hundreds of companies urging Congress to restore funding. <li NASA’s Perseverance