Congress in recess through election week as budget deadline approaches

The House and Senate will not conduct regular legislative business during the November 1-8 week, remaining in recess for pro forma sessions only until the midterm elections conclude on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

Both chambers return on Monday, November 9, 2026, to address unfinished legislation before the 119th Congress ends at or before noon on January 3, 2027. All 12 FY2027 appropriations bills remain unfinished, and the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act has also not passed.

The Space Foundation reports that the continuing resolution keeps NASA spending flat at $24.4 billion, matching figures approved for fiscal year 2027 by House and Senate committees, while the White House is cutting as much as $6 billion from the agency’s 2026 spending plan. The foundation notes the continuing resolution is not described as a major fiscal hit for the agency.

The Space Foundation says a federal government shutdown looms on Dec. 11 if Congress fails to reach a budget deal, and a cap limits Pentagon space spending to $5 billion per month through that deadline. A shutdown would place much of the Space Force’s civilian workforce on furlough, and civilian staff make up just over a third of the service’s total employment.

The Space Foundation projects 2027 space spending for the armed services and intelligence community at about $126 billion, compared with roughly $63 billion in 2026. The Pentagon’s 2027 spending plan allots the U.S. Space Force $71 billion. Lawmakers have advanced a measure raising military spending by half to $1.5 trillion while providing $40 billion in research funds for space systems. An earlier budget delay in 2024 led to a yearlong temporary budget at 2024 levels.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink warned in September that short-term budgets delay long-term plans for the U.S. Space Force, echoing criticism that yearlong flat budgets hamper research and block new programs. Meink argued that the United States cannot expect a world-class military without investing in it. President Donald Trump signed an executive order called Ensuring American Space Superiority in December, assigning the Pentagon responsibility for security in cislunar space from the edge of Earth’s atmosphere to the surface of the Moon.

NASA’s MAX POWER expo and air show runs Saturday-Sunday, November 7-8, 2026, at Kennedy Space Center, with media opportunities on Friday, November 5. The event will display the agency’s quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft while external partners showcase Moon rovers, spacecraft, and other technologies, culminating the Inspiration Tour aircraft flyovers.

A NASA/CSA spacewalk at the International Space Station featuring astronauts Menon and Kutryk occurs Thursday, November 5, at 8:10 am ET, with NASA coverage beginning at 6:45 am ET. Space Calendar lists U.S. spacewalk #101 for November 5 as the installation of the eighth and final iROSA solar array. Station partners will mark 26 years of continuous human occupation on November 2.

The Space + Defense Investor Summit runs Tuesday-Wednesday, November 3-4, 2026, in Beverly Hills, California, sponsored by Payload Space and Tectonic Defense. A Wednesday panel titled Succession: Who Replaces the ISS? will feature representatives from Vast, Axiom, and Starlab, while Building the (Space) Arsenal will include speakers from True Anomaly, Apex, and CesiumAstro.

The Planetary Society will hold a virtual webinar on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, at 3:00 pm ET titled What the Election Results Mean for NASA, after the midterm elections conclude. The organization says it will share its assessment of the election outcome during the session.

The Mitchell Institute hosts a Schriever Spacepower Series webinar at 10:00 am ET on Wednesday, November 4, with U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess, who assumed the post, and retired Gen. Kevin Chilton, a former Strategic Command commander and NASA astronaut; their discussion will cover Space Force operational approaches, technical goals, and priorities. At the same time, the Nuclear Threat Initiative holds Weapons in Orbit: Reducing Risk in a New Era of Space Competition in person at 1776 Eye St., NW in Washington, D.C., and livestreamed on YouTube, featuring former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III, who wrote on lethal autonomy and the future of warfare.

The Secure World Foundation’s 8th Summit for Space Sustainability takes place Wednesday-Thursday, November 4-5, 2026, in Brasilia, Brazil, the first summit held in Latin America and the Caribbean and co-sponsored by the Brazilian Space Agency. SGAC and Learning Lab sessions precede the summit on Tuesday, November 3, and a fee-based virtual attendance option is available. Speakers are expected from Brazil, the United States, Canada, Europe, China, and South Africa.

The Maine Launch Summit, hosted by Maine Space Corp., occurs Friday, November 6, 2026, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm ET at Northeastern University’s Roux Institute in Portland, Maine, and is open to the public. SpacePolicyOnline.com lists it among the week’s non-Congressional space industry gatherings during the legislative recess.

Standard time resumed in the United States at 2:00 am on Sunday, November 1, 2026. NASA has released its final Request for Proposals inviting industry to submit plans for commercial space stations to lead in low Earth orbit, part of the agency’s effort to advance American leadership in space by shifting toward commercial stations.