U.S. House and Senate in recess as Space policy week begins

The U.S. House and Senate are in recess throughout the week of October 18–24 2026, holding only pro forma sessions.

The MMX launch will be streamed live starting at 2:45 pm EDT on October 19, 2026. JAXA conducted a pre‑launch briefing for the mission on October 18, 2026. NASA and ESA will provide deep‑space communications support for the MMX mission.

During its planned 2.5‑hour stay on Phobos, MMX will use its core sampler (a drill that extracts regolith) to drill two centimeters into the regolith (the loose surface material), deploy the CNES/DLR rover Idefix (a small French‑German rover), and conduct scientific observations. The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars in August 2027, collect Phobos material no sooner than December 2028, and return the samples to Earth in 2031 for landing in Australia.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, and Artemis Program Manager Jeremy Parsons will deliver an update on the Artemis program on Friday, October 23, 2026 at 2:00 pm ET at NASA Headquarters, with a live stream available. Isaacman said he is aiming for a mid‑2027 launch of Artemis III, an Earth‑orbiting flight to test rendezvous and docking between Orion and prototype lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, and noted last month that the mission is roughly 90 days behind its planned timeline.

Although such a delay is not unusual, NASA’s goal to land astronauts on the Moon by 2028 makes the schedule slip a concern. Crew safety on Artemis III and later flights remains the top priority.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will release a report titled ‘Human Exploration Across the Moon’ on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET, following a NASA request to identify non‑polar lunar sites for decadal science. Experts including Artemis II crew member Victor Glover contend that landing at the lunar South Pole is too hazardous for a first attempt and that a site nearer the equator, like the Apollo landing zones, would be a safer initial choice.

The Moon report is a sister study to an earlier examination of human Mars exploration that began a year before Artemis II launched. It highlights non‑polar regions of high scientific worth that could be visited by astronauts, not only studied by robotic probes.

ESA will give a briefing following its 350th Council Meeting in Paris, France and online on Thursday, October 22, 2026 at 8:00 am ET (14:00 CEST). Other policy‑focused events during the week include a virtual Schriever Spacepower Series talk by USSF Brig. Gen. Todd Benson on October 19, 2026 from 1:00 to 2:00 pm ET, the ESPI 20th Annual Conference in Vienna from October 19, 2026 to October 20, 2026, and the 2026 International Security Space Forum in Arlington, Virginia from October 20, 2026 to October 21, 2026.

Industry gatherings scheduled for the week are the UP/LINK Space Tech Business Summit in New York City from October 20, 2026 to October 21, 2026, the National Academies’ Space Studies Board fall meeting in Irvine, California from October 20, 2026 to October 21, 2026, and SPAICE 2026, an AI‑focused space event hosted by ESA‑ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands from October 21, 2026 to October 23, 2026. Financial results briefings are set for Northrop Grumman on October 20, 2026 at 9:30 am ET, SpaceX on October 20, 2026 at 4:30 pm ET, and Lockheed Martin on October 22, 2026 at 8:30 am ET, all held virtually.

Additional meetings on October 22, 2026 include the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel telephone meeting from 1:30 to 3:00 pm ET, the FAA public meeting from 6:00 to 8:00 pm ET to discuss its draft environmental assessment for increasing Blue Origin launches at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Also on October 22, 2026 are the classified 2026 Faga Forum on Space Intelligence hosted by the Space Foundation in Chantilly, Virginia, and the 29th International Mars Society Convention in Los Angeles running from October 22, 2026 to October 24, 2026.

On October 16, 2026, House Committee on Science Space & Tech Republicans said the United States must boost space investments to counter China, protect security and the economy, and enable crewed Moon‑Mars missions. NASA and ESA will provide deep‑space communications support for the MMX mission.