NASA Progress 92 Launches, Science Budgets Face Pressure, Asteroid Flyby & More Cosmic Updates

This week’s biggest headline from NASA is the countdown to launch of the unpiloted Progress 92 cargo spacecraft, set to lift off on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Scheduled for July 4, Progress 92 is delivering about three tons of food, fuel, and crucial supplies to the International Space Station’s Expedition 73 crew. NASA’s live coverage is available on their NASA+ streaming service, and docking is expected July 5. This continues NASA’s commitment to international partnership and vital support for space station operations, ensuring ongoing science, safety, and collaboration among U.S. and global astronauts.

In policy and budget news, NASA’s fiscal outlook is facing new challenges. The House Appropriations Committee just advanced a bill providing NASA a modest 1% funding increase for fiscal year 2025. While that sounds like good news, The Planetary Society explains the increase is actually $200 million less than the President’s request and does not keep pace with inflation, creating holes for smaller science programs. Larger programs like Artemis, NASA’s ambitious lunar return initiative, remain funded at expected levels—$7.6 billion for Deep Space Exploration—but the Science Mission Directorate will see its budget fall short, putting pressure on projects in planetary exploration, earth science, and astrophysics. This means NASA will be forced to make tough decisions about which science missions move forward and which might be delayed or scaled back. That directly impacts researchers, universities, and businesses across the country who depend on NASA funding, as well as the discoveries that the public and future generations rely on.

On the regulatory front, a recently released “skinny” budget proposal for FY 2026 would see NASA facing even deeper cuts—$6 billion in total—with a pivot toward Mars exploration and away from some current lunar gateway and exploration programs, as reported by Akin Gump. If enacted, these changes would reshape NASA’s priorities and influence the growing space sector, potentially opening doors for commercial companies but narrowing the agency’s overall science portfolio.

For everyday Americans and stargazers, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab highlights July’s skywatching opportunities: Mars will glow in the evening, Venus and Jupiter light up the morning, and the Aquila constellation soars overhead. Meanwhile, NASA and astronomers tracked a 120-foot asteroid, 2025 MM, which safely passed by Earth at over 800,000 miles away—a reminder of NASA’s work keeping our planet safe while advancing the science of asteroid detection and planetary defense.

Looking ahead, NASA has several key events on the horizon. July 10 will bring news conferences on the upcoming International Space Station crew rotation, and astronaut Anil Menon is set for his first mission in 2026. NASA’s partnerships with industry continue as it just awarded a major advanced software services contract to MacLean Engineering & Applied Technologies, positioning the agency for future innovation.

For more on these stories and coverage of major events, visit nasa.gov or tune in to NASA+ for live feeds and updates. If you’re interested in space policy or want to advocate for science funding, reach out to your representatives or join discussions with organizations like The Planetary Society.

Thanks for tuning in today. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a cosmic update. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week's biggest headline from NASA is the countdown to
launch of the unpiloted Progress ninety two cargo spacecraft, set
to lift off on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome
in Kazakhstan, scheduled for July fourth. Progress ninety two is
delivering about three tons of food, fuel, and crucial supplies
to the International Space Station's Expedition seventy three crew. NASA's

(00:23):
live coverage is available on their NASA streaming service, and
docking is expected July fifth. This continues NASA's commitment to
international partnership and vital support for space station operations, ensuring
ongoing science, safety, and collaboration among US and global astronauts.
In policy and budget news, NASA's fiscal outlook is facing

(00:45):
new challenges. The House Appropriations Committee just advanced a bill
providing NASA a modest one per cent funding increase for
fiscal year twenty twenty five. While that sounds like good news,
the Planetary Society explains the increase is actually two h
hundred million dollars less than the President's request and does
not keep pace with inflation, creating holes for smaller science programs.

(01:08):
Larger programs like Artemis NASA's ambitious Lunar Return initiative, remain
funded at expected levels seven point six billion dollars for
deep space exploration, but the Science Mission Directorate will see
its budget fall short, putting pressure on projects in planetary exploration,
Earth science, and astrophysics. This means NASA will be forced

(01:30):
to make tough decisions about which science missions move forward
and which might be delayed or scaled back. That directly
impacts researchers, universities, and businesses across the country who depend
on NASA funding, as well as the discoveries that the
public and future generations rely on. On the regulatory front,
a recently released skinny budget proposal for f y twenty

(01:52):
twenty six would see NASA facing even deeper cuts six
billion dollars in total, with a pivot toward Mars Explore
and away from some current Lunar Gateway and Exploration programs,
as reported by AC and Gump. If enacted, these changes
would reshape NASA's priorities and influence the growing space sector,
potentially opening doors for commercial companies but narrowing the agency's

(02:16):
overall science portfolio for everyday Americans and stargazers. NASA's Jet
Propulsion Lab highlights July's skywatching opportunities. Mars will glow in
the evening, Venus and Jupiter light up the morning, and
the Aquila constellation soars overhead. Meanwhile, NASA and astronomers tracked
a one hundred and twenty foot asteroid twenty twenty five mm,

(02:38):
which safely passed by Earth at over eight hundred thousand
miles away, a reminder of NASA's work keeping our planet
safe while advancing the science of asteroid detection and planetary defense.
Looking ahead, NASA has several key events on the horizon.
July tenth will bring news conferences on the upcoming International
Space Station crew rotation and astronaut and Neil Menon is

(03:01):
set for his first mission in twenty twenty six. NASA's
partnerships with industry continue, as it just awarded a major
advanced software services contract to McLean Engineering and Applied Technologies,
positioning the agency for future innovation. For more on these
stories and coverage of major events, visit NASA dot gov

(03:22):
or tune into NASA Plus for live feeds and updates.
If you're interested in space policy or want to advocate
for science funding, reach out to your representatives, or join
discussions with organizations like the Planetary Society. Thanks for tuning
in today. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss
a cosmic update. This has been a quiet please production.

(03:43):
For more check out quiet, please dot ai. This has
been a quiet please production. For more checkout quiet, please
dot ai