Akin Space Law, Regulation and Policy Update | February 23, 2026
“You know what makes this bird go up? Funding makes this bird go up.” Dennis Quaid’s line from The Right Stuff has felt less like movie dialogue and more like a policy memo these past two weeks in Washington. OMB paused funding for select NASA missions after Congress brushed aside the administration’s proposed budget cuts; Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker says he has “a million questions” about the Golden Dome budget; NASA’s Starliner Crew Flight Test investigation found that program-viability concerns influenced decision-making; and the U.S., China and others are accelerating efforts to procure commercial space assets for military use.
All this and more in this edition of Akin’s Space Law, Regulation and Policy Update.
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