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Akin Space Law, Regulation and Policy Update | January 26, 2026

January 26, 2026

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By: Thomas J. McCarthy, Carlos M. Bermudez, Jennifer L. Richter, Hans Christopher Rickhoff, Steven A. Rowings, Marta A. Thompson, Sean Carlesimo, Ryan Dowell, Lamar Smith, Charles (Chase) Hamilton, Sharanya Sriram, Kathryn Herman (Policy Fellow)

Over the past couple of weeks, Congress moved a number of key space-related spending bills, and signaled support for the Pentagon’s acquisition reform agenda (albeit with a few congressionally mandated guardrails). Beyond Washington, Japan marked its first cargo mission to the ISS in five years, and China experienced a significant setback to its 100 launches in 2026 goal with successive launch failures on January 16 and 17.

If you’re reading this newsletter, wrinkling your brow and thinking “It’s not Friday,” you’re right. We think the only thing better than wrapping your week up with all the space news you need will be starting it with that news. Going forward, this newsletter will publish every other Monday.

All this and more in this edition of Akin’s Space Law, Regulation and Policy Update.

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