Episode Details

A holiday special! Enjoy this week’s episode of Headlines free. It’s an absolute monster episode—way longer than usual Headlines episodes, I promise—but it’s a great example of what you get when you support the show over at mainenginecutoff.com/support.

• NASA finally—and we really do mean it this time—has a full-time leader - Ars Technica
• Agencywide Town Hall with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 - YouTube
• Trump commits to Moon landing by 2028, followed by a lunar outpost two years later - Ars Technica
• NASA Teams Work MAVEN Spacecraft Signal Loss - NASA Science
• NASA Continues MAVEN Spacecraft Recontact Efforts - NASA Science
• SpaceX Sets $800 Billion Valuation, Confirms 2026 IPO Plans - Bloomberg
• SpaceX $1.5 Trillion Value Target Hinges on Starlink — And Elon - Bloomberg
• SpaceX Said to Notify Employees of Quiet Period Ahead of IPO - Bloomberg
• In a surprise announcement, Tory Bruno is out as CEO of United Launch Alliance - Ars Technica
• Space Development Agency awards $3.5 billion in contracts for missile-tracking satellites - SpaceNews
• Chinese astronauts inspect debris-damaged Shenzhou-20 spacecraft during spacewalk - SpaceNews
• Space Station – Off The Earth, For The Earth
• NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim, Crewmates Return from Space Station - NASA
• After key Russian launch site is damaged, NASA accelerates Dragon supply missions - Ars Technica
• R-7 ICBM/Soyuz rocket launch facilities in Baikonur
• Launch Roundup: China, Russia, Rocket Lab, ULA join SpaceX in flying this week - NASASpaceFlight.com
• Launch Previews: Ariane 6, Falcon 9, Atlas V, and Electron launches highlight busy week - NASASpaceFlight.com
• Launch Roundup: International launches fill manifest during last full week of 2025 - NASASpaceFlight.com
• China launches 4 times in 4 days, b