On Friday, the Crew-11 manned mission was launched from NASA’s KSC in Florida. Four astronauts headed to the International Space Station, where they plan to spend six to eight months. However, due to budget cuts initiated by Donald Trump, the astronauts do not have a clear understanding of when they will return to Earth.
The Crew-11 mission is commanded by 37-year-old Zina Cardman, a geobiologist and Antarctic researcher. This is her first space flight. Next to her in the Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule is experienced NASA astronaut Mike Finke, who is on his fourth flight. He has already flown on the shuttle and the Russian «Soyuz». Earlier, he was preparing for a mission aboard the troubled Boeing Starlinerbut due to delays, he was transferred to Crew Dragon. The team also includes specialists: Japanese Kimiya Yui and Russian Oleg Platonov. Yui has already spent 141 days in space, and this is Platonov’s debut.
The launch was successful. The rocket SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched at 18:43 Kyiv time and lifted the ship into space. After that, the rocket’s first stage returned and landed at the LZ-1 pad. This was the 53rd and last rocket landing at this site. Now it will be closed, as SpaceX plans to move the landing zones closer to the launch facilities in Florida.
The rocket’s second stage launched the Crew Dragon spacecraft into orbit less than 10 minutes after launch. The flight was the 159th successful Falcon 9 launch in a row.
Financial uncertainty of NASA
Usually, the astronauts’ stay on the ISS may be changed due to technical reasons or bad weather in the landing zone. But in this case, the situation is different — financial problems are on the horizon. The Trump administration has proposed to cut NASA funding by almost 25% in fiscal year 2026. In particular, this applies to the ISS program, as well as the delivery of crews and cargo.
The cuts do not mean an immediate end to missions — the ISS is planned to be maintained until 2030, but with fewer crew and limited research capabilities. In fact, the station will live up to its “retirement age”.
NASA is already working to ensure that Crew Dragon can stay in space for 8 months instead of 7. Although this is still an unofficial limit, it has already been exceeded once during the previous mission.
NASA has not yet made a final decision, but is considering extending the Crew-11 mission. However, it all depends on how the budget process in the US Congress is completed. As of the end of July, lawmakers had advanced several bills that would keep NASA’s funding almost at this year’s level, but they still have to be passed by both houses and signed by the president.
There is a risk that the budget will not be passed by October 1, in which case a stopgap law will be needed or a government shutdown will begin. There are also fears that the Trump administration will simply refuse to spend the money, even if Congress allocates it to NASA. Such a move would be controversial and possibly challenged in the courts.
Although on July 4, Trump signed a separate law that allocates $1.25 billion to support the ISS until 2029, NASA is still preparing for the worst. So far, everything is going according to plan in the Crew-11 program, but changes are possible in the future: smaller crews, longer missions, and reduced supplies.
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