Janet Petro assumed the role of acting NASA Administrator on January 20, following her appointment by U.S. President Donald Trump. Petro, previously the deputy director of John F. Kennedy Space Center since 2007 and its first woman director since 2021, is the first woman to lead NASA since its establishment in 1958.
One of Petro's initial actions involved aligning NASA policies with the new administration, including steps to close Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices. Subsequently, Michael Altenhofen from SpaceX was appointed as a senior advisor.
Jared Isaacman, a billionaire and private astronaut, is nominated to succeed Petro, pending Senate confirmation.
In other news, Vast initiated qualification model testing for Haven-1, its commercial space station, on January 31. Haven-1, measuring 10.1 meters in length with a mass of 14 tons and an internal volume of 80 m³, aims to be the first privately operated space station, accommodating four astronauts for up to 30 days. It is designed to dock with Crew Dragon spacecraft.
The development of Haven-1 is intended to inform the design of a larger station, Haven-2, with plans to propose it for NASA's CLD program, aimed at fostering commercial space station projects to succeed the ISS.
During the qualification model testing, one module underwent pressure tests at 1.8 times its normal operating level. Despite successful tests, the launch of Haven-1 has been postponed to no earlier than January 2026, with the first crewed mission anticipated in late winter 2026.