Editor's note: As 2025 comes to a close, we're looking back at the stories that defined Houston innovation this year. The space tech sector soared with companies landing huge NASA contracts and furthering their lunar missions. Here are the 10 biggest Houston space tech stories of the year:
Houston native Anna Menon, posing below the first A in “NASA,” is one of 10 new NASA astronaut candidates. Photo courtesy NASA.
NASA has selected 10 new astronaut candidates, including one whose hometown is Houston, for its 2025 training class. The candidates will undergo nearly two years of training before they can assume flight assignments.
Intuitive Machines expects to begin manufacturing and flight integration on its orbital transfer vehicle as soon as 2026. Photo courtesy Intuitive Machines.
Houston-based Intuitive Machines, which rang the NASDAQ opening bell July 31, secured a $9.8 million Phase Two government contract for its orbital transfer vehicle. The contract will push the project through its Critical Design Review phase, which is the final engineering milestone before manufacturing can begin.
Intuitive Machines is among four companies awarded contracts for NASA’s Near Space Network. Photo via intuitivemachines.com
In January, Intuitive Machines nailed down a NASA deal to expand the agency’s communications network for spacecraft. Additionally, NASA completed the first round of “human in the loop” testing for Intuitive Machines’ Moon RACER lunar terrain vehicle at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. RACER (Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover) is one of three commercially developed unpressurized lunar terrain vehicles being considered for NASA’s Artemis lunar initiative.
Axiom Space and FluxWorks are the latest Houston-area companies to receive funding from the Texas Space Commission. Photo via Getty Images.
Two Houston-area companies landed more than $5.8 million in funding from the Texas Space Commission. The commission granted up to $5.5 million to Houston-based Axiom Space and up to $347,196 to Conroe-based FluxWorks in June 2025. The two-year-old commission previously awarded $95.3 million to 14 projects. A little over $34 million remains in the commission-managed Space Exploration and Aeronautics Research Fund.
NASA has awarded KBR a five-year, $2.5 billion Human Health and Performance Contract. Photo courtesy NASA.
Houston-based technology and energy solution company KBR was awarded a $2.5 billion NASA contract to support astronaut health and reduce risks during spaceflight missions. Under the terms of the Human Health and Performance Contract 2, KBR will provide support services for several programs, including the Human Research Program, International Space Station Program, Commercial Crew Program, Artemis campaign and others. This will include ensuring crew health, safety, and performance; occupational health services and risk mitigation research for future flights.
Bastion Technologies has been tapped to provide safety and mission services for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Photo via nasa.gov.
NASA granted Houston-based Bastion Technologies Inc. the Safety and Mission Assurance II (SMAS II) award with a maximum potential value of $400 million. The award stipulates that the engineering and technical services company provide safety and mission services for the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Houston startups were recently named among the nearly 300 recipients that received a portion of $44.85 million from NASA to develop space technology. Photo via NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Three Houston startups were granted awards from NASA in July 2025 to develop new technologies for the space agency. The companies were among nearly 300 recipients that received a total agency investment of $44.85 million through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I grant programs.
Here's why Texas Republicans think NASA's headquarters should move to Texas in 2028. File photo.
Two federal lawmakers from Texas spearheaded a campaign to relocate NASA’s headquarters from Washington, D.C., to the Johnson Space Center in Houston’s Clear Lake area. Houston faces competition on this front, though, as lawmakers from two other states are also vying for this NASA prize. With NASA’s headquarters lease in D.C. set to end in 2028, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, a Republican whose congressional district includes the Johnson Space Center, wrote a letter to President Trump touting the Houston area as a prime location for NASA’s headquarters.
Intuitive Machines will acquire Kinetx, which marks its entry into the precision navigation and flight dynamics segment of deep space operations. Photo via Getty Images.
In August 2025, Intuitive Machines agreed to buy Tempe, Arizona-based aerospace company KinetX for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year. KinetX specializes in deep space navigation, systems engineering, ground software and constellation mission design. It’s the only company certified by NASA for deep space navigation. KinetX’s navigation software has supported both of Intuitive Machines’ lunar missions.
Axiom Space chief astronaut Michael López-Alegría (left) trains with Axiom’s new “Project Astronaut,” Emiliano Ventura. Photo courtesy of Axiom Space.
In fall 2025, Axiom Space, a Houston-based commercial spaceflight and space infrastructure company, launched initiatives in two very different spheres — semiconductors and astronaut training.
