Space science leads the day with NASA’s Psyche spacecraft sweeping past Mars in a high-speed gravity assist, a crucial slingshot that doubles as a rehearsal for its far bigger prize: a 2029 rendezvous with the rare metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche. As the probe snaps thousands of images, the mission is testing the precision navigation it will need deep in the solar system. Back on Earth, another space story is turning on governance rather than exploration, as pension leaders in New York and California challenge what they call SpaceX’s “extreme” concentration of control around Elon Musk, underscoring growing investor unease over accountability in private tech giants. And in a reminder that science and industry are inseparable, today’s conversation around space is not just about where we’re going, but who gets to steer the mission—and under what rules.