GREENBELT, Md. — The head of NASA’s astrophysics division offered an upbeat assessment of upcoming missions, a stark contrast to the bleak outlook in the agency’s budget proposal six months ago.

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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...