Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter during the week of May 31, 2026:

Human Space Exploration

• NASA head urges new launcher for Blue Origin’s Moon landers to meet Artemis mission deadlines;
• Space laundry solved: Cold plasma tech kills bacteria on astronaut clothing;
• Artemis III’s remaining solid rocket booster segments shipped from Utah to Florida
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
• Artemis and the blue micromoon;
• Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket to return to flight before year ends, CEO says;
• NASA agrees with industry, keep CLD program as is
  Coalition Members in the News – Axiom Space, Boeing, Northrop Grumman;
• ‘A pretty significant setback’: How Blue Origin’s rocket explosion affects NASA’s Moon plans;
• New Glenn failure worsens constrained launch market;
• China’s Shenzhou-21 crew returns to Earth;
• ‘Space flight is risky business:’ Fmr. NASA administrator Bill Nelson on Blue Origin explosion;
• Blue Origin rocket exploded on launchpad, throwing the future of NASA’s Artemis program into question;

Space Science

• JWST ‘weighs’ dormant black hole 10 billion light-years away;
• Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is not an alien spacecraft: SETI hunt for ‘technosignatures’ comes up empty;
• Astronomers detect a close pair of supermassive black holes for the first time;
• ‘The mirror passed with flying colors’: NASA just took its last look at the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope before launch;
• Meteorite found in Africa preserves evidence of long-lost massive protoplanet;
• Like ‘the loss of a loved one’: NASA’s Mars orbiter MAVEN is officially dead after months of radio silence;
• Flash-melted glass from Chang’e-5 reveals a high levels of iron on the Moon;
• Jupiter created the birthplace of rocky bodies in the early solar system;
• Is extracting oxygen from lunar soil the future of space exploration?;
• Can solar sails really send humans out into interstellar space?;

Other News

• U.S. Space Force to build new facility, move acquisition unit and expand officer training course in Colorado, lawmaker says;
• Cosmic tryst: Venus meets Jupiter at dusk;
• What is a cannibal CME?
• AstroX and JAXA to test rocket stabilization for balloon launch system;
• Fort Pierce could become SpaceX, Blue Origin rocket recovery hub under updated port plan;
• National security launch schedule not likely impacted by New Glenn disaster;
• SpaceX gets U.S. approval to test new Starfall capsules for space manufacturing;
• Venus and Jupiter are getting closer together;
• Meteor above New England created loud boom that rocked parts of region: NASA;
• 1st unit of JAXA’s new ISS resupply craft completes missions;

Major Space-Related Activities for the Week

• There’s anticipation that Blue Origin and others involved in last Thursday’s loss of a New Glenn rocket during a static fire test at Cape Canaveral, Florida, may be able to elaborate on the causes and consequences of the incident.
• The White House on Monday is slated to host three of NASA’s Crew-11 members that launched to the ISS in August but returned to Earth a month early in January due to a medical concern involving one of the crew.
• The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is hosting a Planetary Protection session entitled “Limits of Terrestrial Life and the Probability of Growth on Mars” on Monday and Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT with virtual access.
• On Tuesday, Explore Mars is hosting a session, “Harnessing the Moon to Enable Mars” on Capitol Hill from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EDT.
• The National Space Society is holding its 44th International Space Development Conference from Thursday through Saturday in McLean, Virginia.

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