Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter during the week of July 12, 2026:

Human Space Exploration

• Post-ignition anomaly causes abort of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13;
• Russia agrees to ISS operations, seat-swaps, through 2030;
• Orion vehicle manager reflects on Artemis II, looks to 2028 Moon mission
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• What’s it like to travel near the speed of light? Part 1: The broken view;
• Laying the groundwork for the first human mission to Mars;
• Why the U.S.-China Moon race could turn into a lunar land grab;
• ISS operations extended through 2030 Roscosmos chief;
• Russia launches NASA astronaut Anil Menon and 2 cosmonauts to the International Space Station;
• NASA is looking for volunteers to spend a year pretending they’re on the Moon or Mars;
• 149 million views! Artemis II Moon mission breaks NASA’s streaming record;

Space Science

• Defense Innovation Unit seeks commercial path to deliver electrical power from orbit;
• Meteorite that crashed through New Jersey house could hold the clues to life’s origins;
• Webb telescope discovers hidden planet in famous star system;
• Chile’s Rubin Observatory begins decade-long mission to film the universe;
• Atoms for space: Past US space nuclear power and propulsion programs;
• A quasar breaks the record for most distant supermassive black hole;
• New ‘space mirror’ satellite aims to bring sunlight to Earth even during the night;
• Astronomers detect the hidden process that may trigger star birth;
• Study reports the first detection of a sugar in interstellar space;
• Most of Moon’s water likely remains chemically bound in its deep interior;
• Extremely Large Telescope reaches a major milestone;
• NASA is creating a fifth state of matter on the ISS, thanks to an upgrade to a mini-fridge-sized quantum lab;
• Astronomers use a neutron star merger to measure cosmic expansion;
• Pluto has landslides;

Other News

• Space Force faces budget uncertainty as leader plans exit next month;
• Serbia joins NASA’s space exploration partnership Artemis Accords;
• Space Force faces budget uncertainty as leader plans exit next month;
• The biggest skywatching day of 2026 is coming. Here’s what you’ll see in North America and Europe;
• ISRO issues memo to curb exodus of scientists and engineers from Gaganyaan and other key missions;
• What time is SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 launch on July 16? (Full mission timeline);
• Space cargo costs could fall more than 90% by 2040, study suggests;
• SpaceX targets July 16 for Starship Flight 13, reveals what went wrong on previous launch;
• Voyager completes acquisition of Astrobotic;
• NASA’s Roman telescope into prelaunch servicing following arrival in Florida;
• SpaceX ignites all 33 powerful engines on Starship booster ahead of Flight 13 launch (video);

Major Space-Related Activities for the Week

• Launch of Russia’s Soyuz MS-29 mission to the ISS with NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Russian cosmonauts Pytor Dubroz and Anna Kikina from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is planned for Tuesday at 10:47 a.m. EDT with a docking at 1:56 p.m. EDT. They’ve trained for an eight-month stay as part of the orbital lab’s Expedition 74 and 75 crews.
• Also Tuesday, the Beyond Earth Working Group Webinar Series presentation “On to Mars: Are We Ready?” is planned for 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EDT with access via Zoom.
• SpaceX is planning the next test flight of its Super Heavy/Starship combination from South Texas on Thursday during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT.
• The U.S. House and Senate are in session. The House Science, Space and Technology Committee’s Space Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday at 10 a.m. EDT on the Trump Administration’s authorization proposal for the regulation of novel commercial space activities. Taylor Jordan, Director of the Office of Space Commerce, is the witness. The hearing will be webcast over the Committee’s website.

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