Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter during the week of March 22, 2026:

Human Space Exploration

• NASA’s Artemis II mission will take an astronaut crew around the Moon – a space policy expert describes the long road to launch;
• Excitement builds for Colorado engineers behind spacecraft at center of Artemis II mission
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• Watch the nuclear space race begin U.S. vs Russia in deep space;
• Cavossa: CLD companies want stability, not a new plan
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• NASA gears up for Artemis II launch around the Moon a week from now;
• Russia’s Progress MS-33 resupply ship manually docks with ISS;
• NASA to spend $20 billion on Moon base after cancelling orbiting station
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
• Eileen Collins on groundbreaking space journey;
• Astronaut missed daughter’s senior year while in space for nearly 300 days, but is happy to leave ‘infamous diaper’ behind
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• Russian spacecraft antenna problem forces manual docking with ISS;
• ESA to fly dedicated Crew Dragon mission to ISS
  Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space;
• Progress MS-33 launches to ISS from repaired pad;
• NASA returns its SLS rocket back to the launch pad ahead of planned April flight of Artemis II;

Space Science

• Chinese lander reveals giant ‘cavity’ of radiation between Earth and the Moon and it could change how lunar exploration is done;
• These 45 exoplanets may be the best places to search for alien life;
• The Big Bang’s oldest secret is lurking inside a strange new gravitational wave;
• How did Venus become a hellscape? 234,000 simulations reveal four possible paths;
• NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft begins integration and testing ahead of mission to Titan
  Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin;
• How interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS met unlikely observer;
• Space is becoming a new frontier to advance human health;
• NASA, South Korea team up for L4 deep space exploration mission;
• We are slowing down the planet;
• The mystery of Ohio and Texas fireballs;
• NASA’s ‘1st nuclear powered interplanetary spacecraft’ will send Skyfall helicopters to Mars in 2028;
• In a rare event, the Moon got a massive new crater;
• Possible meteorite crashes into Houston area home, officials say;
• NASA won’t give up hope on silent MAVEN Mars probe: ‘We’re still looking for it’;

Other News

• Space Command begins phased move to Alabama;
• Future Artemis missions could use fiber-optic cables to monitor moonquakes;
• Like ‘accelerating from stationary to supersonic flight’: Europe’s Hera probe boosts speed, stays on course for November asteroid rendezvous;
• The investors quietly building the infrastructure beneath Artemis;
• Northern lights dazzle worldwide as strong G3 geomagnetic storm sparks stunning show (photos);
• Van Horn’s space tourism boom remains elusive despite Blue Origin’s presence;
• Canadian Space Agency cancels lunar rover mission;

Major Space-Related Activities for the Week

• The U.S. House and Senate are in session this week, which means it’s possible the Senate could move ahead with the confirmation of President Trump’s nomination of Matt Anderson to serve as NASA’s deputy administrator.
• Launched early Sunday, Russia’s MS-33 Progress resupply mission, designated Progress 94 by NASA, is to deliver a 2.7-ton cargo of crew supplies, propellant and research to the seven-person ISS on Tuesday at 9:34 a.m. EDT. Following separation from its Soyuz rocket, the MS-33 experienced an issue with the deployment of one of two antennas, which may require the ISS cosmonauts to manually command the docking of the resupply capsule to the ISS’s Russian segment Poisk module rather than an automated docking.
• On Wednesday at 10 a.m. EDT the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee is to hold a hearing on the “Future of Low Earth Orbit: From the ISS to Commercial Platforms.”
• The annual University Space Research Association/Space Policy Institute symposium with this year’s theme, “Science for a New Era of Exploration: Path from the Moon to Mars,” is scheduled for Thursday from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT with live stream access.

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