Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter during the week of April 26, 2026:

Human Space Exploration

• House appropriators keep NASA funding flat;
• Trump welcomes Artemis II astronauts to Oval Office and fields questions on Iran, Comey and UFOs;
• NASA’s Artemis II moonship returns home to its launch site after historic voyage;
• Trump to host Artemis astronauts, as he eyes more trips to the Moon and Mars;
• Core rocket for upcoming Artemis III mission arrives at Kennedy Space Center;
• Could the Moon ever be blockaded? Experts predict cislunar space could be the next Strait of Hormuz;
• Put it in pencil: NASA’s Artemis III mission will launch no earlier than late 2027
  Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space;
• Progress MS-34 cargo spacecraft successfully docks with ISS;
• An interplanetary shortcut can speed up trips to Mars;
• Mining the solar system to build a new world;
• People will be ‘living and working’ on the Moon in the 2030s, says space tech CEO;
• Russia launches 3 tons of cargo to the International Space Station from Kazakhstan (video);

Space Science

• Scientists complete largest 3-D map of the universe to probe dark energy;
• A new way to plan trajectories to asteroids;
• SpaceX rocket debris could slam into the Moon: Here’s what you need to know;
• Designing in situ power stations for future Mars missions;
• NASA chief Jared Isaacman says he is fighting for Pluto: ‘I am very much in the camp of ‘make Pluto a planet again’;
• Uranus has weird rings. Astronomers now know the source of two of them;
• China successfully demonstrates metal 3-D printing in space;
• Earth’s secret advantage: Why most alien worlds may be too dry for life;
• Astronomers find the edge of the Milky Way’s star-forming disc;
• Voyager 1 has little time left in interstellar space. An ambitious ‘Big Bang’ fix may change that;
• NASA wants to use a fleet of MoonFall drones to scout the lunar south pole: ‘We believe we can do it’;
• Trump fires board members of group that oversees U.S. science funding;
• Hubble Telescope celebrates 36th anniversary with gorgeous new image of famous Trifid Nebula;
• The most energetic neutrino ever detected could be primordial;

Other News

• Artemis II astronauts visit White House, NASA administrator talks HQ future;
• Morocco signs the Artemis Accords;
• Space Command activates Huntsville site after years of delays;
• 2.8 days to disaster: Scientists warn low Earth orbit could suddenly collapse;
• Key Senators agree NASA FY2027 budget request inadequate;
• Top House NASA appropriator calls budget request “disappointing”;
• NASA unveils next crew of astronauts who will fly to space station;
• Space Force reveals $3.2B in space-based interceptor awards for Golden Dome
  Coalition Members in the News – Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman;

Major Space-Related Activities for the Week

• U.S. House and Senate activities this week include a focus on NASA’s White House budget proposal for 2027, one that proposes cuts many in Congress oppose. On Monday at 3:30 p.m. EDT the U.S. House Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) subcommittee will host a hearing on the White House’s NASA’s 2027 budget request. On Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT the U.S. Senate Appropriations CJS subcommittee will host a hearing on NASA’s 2027 budget request. On Thursday at 8 a.m. EDT the House Appropriations CJS subcommittee is to markup a bill including 2027 budgets for NASA and NOAA;
• On Monday at 8 p.m. EDT the Russian Progress 95 cargo mission to the ISS that was launched on Saturday evening is to dock autonomously with the ISS’s Russian segment Zvezda service module;
• The Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) is to meet with virtual access from Tuesday through Thursday in Washington D.C. and Laurel, Maryland.
• The American Nuclear Society is sponsoring this year’s Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS) conference in Dayton, Ohio from Monday through Thursday.
• On Wednesday at 9 a.m. EDT NASA’s ISS Advisory Committee is to provide a 30-minute recap of the recent U.S.-Russian Joint Commission meeting that advises NASA and Roscosmos on ISS operations that include a safety focus.
• On Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. EDT NASA is hosting a news conference with virtual access with astronaut Anil Memon from the Johnson Space Center prior to his travel to Russia to launch on the Soyuz MS-29 mission to the ISS in July with cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina.

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