Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter during the week of June 21, 2026:

Human Space Exploration

• ASAP worries about ISS, GAO wonders what comes next;
• NASA sent a FIFA World Cup 2026 ball to the ISS so astronauts can test their footwork in zero gravity (video);
• November launch set for space shuttle Endeavour’s towering display;
• ESA details next steps for agency’s Gateway contributions;
• Meet the team tailoring spacesuits for lunar astronauts
  Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space;
• The U.S. is leading the new space race – but other countries are close behind;
• NASA, Boeing committed to Starliner-1 launch despite unclear timeline
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• NASA wants to dump the ISS in the sea. Experts say the plan ‘raises serious concerns for ocean health’;
• China Focus: China’s space station to be expanded to unlock broader future;
• NASA and Boeing still uncertain about when Starliner will return to flight
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• Military human spaceflight is key to future U.S. space superiority;
• Using plants, astronauts could create their own medicine;
• Could we actually terraform Mars? Scientists are trying to find out;
• The next frontier: Public attitudes toward space and the space economy;
• Do we need a lunar building code to build Moon bases safely?
• Mars mission simulations reveal key to teamwork under pressure;

Space Science

• A hidden galaxy called Shadow Blaster may explain one of astronomy’s biggest mysteries;
• Hubble Space Telescope images galaxy scientists thought was impossible to find;
• The universe’s first stars were shaped by turbulence and were not as massive as thought;
• Big sunspot alert;
• Did NASA just find evidence of ancient life on Mars? Perseverance rover spots complex carbon in Red Planet rocks;
• Our Sun is destined to ‘kick and spit’ its way across the solar system when it dies;
• Radio observations reveal the secret of early galaxy growth;
• NASA’s Cold Atom Lab is creating one of the weirdest forms of matter in space;
• Interstellar comet is unlike anything seen in our solar system;
• Moon Quarantine Base proposed as scientists warn future Mars samples could pose unknown risks to Earth;
• NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrives in Florida;
• NASA selects mission to study space weather interaction with Earth’s atmosphere;
• Astronomers want to build a swarm of telescopes to find LIFE;
• World’s most sensitive radio telescope array set to be built in Nevada desert;

Other News

• A month after the New Glenn rocket explosion, Blue Origin clears pad;
• Asteroid zooming past Earth on Saturday visible to stargazers;
• Space Force mission goes from orders to launch in less than 17 hours;
• SpaceX tests upcoming Starfall reentry vehicle with demonstration mission on Tuesday;
• China’s space plane appears to have released a mystery object in orbit;
• No one wants AI data centers on Earth. Do they make sense in space?;
• NASA IG cites dire NASA launch infrastructure needs;
• Caltech on edge as its 70-year lock on NASA’s JPL goes up for bid
  Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman;

Major Space-Related Activities for the Week

• The U. S. Senate Appropriations Committee is to meet on Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT with webcast access to a Commerce, Justice and Science markup of legislation to fund NASA as well as NOAA and the National Science Foundation for the 2027 fiscal year that begins October 1. The markup was initially planned for June 4. Congress has so far rejected budget cuts proposed by the White House.
• Also on Monday at 2 p.m. EDT NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, is to meet for its second quarterly panel session on its evaluation of NASA operations with public phone access.

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