Astronomy Daily: Space News Updates

In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover six major stories from the past 24 hours. Blue Origin made history by reusing its New Glenn rocket for the first time -- but the upper stage deployed the BlueBird 7 satellite into the wrong orbit, forcing a deorbit. SpaceX delivered a clean GPS III SV10 launch for the US Space Force. Post-mission inspection of the Artemis 2 Orion capsule's heat shield provi...

In this episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover six space and astronomy stories for Saturday, April 18, 2026. Comet MAPS has met its end at the Sun — the pair reflect on what happened and what comes next. Artemis III's SLS rocket stage rolls out of New Orleans on Monday. JWST and ALMA have revealed a stunning monster spiral galaxy hiding behind cosmic dust 11.5 billion years ago. An exopl...

The heroes of Artemis II speak! Less than a week after their historic lunar flyby, Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen held their first full post-mission press conference — and their words were extraordinary. Plus: Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is on the pad for Sunday's landmark first-ever booster reuse; a 34-year dr...

The Artemis II crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — are on final approach to Earth after nine historic days in deep space. Splashdown is scheduled for Friday off San Diego. We have the full countdown, plus the story behind what NASA scientists called 'audible screams of delight' when the crew spotted micrometeorite impact flashes on the Moon during their lunar fly...

Today's Space News — Astronomy Daily S05E84 | April 8, 2026   In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover six incredible stories spanning the final days of humanity's return to deep space, a lost spacecraft mystery, and fresh science rewriting how we understand our own planet.   TODAY'S STORIES: (00:00) Intro (01:30) Story 1 — Artemis II Day 7/8: science debrief done, trajectory burns fired, and the...

The Artemis II crew has completed the most significant human spaceflight milestone since 1972 — a historic lunar flyby that took four astronauts further from Earth than any humans in history. In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover every moment of Flight Days 6 and 7, including the far-side blackout, a solar eclipse observed from beyond the Moon, and what comes next on the journey home. Plus: NAS...

For the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, human beings are flying around the Moon — and it's happening RIGHT NOW. In this episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery deliver a full Artemis II update covering Flight Days 4 and 5, and the historic lunar flyby unfolding TODAY.   We also have the promised verdict on Comet MAPS — the 'Easter comet' that plunged toward the Sun on April 4. Did it surviv...

Artemis II, Comet MAPS, and Mercury: Your Space Week Just Got Very Busy   It's Day 3 of the Artemis II mission, a sungrazer comet is emerging from the solar corona, an Atlas V just set a payload record, and Mercury is at its best of the year. Here's everything you need to know from today's episode of Astronomy Daily.   Artemis II Flight Day 3: Orion Doesn't Even Need a Course Correction Four human...

Astronomy Daily Season 5, Episode 80 — Friday, April 3, 2026  It's Day 2 of the Artemis II mission and the crew is on their way to the Moon after a perfect translunar injection burn. We've also got a comet about to face perihelion, a dark matter mystery deepening, stunning new JWST images, and the escalating fight over the future of our night skies.  In today's episode:  🚀 ARTEMIS II — TRANSLUNAR...

Today is the day. Artemis II — NASA's first crewed Moon mission in 54 years — lifted off last night, and as we record this, four astronauts are preparing to leave Earth's orbit forever on the Translunar Injection burn. In this special launch-day edition, Anna and Avery cover the near-flawless launch, today's critical TLI milestone, the historic firsts being set by the crew aboard Orion (named Inte...

Launch day has arrived. In this episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery countdown to tonight's historic Artemis II launch — humanity's first crewed lunar mission since 1972 — and explore the dramatic stories unfolding alongside it: a sungrazing comet faces its moment of truth just three days from perihelion; astronomers raise urgent alarms over plans for one million new satellites; the interste...

Episode 77 of Astronomy Daily, Season 5. Recorded 31 March 2026.   Today's episode is our Artemis II launch-eve special — humanity prepares to return to the Moon for the first time in over 53 years. We also cover a record-breaking 'space laser' 8 billion light-years away, the ancient age of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, a star bearing the fingerprint of the universe's first stars, and new simulatio...

Episode Summary With Artemis II just three days from launch, today's episode delivers a landmark space moment alongside the sad news that Mars Sample Return's Earth Return Orbiter has been formally cancelled by ESA. We also cover SpaceX's enormous Transporter-16 rideshare launch, Cornell's definitive list of 45 best-bet habitable exoplanets, a paradigm-shifting discovery about pulsar radio emissio...

Episode S05E75 — Saturday, 28 March 2026 | astronomydaily.io | @AstroDailyPod   🚀 Story 1: Artemis II Crew Arrives at Kennedy Space Center The four-person crew of NASA's Artemis II mission — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch (NASA), and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (CSA) — arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Friday, March 27, 2026, ahead of a planne...

Welcome to Astronomy Daily, Season 5, Episode 74 — your daily briefing on the most exciting developments in space and astronomy, hosted by Anna and Avery.   IN TODAY'S EPISODE •       Artemis II crew arrives at Kennedy Space Center — launch just 5 days away •       Webb and Hubble combine for the most detailed Saturn portrait ever captured •       New research reveals Jupiter's lightning may be up...

Episode Summary Today's episode opens with a brief update on the Isar Aerospace Spectrum rocket, which aborted at T-3 seconds on March 25 — just before engine ignition — with no new launch date yet announced. The main stories cover Canada's cancellation of its first lunar rover mission; the century-old mystery of Gamma Cassiopeiae's anomalous X-ray emissions finally solved by the XRISM space teles...

Wednesday, March 25, 2026   In today's episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover six major stories from the last 24 hours in space and astronomy — including two landmark NASA announcements that could reshape the future of human space exploration.   Story 1: NASA Cancels Lunar Gateway — Pivots to $20 Billion Moon Base NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced at the agency's 'Ignition Day'...

Thank you for listening to Astronomy Daily! Here's everything from today's episode:   Story 1: Artemis II — T-Minus Days to Launch NASA is targeting April 1, 2026 for the launch of Artemis II — the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972. The crew of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen will fly a 10-day free-return trajectory around the Moon aboard the Orion spa...

Astronomy Daily — Season 5, Episode 70 Monday, March 23, 2026   In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover six stories spanning a live European rocket launch attempt, a sixty-year-old NASA emergency brought back to life through newly surfaced photographs, a cosmic explosion caught only by its echo, the fight to preserve the night sky, a supply run to the ISS with an unexpected complication, and a fi...

Today on Astronomy Daily: NASA's Artemis II moon rocket has arrived at Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, with a launch target of April 1st — the first crewed mission beyond Earth orbit in over 53 years. Plus: astronomers have discovered the first-ever mass-transferring brown dwarf binary; Hubble accidentally caught a comet disintegrating in real time; 15 new moons have been confirmed around...

It's the first day of astronomical spring — and the universe is celebrating in style. On today's Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover a triple CME solar storm with aurora potential reaching as far south as Illinois, explain why the vernal equinox amplifies aurora activity, report on the ongoing meteorite hunt following Tuesday's spectacular Ohio fireball, reveal an extraordinary 14-billion-year-o...

A massive day in space as NASA's Artemis II moon rocket heads to the launchpad tonight, NASA and China both conduct spacewalks, CERN announces a brand-new particle, and astronomers reveal a nearby galaxy has been hiding the aftermath of a cosmic collision.   Episode Highlights   🚀 Story 1: Artemis II Rollout — The Moon Rocket Heads to the Pad Tonight NASA is rolling the Artemis II Space Launch Sy...

A packed episode today: a live spacewalk is underway at the ISS as we record, asteroid Ryugu has yielded all five DNA building blocks, a solar storm is heading for Earth overnight, Artemis II's moon rocket is about to roll out, and Blue Origin has unveiled an asteroid defence mission concept.   Story 1 — ISS Spacewalk 94: Meir & Williams EVA NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams cond...

Astronomy Daily S05E65 — 17 March 2026 Six stories from the frontiers of space and astronomy, hosted by Anna and Avery.   IN THIS EPISODE: •     🪐 JWST identifies a brand new class of exoplanet — a permanent magma ocean world with a hydrogen sulfide atmosphere 35 light-years from Earth •     📡 RBFLOAT — the brightest fast radio burst ever detected — is pinpointed to a galaxy 130 million light-ye...

In today's episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover six remarkable stories spanning an interstellar farewell, a stunning pre-dawn sky show, a potential new Martian mineral, ghost particles from long-dead stars, a revolutionary new framework for detecting alien life, and the astonishing possibility of habitable moons drifting starless through the galaxy.   Stories Covered in S05E64 1. 3I/AT...