Falcon 9 upper stage (4,000 kg dry) now expected to impact lunar surface at 06:35 UTC on August 5, 2026. | Artemis III test mission set for 2027, names 4 crew members. | The details of Japan’s SLIM lander deploying a baseball-sized rover (LEV-2) on the lunar surface has been published in a paper. | Univ. of Florida researchers used “laser forming” manufacturing techniques on lunar regolith simulant. | Analysis of Northwest Africa (NWA) 12593 meteorite shows three distinct impact records from the Moon, the meteorite itself and on Earth. | Exhaustive list of India’s Chandrayaan lunar program produced by Mehta at Moon Monday. | SpaceX IPO (ticker SPCX) opened at $150/share, selling nearly 555.6 million shares, despite its first quarter 2026 $4.3B net loss / $4.7B in revenue. | Four companies split $2M from Canadian Space Agency to study lunar in-situ resource utilization. | Shiv Shakti Point lunar soil is found to be chemically similar (iron/magnesium-rich, aluminum-deficient) to an Antarctic lunar meteorite.
Five Men Assigned to Artemis III Mission
On June 9, NASA announced the names of Astronauts for the Artemis III mission: Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas, as well as the backup crew member Bob Hines. Currently, there are 37 active NASA Astronauts, of whom 15 are women, representing 40% of the corps. While all NASA Astronauts share in the program’s achievements, each standing ready, able and trained to serve—the reveal elicited considerable criticism due to the absence of women, as well as celebration for the inclusion of Latino and Black American men. The importance of the USA-led Artemis ‘Return to the Moon’ program remains the same, but it becomes challenging to sustain enthusiasm and inspiration when leadership decisions continue to disappoint the public, particularly those who were not represented during the Apollo program. The Artemis III crew selection comes after the January 2025 Trump administration executive orders directing NASA to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. The Artemis II crew, announced April 2023, included only one woman and one person of color among its four members, and dishearteningly, Artemis III features no women at all. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman defended the choice of the all-male crew stating, “every crew is part of a larger campaign to get America back to the Moon and to build the future we all dreamed about as children.” Without a commitment to gender-balanced Artemis teams, this selection feels reminiscent of the past, accompanied by a few gestures. (Image Credits: NASA, ASI)
HUMANS IN SPACE
☆ International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 74 seven crew member consisting of 3 Russian Cosmonauts, 3 NASA and 1 ESA Astronauts are continuing to assess the increased air leak in the PrK transfer tunnel inside the Zvezda module, while also entering “safe haven” safety mode when deemed necessary and continuing science hardware installations, plant and tissue experiments, air quality analysis, and systems upkeep, alongside routine operations. Currently docked at ISS are SpaceX CRS-34 Dragon cargo ship, Northrop Grumman Cygnus, Russian Progress resupply ships 94P and 95P, and crew vehicles SpaceX Crew-12 Dragon and Soyuz MS-28.
☆ Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou-23 Commander Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying (also known as Li Jiaying, the first Astronaut from Hong Kong) are conducting dozens of scientific experiments including those involving lipid metabolism, rice plant growth, perovskite solar cells. They are performing daily exercise, system upkeep, and science hardware work following the recent handover. Docked to Tiangong are the Shenzhou 23 crew craft and Tianzhou-10 cargo ship, which brought ~7 tons of supplies, propellant, a new spacesuit and experiment payloads.
Near-Earth Objects Close Approaches – Mon June 15: Apollo Asteroid 2015 MC (0.073 AU) | Tue June 16: Apollo Asteroid 2026 LV (0.008 AU) | Thu June 18: Aten Asteroid 2003 LN6 (0.009 AU) | Sun June 22: Apollo Asteroid 2025 WC4 (0.026 AU)
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Land your name on the Moon!
Have your name sent to the Moon for FREE on the ILO-1 lunar mission via Astrolab FLEX rover (NET 2027). You will automatically be signed up for our weekly Space Calendar.
At the University of Southern California, the world's largest gathering dedicated to human Mars exploration. For nearly three decades, the International Mars Society Convention...
NASA spacecraft surpasses another full year in orbit around Mars today, holds record for longest-surviving continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other...
At the Spokane Convention Center. The meeting will have a broad scope, with a wide-ranging program of science and workforce topics, and celebrating planetary...
Convene, connect, and collaborate at the 19th annual von Braun Space Exploration Symposium! This year’s event will spotlight how bold ideas, emerging technologies, and...
Themes include: Space & the Arctic; Space & AI; Space & International Collaboration. There is a Student Session, a Technical Session, a Frontier Session,...
Oslo Spaceport Norway offers monthly a knowledgeable speaker and opportunity for networking, 17:00-20:00 local time; free entry but registration required. Ground Control is for...
45 satellites to launch for Amazon Leo, formerly named Project Kuiper. This LEO mega constellation will offer broadband internet access with 3,276 satellites.
Occurring 31 October from 09:00-11:00 local time (16:00-18:00 HST, 19:00-21:00 PDT, 22:00-24:00 EDT on 30 October), this Galaxy Forum will be in hybrid format...
Originally planned around this date for Wenchang, China -- TBC (to be confirmed); As the only professional association for astronauts, ASE supports the advancement of...
Coordinating Division Division C Education, Outreach and Heritage The IAU Symposium on Innovative Research and Techniques in Astronomy Communication will take place from November...
Change clocks back 1 hour from Daylight Saving to Standard Time; does not include Hawai’i, Arizona (except the Navajo Nation), American Samoa, Guam, Northern...
ESWW is the main annual event in the European Space Weather and Space Climate calendar. It is an international meeting organised annually within the...
IAU Symposium: IAUS409 - A Journey Towards Effective Astronomy Communication; online and at National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-2 Osawa Mitaka, Tokyo. Topics include:...
Launch Complex 1, ~39°S, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
iQPS Launch 9, an Earth observation satellite with Synthetic aperture radar for Japan-based imaging company iQPS, to launch on "The Sea God Surveys" mission...
On June 9, NASA announced the names of Astronauts for the Artemis III mission: Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas, as well as the backup crew member Bob Hines. Currently, there are 37 active NASA Astronauts, of whom 15 are women, representing 40% of the corps. While all NASA Astronauts share in the program’s achievements, each standing ready, able and trained to serve—the reveal elicited considerable criticism due to the absence of women, as well as celebration for the inclusion of Latino and Black American men. The importance of the USA-led Artemis ‘Return to the Moon’ program remains the same, but it becomes challenging to sustain enthusiasm and inspiration when leadership decisions continue to disappoint the public, particularly those who were not represented during the Apollo program. The Artemis III crew selection comes after the January 2025 Trump administration executive orders directing NASA to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. The Artemis II crew, announced April 2023, included only one woman and one person of color among its four members, and dishearteningly, Artemis III features no women at all. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman defended the choice of the all-male crew stating, “every crew is part of a larger campaign to get America back to the Moon and to build the future we all dreamed about as children.” Without a commitment to gender-balanced Artemis teams, this selection feels reminiscent of the past, accompanied by a few gestures. (Image Credits: NASA, ASI)
Near-Earth Objects Close Approaches – Mon June 15: Apollo Asteroid 2015 MC (0.073 AU) | Tue June 16: Apollo Asteroid 2026 LV (0.008 AU) | Thu June 18: Aten Asteroid 2003 LN6 (0.009 AU) | Sun June 22: Apollo Asteroid 2025 WC4 (0.026 AU)
