July 21, 2025

Pope Calls Buzz Aldrin to Mark 1969 Moon Landing (Source: Space Daily)
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called astronaut Buzz Aldrin and visited the Vatican's astronomical observatory in Castel Gandolfo to mark the 56th anniversary of man's first moon landing. "This evening, 56 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, I spoke with the astronaut Buzz Aldrin," the American pope wrote. "Together we shared the memory of a historic feat, a testimony to human ingenuity, and we reflected on the mystery and greatness of Creation", he wrote.

After Neil Armstrong, who died in 2012, Aldrin was the second person to set foot on the Moon on the historic Apollo 11 mission that secured the United States' victory in the space race. A devout Christian, Aldrin took communion on the lunar surface using a travel kit provided by his Presbyterian pastor. (7/20)

Boeing Looks for Starliner Fixes Despite Costs, ISS Age (Source: Space Daily)
Boeing has confirmed it continues to look for solutions to problems with its Starliner spacecraft that have left the over-budget project unable to carry passengers. Boeing confirmed this week it is pushing ahead and trying to address helium plug seal leaks on the spacecraft, as well as problems with its thermal shunts and issues with overheating thrusters.

The company's officials have already said the spacecraft's next flight won't happen until at least early next year and likely will carry only cargo, with no crew. Boeing is working with its propulsion supplier, California-based defense contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, to find solutions to the ongoing issues. (7/18)

Arizona Invests in Flying Car Future (Source: KPNX)
Arizona legislators are positioning the state to become a hub for the emerging flying car industry, with lawmakers allocating $2 million in the state budget for infrastructure development and a new law requiring planning for "advanced air mobility." Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly - a former space shuttle commander and combat pilot - is a big fan. The push comes as companies like Alef, a three-year-old startup whose leaders have worked on a flying car since 2015, claim to have successfully developed functioning prototypes.

The company's Model A, designed to fit in a standard parking space, has been driving and flying for three years, according to CEO Jim Dukhovny. A Boeing subsidiary called Wisk is developing an Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing vehicle called Cora that would serve as an air taxi. "There are over a dozen companies worldwide ... that are developing these aircraft," a Boeing government affairs director said at a February hearing on the Arizona legislation. (7/20)

Blue Origin Announces Crew for New Shepard’s 34th Mission (Source: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin today announced the six people flying on its NS-34 mission. The crew includes: Arvi Bahal, Gökhan Erdem, Deborah Martorell, Lionel Pitchford, J.D. Russell, and H.E. Justin Sun, the winning bidder for the first New Shepard seat in 2021. The proceeds from the $28 million bid benefitted 19 space-focused charities to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEAM and help shape the future of life in space. J.D. is flying for the second time; he previously flew on NS-28. 

This mission is the 14th human flight for the New Shepard program and the 34th in its history. To date, Blue Origin has flown 70 people above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. The flight date will be announced soon. The live webcast on launch day will start 30 minutes before liftoff. (7/21)

Mysterious Object Orbits the Sun Once for Every 10 Neptune Orbits (Source: SciTech Daily)
Known as 2020 VN40, the object’s orbit is dramatically tilted, and yet it remains locked in gravitational resonance with Neptune in a surprising, rhythmic pattern. Unlike other known trans-Neptunian objects, VN40’s closest approach to the Sun aligns visually with Neptune’s, though the two are not physically close. This odd configuration opens new questions about how the outer solar system formed and what other orbital surprises may be hiding in the distant dark. (7/20)

Elon Musk’s Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk (Source: Bloomberg)
Behind Musk’s rising net worth was a sense, among many investors, that he and the president he’d spent $300 million to help elect had essentially merged their interests. “I love @realdonaldtrump as much as a straight man can love another man,” Musk posted in February. In March he attended a Cabinet meeting wearing a hat that proclaimed, “Trump was right about everything!” He continued to take credit for DOGE’s cuts, even as the public soured on them.

Musk is rich on paper, with a net worth of about $360 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But he’s also cash poor, dependent in large part on the stock price of Tesla, on continued good relations with the US government and on his continued ability to raise almost limitless sums of money from investors who basically go along with whatever he says. Each leg of that stool seems wobblier than ever. Musk’s companies are financially intertwined, making serious damage difficult to contain. And there are many more weapons Trump could deploy against Musk’s business interests, were he so motivated. (7/21)

Florida’s Space Coast on Pace to Surpass 100 Orbital Launches This Year (Source: Florida Today)
The Space Coast is on track for a historic launch year. As of mid-July, 61 rockets have already launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center—well ahead of 2024’s record-breaking pace. To put it into perspective: in 2024, Florida didn’t hit its 61st launch until Labor Day weekend (Aug. 28). That year closed with a record 93 launches, smashing the 2023 total of 72.

The rapid launch cadence is fueled by the expansion of mega-constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon Project Kuiper, underscoring the Space Coast’s growing role as the world’s busiest and most vital launch hub. SpaceX's commercial Starlink missions have dominated the launch schedule. (7/17)

‘It’s a Madhouse’: US State Department Reeling After Trump’s Firings (Source: Guardian)
Workers at the US state department say firings, resignation buyouts, a proposed budget cut of 48%, and reorganization under the Trump administration has left staff with low morale and will likely have long-term impacts. Foreign programs and services aimed towards LGBTQ+ communities, maternal and reproductive health, and minority groups have been removed or cut in place of far-right ideological policies being pursued by a 26-year-old senior adviser and Trump appointee at the agency. Senate Democrats and workers have criticized recent firings at the department, characterizing them as “unlawful”, “sloppy” and “rushed”. (7/21)

NASA Goddard Center Director Makenzie Lystrup Resigns (Source: NASA Watch)
NASA GSFC Director Makenzie B. Lystrup: “Dear colleagues, After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision that it is time for me to step aside as Director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. As mentioned in the official announcement, my last day will be August 1, after which the wonderfully capable Cynthia Simmons, currently Deputy Center Director, will serve as Acting Center Director." (7/21)

NASA Cuts Endanger Safety, Employees Warn in Open Letter to Trump Admin (Source: Axios)
In a letter addressed to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was recently named interim NASA administrator, employees from every NASA center and mission directorate raised concerns over funding cuts and said they were being pressured to implement harmful measures.

"The last six months have seen rapid and wasteful changes which have undermined our mission and caused catastrophic impacts on NASA's workforce," the letter said. Recent policies "have or threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security, and undermine the core NASA mission," they wrote.

The letter, which is dedicated to astronauts who died in past spaceflight accidents, said that "the culture of organizational silence promoted at NASA over the last six months already represents a dangerous turn away from the lessons learned following the Columbia disaster." (7/21)

Is Elon Musk’s Starship Doomed? (Source: New York Magazine)
“Fail fast and fail often” is the Silicon Valley mantra. Make a lot of mistakes quickly so you can learn and leapfrog the competition. By that metric, the Starships have performed swimmingly over the past two years. No one doubts that rocket tests mean failures, but the question for Starship is this: Is it just having extended teething pains, or are its failures a symptom of a fundamentally unworkable design that will never be fixed?

It’s a question upon which a great deal is riding — not just for SpaceX but for the space industry as a whole, which until recently has assumed that Starship would succeed exactly as Elon Musk had promised. Plans have been laid, money has been raised, and hardware has been built for a future that seemed certain to lie just around the corner.

Within the space industry, it’s come to be expected that if SpaceX sets out to do something, it will do it. But this challenge of getting Starship to work may be more daunting than many realize. Reusing both parts of a rocket, instead of just one, sounds like a modestly more ambitious undertaking — if you can do it once, why not twice? — but in fact, it’s exponentially harder, since the amount of energy to be dissipated while returning to Earth goes up not as a linear function of velocity but its square. (7/21)

Hegseth Abandoned by Aides as Pentagon Left in Turmoil (Source: Telegraph)
Pete Hegseth has lost his sixth senior aide in as many months, with the defense secretary’s struggle to retain key staff leaving the Pentagon in limbo. Justin Fulcher, who resigned on Saturday, was named as an adviser to Mr. Hegseth in April after joining the Trump administration as part of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Mr Fulcher said he only planned to work for the government for six months, but his departure is the latest of a string of top Hegseth aides to quit the Pentagon. It comes following reports that Mr. Hegseth is in “full paranoia” mode after a series of Pentagon leaks, and that he now only trusts his wife and inner circle. The defense secretary was said to have entered “full paranoia, back-against-the-wall mode” following a slew of stories accusing him of incompetence, unprofessionalism and sharing sensitive military information. (7/20)

NASA Discovers Traces of Organic Life on Mars (Source: Union Rayo)
When NASA scientists studied the rock that the robot brought, they used some of the most advanced and expensive equipment in the world. After many tests, they found that there were organic molecules in that rock. These molecules are chemical compounds that are related to life. It doesn’t mean they found Martians or living beings, but they did find clues that life could have existed on Mars, even if we don’t know exactly when.

One of the compounds found is called a long-chain hydrocarbon, which is also found on Earth and can come from living organisms. That was a big discovery for science. (7/18)

Astronomers Discover Betelgeuse's Companion Star (Source: Space.com)
After a long wait, astronomers have finally seen the stellar companion of the famous star Betelgeuse. This companion star orbits Betelgeuse in an incredibly tight orbit, which could explain one of Betelgeuse's longstanding mysteries. The star is doomed, however, and the team behind this discovery predicts that Betelgeuse will cannibalize it in a few thousand years. (7/21)