Our Awesome Universe

RIP: Actor Tom Skerritt

Posted on October 25, 2026October 25, 2026 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): Tom Skerritt and Jodie Foster in the movie Contact. (Warner Bros.)}

Actor Tom Skerritt passed away last week at the age of 93 from natural causes. While he will be remembered for his many roles in movies and television, his role as Arthur Koblenz Dallas, the captain of the Nostromo in the 1979 film Alien, as well as role as David Drumlin in the 1997 movie Contact, based on the 1985 Carl Sagan novel, is how many sci-fi fans will remember him.

In both films his character did not make it to the end of the show, but he was memorable nonetheless. In Contact, he represented an overbearing and skeptical government that is dragged into the reality of SETI. Even today, the federal government refuses to directly fund SETI.

I still remember this line from his character when he is talking to Jodie Foster’s character Dr. Ellie Arroway in Contact:

I know you must think this is all very unfair. Maybe that’s an understatement. What you don’t know is I agree. I wish the world was a place where fair was the bottom line, where the kind of idealism you showed at the hearing was rewarded, not taken advantage of. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world.

But it is Arroway’s reply that stays with me:

Funny, I’ve always believed that the world is what we make of it.

Mr. Skerritt did a lot with his talents to make the world a more interesting place. He will be missed.

You can read more on Mr. Skerritt’s life and career at these sites:

The Hollywood Reporter
Rolling Stone
The New York Times

Rest in peace.

Sci-Fi Stories: Red Rising Coming to the Silver Screen, a New Alien Movie, and Andy Weir’s Quantum Anomaly

Posted on October 24, 2026October 25, 2026 by onespaceman2000

Here are a few sci-fi stories of interest.

—Comic Book Resources: “Game of Thrones Meets Star Wars In Paramount’s New Space Opera Based on a Book“

Paramount Pictures will soon be bringing the space opera adventures of a celebrated 2014 novel to life, combining the best elements of Game of Thrones and Star Wars in a much-anticipated Red Rising adaptation. Over the years, we’ve seen some incredible adaptations of some of the most thrilling and surprising sci-fi novels in history, including the likes of Dune, Blade Runner, Project Hail Mary, Annihilation, and many more. Red Rising will soon be joining them as a brand-new sci-fi adaptation…Red Rising is set in a dystopian future in which humans have colonized Mars, and follows 16-year-old Darrow, who belongs to a caste of citizens known as Reds, while society is ruled by the mentally and physically superior Golds. The Reds are enslaved, mining helium-3 for the Golds, who stress that their efforts will help terraform the planet for future generations. After his wife Eo is hanged and his own death is faked, however, Darrow infiltrates the Golds to bring them down from within.

—Deadline: “Aaron Guzikowski Tapped To Pen New ‘Alien’ Movie For 20th, Scott Free“

Aaron Guzikowski, creator of the Scott Free-produced HBO Max sci-fi series Raised by Wolves, is scripting a new Alien movie for 20th Century Studios, Deadline can confirm. Not much else is known about the project at this stage, including whether it would follow up the most recent installment, 2024’s Alien: Romulus. It’s described as being in very early development. Scott and Michael Pruss will produce for Scott Free, with, J.R. Young overseeing for the studio.

—Fandom Wire: “Andy Weir’s 2026 Sci-Fi Series Has a Premise So Wild, It Puts Project Hail Mary to Shame“

The Martian and Project Hail Mary author Andy Weir is back with a bang (rather an implosion) with a premise so wild that it puts Project Hail Mary to shame. Not literally, but an upcoming audiobook, on which Weir serves as an executive producer, has a highly intriguing premise where the rules of survival are spread across time. The audiobook recently appeared on Audible, with the first teaser trailer launched recently. Written by Benjamin Percy and executive produced by Andy Weir, Exoplanet follows three members of a spaceship who encounter a quantum anomaly. Crash-landing on the same hostile planet but separated between three different time periods, the trio attempts to communicate across centuries in order to escape the hostile planet.

Space Quote: Complex Artemis III Plans for 2027

Posted on October 23, 2026 by onespaceman2000

“Every piece of this mission in Earth orbit is designed to reduce risk before we put astronauts back on the Moon…We’re launching three spacecraft on three different rockets and testing how they operate together — something NASA has never attempted. Every lesson we learn here gets us closer to landing on the Moon in 2028.”

–Statement by Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager, regarding a planned 14-day test in 2027 of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon, SpaceX’s Starship, and NASA’s Orion capsule using three different rockets (Blue Origin’s New Glenn, SpaceX’s Starship, and NASA’s Space Launch System). See the NASA image above to understand the complexity of what is planned. You can also find more information about the mission here.

Pic of the Week: The Starry Night Story

Posted on October 22, 2026 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. (MoMA)}

This week’s image is from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. It shows Vincent Van Gogh’s famous painting The Starry Night. Created during his time at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy, it is believed Van Gogh painted the piece in June 1989. But is it a true recreation of the night sky that June?

In a recent study, scientists from South Korea stated they now believe the painting shows the night sky on July 22, 1989 with its portrayal of the Moon, Venus, and the Hyades star cluster in the constellation Taurus. The team of scientists used various pieces of evidence, including letters from the artist, to get a better idea of the night sky and weather during that summer.

You can read more about this new study, The Actual Sky of Van Gogh’s Starry Night: a Multidisciplinary Reconstruction, at this link.

If you are simply interested in the art itself, this link at MoMA will tell you more.

Strange Sightings in the Cornfield

Posted on October 21, 2026 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): Suspected space junk discovered in Minnesota on October 14, 2026. (Stevens County Minnesota Sheriff’s Office)}

US farmers have it tough enough these days without the added fear of space junk falling on their heads, yet that is what appears to be the case in a Minnesota cornfield. The farmer bumped into the debris, about 11 feet in diameter, while harvesting his crop.

So where did it come from? One astrophysicist believes it is the upper stage of a Zhuque-2E rocket launched from China in last month. These rockets belong to a Chinese commercial space company called LandSpace, which successfully launched 10 satellites into orbit on September 15th.

What is surprising is that this doesn’t happen more often given the increased number of launches around the world as well as the debris tossed over the side of the International Space Station (ISS). The New York Times reported this summer that in 2025 the US Space Force issued alerts related to about 820 pieces of debris falling to Earth. Fortunately, most of it burns up during reentry or hits the ocean.

Should you be a worried farmer, or just someone interested in what is coming down in the near future, you can visit the Satellite Re-entry Tracker. The image below shows the rocket bodies currently in orbit being tracked by the site.