Image (Credit): Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket as it launched from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on November 13, 2025. (Blue Origin)
This week’s image comes from Scientific American magazine’s best space photos of 2025. It shows Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifting off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on November 13, 2025. It was carrying NASA’s twin Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) spacecraft, which are destined for Mars. The two identical spacecraft will investigate how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape.
“NASA is postponing the Thursday, Jan. 8, spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The agency is monitoring a medical concern with a crew member that arose Wednesday afternoon aboard the orbital complex. Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member. The situation is stable. NASA will share additional details, including a new date for the upcoming spacewalk, later.”
–Statement on NASA’s website regarding a spacewalk that was to take place tomorrow outside the International Space Station (ISS). The planned spacewalk, which was to fix a solar array and last for six and a half hours, involved astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman. It would have been Cardman’s first and Fincke’s tenth spacewalk.
Update: The four astronauts that are part of Crew-11 on the ISS will be returning to Earth earlier than planned because of health issues. According to NBC News, the matter relates to a single astronaut with a medical condition who is currently in stable condition.
Image (Credit): The space shuttle orbiter Enterprise lifted by crane into the Structural Dynamic Test Facility at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for vibration testing in July 1978. (NASA)
Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.
With NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in place, the agency is spearheading a major infrastructure modernization initiative, starting with the demolition of historic testing facilities at Marshall Space Flight Center. The space agency will tear down the Dynamic Test Stand and the Propulsion and Structural Test Facility, known as the T-Tower, beginning Jan. 10. The move marks the first phase of removing 25 outdated structures at the Alabama center.
Most planets orbit comfortably around their stars, but some worlds are not so lucky. Astronomers have discovered a number of these rogue planets, which float through the Milky Way untethered to a solar system. Now, for the first time, they’ve directly measured the mass of one of these worlds, finding that it’s around Saturn’s mass. The planet might’ve been flung far from its star through a past gravitational interaction. But such encounters are surprising for a planet with such a hefty mass.
The giant planet Jupiter has nearly 100 known moons, yet none have captured the interest and imagination of astronomers and space scientists quite like Europa, an ice-shrouded world that is thought to possess a vast ocean of liquid salt water. For decades, scientists have wondered whether that ocean could harbor the right conditions for life, placing Europa near the top of the list of solar system bodies to explore. A new study led by Paul Byrne, an associate professor of Earth, environmental, and planetary sciences, throws cold water on the idea that Europa could support life at the seafloor. Using calculations that consider the moon’s size, the makeup of its rocky core, and the gravitational forces from Jupiter, Byrne and a team of scientists conclude that Europa likely lacks the tectonic motion, warm hydrothermal vents, or any other sort of underwater geologic activity that would presumably be a prerequisite for life.
Today the House and Senate came together to agree on NASA’s FY 2026 budget, and the news could not have been better. Overall, NASA is looking at basically a flat budget (compared to a threatened 24 percent cut) with only a 1 percent cut in science funding from last year’s level (compared to the threatened 47 percent cut). The only thing left on the table – or should we say on the Martian surface – is the sample return.
Credit certainly goes to a House and Senate that showed bipartisan support for the maintenance of NASA and its missions. This should make the new NASA Administrator very happy as he tries to sort through the muck from earlier this year and find a path forward.
Now we just has to hope that this bill can get through the White House. Given that foreign policy is the preferred policy these days, and DOGE is MIA, it may actually happen.
In a recent episode of What Next: TBD, titled “Are We Over the Moon?,” the host spoke with Joel Achenbach, freelance journalist and author of an article in Slate called Moondoggle about the upcoming Artemis missions.
The discussion covers the plans for multiple missions to the Moon, the difference in generational interest, and the confusion last year about NASA’s leadership and budget that only brings up more questions.
Overall, Mr. Achenback does not believe the younger generations have much interest in a mission to the Moon. This is a scary statement at a time that NASA is fighting to remain funded and relevant.
It is a podcast (and article) with lessons for NASA’s public relations team, assuming anyone over there is interested.
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