Russia – Our Awesome Universe

Television: Star City

Posted on April 29, 2026April 30, 2026 by onespaceman2000

We are only one month away from the premiere of Apple TV’s Star City.

Premiering on May 29th, the series is a spin-off from For All Mankind, which is an alternative history showing the race to the Moon and then Mars among the Americans, Soviet, and North Koreans. Star City will focus on the Soviet program, just as For All Mankind focused primarily on the American program.

Apple TV describes the new series in this way:

A bold new chapter inspired by the critically acclaimed space-race drama, “For All Mankind,” “Star City” is a propulsive paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race — when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon. But this time, we explore the story from behind the Iron Curtain, showing the lives of the cosmonauts, the engineers and the intelligence officers embedded among them in the Soviet space program, and the risks they all took to propel humankind forward.

While For All Mankind was mostly a bombastic show with plenty of American daredevil fun, the Star City promises to be a much darker view of another space program that we only saw in quick glimpses during the first series. Keeping the show interesting and not too bleak may be a challenge.

Will we ever see another spin-off covering the North Korean version of the space race? It is doubtful, yet it would be both fascinating and bleak as well.

I imagine Star City can be a stand-alone series for those who missed For All Mankind, but I think half the fun in watching the new series will be watching where the two stories interweave and discovering what was really happening on the Soviet side.

If history has multiple perspectives, even alternative history, then I look forward to understanding more of the story through more voices.

Space Stories: Rocket Lab Launched Japanese Satellites, Progress 95 Cargo Arrives at ISS, and Interstellar Comet Contains Surprises

Posted on April 27, 2026April 28, 2026 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): The “Kakushin Rising” mission lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand on April 23, 2026. (Rocket Lab)}

Here are some recent space-related stories.

—Rocket Lab: “Rocket Lab Completes Second Dedicated Launch for Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)“

The “Kakushin Rising” mission lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 3:09 p.m. NZT to successfully deploy eight spacecraft for JAXA’s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program that included educational small sats, an ocean-monitoring satellite, a demonstration satellite for ultra-small multispectral cameras, and a deployable antenna packed tightly using origami folding techniques that can unfurl up to 25 times its size. “Kakushin Rising” builds on the success of Rocket Lab’s first dedicated launch for JAXA that took place in December 2025, which saw Electron deploy the RAISE-4 spacecraft that demonstrated new aerospace technologies developed by several companies, universities, and research institutions throughout Japan.

—NASA: “Progress 95 Cargo Craft Docks to Station with Food, Fuel, and Supplies“

The uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 95 spacecraft docked to the aft port of the International Space Station’s Zvezda module at 8 p.m. EDT Monday. The spacecraft is delivering about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the Expedition 74 crew. It will remain docked to the orbiting laboratory for about six months before departing for a planned destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.

—National Radio Astronomy Observatory: “3I/ATLAS Contains 30X More Semi-Heavy Water Than Comets In Our Solar System“

New observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS include the first measurement of the abundance of deuterated water relative to ordinary water in an interstellar object. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) discovered that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is made of an astonishingly high ratio of semi-heavy water relative to water, indicating that its system of origin likely formed under conditions far colder than our own.

Television: Season Five of For All Mankind

Posted on March 24, 2026 by onespaceman2000

If you thought last season of For All Mankind was hair-raising with the disasters and battles on Mars, wait until you see what happens this season.

This trailer from Apple TV gives you a taste of the drama coming to your television on March 27th. We see the return of many of our favorite characters (those who survived) as well as a few new ones.

The season picks up years after the “Martians” hijack an asteroid intended for Earth, thereby giving the Martian economy plenty of mining revenue. Apple TV states:

Happy Valley has grown into a thriving colony with thousands of residents and a base for new missions that will take us even further into the solar system. But with the nations of Earth now demanding law and order on the Red Planet, friction continues to build between the people who live on Mars and their former home.

It did not take long for the new Martians to seek independence. We may want to keep that in mind as we continue to allow Mr. Musk to be the spokesperson for the colonization of Mars. He does not play well with others on this planet, so good luck with him running the show on Mars.

Anyway, the series offered plenty of ideas regarding a space race for a lunar base followed by a space race for Mars. The only odd part of this series is that while the USSR and North Korea are present on Mars, we hear almost nothing about China and its space program.

As NASA contemplates a whole new approach to the Moon and Mars (as highlighted just today), it’s fun to watch a show where the space travel timetable is faster and the private sector is more engaged with its own separate mission to Mars. Again, I can picture this happening with SpaceX, where Blue Origin takes the lead on the Moon and Musk takes all of his marbles so he can proceed to Mars on his own.

One thing we can bet on with our expansion into space, regardless of the timetable, is that mankind’s foibles will be front and center in any of these space missions. The hardware issues will be easy to solve compared to dealing with the egos and emotions of space-bound humanity.

In the meantime, while we await the real thing, sit back and enjoy Apple TV’s version of our future in space.

Note: Apple TV announced earlier today that the sixth season of the series will be the last.

Russia Resupplying the International Space Station

Posted on March 22, 2026March 22, 2026 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): The Soyuz rocket carrying the Progress 94 mission just prior to launch. (Roscosmos)}

The Russians successfully launched a cargo shipment of food, fuel, and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier today. The Roscosmos Progress 94 spacecraft left the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket.

Not everything was perfect, but there is no need to worry. An antenna issue may compromise the unmanned attaching to the ISS on Tuesday morning, but manual controls are available. The Russians are more than able to perform this tasks.

The Progress 94 spacecraft was originally slated for a December 2025 launch, but it had to be delayed due to earlier rocket damage at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. With repairs completed, things appear to be back to normal at the site.

You can watch the entire launch via the NASA site on YouTube.

Launch of Crew-12 to ISS Goes Without a Hitch

Posted on February 13, 2026February 15, 2026 by onespaceman2000

^{Image (Credit): NASA’s Crew-12 launches toward the ISS via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on February 13, 2026. (NASA)}

The International Space Station’s (ISS) Crew-12 is safely on its way. As NASA Administrator Isaacman noted:

With Crew-12 safely on orbit, America and our international partners once again demonstrated the professionalism, preparation, and teamwork required for human spaceflight.

The launch carried NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The four crew members should climb aboard the ISS tomorrow afternoon.

This crew replaces Crew-11, which left the space station earlier than expected last month due to a medical emergency.