Space News for Friday, April 03, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:23) China’s commercial Tianlong-3 rocket fails on debut launch(00:45) Artemis 2 heads to the moon(01:06) Swift spacecraft reorientation buys time for reboost mission(01:40) Former Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice to lead Astrion(02:35) Optical terminals still a bottleneck in Pentagon’s proliferated constellation(02:50) CAS Space Successfully Launches Kinetica-2, Aiming for Global Cost Leadership(03:26) L3Harris Taps Mercury Systems for High-Capacity Data Storage on SDA Tranche 3 Satellites(04:10) Antaris Secures $28M Series A to Advance AI-Powered Satellite Mission Platform(04:49) Amazon in Reported Talks to Acquire Globalstar in $9 Billion Move to Challenge Starlink(05:26) Fortastra Expands Leadership Team with Defense and Intelligence Veterans to Drive National Security Mission(06:09) Barents Sea Tied to Low Arctic Sea Ice(06:34) NASA’s Artemis II Mission Leaves Earth Orbit for Flight around Moon(07:01) Artemis II Astronauts Launch to Moon(07:13) Artemis II Orion performs TLI Burn — Now headed to the Moon(07:44) CLPS Companies Excited For NASA’s ‘Opportunity Bomb’ Lunar Plan(08:09) Phantom Space Acquires Thermal Management Technologies(08:46) DJI Avata 360 drone review(09:27) Artemis 2 astronauts head for the moon after make-or-break engine burn (video)(09:43) Lucky airplane passengers capture NASA's Artemis 2 moon launch from the sky(10:23) Stunning new James Webb Space Telescope images reveal 'hidden' stars being born