Space News for Thursday, April 23, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:20) Univity funds VLEO 5G demonstrators with $32 million Series A(00:49) Atmos Space Cargo raises $30 million for reentry missions(01:15) Trump picks industry executive Roger Mason to lead National Reconnaissance Office(02:01) FCC clears AST SpaceMobile constellation as launch setback clouds ramp-up(02:32) SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB(03:12) IEC Telecom Unveils Voucher-Based Connectivity Solution at Singapore Maritime Week 2026(03:49) GomSpace and STETMAN Establish UASAT Joint Venture for Ukrainian Sovereign Communications(04:14) Market Dynamics and Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) Chipsets(04:55) Teledyne to Showcase Integrated Sensing Ecosystem and New Low-Light Module at SPIE 2026(05:24) Smoke Shrouds Northern Thailand(06:05) NASA Targets Early September for Roman Space Telescope Launch(06:47) NASA Astronaut Anil Menon to Discuss Upcoming Launch, Mission(07:29) Tracking Sats From the Sea(08:09) 'That's just not a winning strategy': Congress objects (again) to Trump's planned NASA budget cuts(08:48) Rocket Lab launches Japanese 'origami' satellite, 7 other spacecraft to orbit (photos)(09:29) NASA still confident that Artemis astronauts will land on the moon in 2028 despite spacesuit delays(09:44) Happy Earth Day! Celebrate with these amazing photos of our planet from space, from Apollo 8 to Artemis 2(10:30) Meet the US Navy divers who welcomed the Artemis 2 astronauts home from the moon