Space News for Wednesday, April 15, 2026

In this episode, we aggregate and summarize today's top space news stories. Enjoy!(00:10) Podcast Introduction(00:21) Blue Origin moves toward launch at Vandenberg(00:54) NRO highlights government and industry partnerships(01:25) SES and Boeing move toward factory-installed multi-orbit inflight connectivity(01:56) West Coast SpaceX Falcon 9 mission launches 25 Starlink satellites(02:34) SpaceX launches 1,000th Starlink satellite of 2026 on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral(02:58) Oklahoma Positions as Commercial Space Manufacturing Hub at Space Symposium(03:41) Ensign-Bickford Hardware Supports Successful Artemis II Lunar Mission(04:16) Amazon to Acquire Globalstar for $11.6 Billion to Fuel D2D Expansion(04:47) SmallSat Europe Speaker Focus: Daniel Metzler, Isar Aerospace(05:22) Webb Observations Challenge Fundamental Mass Limits(06:03) Contours of the James Bay Lowlands(06:47) Curiosity Blog, Sols 4859-4866: One Small Crater and Thousands of Polygons(07:35) NASA Finds Young Stars Dim in X-rays Surprisingly Quickly(08:11) NASA Receives 7 Nominations for the 30th Annual Webby Awards(08:47) 2025-2026 Dream with Us Design Challenge Winners(09:26) NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman On Artemis, Budget, And Establishing a Lasting Space Vision(10:19) CLD Companies Say NASA Is Wrong. NASA Says Prove It.(10:59) Slingshot Introduces AI-Powered Portal Platform(11:42) ICON Prime Launches, Led By Former TX Rep(12:27) A worst-case solar storm could trigger panic buying and public unrest, report warns(13:03) SpaceX launches two Starlink satellite groups 19 hours apart(13:43) NASA's Artemis 2 moonshot was just the 'opening act' for America's return to the moon, space agency chief says(14:05) Scientists use rare 'Einstein Cross' to learn about young galaxy with surprisingly old stars(14:44) This Artemis 2 astronaut really loves Rise | Space photo of the day for April 14, 2026(15:28) Physicists think they've resolved the proton size puzzle(16:04) NASA chose the right crew to launch a new era of human space exploration