Space News for Sunday, July 26, 2026

NASA and ESA facilities avoid major damage from wildfires in Spain

Original Publication Date: 2026-07-26 02:15

NASA’s Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex was evacuated after a wildfire swept the area, but early inspections show only pavement damage and no harm to antennas or buildings. The complex will remain offline for now while detailed assessments are carried out, with Canberra and Goldstone taking over the Deep Space Network to keep spacecraft communications uninterrupted. The European Space Agency’s 35‑meter antenna near Madrid also escaped serious damage, though access to the site is still limited. The fires, part of a wave of blazes across Spain and France, have forced nearly 300,000 people to evacuate as temperatures and dry conditions continue to rise.

SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Starlink satellites from West Coast

Original Publication Date: 2026-07-25 13:58

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg’s Launch Complex 4E on July 25, carrying 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into a 168 × 160‑mile orbit. The booster, B1100, made its eighth flight and successfully landed on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” 380 miles out in the Pacific. This launch marked the seventh of eight planned Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg this month, underscoring the West Coast pad’s growing importance for SpaceX’s Starlink fleet. The mission’s smooth deployment adds another boost to the company’s expanding satellite constellation.

SpaceX Targets First Starship Upper Stage Tower Catch for Flight 14

Original Publication Date: 2026-07-25 23:35

SpaceX’s Starship upper stage successfully splashed down in the ocean after Flight 13 on Friday, July 24, 2026, marking a major milestone for the company’s reusable launch program. CEO Elon Musk announced that the company will now move forward with a full orbital test of the vehicle, aiming to refine its performance for future missions. He highlighted the importance of this achievement for SpaceX’s long‑term plans to deliver payloads and eventually send humans to Mars. The company remains focused on advancing its next‑generation spaceflight capabilities.

Artemis II Pilot Advocates Stepwise Return to Moon via Equatorial Landings

Original Publication Date: 2026-07-25 23:24

Artemis II pilot Victor Glover raised concerns on July 22, 2026, about the operational and environmental risks of landing humans at the lunar south pole, urging

An off-the-shelf camera could help us find more black holes smashing together

Original Publication Date: 2026-07-25 13:00

Scientists at UC Riverside have turned a simple, off‑the‑shelf thermal camera into a game‑changing tool for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational‑Wave Observatory, or LIGO. By mapping heat‑induced distortions on the observatory’s mirrors, the new method can correct nanometer‑scale warps without any costly upgrades. The fix is expected to extend LIGO’s reach by roughly 33 million light‑years, opening a vast new window for detecting distant black‑hole mergers.

NASA astronaut, 2 cosmonauts returning to Earth on July 26: Watch it live

Original Publication Date: 2026-07-25 10:00

NASA astronaut Chris Williams, along with Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud‑Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, will undock from the International Space Station aboard Soyuz MS‑28 at 3:02 a.m. ET on Sunday, July 26, and touch down in the Kazakh steppe about 3½ hours later. The crew’s 241‑day mission saw them orbit Earth 3,856 times and travel more than 102 million miles. Live coverage of the undocking, crew farewells, and the final deorbit will stream on Space.com, with NASA’s webcast resuming at 11:10 p.m. ET to capture the closing of the hatches. After touchdown, the trio will fly by helicopter to Karaganda for recovery and then return to their respective home bases.

SpaceX's Starship megarocket makes the 'softest splashdown' ever after launching next-gen Starlink satellites in Flight 13 test (video)

Original Publication Date: 2026-07-25 01:40

Tariq is the Editor‑in‑Chief of Space.com, a position he earned after starting as an intern in 2001 and rising to Managing Editor in 2009 before taking the helm in 2019. He covers human spaceflight, exploration, science, skywatching and entertainment, and co‑hosts the “This Week In Space” podcast on the TWiT network. His reporting excellence has earned him the Harry Kolcum Award in 2022 and the Space Pioneer Award for Excellence in Mass Media from the National Space Society in 2025.

SpaceX eyes tower catch for next Starship after auspicious end to 13th flight

Original Publication Date: 2026-07-25 17:47

SpaceX’s 13th full‑scale Starship test flight reached an on‑target splashdown in the remote Indian Ocean, with the vehicle floating intact after a gentle tip. Engineers flew drones over the capsule to confirm that its 18,000 ceramic heat‑shield tiles survived temperatures up to 2,600°F during reentry, a key milestone for reusable design. The successful splashdown opens the door for a future mission that could send Starship on a longer trajectory—perhaps to low‑Earth orbit—and attempt a tower capture for rapid turnaround. If data review shows no problems, Elon Musk plans to try the capture maneuver on the next launch.