ISS Crew Emergency Evacuation | Mars Mission Dead | Fastest Spinning Asteroid: Your Daily Space Update

0:00 Anna: Hello everyone and welcome to

0:02 Astronomy Daily, the podcast where

0:05 we bring you the latest and greatest from the

0:08 world of space and astronomy. I'm

0:11 Anna and with me is my co host Avery.

0:14 Hey Avery. It's January 9th,

0:16 2026. Hope you're staying warm wherever you

0:19 are.

0:20 Avery: Hey Anna. And hi to all our listeners.

0:22 Yeah, it's chilly out there where I am in the

0:25 northern hemisphere, but I believe our

0:26 listeners down under are expected to

0:28 experiencing very high temperatures today.

0:31 But the news is heating up. Today we've got a

0:33 truly historic storey leading off. One that's

0:36 making waves across the space community. Plus

0:39 lunar viewing tips, starship infrastructure

0:41 upgrades, big shifts in Mars exploration

0:44 plans, a record breaking asteroid spin,

0:47 and a fascinating map of ghostly particles

0:49 streaming through us. We'll spend extra time

0:52 on that first one because it's a milestone.

0:54 Let's jump right in.

0:56 Anna: Absolutely.

0:57 This top storey is unprecedented. For

1:00 the first time in the 25 year history of the

1:02 International Space Station, NASA has ordered

1:05 a controlled medical evacuation, bringing

1:08 home an entire crew early due to a medical

1:11 issue with one astronaut.

1:13 Avery: This involves Crew 11, who launched back in

1:16 August 2025 aboard SpaceX's Dragon

1:19 Endeavour. The four person team, NASA

1:21 commander Mike Fink, veteran of multiple

1:24 flights, pilot Zena Cardman on rookie

1:27 mission JAXA's Kimiya Yui and

1:29 Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

1:32 They're a multinational crew, highlighting

1:34 the international partnership.

1:36 Anna: The issue arose earlier this week on January

1:39 7, with one unidentified crew member

1:42 experiencing a medical situation in

1:44 microgravity. NASA emphasises the

1:47 astronaut is absolutely stable and the crew

1:50 provided immediate care using onboard

1:52 equipment, which is advanced but limited

1:55 compared to a full hospital.

1:57 Avery: Details are private for good reason, HIPAA

1:59 and all that. But NASA Chief Medical Officer

2:02 Dr. J.D. polk noted it's unrelated

2:05 to station operations or upcoming tasks.

2:08 The key factor, while stable now, there

2:11 could be lingering risks if they stay in

2:13 orbit longer and full diagnosis or

2:16 treatment isn't possible up there.

2:18 Anna: After consultations, administrator Jared

2:21 Isaacman made the call err on the side

2:23 of caution and returned the whole Crew 11

2:26 team in the coming days. They' dock

2:29 soon. Exact schedule coming within 48 hours.

2:32 Splashdown off California with SpaceX

2:35 recovery ships ready.

2:37 Avery: Why the whole crew? They share one Dragon as

2:39 their lifeboat. No splitting up. This leaves

2:42 the ISS with just three people temporarily,

2:45 NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two Russian

2:48 cosmonauts. They'll handle basics, defer

2:51 some science and no spacewalks possible until

2:54 Crew 12 arrives. Maybe accelerated to

2:57 next month.

2:58 Anna: It's certainly historic. NASA's first

3:00 medical early return ever. There was A

3:03 Soviet case in 1985 on Salyut

3:06 7, but nothing like this for the ISS

3:09 era. Past issues like a blood clot in

3:12 2019 or pinched nerve in 2021

3:15 were managed on board without evacuation.

3:18 Avery: This shows how far we've come in crew health

3:20 management, but also the limits of long

3:23 duration spaceflight. It's a learning moment

3:25 for Artemis, lunar stays and eventual Mars

3:28 missions. How do we hand unexpected health

3:30 events far from Earth?

3:32 Anna: Totally. NASA stressed crew safety

3:35 as priority one and the quick response

3:37 highlights training. We'll keep an eye on

3:39 updates. Safe return wishes to Crew 11.

3:43 Avery: Okay, moving to something more serene.

3:45 The February full moon is coming up soon.

3:48 Known as the snow moon.

3:50 Anna: Peak illumination at 5:09pm

3:53 Eastern on February 1st. Look

3:55 east at sunset for that classic big

3:58 orange tinted rise. Due to the moon illusion

4:01 and atmospheric scattering, it'll be near

4:03 Cancer stars. Easy naked eye spot.

4:06 Avery: Traditional names reflect winter in the

4:08 northern hemisphere. Snow moon for heavy

4:11 snowfall. Hungary or Bear moon in some

4:14 indigenous cultures. In India,

4:16 Magapornima with rituals

4:19 on February 2nd it occults regulus for

4:22 parts of North America and Africa.

4:24 Incidentally, you will be able to see this in

4:27 the southern hemisphere as well, with best

4:29 date in Sydney for instance forecasted to be

4:32 on February 2, the same day as Beijing

4:35 and Tokyo.

4:36 Anna: Great for photos, tripod, long lens

4:39 for details or wide for landscapes.

4:42 No special super status but always

4:44 magical up.

4:46 Avery: Uh, Next Updates from Starbase

4:48 SpaceX is future proofing Pad 1's tower and

4:51 launch mount for Starship Block 3.

4:53 Anna: Pad 1 had supported early Block 2

4:56 flights but is now offline for major

4:59 rework. Demolishing the old mount,

5:01 adding a flame bucket with powerful water

5:04 deluge, nitrogen inerting to prevent

5:07 fires and reinforced structures.

5:10 Avery: Upgrades include better quick disconnects for

5:12 propellants, shortened chopsticks for heavier

5:14 lifts. Goal is rapid reusability,

5:17 minimal refurb between launches. Handling

5:20 33 Raptors power.

5:22 Anna: This mirrors Pad 2 improvements

5:25 enabling frequent flights which are crucial

5:27 for Starship's goals.

5:29 Avery: Next, let's shift our gaze to Mars.

5:32 NASA's ambitious Mars sample Return

5:35 mission is effectively dead, opening the

5:38 door wider for China.

5:40 Anna: Budget cuts slashed funding. Original

5:43 $11 billion ballooned.

5:45 Redesigned to around 7 billion, but it was

5:48 still too complex. Perseverance is caches

5:51 lander fetch, rover or helicopters ascent,

5:54 uh, rocket orbital rendezvous. It was

5:57 a lot.

5:58 Avery: Congress prioritised other spending, so there

6:01 was only $110 million left for tech

6:04 development. This disrupts the ESA

6:06 partnership too. Perseverance's 33 tubes

6:09 stay on Mars, stable in cold dryness for

6:12 potential future grab.

6:14 Anna: Meanwhile, China's plans advance simpler

6:17 opportunistic sampling. They could be first

6:20 to return Martian rocks, which will be huge

6:22 for science.

6:24 Avery: A bitter pill for NASA after all their

6:26 planning. But it does redirect resources

6:29 elsewhere, so there is that.

6:31 Anna: Let's move on now to asteroid hunting. The

6:34 Vera Rubin Observatory has spotted the

6:37 fastest spinning large asteroid ever

6:39 discovered.

6:40 Avery: This huge rock rotates in an insanely quick

6:43 period under the theoretical rubble pile

6:45 limit, yet holds together, likely

6:48 monolithic or strong. Internally, this

6:51 discovery highlights Vera Rubin's power and

6:53 importance for locating near Earth objects.

6:56 Anna: There are implications for deflection

6:59 strategies, as spin affects how we nudge

7:02 threats if needed.

7:03 Avery: Okay, moving on. Finally today,

7:06 those billions of ghost particles, neutrinos,

7:09 streaming through you every second. You were

7:11 aware of them, weren't you? Of course. Well,

7:13 we now have a map of where many of them come

7:16 from.

7:17 Anna: New models using Gaia star data show

7:20 stellar neutrinos from nuclear fusion in

7:22 massive young stars across the Milky Way.

7:25 Although denser toward galactic centre,

7:28 detected via.

7:29 Avery: Giant Antarctic instruments catching rare

7:32 interactions. This first comprehensive

7:34 stellar neutrino map filters solar noise,

7:37 probes, core processes, and has led to

7:39 potential new physics.

7:41 Anna: Wild, invisible messengers from our

7:44 galaxy's heart.

7:45 Avery: And that's a wrap for today.

7:47 From ISS drama to neutrino maps.

7:49 What a day in space news.

7:51 Anna: Thanks for joining us. Subscribe, share and

7:54 we'll be back tomorrow. And if you'd like to

7:57 keep up with the evacuation storey unfolding

7:59 on the iss, just visit our website and cheque

8:02 out our constantly updating news feed. You'll

8:04 find us at astronomydaily.IO

8:07 Clear skies, everyone. And one final

8:10 reminder to keep looking up. Bye.