Medical Evacuation from the ISS | Wobbling Black Hole Jets | Lunar Hotel Reservations: Your Daily Space Update

Anna: Hello everyone, and welcome to

Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna.

Avery: And I'm Avery. Thanks for joining us on this

exciting Tuesday, January 13,

2026. We've got an incredible lineup of

space news to share with you today.

Anna: We really do, Avery. We're covering

everything from a, uh, historic first on the

International Space Station to groundbreaking

black hole discoveries. Plus we've got some

fantastic mission updates from NASA. And

believe it or not, you can now put down a

deposit for a hotel room room on the moon.

Avery: That's right. It's going to be a packed

episode.

But first, let's start with some update news

from the International Space Station that's

making history for all the wrong reasons.

Anna: So, Avery, we're witnessing something that's

never happened before in the 25 year history

of the International Space Station. On

Sunday, NASA announced the first ever medical

evacuation from the ISS.

Avery: That's right, Anna. The SpaceX Crew

11 mission, which launched to the station

back in August 2025, is being

cut short due to an undisclosed medical

condition affecting one of the four crew

members. The team includes NASA

astronauts Mike Fink and Xena Cardman,

Russia's Oleg Platnov and Japan's

Kimiya Yui.

Anna: And yesterday we saw a really touching change

of command ceremony. Mike Fink, who was

serving as commander of Expedition 74,

handed control of the station over Russian

cosmonaut Sergey Kud Sverchkov during

the ceremony. Fink called it bittersweet and

you could really feel the emotion in his

words.

Avery: I read about that. Fink told Kud

Schwarchkov. It's an honour and a pleasure to

be a commander and I cannot imagine being

happier than to hand over command to you. The

crew schedule to undock from the ISS on

Wednesday afternoon, with hatch closing at

3pm eastern time and departure at

5pm they'll then make an 11 hour

journey back to Earth aboard their Dragon

Endeavour spacecraft.

Anna: They're expected to splash down in the

Pacific Ocean early Thursday morning around

3:40am Eastern Time. Now, one

interesting aspect of this situation is that

NASA has declined to specify which astronaut

is experiencing the medical issue, citing

privacy concerns. They also haven't disclosed

the nature of the medical condition itself.

Avery: This early departure creates an unusual

situation on the station. After Crew 11

leaves, there will only be three astronauts

board, including just one American, Chris

Williams. That's well below the typical crew

complement, right?

Anna: Normally, NASA prefers crew overlap to

avoid gaps in maintenance and research

capabilities. But they've deemed this medical

situation serious enough to warrant the

immediate return, even if it means operating

with a skeleton crew until the next rotation

arrives.

Avery: And speaking of the next rotation, Crew 12

was originally scheduled to launch in mid

February. NASA is now evaluating if they

can move that launch date up. Of course, this

all to be coordinated with another major

event on NASA's calendar.

Anna: You're talking about Artemis 2, right?

Avery: Exactly. NASA is simultaneously working

to roll out the Space Launch System rocket

for the Artemis 2 mission from the Vehicle

Assembly Building to Launch Complex

39B at Kennedy Space Centre. That

rollout is scheduled for January 17th.

With the first launch opportunity for Artemis

2 opening on February 6th.

Anna: It's a delicate balancing act for NASA

operations. According to NASA Administrator,

the ISS evacuation shouldn't interfere with

the Artemis II timeline, but it certainly

adds complexity to an already busy schedule.

Avery: Absolutely. This situation really highlights

how NASA handles unexpected medical

challenges in space. They have protocols in

place, but this is the first time they've

actually had to implement a full medical

evacuation from the station.

Anna: It's worth noting that while this is the

first medical evacuation, it's not the first

time medical concerns have affected ISS

operations. Just last week a uh, planned

spacewalk had to be cancelled due to these

same medical concerns that ultimately led to

the evacuation decision.

Avery: We wish all 4 crew 11 astronauts a safe

journey home and a quick recovery to

whoever's dealing with a medical issue.

Anna: Now let's shift gears to some absolutely

fascinating astronomy news. Avery.

Astronomers have discovered something they've

never seen seen before. A galaxy wide

wobbling black hole jet.

Avery: This is really cool stuff. Ana A UH team led

by researchers at UC Irvine and Caltech's

Infrared Processing and Analysis Centre has

found the largest and most extended jet ever

observed emanating from a supermassive black

hole. And it's doing something remarkable.

It's wobbling.

Anna: The galaxy in question is called

VV340A and the

jet extends up to 20,000 light years from

its centre. To put that perspective, that's

about 1/5 the diameter of the Milky Way

galaxy. These jets are composed of

superheated material being accelerated to

near the speed of light.

Avery: The observations were made using the W.M.

keck Observatory's Keck Cosmic Web Imager

on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. But what really makes

this discovery special is that the team

combined data from multiple observatories to

get the complete picture right.

Anna: They used infrared observations from the

James Webb Space Telescope, radio images from

the very large erect, and the optical data

from Keck. Each observatory revealed

different aspects of this phenomenon. Webb's

infrared data showed the energetic heart of

the galaxy, while Keck's optical data showed

how that energy propagates outward and the

violet.

Avery: Radio data revealed something remarkable. The

plasma jets are twisted into a helical

pattern as they move outward. This is

evidence of what's called jet precession,

where the jet's direction slowly wobbles over

time, kind of like a spinning top.

Anna: Lead author Justin Cater from UC Irvine said

the Keck Observatory data was crucial. He

noted that the gas they observed with Keck

reaches the farthest distances from the black

hole, meaning it also traces the longest

timescales. Without those observations, they

wouldn't know how powerful or persistent this

outflow really is.

Avery: What's particularly surprising about this

discovery is where it was found.

VV340A is a relatively

young galaxy, still in the early stages of a

galactic merger. Typically, these kinds of

jets are observed in older elliptical

galaxies that have long since stopped forming

stars.

Anna: That's a great point. The Webb data showed

that the superheated coronal gas, the plasma

erupting from either side of the black hole,

measures several thousand parsecs across.

Most observed coronas measure in the hundreds

of parsecs, making this the most extended

coronal gas structure ever observed.

Avery: The discovery also revealed that the jet is

actively affecting the galaxy's evolution.

The KCWI data data showed that the jet is

stripping the galaxy of gas at a rate of

about 20 solar masses per year,

effectively shutting down star formation.

Anna: This finding challenges our established

theories about how galaxies and their

supermassive black holes evolve together.

As Cater put it, this is the first time we've

seen a precessing kiloparsec scale

radiojet deriving such a massive

outflow in a disc galaxy.

Avery: He also noted something intriguing about the

Milky Way. He said there's no clear fossil

record of something like this happening in

our galaxy. But this discovery suggests we

can't rule it out. It changes the way we

think about the galaxy we live in.

Anna: The next step for the team involves higher

resolution radio observations to determine

whether a second supermassive black hole

could be at the centre of

VV340A, which might be

causing the jets to wobble.

Avery: It's an exciting time for studying black

holes and their impact on galactic evolution.

This discovery opens up new questions about

how common this type of activity might be in

the universe.

Anna: Now let's take a look at what's launching

this week. We've got a busy manifest with

eight orbital launch attempts scheduled from

China, the United States and Norway.

Avery: That's right, Anna, uh, SpaceX is dominating

the American launch schedule. As usual,

they're launching two batches of Starlink

satellites into the constellation's Group 6

shell, as well as a batch of reconnaissance

satellites for the National Reconnaissance

Office.

Anna: The first Starlink mission of the week, Group

697 actually already lifted off

yesterday. Monday, January 12th at

4:08pm Eastern Time from Space Launch

Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. The Falcon

9 flew 29 Starlink version 2 mini

satellites into orbit and the.

Avery: Booster that supported that mission,

B1078, was flying for its

25th time after stage separation.

It successfully landed on the ship. Just read

the instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. These

reusability numbers just keep getting more

impressive.

Anna: They really do. The next StarLink Mission,

Group 698 is scheduled for Wednesday,

January 14th at 1:01pm Eastern

from the same launch site that will use

booster B1085 on its 13th

flight landing on the A UH shortfall of

Gravitas droneship moving over to China.

Avery: They have four launches on the manifest this

week. On Tuesday, the Chinese Aerospace

Science and Technology Corporation is

launching a Chang Zhang 8 a rocket from

Wenchang. The payload is unknown, but this

marks the first CZ8Amission of

2026 and the seventh overall.

Anna: Then on Thursday we have a Changzang 3B

E launch from Shisheng carrying another

unknown payload. The CZ3BE

is one of China's workhorse rockets and this

will be its 103rd launch overall.

Avery: Also on Thursday, private Chinese spaceflight

company Galactic Energy is scheduled to

launch a Series 1s rocket from the Orient

Spaceport launch ship. This will be the first

Series 1s mission of 2026 and the

23rd overall for this solid fueled rocket.

Anna: And here's something exciting. Galactic

Energy is also debuting its new Series 2

rocket this week. The demonstration flight is

scheduled for Saturday, January 17 from the

Zhouquan Satellite Launch Centre. The Series

2 is a larger upgraded version capable of

lifting about 2,000 kilogrammes.

Avery: To low Earth orbit back to the United States.

SpaceX has a classified mission for the

National Reconnaissance Office. NROL

105 is scheduled to launch Friday evening,

January 16 at 8:18pm

Pacific Time from Vandenberg Space Force Base

in California.

Anna: This mission is using brand new booster

B1100 on only its second flight and

it'll perform a return to launch site landing

at landing zone 4 right next to the launch

pad. This represents the 12th batch of

satellites launched into this particular NRL

Constell installation developed by SpaceX and

Northrop Grumman.

Avery: And finally wrapping up the week, German

company Isar Aerospace is scheduled to launch

the second test flight of its Spectrum rocket

from Norway's Andoya rocket range. This comes

after the first test flight in March 2025

failed shortly after liftoff.

Anna: The Spectrum rocket stands 28 metres tall and

uses nine Aquila engines on the first stage

and one on the second stage, burning propane

and liquid oxygen. It's expected to carry

several cubesats to sun synchronous orbit for

the European Space Agency's Boost programme.

Avery: If successful, this will mark Spectrum's

first flight of 2026 and the

13th worldwide orbital launch attempt of the

year. It's shaping up to be a busy week in

spaceflight.

Anna: Alright, Avery, let's talk about some mission

milestones. NASA's Carruthers

Geocorona Observatory has reached its target

orbit.

Avery: This is great news, Anna. The spacecraft

achieved its destination at Lagrange Point 1,

or L1, which is approximately 1 million

miles from Earth towards the Sun. The

confirmation came on January 10, following

the spacecraft's third and final orbital

manoeuvre. A two minute thruster fire on

January 8.

Anna: For those unfamiliar, L1 is one of those

special points in space where the

gravitational forces of the Earth and sun

balance out, creating a stable position.

It's an ideal spot for observing the Earth

and sun simultaneously.

Avery: Exactly. And Carruthers has a very specific

mission to capture the first repeated

observations of the ultraviolet glow from

Earth's outer atmosphere. Known as the

Geocorona, the mission is named in

honour of Dr. George R. Carruthers, who

invented the ultraviolet camera that was

placed on the moon by Apollo 16

astronauts in 1972.

Anna: That Apollo 16 camera captured the very

first images of Earth's geo corona.

Now, more than 50 years later, later,

Carruthers is going to study it in

unprecedented detail from its vantage point

at L1.

Avery: The loveseat size spacecraft launched from

Kennedy Space centre back on September 24,

uh, 2025. Since launch, the team

has been testing the spacecraft's instruments

and capturing what they call first light

images. While adjusting its course as it

approached.

Anna: L1, I saw those first light images.

They're really impressive. The spacecraft has

two cameras, a wide field Imager and a

narrow field image capture

ultraviolet light and the images clearly show

Earth with this fuzzy halo around it, which

is the geochorona.

Avery: What's interesting is that you can also see

the Moon in those images. And the lunar

surface still shines in this specific

wavelength of light called Lyman Alpha

because its rocky surface reflects all

wavelengths of sunlight. That's actually why

it's important to compare the Lyman Alpha

images with the broad.

Anna: Ultraviolet filter The Narrow field

Imager even captured two background stars

that must have surface temperatures

approximately twice as hot as our sun to be

so bright in this wavelength of light.

Avery: Carruthers is now beginning its final

checkout procedures before starting its two

year primary science mission in March. From

L1 it will provide scientists with the most

detailed views ever of how Earth's

outermost atmospheric layer interacts with

the space environment.

Anna: The mission is led by Dr. Lara Waldrop from

the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign,

with the Space Sciences Lab at ah, UC

Berkeley leading mission implementation and

operations.

Avery: Speaking of missions reaching their

destinations, Anna uh, NASA's IMAP

mission has also arrived at L1.

Anna: That's right. IMAP, which stands for

Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe,

reached Lagrange Point 1 on January 10,

just two days after Carruthers completed its

final manoeuvre.

Avery: The mission operations team sent commands to

the spacecraft on the morning of January 9 to

begin the trajectory manoeuvres. Early on

January 10, they confirmed that IMAP had

successfully entered its final L1 orbit,

where it will stay for the duration of its

mission.

Anna: IMAP has a fascinating mission profile.

It's going to explore and map the very

boundaries of our heliosphere. That's the

protective bubble created by the solar wind

that encapsulates our entire solar system.

It will study how the heliosphere interacts

with the local galactic neighbourhood beyond.

Avery: Think of IMAP as a modern day celestial

cartographer. It's going to explore and

chart the vast range of particles in

interplanetary space, investigating how

charged particles from the sun get energised

and how the solar wind interacts at uh, the

boundary with interstellar space.

Anna: But IMAP also has a very practical

application. It will provide real time

observations of the solar wind and energetic

particles, giving critical data that can help

protect spacecraft and astronauts from

adverse space weather effects.

Avery: L1 provides IMAP with a stable and

clear 360 degree view of the

heliosphere. This position also gives an

unobstructed view of the sun, which means the

spacecraft can give about a half hour's

warning to astronauts and spacecraft near

Earth of harmful radiation coming their way.

Anna: IMAP launched on September 24,

2025. The same day as Carruthers.

They travelled to loan together along with

Nooa's SWFO

Lagrange, which stands for Space Weather

Follow on Lagrange 1. At loan,

they join other spacecraft already in orbit

there, like NASA's Wind and ACE missions

and the ESA NASA

SOHO Observatory.

Avery: The mission is led by principal investigator

David McComas, a professor at Princeton

University with an international team of more

than 20 partner institutions. Institutions.

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

built a spacecraft and operates the mission.

Anna: IMAP is nearing completion of its

commissioning phase and will begin its

science mission on February 1st. The data

from IMAP's State of the art instrumentation

will greatly enhance the usefulness of data

from those other missions. At L1.

Avery: It's exciting to have both Carruthers and

IMAP reaching their destinations at the same

time. They launched together, travel

together, and now they're both settling into

the their orbits to begin their science

missions.

Anna: Okay, Avery, save the best for last, right?

You can now put down a deposit for a hotel

room on the moon.

Avery: I know it sounds like science fiction, Anna,

uh, but this is for real. A company called

GRU Space, that's Galactic Resources

Utilisation, has publicly announced its

intent to construct a series of habitats on

the moon, culminating in a hotel that's

actually inspired by the palace of the Fine

Arts in San Francisco.

Anna: On Monday, the company opened applications

for aspiring lunar tourists. You can place a

deposit ranging from $250,000

to $1,000,000 to reserve a spot on

one of their early lunar surface missions.

They're targeting as early as 2032 for the

hotel opening.

Avery: Now, before anyone rushes to empty their bank

accounts, let's talk about what this actually

involves. Groove Space is a Y

Combinator backed start startup founded in

2025 by Skyler Chan, a recent

UC Berkeley graduate who's only 22 years

old. The company has received backing from

investors in SpaceX and Anduril.

Anna: What makes GRU's approach interesting is that

they're not planning to ship all the building

materials from Earth. Instead, they want to

use In Situ Resource Utilisation, or

ISRU technology. That means using

robotic systems to transform lunar soil

regular Lilith into durable building blocks.

Avery: Their roadmap starts with a 2029

demonstration mission to validate the process

of turning lunar soil into bricks.

By 2032, if everything goes according to

plan, they expect to open what would be the

world's first lunar hotel inside a

lunar cave which provides natural protection

from radiation and temperature extremes.

Anna: The initial hotel will be built on Earth and

delivered by a heavy lander. It's an

inflatable structure designed to host a

precious to four guests for multi day stays.

The hotel is designed to operate for 10 years

and will offer views of the lunar landscape

and Earth, along with activities like

moonwalks, driving rovers, and get this,

they're even talking about golf.

Avery: Of course, this is an incredibly ambitious

plan. In their whitepaper, GRU acknowledges

that execution heavily relies on factors

outside their control. They need decreasing

launch costs, costs, regular and reliable

crewed flights to the lunar surface, a, uh,

favourable regulatory environment and

supporting infrastructure like lunar power

and communications.

Anna: All of which are in various stages of

development. The company's vision doesn't

stop at Moon hotels either. After

establishing the first hotel, they want to

help build America's first moon base with

roads and warehouses, then expand to Mars

and eventually the Asteroid belt.

Avery: Skyler Chan, the founder, has been passionate

about space since childhood. He said that

I've been, uh, obsessed with space since I

was a kid. I've always wanted to become an

astronaut and feel extremely fortunate to be

doing my life's work. He also mentioned that

if they succeed, billions of human lives will

be born on the Moon and Mars and be able to

experience the beauty of lunar and Martian

life.

Anna: There's actually a $1,000 non

refundable application fee just to apply,

and that doesn't guarantee approval.

Selected applicants will receive invitations

tied to specific mission roles and lunar

stays.

Avery: It's worth noting that this isn't the first

time someone has proposed a lunar hotel.

Hilton Hotels actually had a Lunar

Hilton concept in the 1960s and even

printed reservation cards and room keys as

promotional items.

Anna: True. And back in 1973,

Hilton partnered with Trans International

Airlines to produce a brochure inviting

customers to a trip to the moon sometime

after 1973, with costs up to

$25,000 per person. Of

course, that never materialised.

Avery: The big question is whether GRU Space

can succeed where others have only dreamed.

They've got the backing, they've got the

vision, and they've got a founder who's

putting everything into making it happen. The

timeline aligns with NASA's renewed push to

establish a permanent human presence on the

Moon Moon through the Artemis programme.

Anna: Even if this particular venture doesn't pan

out exactly as planned, it's exciting to see

private companies seriously pursuing lunar

infrastructure. The fact that we're even

having this conversation about booking hotel

rooms on the Moon shows how far space

exploration has come.

Avery: Absolutely. Whether it's 2032

or 2042, the era of lunar

tourism feels like it's genuinely

approaching. We might actually see commercial

lunar hotels in our lifetime.

Anna: Well, that's all the time we have for today's

episode of Astronomy Daily. What an

incredible day of space news.

Avery: Uh, from the historic iss, medical

evacuation and wobbling black hole jets,

to missions reaching their destinations at

L1, and even the possibility of

vacationing on the Moon, it's been quite a

journey.

Anna: If you enjoyed today's episode, please

subscribe to Astronomy Daily wherever you get

your podcast. And don't forget to leave us a

review. It really helps other space

enthusiasts find the show.

Avery: You can find us on social media and at our

website. For more space news and updates.

Just search for astrodaily Pod on

socials or visit us on the web at

astronomydaily IO. Thanks

so much for listening, everyone.

Anna: Until next time, keep looking up.

Avery: See you, uh, tomorrow. Clear Skies, Astronomy

Day. Storeys we

told.

Anna: What.

Avery: Storeys.

We told.

In this episode