This Week in The Space Review - 2026 November 2
This Week in The Space Review
This Week in The Space Review
November 2, 2026
Welcome to The Space Review’s weekly newsletter!
Is the south pole the right place for a lunar base?
With its Moon Base program, NASA is increasingly focused on landing astronauts in the south polar regions of the Moon. Jeff Foust reports some people, ranging from astronauts to scientists, think the risks of landing there outweigh the benefits, at least for initial missions..
The space code: How China uses culture to build its space soft power
Chinese space programs once used revolutionary themes for their names, but have more recently turned to Chinese mythology. Krzysztof Karwowski examines the reasons for this naming approach.
A reusable rocket alone is not a resilient launch system
Much of the focus on launch has been developing reusable vehicles. Burak Oktenli argues that just as important as reusability is the ability of customers to easily change launch vehicles when something goes wrong.
A long-distance look at SPACEHAB
For those who handled payload processing for SPACEHAB missions on the shuttle, the missions themselves were supposed to be break. James Behling recalls what happened on one mission when, by chance, he spotted something unusual.
Slaying snakes, claiming freedom: Susan Still Kilrain’s unconventional astronaut career
Susan Still Kilrain achieved many firsts in her career as a military test pilot and NASA astronaut. Emily Carney reviews an autobiography of the astronaut that discusses the challenges she overcame and why her astronaut career was relatively short.
Review: Apollo 9 in Photographs
Next year’s Artemis 3 mission has parallels to Apollo 9 in 1969. Dwayne Day reviews a book that provides a new look at that earlier mission through rare and previously unpublished photos.
We appreciate any feedback you may have about these articles as well as any other questions, comments, or suggestions about The Space Review. We're also actively soliciting articles to publish in future issues, so if you have an article or article idea that you think would be of interest, please email me.
Until next time,
Jeff Foust
Editor, The Space Review
[email protected]
Until next time,
Jeff Foust
Editor, The Space Review
[email protected]
Copyright © 2026 The Space Review, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you previously signed up to receive these weekly newsletters from The Space Review.
Our mailing address is:
You are receiving this email because you previously signed up to receive these weekly newsletters from The Space Review.
Our mailing address is:
