Stardust and Sleep — April 15, 2026
China Long March 2D launch coming up. Plus space news and stargazing.
Portions of the podcast are made with the assistance of AI which helps us gather informaton from the NASA and other soruces.
0:03 Calarogus Shark Media. You're listening to Sleep from space. NASA will roll the largest section of the agency's Space Launch System rocket, which will launch the second Crude Artemis mission out of the agency's Michot assembly facility in New Orleans on Monday, April twentieth. What's called the top four fifths of the Space Launch System core stage, the section containing the liquid hydrogen tank liquid asteroid twenty twenty six GM one about thirty to fifty feet across, will fly past Earth in about three days, roughly three times the Moon's distance. Completely safe, but a nice reminder of our busy solar system. Venus blazes in the western sky after sunset. The brightest object in the night sky besides the moon, Mercury makes a rare appearance low on the horizon just after dusk. A beautiful crescent moon hangs in the west this evening. Once it sets, the sky opens up for some great stargazing. Quick solar update.
1:16 The sun is quite active with numerous sunspot groups visible. That means a moderate chance of northern lights tonight for those in northern latitudes. Look north after dark if skies are clear. This episode was assembled using AI pulling from NASA and spaceflight news sources. Thanks for listening, sleep well,
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