The Universe in a Few Minutes — April 18, 2026

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 Michewed 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 coastal areas see minimal title range this week. These neep tides occur when the Sun and Moon work against each other. Up on the International Space Station, twelve people are orbiting Earth right now, including Ola Kononenko, Nikolai Chubb, and Tracy Caldwell Dyson. Every ninety minutes, they circle the planet two hundred and fifty miles over head.

1:02 A Falcon nine rocket is heading to space. Later today, SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space four Space, California, sending up the Starlink Internet Satellites mission. The booster will attempt to land back at Vandenburg heads up for asteroid fans. Twenty twenty six. GM one passes Earth today, roughly three times the Moon's distance. It's about thirty to fifty feet across harmless but fun to track. Look west after sunset to catch the thin crescent moon. It'll set early, leaving the rest of the night nice and dark. Look west after sunset for Venus, our brilliant neighbor. If you're quick, you might spot mercury below it, close to the horizon in the fading twilight. This episode was assembled using AI pulling from NASA and Spaceflight News sources. Thanks, thanks for listening, Sleep well,