November 3-9, 2025 / Hawai`i Island, USA
Vol 44, Week 44: Lunar Broadcast Precursor: Terrestrial Edition
Brazil Hosts ASE 36th Planetary Congress: Pioneering Space Diplomacy
From November 2–7, São Paulo will host the Association of Space Explorers 36th Planetary Congress. This prestigious association is open to any of the ~650 Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Taikonauts and Vyomanauts who have completed at least one Earth orbit in space (above 100 km). To date, more than 400 spacefarers have joined ASE. Founded in 1985, ASE advocates for international collaboration in space exploration, emphasizing science, education, environmental stewardship and planetary defense. It has specialized committees on Near Earth Objects and Space Traffic Management & Orbital Debris. There are three regional chapters of ASE: USA, Russia and Europe. The week-long Planetary Congress will see technical sessions featuring updates on human activities in space, briefings on future missions, and topics such as AI-driven mission autonomy, deep-space habitats, nuclear thermal propulsion and regenerative life support systems. The attending Astronauts also dedicate time, particularly on Community Day, to meet with and inspire the public in the host country. Brazil is home to Alcântara Launch Center which offers equatorial advantages in geostationary orbits, operates its space program since 1961, and has one orbital Astronaut: Marcos Pontes on Soyuz TMA-8 in 2006. (Image Credits: ASE)
Inaugural Space Week at America's Space University, on the "Beeline" from KSC
University of Central Florida (UCF) inaugural Space Week November 3-7 encompasses distinct events. National Space Society 9th Space Settlement Summit runs Monday-Tuesday, Nov 3-4, The Economist’s 3rd Space Economy Summit Weds-Thurs, Nov 5-6, and UCF 2nd SpaceU Symposium is Friday. Space Settlement Summit focus is Mars, features Pascal Lee, Greg Autry and 21 other speakers. Registration runs US$295-495. Space Economy Summit expects 500+ this year for 100+ speakers including Rick Tumlinson, Bill Nelson, Bhavya Lal and Eric Berger. Blue Origin Senior VP for Lunar Permanence, John Couluris speaks on “Building the Moon Economy,” a panel discusses “Fly me to the Moon vs Life on Mars” and closing keynote is “Whose Moon is it anyway? Geopolitics, governance and the race for lunar resources.” Fee spans US$0-999. Inaugural, invitation-only UCF SpaceU Awards Dinner is Nov 6. SpaceU Symposium has Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Director Janet Petro, with leaders, researchers and students discussing current innovation / research driving space science, exploration and industry. UCF 9th Space Game football vs Houston follows. UCF, founded 1963 (as Florida Tech) to support NASA, is ~35 miles (56 km) from KSC via “Beeline” Expressway, called America’s Space University or SpaceU, and rated in the “Top 10 in Innovation” by US News & World Report. NASA Astronaut Nicole Stott is an alumna. (Image Credits: National Space Society, UCF)
Humans in Space
International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 73 seven-member crew working with 4.5 tons of cargo from newly arrived JAXA HTV-X1 cargo vehicle, conducting life support maintenance, processing samples in the Kibo lab, planning to work with new experiments including the deployment from Kibo airlock of 6 CubeSats (Thailand KnackSat-2, student-led Asian Try Zero-G sars); Ryzhikov and Zubritskiy wrapping up procedures and checking externally-mounted experiments after 6-hour 54-minute EVA; NASA EVAs are expected to resume in 2026.
Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Newly-arrived Shenzhou 21 three-member crew Commander Zhang Lu, Flight Engineer Wu Fei and Payload Specialist Zhang Hongzhang spending first week aboard TSS after handover drills and the departure of Shenzhou 20 crew; will work on microgravity experiments involving fluid physics and material science, maintain life support systems.
Lunar News: Weekly lunar advisories [coming soon]
Near-Earth Objects Close Approaches – Mon Nov 3: Apollo Asteroid 2023 VK6 (0.019 AU); Tues Nov 4: Apollo Asteroid 2025 TB12 (0.018 AU); Sat Nov 8: Apollo Asteroid 2021 VQ10 (0.023 AU)
First Women Land on the Moon in…
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