Space News Oct 4, 2026: Crew-12 Handover & ESA Plans
Happy Sunday, space fans, and welcome to your daily space update from Alberta Radio! On the station today, Crew-12 hands over command before heading home next week. Europe is studying its own space station, Blue Origin rolled out a lunar power tower, NASAs Pandora telescope started hunting exoplanet atmospheres, and Mission Control remembers Apollo 13 flight director Milt Windler. Lets get into it.
1. Change of Command as Crew-12 Targets Oct. 7 Undock
Today is handover day aboard the International Space Station. At 8:20 a.m. MT, Crew-12 commander Jessica Meir transfers station command to Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov in a change-of-command and farewell ceremony streamed on NASAs live channel. Meir, Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev are wrapping a long stay that began in February.
After reviewing weather and splashdown conditions off the California coast, NASA and SpaceX set undocking no earlier than 11:05 p.m. MT Tuesday, Oct. 7, with splashdown targeted about 9:25 a.m. MT Wednesday, Oct. 8. Managers will keep watching recovery-area weather; the next review is about 48 hours before undock. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, who flew up with Crew-13 on Oct. 1, stays aboard for his about six-month mission.
Sources: NASA | SpaceQ
2. ESA Studies a European Space Station and Crew Transport
The European Space Agency has started two feasibility studies on a European-led space station, following member states endorsement of A Call to Boost European Space Exploration. Consortia led by Airbus Defence and Space and OHB are running the roughly nine-month studies in parallel with ESA partnerships on commercial stations with Axiom Space, Starlab Space and Vast.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher told NASASpaceFlight.com that building European crew launch capability could take about 10 years and about 10 billion euros, versus roughly five billion to keep buying U.S. seats and station access. He said Europe wants its own rockets, crew vehicle, abort system, operations and recovery. Commercial players already in the mix include The Exploration Companys human-rated Nyx plans and PLD Spaces LINCE capsule. ESA and TEC also signed a cargo demo deal under the ALADDIN program.
Source: NASASpaceFlight.com
3. Blue Origin Unveils a 20-Metre Power Tower for the Moon
Blue Origin published details of its Power Tower, a 20-metre-tall vertically deployed solar array meant to deliver more than 10 kilowatts for Moon Base operations near the lunar south pole. The company posted an animation of landing and deployment, plus video of a July 22, 2026 ground test. Space.com covered the reveal today.
The design builds on Honeybee Robotics Lunar Array Mast and Power System, tested at NASAs Johnson Space Center in 2024 under NASAs Vertical Solar Array Technology work. Blue Origin says the modular architecture can extend power beyond a lander to other surface assets. NASAs Moon Base timeline aims for operations around 2032 after a first phase through 2029.
Source: Space.com
4. NASAs Pandora Telescope Begins Exoplanet Science
Seven months after launch, NASAs Pandora mission has entered steady-state science operations. The small space telescope will study the atmospheres of at least 20 exoplanets - looking for hazes, clouds and water - while watching their host stars at the same time in visible and infrared light. University of Arizona leads day-to-day mission operations from its Multi-Mission Operation Center.
Over a one-year primary mission, Pandora plans to observe each target about 10 times with roughly 24-hour stares that include a transit. The goal is to untangle stellar weather from true planetary atmosphere signals, which helps interpret data from bigger telescopes like James Webb. Goddard leads the mission; Lawrence Livermore provides project management and engineering.
Sources: University of Arizona News | NASA Science
5. Remembering Milt Windler, Apollo 13 Flight Director
Milt Windler, one of the four NASA flight directors who guided Apollo 13 home after the April 1970 oxygen-tank explosion, has died at 94. Known as Maroon Flight, Windler was NASAs seventh flight director. He led shifts for Apollo 8s first circumlunar flight, Apollo 10, the Apollo 12, 14 and 15 landings, and all three crewed Skylab missions.
As lead flight director on Apollo 13, he helped replan the return after the explosion that ended the lunar landing attempt. Later he worked on the space shuttle and the development of Canadas remote manipulator system - the Canadarm - then consulted on International Space Station operations after retiring from NASA. He and his Mission Control colleagues received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for Apollo 13.
Source: Ars Technica
Thats your daily space update from Alberta Radio! Safe travels to Crew-12 as they pack for splashdown, and we will catch you tomorrow with more news from the final frontier.
