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Are We There Yet?

Space 2026 and a plan to rescue a dying space telescope

By Orion Boone, Brendan Byrne & Marian Summerall
Published January 6, 2026 at 6:20 PM EST
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CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist is seen as he can his crew mates NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander (not pictured); Victor Glover, pilot; and Christina Koch, mission specialist depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to board their Orion spacecraft atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building as part of the Artemis II countdown demonstration test, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch teams are simulating the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and spacecraft ingress and egress. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all.
Aubrey Gemignani
/
NASA
CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist is seen as he can his crew mates NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander (not pictured); Victor Glover, pilot; and Christina Koch, mission specialist depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to board their Orion spacecraft atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket inside the Vehicle Assembly Building as part of the Artemis II countdown demonstration test, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For this operation, the Artemis II crew and launch teams are simulating the launch day timeline including suit-up, walkout, and spacecraft ingress and egress. Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars, for the benefit of all.

2025 was a busy year for space exploration, and 2026 promises to bring some exciting missions like sending a crew on a trip around the moon and back.

We’ll take a look back at the year in space news and what’s ahead with Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, and Anthony Colangelo, host of the podcast Main Engine Cutoff.

Then, a dying space telescope could get a new change on life.

The SWIFT observatory is slowly falling out of orbit and might come crashing down through the atmosphere by the end of the year.

But one commercial company is on an ambitious mission to save it. We’ll speak with Ghonhee Lee, CEO of Katalyst Space Technologies, about the mission to lift a falling telescope.

Are We There Yet?
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