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Spring and early summer 2026 have been rough, chaotic, and genuinely wild for the space industry. Here's the condensed version.

Starship goes big, then goes public. SpaceX's redesigned Starship V3 completed a full wet dress rehearsal and then launched for the first time on May 22, deploying 22 mock Starlink satellites despite losing an engine mid-ascent. Weeks later SpaceX itself went public in a roughly $75 billion IPO, one of the largest in recent memory, while simultaneously unveiling an 11-million-square-foot "Gigasat" factory for orbital AI data centers and floating plans for a Starlink-branded mobile phone service.

Blue Origin's terrible, horrible, no-good stretch. A successful New Glenn booster reuse in April was undercut by a stranded satellite, then a static-fire explosion in May leveled the company's only launch pad. CEO Dave Limp is now considering Blue Origin's first outside funding round in 25 years, even as NASA publicly backs the company while quietly weighing backup lunar lander options.

NASA presses ahead on the Moon. A three-phase lunar base plan is moving forward with contracts to Blue Origin, Astrolab, Lunar Outpost, and Firefly Aerospace, and NASA named its Artemis III crew (Bresnik, Parmitano, Rubio, Douglas). Blue Origin's launch pad explosion happened one month after that crew announcement — a reminder of how shaky the hardware timeline still is. Separately, NASA's Isaacman said he expects a Chinese crewed lunar flyby in 2027.

Aging hardware keeps causing headaches. The ISS's Russian segment leak got bad enough in June that astronauts sheltered in a docked Dragon; Russia has now agreed to permanently seal off the affected module. The Lunar Gateway turned up corroded before it even launched. And a NASA Inspector General audit found Boeing's Starliner is now a full decade behind its original schedule, with NASA unsure it will ever be certified for routine crew flights.

Consolidation and new bets. Rocket Lab agreed to acquire satellite operator Iridium for about $8 billion, instantly becoming a launch-plus-services company. SpaceX is building its own natural gas pipeline ("Starpipe") to feed Starship's fuel needs.

Smaller stories worth a mention: Blue Origin demoed a reactor pulling breathable oxygen from lunar dust; JPL broke the sound barrier with Mars helicopter rotor blades; NASA's X-59 flew supersonic without a sonic boom, and the FAA is proposing to lift the 1973 ban on overland supersonic flight.

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May and June 2026 brought box office surprises, streaming mega-mergers, and a couple of franchise casualties.

Star Wars stumbles, then gets outdone by YouTubers. The Mandalorian and Grogu opened stronger than expected at $82 million domestic, but still ranks among the weakest live-action Star Wars debuts ever — though its smaller $165 million budget softens that blow. The bigger story came a week later: the film dropped a brutal 70% in its second weekend, landing in third place behind two ultra-low-budget horror hits directed by YouTubers in their 20s (Backrooms and Obsession). Disney's reset attempt, Star Wars: Starfighter starring Ryan Gosling, is locked for May 2027.

Media mega-mergers keep landing. The DOJ approved Paramount's $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery with no conditions attached, merging HBO Max into Paramount+ for a roughly 200-million-subscriber service — though state AG lawsuits could still complicate things, and Paramount has accused Netflix of running a "scorched-earth campaign" to sink the deal. Separately, Fox announced a $22 billion buyout of Roku, folding in Tubi and pairing its networks with Roku's platform and data reach — a move existing Roku owners are none too happy about.

Streaming regulation heats up. Canada's CRTC tripled the required Canadian-content spending for Netflix, Apple, and Amazon, from 5% to 15% of Canadian revenue, while lowering traditional broadcasters' requirement to 25%. Meanwhile, a fully AI-generated streaming channel, Artlist TV, launched June 1 to open hostility from filmmakers and viewers alike.

Franchise shake-ups. Amazon quietly killed its in-development Stargate series despite an official season order, reportedly over fears it would only appeal to longtime fans. Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has left the show again, alongside Bad Wolf, leaving the BBC without a Christmas Special this year and the franchise "out to tender." On a happier note, Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch got a season 2 renewal before season 1 even finished, after becoming Paramount+'s biggest series launch ever.

Reviews were mixed to rough. Toy Story 5 drew praise for finally giving Jessie the spotlight but was knocked as a nostalgia-heavy retread. Supergirl fared worse, criticized for its script and murky VFX, with Jason Momoa's Lobo the one performance critics agreed on.

Human interest: Ted Lasso's Cristo Fernández (Dani Rojas) signed a real professional soccer contract with El Paso Locomotive FC. And a New Mexico jury awarded $13 million to the family of Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols over hospital negligence in her 2022 death.

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• The Cult of Costco: https://slashdot.org/story/26/01/01/1752221/the-cult-of-costco?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
• Windows 11, Not AI, Kick-Started the PC Upgrade Cycle: Windows 10's end-of-support deadline, not AI PCs, drove the 2026 refresh wave. URL: https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/windows_11_pc_refresh/
• GM Cutting Hundreds of Salaried IT Workers: GM cuts 500–600 IT jobs while opening 82 AI/autonomy roles — reallocation, not retreat. URL: https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/05/11/1839238/gm-cutting-hundreds-of-salaried-it-workers-as-it-trims-costs-evaluates-needs?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
• Remote Work, Not AI, Is Sidelining Recent College Graduates: NY Fed research links remote work — not AI — to a spike in young-grad unemployment. URL: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/06/01/2151248/remote-work-not-ai-has-sidelined-recent-college-graduates-research-finds?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
• US Consumers and Businesses Pay 90% of Tariff Costs, Says Federal Reserve: NY Fed data shows Americans, not foreign exporters, absorbed nearly 90% of 2025's tariff costs. URL: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/us-consumers-business-pay-90-of-tariff-costs-says-federal-reserve/

Autonomous vehicle headlines are also getting sharper: Waymo is back in the spotlight after a dog collision in San Francisco, raising familiar questions about accountability and whether robotaxis should be judged by a higher standard than human drivers.

Meanwhile, the more speculative end of transportation continues to attract attention, with new hyperloop efforts in Europe despite persistent skepticism about cost, capacity, and practicality.

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They look at data exfiltration via simple copy‑paste, police use and abuse of AI-powered systems like Flock license plate readers, security disasters in both consumer and government tech, and the growing backlash against invasive tracking.

The line between “helpful tech” and “creepy, dangerous infrastructure” is getting thinner, and our security and consent models are not keeping up.

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Next, we head to Japan, where Ishinomaki City is deploying Terra Drone–built “bear‑repellent spray drones” to deal with record numbers of human‑bear encounters, injuries, and deaths, using capsaicin spray as a non‑lethal deterrent from up to a kilometer away.

Back at the dinner table, pasta sauce brand Prego and nonprofit StoryCorps have created the “Connection Keeper,” a $20, puck‑shaped, screen‑free recorder meant to get phones off the table and preserve family conversations, with an option to archive them via StoryCorps and even the Library of Congress.

Finally, we discuss de‑extinction company Colossal’s claim that it has hatched 26 live chicks from artificial eggshells—3D‑printed honeycomb containers with silicone membranes—positioning the technology as a step toward bringing back extinct birds like the dodo and giant moa.

Together, these stories raise big questions about safety, surveillance, conservation, and what counts as “humane” technology in a world where bits are increasingly attached to atoms.

Links discussed:

• “Researchers Show Some Robots Can Be Hijacked Just Through Spoken Commands” (Slashdot / Interesting Engineering, DARKNAVY demo)
• “Japanese city deploys anti-bear drones as ‘human casualties at an all-time high’” (Terra Drone coverage and news reports)
• “Has the smartphone hijacked your dinner table? StoryCorps and Prego made this gadget to rescue your dinner convos” (TechRadar and Prego materials)
• “Chickens without eggs? De-extinction company creates artificial egg.” (Ars Technica, Colossal Biosciences)

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In higher education, Harvard has voted to cap straight‑A grades at roughly 20 percent per class starting in 2027, its most aggressive effort yet to push back against grade inflation. And new labor‑market data show that a master’s degree no longer offers the job security it once did, with unemployment among under‑35 master’s holders near a 20‑year high.

We tie these stories together into a bigger question: are we watching the beginning of a reset on educational technology, grading, and credentials? And what should students, parents, and educators do about it?

Links discussed:

• Why some US schools are cutting back on the technology they spent billions on (Slashdot / Washington Post)
• Harvard votes on limiting A grades (Slashdot, Axios, Washington Post, The Crimson)
• “A Master’s Degree Isn’t the Job Guarantee It Used To Be” (Slashdot / Wall Street Journal)
• Kansas City Public Schools to replace 30,000 Windows PCs and Chromebooks with Apple devices (9to5Mac / PCMag)

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We also look at Googlebook, Google’s new AI‑native laptop platform that blends Android and ChromeOS with deep Gemini integration—complete with a “Magic Pointer” and prompt‑based custom widgets meant to succeed the traditional Chromebook. Then we zoom out to hardware design and reliability, from HP’s EliteBoard G1a “PC inside a keyboard” to a new report claiming Windows PCs crash three times as often as Macs in the workplace.

If you’re trying to decide what laptop ecosystem to bet on for the next 3–5 years—Windows, Mac, or Google’s new AI‑centric world—this episode is for you.

Links discussed:

• Nvidia’s Arm-based N1X gaming laptops roadmap (Tom’s Hardware)
• Windows PCs crash three times as often as Macs, study says (Slashdot)
• Intel’s Core Series 3 as answer to MacBook Neo (Slashdot)
• HP EliteBoard G1a: PC in a keyboard (The Register)
• Googlebook: Gemini-powered AI laptop platform (Tom’s Hardware, Google blog and coverage)
• Microsoft launches Surface Pro 12 and Surface Laptop 8 with Intel chips (Slashdot)

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• Changes in Apple Leadership
• 80k Tech company layoffs
• AI - Pros and Cons
• Privacy in the AI Age
• Individual Power Independance

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• Artemis III
• Space Suits
• Space Leisure Wear
• Space Stations
• etc.

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• Macbook Neo
• Microslop Windblows
• SlowPilot 265
• AI
• and other items

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