The Weekend Wrap Debuts — Soyuz 5, Artemis II Revisited & Roman Telescope

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Welcome to Astronomy Daily S05E94 — our first ever Weekend Edition! Today we debut the Astronomy Daily Weekend Space and Astronomy News Wrap, featuring two fresh stories plus a roundup of the four biggest and most important space stories from across the past week. Today's Stories • Story 1: Russia's Soyuz 5 rocket completes its first successful suborbital test flight from Baikonur Cosmodrome. After nearly a decade of development, Russia's homegrown answer to the Zenit finally flew — a milestone for Roscosmos, even as questions remain about its competitiveness in a reusability-driven market. • Story 2: May's Flower Moon peaked on May 1st — and May 2026 is a double-micromoon month, with both the Flower Moon and the May 31 Blue Moon occurring near lunar apogee. Southern Hemisphere skies are perfect for viewing this weekend. Weekend Wrap — The Week's Four Biggest Stories • Wrap 1: Artemis II — The Full Picture. 694,481 miles, 252,756 miles from Earth at farthest, 57-minute eclipse from beyond the Moon, heat shield performance significantly better than Artemis I. The numbers of a mission for the history books. • Wrap 2: The Eclipse Only Four Humans Have Ever Seen. During the April 6 lunar flyby, the Artemis II crew experienced a 57-minute total solar eclipse from beyond the Moon — the first time in human history. Victor Glover's descriptions were extraordinary. • Wrap 3: Roman Space Telescope locks in September 2026 launch — 8 months ahead of schedule and under budget. With a field of view 100x larger than Hubble's, Roman is poised to become the most powerful survey telescope in history. • Wrap 4: Artemis III hardware arrives at Kennedy Space Center. The SLS core stage was offloaded from the Pegasus barge on April 27-28 — just as the Artemis II Orion capsule returned for post-flight analysis. The next mission is already assembling. Skywatching This Weekend • The Flower Moon is still at 99% illumination tonight — beautiful in Southern Hemisphere autumn skies. Look for it between Antares (Scorpius) and Spica (Virgo). • Venus and Jupiter are prominent in the western evening sky, slowly closing toward a June 9 conjunction. • Asteroid Vesta is at opposition today, May 2 — best viewed with binoculars or a small telescope from a dark site. • The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks the night of May 5-6 — an excellent show from Southern Hemisphere locations.

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