China's Groundbreaking Rocket Catch, Cosmic Quasars, and Remembering Wally Funk | A Weekend Wrap

China's Groundbreaking Rocket Catch, Cosmic Quasars, and Remembering Wally Funk | A Weekend Wrap

July 11, 2026 · 14 min · Season 5 · Episode 138

About this episode

This episode covers China's first rocket booster recovery from the sea, remembers Wally Funk, and discusses significant space news including discoveries by the Euclid telescope and JWST.

Astronomy Daily S05E138 — Weekend Space and Astronomy News Wrap — Saturday, 11 July 2026 China nets a rocket booster from the sea for the first time ever, we remember space pioneer Wally Funk, and we recap the week's four biggest stories: Euclid's 31 ancient quasars, mystery metal spheres on a Queensland beach, JWST's unexplained substance on Titan and Pluto, and New Horizons waking from hibernation at the solar system's edge. In This Episode • China's Long March 10B rocket achieves the world's first-ever sea-net booster recovery, on its maiden flight • Remembering Wally Funk (1939–2026), the oldest woman ever to fly to space • Euclid space telescope uncovers 31 ancient quasars, including two new distance records • Mystery metal spheres wash up on a Queensland beach — identified as rocket debris • JWST finds a mysterious, unidentified substance on both Titan and Pluto • New Horizons wakes from 321-day hibernation, 5.9 billion miles from Earth • Skywatching: the Moon, Mars and the Pleiades line up before dawn Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-the-latest-space-news--5648921/support . Sponsor Details: Ensure your online privacy by…

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