The Discussion:

• Struggling to get the media excited about astronomy
• How history will record the clusterf**k that is 2020
• Skyrora looking to join the smallsat launch market
• SpaceX’ Teletubby costumes

The News: Rounding up the space exploration news this month we have:

• Starship prototype goes Kablooey
• Britain returns to rocketry
• Goodbye to Japan’s ISS resupply spacecraft
• The European Space Agency look to ‘natural resources’ for moonbases
• Virgin Orbit attempt to slash the cost of launching to Low Earth Orbit
• NASA chooses 3 commercial consortia to develop lunar landers

Main news story: American commercial crewed launches have finally arrived

Q&A: Will the Lunar Gateway be visible from Earth? From Alex Bell @BLT_Astro on Twitter.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum: The near and mid-infrared part of the spectrum. How it became so important for astronomy and by whom.