The Discussion:

• Jen on the radio discussing the Perseids
• Starlink satellites flaring over our heads
• TV shows From the Earth to the Moon and For All Mankind
• Sputnik V
• Jeni’s latest paper is submitted for journal review
• Submit your experiences of how diversity is perceived in the amateur astronomy community at tinyurl.com/y28ebdu2

 

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

• Protecting other worlds from our germs and bugs
• Space Force’s Star Trek-esque logo
• The Curiosity rover celebrates its 8th year on Mars
• New Zealand’s Rocketlab pursue reusability
• Skyrora begin rocket testing in Iceland
• SpaceX’s Starship prototyping and testing continues

Main news story: America gets back to launching people into space

Q&A: Will the James Webb Space Telescope actually launch and will it still be worth launching? Lana Visser from Heerenveen in the Netherlands.