Sunday, June 14, 2026

NASA announced the four astronauts who will fly on the Artemis III mission in 2027: Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano of ESA, Frank Rubio, and Andre Douglas, who will test docking maneuvers with lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin in preparation for a crewed moon landing in 2028.^[1]

President Trump said a deal with Iran will be signed on Sunday and the Strait of Hormuz will be "open to all" immediately after the signing, following Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's announcement that a final agreed text of a peace deal has been reached.^[2]

The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off with Mexico defeating South Africa 2-0 at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, the first match in the largest World Cup ever with 48 teams competing across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.^[3]

Researchers have developed an early warning system that can predict the risks of extreme temperatures for more than 30,000 vertebrate species 1-9 months in advance, identifying at-risk species and regions to help maximize conservation efforts.^[4]

The OECD raised South Korea's economic growth outlook for 2026 to 2.6 percent, citing the country's robust semiconductor exports amid the artificial intelligence boom, with May exports surging 53 percent year-on-year to a record $87.8 billion.^[5]

Venus and Jupiter appeared close together in a planetary conjunction around June 9, with Mercury joining them from June 11-15 to create a mini-parade of planets visible near the western horizon shortly after sunset.^[6]

China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft is expected to reach near-Earth asteroid Kamoʻoalewa this month for orbit insertion, with sample collection planned for July, marking humanity's first close-up views of this small celestial object.^[7]

Researchers published fresh evidence showing the Amazon rainforest can withstand global warming, but only if there is a worldwide effort to stop deforestation, as rates of forest loss in the region have fallen.^[8]

A French-led team of scientists will set sail from Brittany on June 15 to map hundreds of thousands of barrels of radioactive waste dumped in the northeast Atlantic over nearly five decades, attempting to determine their precise locations and current condition.^[9]