Tuesday, May 19, 2026

The European-Chinese SMILE spacecraft launched today aboard a Vega C rocket from French Guiana, carrying instruments that will take the first X-ray images of Earth's magnetic field and watch the northern lights continuously for 45 hours to study how our planet responds to solar wind.^[1]

A jury in California dismissed all claims in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, ruling that Musk waited too long to file his case accusing Altman of abandoning the AI company's founding nonprofit mission.^[2]

The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern, with more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths from the rare Bundibugyo strain, which has no approved vaccine or treatment.^[3]

SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, May 20, for the first flight of its Starship V3 megarocket, featuring larger grid fins and design improvements that NASA needs for its Artemis 4 lunar landing mission in 2028.^[4]

A new analysis found that semaglutide (sold as Ozempic and Wegovy) works remarkably well in adults over 65, with participants losing over 15% of their body weight on average while improving heart and metabolic health.^[5]

Ukraine conducted one of its largest drone strikes on Russia, with over 1,000 drones intercepted by Russian defenses and at least four people killed including three near Moscow, marking a significant escalation in Kyiv's long-range capability.^[6]

Blue Origin's MK1 moon lander has passed vacuum chamber testing as NASA prepares for a late 2026 mission to carry science experiments to the lunar south pole, advancing the public-private partnership for returning astronauts to the Moon.^[7]