Rocket Lab’s chief executive says the company’s acquisition of Iridium was the “logical next step” in his ambitions to tap into the lucrative space services market.

What did space have in store for Europe this month? This June, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano was named pilot of NASA's Artemis III mission, Ariane 6 set a new European launch record, Proba-3 returned to operations, ESA satellites detected early signs of El Niño, Euclid unveiled its most detailed view yet of the Milky Way's galactic centre, and Sophie Adenot reached the halfway point of her εpsilon mission aboard the International Space Station.

Join us for another month of European space achievements.

Rocket Lab is acquiring satellite telecommunications company Iridium for $8 billion as part of its effort to become an end-to-end space company.

British thermal imaging startup SatVu announced the start of commercial services June 29 for HotSat-2, marking a return to revenue-generating operations after its debut satellite failed in low Earth orbit in 2023.

Rocket Lab launched a radar-imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective on June 26, a flight delayed by a responsive space mission.

Go behind the scenes at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, and discover how space experiments are prepared long before they reach orbit. Meet the ECOS team, as Deputy Manager Salvi Verma shares how they work with scientists, engineers and astronauts to turn ideas into real missions aboard the International Space Station. From early planning on the ground to supporting astronauts like ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot during her Epsilon mission, this is how space science becomes reality.

This interview was recorded in March 2026.

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Week in images: 22-26 June 2026

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