THE LAUNCH: A NEW DAWN IN SPACE EXPLORATION On April 1, 2026, at 6:35:12 PM EDT, NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket launched off - Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ending a 53-year streak, as humankind set off towards our natural satellite.Carrying the Orion spacecraft and Integrity module with 4 astronauts on board. Artemis II is the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years. Illustration by The Geostrata NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman

“ Space is the ultimate high-ground. We must secure it now or risk being left blind.” This statement was made by Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit , Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, at the Surveillance and Electro Optics India seminar in June 2025 at New Delhi. Illustration by The Geostrata His words are reflective of a growing trend in the world–space as no longer a combat supporting domain but a warfighting one. Space has always been viewed as the final frontier in warfare. The