Hello and welcome back to Max Q!
In this issue:
- Virgin Galactic aims for a triumphant comeback
- Vast aims to launch a space station in 2025
- SpaceX news and more
Virgin Galactic will return to the skies later this month on a crewed mission that the company hopes will end the nearly two-year gap since its first and only crewed flight in July 2021.
The space tourism company said Monday that it will send a crew of four into space at the end of May. The main goal of the mission is to validate the space flight system and “astronaut experience” before officially starting commercial service in June. Virgin Galactic took people into space for the first time in July 2021, with a crew that included its billionaire founder, Richard Branson. No doubt the company was on a high after that mission, but VG has been plagued with problems ever since.
Virgin Galactic VSS unit. Image Credits: galactic virgin
Some of the biggest names in the space industry are billionaires: Elon Musk. Jeff Bezos. Ricardo Branson. The newest person to join this small cadre, at least by personal net worth, is Jed McCaleb. Your space station company, Vastpartners with SpaceX to be the first private company to launch and operate a fully commercial orbital station.
The average American is likely unfamiliar with McCaleb, a software developer who was one of the creators of the now infamous Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange and one of the founders of the Ripple cryptographic protocol. According to some estimates, it is said that his fortune is around 2,500 million dollars. When Vast came out of stealth in the fall of 2022, he was greeted with more than a little skepticism. The company said it was launching with a mission to build the world’s first artificial gravity space station, and provided a few other details.
“I don’t blame people for being skeptical,” McCaleb said in a recent interview. “Clearly, I’ve never done anything in aerospace before, so it’s a leap.”
Public doubts about McCaleb are likely to be fading fast today, with news that the company is targeting put up the first commercial space station in orbit as early as August 2025. It’s an aggressive timeline, outpacing other station developers, and it’s all being funded by McCaleb himself.
Image Credits: Vast
More news from TC and beyond
- astroscale and Momentus have submitted a joint proposal to NASA detailing their plans to boost the orbit of the Hubble Space Telescope. (astroscale)
- axiom space is preparing for its second private manned spaceflight mission to the ISS, which is now scheduled for launch on May 21. (TechCrunch)
- from China The space plane may have caught and released an object into space several times during its recent test flight. (space news)
- boost space said its Saiph booster is now space-qualified and ready for launch on the company’s maiden mission scheduled for October. Saiph thrusters will power the company’s first spacecraft, Mira. (Impulse)
- JSX, a charter aircraft operator, has made Starlink available on its fleet of 40 Embraer jets. (aviation week)
- rocket laboratory landed another multiple CubeSat launch contract from NASA, following the successful deployment of a batch of satellites under a separate contract with the space agency last weekend. (rocket laboratory)
- virgin orbit received more than 30 “indications of interest” in its bankruptcy proceedings, including multiple offers from parties allegedly interested in continuing business operations and retaining current employees. (virgin orbit)
Max Q is featured by me, Aria Alamalhodaei. If you like reading Max Q, consider forwarding it to a friend.
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