North America

In this Space Cafe German edition, Andreas Schepers talked to ESA's international agencies coordinator and former ESA Astronaut and director of human spaceflight, Thomas Reiter about the past, present and future of human spaceflight. Thomas Reiter delivered a vivid report on his two spaceflights:

The new NASA Administrator Bill Nelson appointed Susie Perez Quinn as the agency’s new chief of staff. Quinn served as Nelson’s chief of staff and in several other leadership positions in the Senate and, most recently, as the director of government relations at the National Governors Association.

The U.S. military has no plan to shoot down the Long March 5B's remnants when they are expected to plunge back on Earth this weekend, the Guardian quoted the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. Hope was the rocket would land in the ocean and that the latest estimate was that it would come down between Saturday and Sunday, he said, according to the Guardian.

The U.S. Air Force asked OneWeb and Hughes to connect the Arctic, the companies announced. Hughes and OneWeb announced their selection by the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) “to demonstrate managed LEO satellite communications (SATCOM) services to connect the Arctic region to sites around the globe”, the companies said in a statement.

The fifth attempt succeeded: SpaceX successfully completed a high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from its Starbase in Texas yesterday. It was the fifth attempt of a high-altitude test of Starship and the first one that did not end up with an explosion.

Have a seat: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin offers one seat in the New Shepard maiden flight which is planned for the 20 July, the company said. “On July 20th, New Shepard will fly its first astronaut crew to space. We are offering one seat on this first flight to the winning bidder of Blue Origin’s online auction,” Blue Origin said.

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Will Marshall, CEO and Co-Founder of Planet, San Francisco, USA, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. The European Commission demonstrated unprecedented leadership in December 2019 when it unveiled its flagship action plan to tackle climate change, the European Green Deal.

Firefly Aerospace completed a $75 million series A financing round, valuing the company at more than $1 billion, the company said. The interest “far exceeded” the $75 million equity being offered, Firefly said. Its seed investor, Noosphere Ventures, therefore sold “approximately $100 million of its holdings.

One for Eutelsat, one for Atos: the satellite operator said it was chosen by Global Eagle to increase its mobility capabilities over North America. Under this multi-year agreement, Eutelsat provides Global Eagle for its entire North-American coverage with extensive additional capacity to augment the company’s connectivity services for mobility customers, Eutelsat said.

The former Aerojet Rocketdyne executive Frank Slazer is the new President and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, the organization said. The American non-profit organization engages in “reinforcing the value and benefits of human space exploration and space science” in the U.S.