Kayla Simon, Relativity Space
When Kayla Simon first saw a fictional astronaut rescue effort in 2015’s The Martian, she knew she wanted a space job. “I want to be the person who has the headset on, that helps drive teams,” she recalled of her reaction.
Ilsa Mroz, Planet Labs
Mroz grew up watching Star Wars and Star Trek, and hiking in remote areas “where I felt much closer to the sky than anywhere else,” she said. As she got older, however, struggles with mathematics put her dream of being an astronaut in doubt.
Austin Esquerra, Blue Origin
Esquerra has been playing with rocket physics since he was 10 years old.
Anirudh Sharma, Digantara
Unlike many of his peers, Anirudh Sharma didn’t grow up dreaming of working in the space industry. Founding the Indian space surveillance company Digantara—Sanskrit for “space”—at 19 was, in his words, “very accidental.”
Roohi Dalal, American Astronomical Society
When Roohi Dalal joined the American Astronomical Society (AAS) as its deputy director of public policy in 2024, she never imagined she’d be leading the fight for space science just one year later as NASA science budgets are in the federal crosshairs.
Station DC is Bringing the New Space Economy to Washington
A new entity is trying to bridge the language gap between space startup execs and policymakers.
Open Lunar Foundation Launches Lunar Ledger
The Open Lunar Foundation established a shared database for Moon-mission operators to share information—in a bid to boost transparency as traffic picks up on Earth’s natural satellite.
Europe’s Satellite Production Capacity is About to Explode
European space agencies, satellite manufacturers, and parts suppliers have spent 2025 pouring capital and concrete to boost their sovereign, high-skilled manufacturing capacities.
Inside Astrolight’s Secure Comms Network Plans
Instances of satellite jamming are on the rise, and so are optical communications solutions to defend against interference.
Stoke Raises $510M To Accelerate Nova Rocket Launch
The round, which brings Stoke’s total fundraising to $990M, will enable the launcher to boost production of Nova, complete its work at Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and prepare for its expected high launch cadence.
Frontier Preps Next Mission After Mixed Results On ATMOS
Frontier is preparing to fly a second (slightly pared-down) SpaceLab next year aboard Orbital Paradigm’s new reentry platform.
Novaspace Predicts 43,000+ New Sats to Launch by 2034
If you think space is crowded now, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
