Launch

Former Google chief Eric Schmidt took over as CEO of Relativity earlier this month after investing a billionaire’s bounty into the struggling rocket startup. 

Below is a snippet of the Rocket Lab report. 

SpaceX has pushed up average payload mass for Starlink-dedicated launches to roughly 16,850 kg, or 96% of max capacity of 17.5 tons to LEO in a reusable configuration, maximizing every meter and kilogram offered by the rocket. 

Only 37 days separated Starship’s Flight 5 launch from yesterday’s Flight 6.

It was a Willy Wonka-style event—a wealthy entrepreneur finally opening the doors to his secretive facility filled with innovative gadgets at a scale beyond imagination. However, instead of chocolate rivers, fizzy-lifting drinks, and Everlasting Gobstoppers, we were treated to fuel lines, heavy-lifting rockets, and boosters designed to last 25 launches.

In 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately funded, fully liquid-fueled launch vehicle to reach orbit. Its development cost? Just $90M ($131M inflation adj.).

With Starliner slated to transport crew to the ISS for the first time next week, we’re digging into all the money spent to get here—from NASA’s contributions and seat pricing to the total development expenditures.