#space-industry

#space-industry

John Conafay, a veteran of the US Air Force, has spent most of his career leading business development at public and private aerospace companies, including Spire, Astranis, and ABL Space Systems. At each company, Conafay ran into the same software hurdle: collaborating on government contracts was a logistical mess that forced his teams and their federal counterparts to rely on a tedious back-and-forth of PDFs and Excel files.

Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, says it will launch more than 5,400 satellites to create a new communications network. Named TeraWave, it will offer continuous internet access around the world, with the ability to move large amounts of data much more quickly than rival services. But even after launching thousands of satellites, Blue Origin would still have far fewer in orbit than Elon Musk's Starlink, which currently dominates the satellite internet market.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing government agencies to "eliminate or expedite" environmental reviews for commercial launch and reentry licenses to streamline processes.

Firefly Aerospace Inc. is a space and defense technology company based in Cedar Park, Texas, specializing in space launch and landing capabilities, including small- to medium-lift launch vehicles and lunar landers.

The second flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket will be delayed until at least mid-August, as the company works through corrective actions identified after the first launch.

This shift, generally in the U.S., from NASA doing everything to hiring everything out, is creating new opportunity for businesses and individuals in their careers.

"The crew who flew to space this week on an automated flight by Blue Origin were brave and glam, but you cannot identify as an astronaut," Duffy wrote Thursday on X.