Corporate DispatchPro
A year out of this world The world felt firmly stuck in 2020 but seen from afar, it was abuzz with activity. Space launchers, moon landers, telescopic probes were firing off beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and pushing humanity’s boundaries further.
The classic space race of the 1960s was a two-way competition between the Soviet Union and the United States. Today, the internation competition is still palpable, but the field has broadened significantly, and the challenge feels more like a multisport discipline than a straight sprint. Countries from India to South Korea to Canada have established successful space agencies and developed programmes from human spaceflight to space stations to extra-terrestrial probes. Big steps for humankind were not only taken by governments but by commercial interests too. In May, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched two NASA astronauts into a 19-hour flight to the International Space Station. This was the first time in history that a commercial aerospace company carried humans into the orbit, paving the way for more space adventures in the future. Meanwhile, SpaceX continues to launch satellites for its Starlink internet constellation and celebrated its 100th lift-off in June. In July, the US Federal Communications Commission has also approved Project Kuiper, a rival satellite internet network by Amazon. The tech giant is estimated to pour €10 billion into the initiative before the end of the decade and the first satellites are expected to be launched in January. Amazon has not yet declared whether the constellation will be carried into orbit by Blue Origin, the aerospace company also owned by Jeff Bezos. The side venture is currently busy leading the
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