Launch provider to become first publicly traded space company on NASDAQ through merger with Holicity

ALAMEDA, Calif., February 2, 2021 – Astra, the fastest privately-funded company in history to demonstrate orbital launch capability, and Holicity Inc. (NASDAQ: HOL) (“Holicity”), a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”), today announced a definitive business combination agreement that will result in Astra becoming a publicly traded company. The transaction reflects an implied pro-forma enterprise value for Astra of approximately $2.1 billion. Upon closing, the transaction is expected to provide up to $500 million in cash proceeds, including up to $300 million of cash held in the trust account of Holicity and an upsized $200 million PIPE led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.

Late on Monday night, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a license for SpaceX to conduct its Starship SN9 flight test from its facility at Boca Chica, Texas. That flight is scheduled to occur later today. FAA also issued a statement on why the agency did not issue the license in time for SpaceX to conduct the flight test last week. Prior to SN8 test launch in December, SpaceX sought […]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Newly arrived back on Earth after a quick visit to space, Virgin Galactic Chief Astronaut Beth Moses was effusive as she described the suborbital flight she had just taken aboard the company’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, VSS Unity.

“Richard, you’re going to love it!” she told Virgin Chairman Richard Branson, who had remotely monitored the Feb. 22, 2019 flight that had taken place over California’s Mojave Desert.

DALLAS and LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26, 2021 (Trive Capital PR) — Trive Capital (“Trive”), the Dallas-based private equity firm, has partnered with the senior leadership teams of Aerospace Engineering Corp. (“AEC”) and AMRO Fabricating Corporation (“AMRO”) to create Karman Missile & Space Systems (“Karman” or the “Company”). The new platform is one of the largest independently owned suppliers focused on manufacturing complex systems for the space, missile, interceptor and hypersonic markets. The senior leadership teams of both businesses will continue as equity holders and executives at Karman.

HAWTHORNE, Calif. (SpaceX PR) — Plans for the world’s first all-civilian mission to space were announced today from SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, CA. The mission is being targeted for the fourth quarter of this year and will be commanded by Jared Isaacman, the 37-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments [NYSE:FOUR] and an accomplished pilot.

Named Inspiration4 in recognition of the four-person crew’s mission to inspire support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® and send a humanitarian message of possibility, the journey represents a new era for human spaceflight and exploration. Isaacman is donating the three mission seats alongside him to crew members who will be selected to represent the mission pillars of leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity.

bluShift Aerospace successfully launched its Stardust 1.0 (Stardust Generation One) sounding rocket on a low-altitude demonstration flight on Sunday from the Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone, Maine.

A Beijing Interstellar Glory (iSpace) Hyperbola-1 rocket failed after liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Monday, marking a setback for the nominally private small-satellite launch provider. “The rocket flew abnormally and the launch mission failed. The specific reasons are being further analyzed and investigated,” the company said in a statement. “Interstellar Glory set up a fault investigation committee and a fault review committee immediately to investigate and review the […]

Tuesday, February 2 Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 2.1bPayload: Lotus S-1 signal intelligence satelliteLaunch Time: 3:45 a.m. EST (2045 UTC)Launch Site: Plesetsk Cosmodrome NET Tuesday, February 2 Launch Vehicle: SpaceX Starship SN9Mission: Flight TestLaunch Time: TBDLaunch Site: Boca Chica, Texas Flight date depends upon completion of review and the issuing of a launch license by Federal Aviation Administration. Wednesday, February 3 Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9Payloads: 60 Starlink broadband satellitesLaunch Time: 5:57 a.m. […]

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has named appointees for senior agency positions. Bhavya Lal joins the agency as acting chief of staff, Phillip Thompson will serve as White House liaison, Alicia Brown will serve as associate administrator for the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, and Marc Etkind will serve as associate administrator for the agency’s Office of Communications. In addition, Jackie McGuinness will join the agency as press secretary and Reagan Hunter will serve as special assistant for the agency’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Bhavya Lal, Acting Chief of Staff

Lal brings extensive experience in engineering and space technology, serving as a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) from 2005 to 2020. There, she led analysis of space technology, strategy, and policy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and National Space Council, as well as federal space-oriented organizations, including NASA, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community.

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (NASA PR) — Media are invited to attend NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s  second Green Run hot fire – a test of the rocket’s core stage and all of its integrated systems before its flight on the Artemis I lunar mission. NASA is targeting the week of Feb. 21 for the test in the B-2 Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The date for the test will be set following the test readiness review.

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss., Jan. 27, 2021 (Aerojet Rocketdyne PR) — Aerojet Rocketdyne and NASA are gearing up for a new phase of RS-25 hot-fire testing that will validate new components for the engine, which powers the core stage of the agency’s Space Launch System super heavy-lift exploration rocket.

The Retrofit-2 test series, consisting of seven tests at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, is expected to begin Jan. 28 and run through June. Each hot-fire test will last up to 500 seconds on the A1 Test Stand.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Colorado’s nine-member Congressional delegation has asked President Joe Biden to suspend the move of the U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala., until the administration conducts a full review of a decision made during the waning days of the Trump Administration.

“This move undermines our ability to respond to the threats in space and is disruptive to the current mission. Additionally, significant evidence exists that the process was neither fair nor impartial and that President [Donald] Trump’s political considerations influenced the final decision,” the delegation said in a Jan. 26 letter to the president.

The U.S. Air Force announced the move of the U.S. Space Command from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville on Jan. 13, one week before Trump left office and a week after Congress certified the election of Democrat Joe Biden.