• A First Mover in Providing In-space Satellite Transportation for Commercial and Institutional Customers and in Demonstrating Satellite-as-a-Service Capabilities in Space
• Six Missions to Date, Including Four Leveraging D-Orbit’s Proven ION Satellite Carrier
• Members of The Charles F. Bolden Group, Founded by Former NASA Administrator and U.S. Marine Corps Major General, to Join Board and Support Strategic and Operating Execution
• Pro Forma for the Transaction, Combined Company to Have Approximately $185 Million (€163 Million) in Cash on the Balance Sheet
• Combined Company Will Have an Estimated Enterprise Value of Approximately $1.28 Billion (€1.13 Billion)
• Expected to be Listed on Nasdaq Capital Market Under the Ticker Symbol “DOBT” following Expected Transaction Close in Second or Third Quarter of 2022

FINO MORNASCO, Italy and IRVING, Texas, Jan. 27, 2022 (D-Orbit/Breeze Holdings Acquisition PR) — D-Orbit S.p.A. (“D-Orbit” or the “Company”), an Italy-based and market leading space logistics and transportation company, today announced that it will become publicly listed through a business combination with Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: BREZ) (“Breeze Holdings”), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. The transaction values the Company at an enterprise value of approximately $1.28 billion (€1.13 billion) post-money.

RESTON, Va. August 17, 2021 (Ligardo Networks PR) – Ligado Networks today announced Charles F. Bolden Jr. has joined its Board. Major General Bolden (USMC-Ret.) is a highly decorated naval aviator, test pilot, and astronaut who served as the 12th Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 2009 to 2017.

Throughout his distinguished career, Administrator Bolden has forged innovative solutions and programs through government and industry collaboration. During his NASA tenure, he created the Space Technology Mission Directorate and ushered in a new era focused on innovation in aeronautics technology. Mr. Bolden oversaw key initiatives including an increase in the fleet of Earth-observing satellites, the landing of the Curiosity Rover on Mars, and the launch of spacecraft to Jupiter. He later served as a U.S. Department of State Science Envoy for Space and was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his lasting contributions to human spaceflight, space operations, and aeronautics research.

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — Sen. Bill Nelson took office as the 14th administrator of NASA Monday, after he was given the oath of office by Vice President Kamala Harris during a ceremony at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington.

• Former astronaut Pam Melroy and Kathryn Sullivan also named to review teams
• Former XPRIZE vice president leads OSTP team

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

President-elect Joe Biden has appointed former NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan to lead the review team assigned to the space agency.

Stofan, a planetary scientist who became the first female director of the National Air and Space Museum in 2018, leads an eight-member team that includes former NASA astronaut Pam Melroy and former NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati.

Biden has also appointed Kathryn Sullivan, who was part of the first group of women recruited as NASA astronauts, to serve on the agency review team for the Department of Commerce.

Completing our look at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2019 Report to Congress, we examine how China is using its space program to achieve the nation’s geopolitical and economic goals. [Full Report]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

China is using its growing space program to achieve a range of geopolitical and economic goals, including attracting partners for its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), improving economic and political ties with other countries, and deepening others’ reliance on its space systems and data services.

“Beijing views its space program as key to elevating its leadership profile in international space cooperation, including through BRI, and establishing a dominant position in the commercial space industry,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2019 Report to Congress.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

By John Holdren and Charles Bolden

Today, President Obama outlined a vision to CNN for the future of space exploration.  Echoing what he said in the 2015 State of the Union address, the President wrote, “We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America’s story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time.”  Later this week, many of the Nation’s top innovators will come together in Pittsburgh at the White House Frontiers Conference, where they will further explore, among other things, how American investments in science and technology will help us settle “the final frontier” – space.   But today, we’re excited to announce two new NASA initiatives that build on the President’s vision and utilize public-private partnerships to enable humans to live and work in space in a sustainable way.

In April 2010, the President challenged the country – and NASA – to send American astronauts on a Journey to Mars in the 2030s.  By reaching out further into the solar system and expanding the frontiers of exploration, the President outlined a vision for pushing the bounds of human discovery, while also revitalizing the space industry and creating jobs here at home.

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Michael Watkins

PASADENA, Calif. (Caltech PR) — Michael M. Watkins, the Clare Cockrell Williams Centennial Chair in Aerospace Engineering and Director of the Center for Space Research at The University of Texas at Austin, has been appointed director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and vice president at Caltech, the Institute announced today.

Watkins will formally assume his position on July 1, 2016. He succeeds Charles Elachi, who will retire as of June 30, 2016, and move to the Caltech faculty.

Watkins is an internationally recognized scientist and engineer. Prior to assuming his current position at The University of Texas in 2015, he worked at JPL for 22 years, where he held leadership roles on some of NASA’s highest-profile missions. Watkins served as mission manager and mission system manager for the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover; led review or development teams for several missions including the Cassini, Mars Odyssey, and Deep Impact probes; and was the project scientist leading science development for the GRAIL moon-mapping satellites, the GRACE Earth science mission, and the GRACE Follow-On mission, scheduled for launch in 2017. He last served at JPL as manager of the Science Division, and chief scientist for the Engineering and Science Directorate.

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Japanese KIBO module

TOKYO and WASHINGTON (JAXA & NASA PRs) — On December 22, 2015, the Japanese and U.S. governments agreed on a new cooperation framework for the International Space Station (ISS) Program and, accordingly, Japan decided to extend its participation in the ISS operations until 2024.

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The International Space Station, backdropped by the blackness of space and the thin line of Earth’s atmosphere. (Credit: NASA)

The following is a statement from Dr. John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy:

“The International Space Station is a unique laboratory that has enabled groundbreaking research in the life and physical sciences and has provided a test bed for the technologies that will allow NASA to once again send astronauts beyond Earth’s orbit. The international partnership that built and maintains the Station is a shining example, moreover, of what humanity can accomplish when we work together in peace.

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The crew of Shenzhou-10 after 15 days in space. (Credit: CNSA)

China is looking for partners on its space station, whose core module is set to launch in 2018:

China is soliciting international participation in its future manned space station in the form of foreign modules that would attach to the three-module core system, visits by foreign crew-transport vehicles for short stays and the involvement of non-Chinese researchers in placing experiments on the complex, the chief designer of China’s manned space program said Oct. 12….

The Chinese orbital station, consisting of a core module and two experiment-carrying modules, can be expanded to a total of six modules if international partners want to invest in their own components, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the China Manned Space Program at the China Manned Space Agency.

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