A very good day for American spaceflight.

Star ship, Star liner, we've gotta keep our stars in order and not get them confused, especially when they both have big happenings on the exact same day. Just saying everybody, we would love it if we could get some more unique names out there, but whatever you wanna call them, I love that they both have great news. So let's keep that coming. [Music] Today is June 6th, 2024. I'm Maria Varmausis and this is T-minus. [Music] SpaceX successfully launches and splashes down Starship for its fourth test flight. Starliner successfully docks with the ISS. AstroSpace files details about a merger. And our guest today is Scott McLaughlin, Executive Director at the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, the state agency that manages Spaceport America. And we are going to be discussing the 2024 Spaceport America Cup, which is coming up pretty soon in June from the 17th to the 22nd. Stay with us for that. [Music] It's Thursday everybody and what an exciting day it's been. It's hard to choose a top story, but Starliner got yesterday's spotlight, so today goes to SpaceX and Starship's fourth test flight. And it was a mission success for Starship today, which ended with a soft landing in the Indian Ocean. This is a big, big step for Starship. So here is what was accomplished with today's flight test. After launching this morning at 7.50 a.m. Central Time from Boca Chica, Texas, upper stage Starship and lower stage Super Heavy had a successful hot stage separation. And Super Heavy fired a successful landing burn for a controlled descent landing in the Gulf of Mexico. Starship meanwhile kept on going through suborbital space, traveling around the globe for a bit over an hour, before beginning its controlled descent back down through the atmosphere. Yet again, if you haven't seen the videos during re-entry, you really should. Sparks and streaks of bright green plasma deflecting off of Starship's fins. It's really quite the sight. One of Starship's fins started to burn up from plasma, basically burning through it at one point. But that dang fin still hung on by a few bolts. And it even seems that it was controllable, despite the heavy damage that it took all the way to the end, when Starship made its soft landing, splashing down in the Indian Ocean. Given that the FAA's test-induced damage exceptions for launch licensing did include potential damage to the vehicle's flaps, it's very possible that an FAA investigation won't be needed here, speeding up time to Starship Flight Test #5. So, the controlled descent for the booster and the soft landing for the Starship are both major priorities for this mission, and were both successfully achieved. Given the Artemis program needs Starship for future missions, with today's success, we are another step closer to returning humans to the lunar surface. Starship's success may have made this all look easy, but yeah, make no mistake, this is extraordinarily difficult stuff, especially when human crew are involved. And it's been a tense 24 hours since the Starliner launched from Florida on its way to the International Space Station, carrying astronauts Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore. Overnight news broke that two new helium leaks had been found on the crew capsule. One of the helium leaks had been discovered prior to launch, but was deemed acceptable. The Starliner was due to dock with the ISS at 11.15 Central Time, but was running behind schedule, and they moved the docking time to 12.33 Central Time as the next docking window opened. The crew took manual control of the capsule, not an easy task I'm sure, before resuming the autonomous docking sequence. A nervous mission control watched on in Houston, as the teams scrambled to figure out the capsule's move to the dock to the forward-facing port of the station's Harmony Module. The team conducted hot fires to maneuver into position 220-250 meters from the orbiting lab, and then very slowly made their way to the International Space Station. And at 12.34 Central Time, contact and capture of Starliner aboard the International Space Station. And with that, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams now get to settle in at the ISS for the next week, thereabouts. And right now, for the very first time, there are two American-crewed spacecraft aboard the ISS, SpaceX's Crew 8 Dragon and Boeing's Starliner. With the success of both Starship and Starliner today, I'm sure there are a lot of very happy people at NASA today too, both in the Artemis program and the commercial crew program. What a great day for American spaceflight. [Casting] All right, let's come back down to Earth now. Astra Space is proceeding with a merger agreement that will result in the delisting of its Class A commonstock from the NASDAQ. According to their filing with the SEC, Astra is looking to merge with Apogee, which is a private entity owned by Astra co-founders Chris Kemp and Adam London. If this merger is completed, Astra's Class A commonstock will be delisted from NASDAQ and deregistered under the Exchange Act. We wish them the best with this move. California-based space startup Illyria has been awarded a prime contract with the US Space Force Rapid Capabilities Office, also known as the RCO. The contract worth a mere $1 billion is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, or IDIQ contract, supporting the Rapid Resilient Command and Control Combined Program Office, or R2C2 CPO. Star Wars fans rejoice. The R2C2 program is aimed at developing a system to enable the synchronization of orbital assets for potential conflict. The goal is to enable a real-time command and control of assets like satellites or spacecraft to take action in hostile circumstances, such as maneuvering or rerouting networks to avoid potential threats. Illyria is among a select group of companies chosen to advance network command and control capabilities in support of dynamic space operations. As if you haven't had enough big news today, but we cannot let this milestone reached by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko go unnoticed. Kononenko reached a major milestone yesterday, 1,000 cumulative days in space. Can you imagine? He has smashed the previous record of 878 days. What on earth has his body gone through? Kononenko lifted off from Earth for his fifth space flight in September last year and isn't due to return to Earth until September of this year, so we're expecting his record to stand for quite some time. Over to China now and commercial space company Space Pioneer has completed a more than 1.5 billion round of funding, and that's about US$207 million for those of us unaware of the currency rates. The Beijing-based rocket developer Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Technology Co., says the funding has come from a mix of private equity and state-backed venture capital firms and will be used to finance the first flight of its Tianlong-3 rocket and its mass production. Space Pioneer says Tianlong-3 will assist the development of China's own satellite constellation by frequently taking as many as 30 satellites into orbit with a single rocket at a low cost. Sounds familiar? The Federal Aviation Administration is looking for public comment on a draft environmental assessment for the inversion space reentry capsule known as REI. The review evaluates the potential environmental impacts associated with the reentry, splashdown, and recovery operations of the capsule in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central California. Comments must be submitted no later than July 5th. Follow the link in our show notes to read the full draft. And we're going to close out our Intel briefing today with some news out of the Berlin International Air Show. Arian-6 has a scheduled launch date of July 9th in more than 40 companies, research centers, and international organizations have signed the European Space Agency's zero-debris charter. The ESA initiative aims for future missions to become debris neutral in space by 2030. Twelve European countries were amongst the first to sign the zero-debris charter at the ESA-EU Space Council in Brussels, and over 100 organizations worldwide have registered their intent to sign and join the collaborative effort in the coming months. [Music] That concludes our Thursday briefing, and yeah, there was a lot to unpack today. So if you want more information on any of the stories that we've mentioned, then head to the selected reading section of our show notes. You'll also find an announcement from Florida on the 2024 Early Stage Venture Conference investment. AT-Mindus Crew, if your business is looking to grow your voice in the industry, expand the reach of your thought leadership, or recruit talent, AT-Mindus can help. We'd like to hear from you. Just send us an email at space@n2k.com or send us a note through our website so we can connect about building a program to meet your goals. [Music] [Music] Today's guest is Scott McLaughlin, the Executive Director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, which is the state agency that manages Spaceport America. It's the launch facility used for the annual intercollegiate rocket engineering competition, the Spaceport America Cup. [Music] So Scott, it is wonderful to have you back on the show. Thanks for coming back. Thanks. It's great to talk to you again. Awesome. So let's talk about Spaceport America Cup. We are very close to it now. I'm sure things are getting really busy. Tell me what we're looking forward to this year. Well, we're looking to a bunch of teams coming in from around the world. I think we have 26 first-time teams and we've got, I forget how many countries, I think we have about 20 countries represented, 36 states. It's, as far as we can tell, it's the largest intercollegiate aerospace competition. You know, they've been building and working on their rockets since August, September, and their payloads and their design. So it's just all culminating with the teams conquering all the design, engineering, financial, and logistic challenges to get to Spaceport America. And for some teams, like those from Turkey and Australia, there are some major challenges. So it, but it's a big event and, you know, it's a hands-on event. So it's very, very, very exciting that they can get here and actually see the results of their hard work. Yeah. And I've spoken to a number of the teams, many of whom are coming for the first time this year, and even some that are returning after being many times. And for many of them, they say a highlight is literally being at Spaceport America. It's just so cool for them. That just being there, seeing it, what a cool facility it is, they just, it's a real highlight for them. Yeah. You know, being a commercial spaceport, you know, kind of a new, a new player in the field of Spaceports is an interesting thing, right? Do we have a lot of our own challenges? The state of New Mexico paid for the spaceport, and we've got a long ways to go to get to where we can support an orbital launch. But we think that's capable, you know, we're capable of that, a good site for that. But it's always exciting that the students know where they're coming, that they know this is the home of Virgin Galactic, and we have lots of other activities. You know, the CST 100 made it to space. And there's a fair chance it will land the week of the spaceport, and it literally lands on the other side of the mountain just about 15, 20 miles away. So, you know, we like to say New, yeah, New Mexico is the place for space. And here's a little more proof of that. Oh man, wouldn't that be something for the students? I mean, not just the students for everybody, really, but wow, what an added bonus if the, if the, if they see it land. Oh my gosh, that'd be incredible. They probably couldn't see it land, but I went outside on their first launch for the Starliner launched and landed at White Sands. And I did hear the double sonic booms as it went over Las Cruces, New Mexico, which was pretty darn cool about five in the morning. I would say so. I was like, that's that, even if you don't actually see it land, because you know, it's gonna, it might be quite far. Hearing the sonic booms would be really something, knowing that the, our astronauts are coming home. That's just so cool. Oh, that's awesome. Well, fingers crossed for that. So yeah, I am talking to you now, beginning of June, and we'll be airing this pretty shortly after our conversation, but yeah, it's beginning of June and the cup is, I mean, like two weeks away. You've got to be in the thick of like the, all the last minute and, you know, those final details before everyone's descends for all over the world upon Spaceport America. What's it like right now? Well, the event is in a way, it's three sites. So the first site is the convention center in Las Cruces, New Mexico. So all the teams are at the convention center. It's a great public outreach event because anybody can come in and talk to the teams and see the payloads and see the rockets. Everybody's in their colors, you know, everybody's in their shirts and stuff. So that's really good for STEM and workforce, right? People can come in and feel the excitement and the kids are, the students are carrying around the rockets because they're getting them judged and they're talking about. Then the next event is the launching at the Spaceport for three and a half days. And that's super exciting. And to see a salvo of launches go up and then, and the students again, they set up a pit area, I called a pit area where they're putting the rockets together and they're working on them. And of course the nuts and screws don't fit all of a sudden or they forgot something. So they're running around, they're getting help from other teams. And then they launch. And then the third final then is the award ceremony, which is Saturday night, which is back in Las Cruces at the university at the Pan American Center. So all three of those are a certain different type of logistics. The onsite one is the one we worry about the most, you know, keeping the students safe, making sure we have a safe event. It's going to be probably over a hundred degrees most of those days. A lot of them, the students stay up late to work on the rocket and they come in early. So a lot of them will accidentally get dehydrated. They'll get tired. So we worry about that. That's the one that we focus on the most. And we're going to have guests where we invite the public to come in and watch the launches to we have food trucks. So it's three and a half days of dirt and a little bit of wind and heat. And then a lot, you know, hopefully about a hundred rocket launches. Yeah. The wind last year definitely made itself known. Sort of a character of its own in last year's cup. A bunch of students were asking, can we make sure that doesn't happen this year? And I'm like, I'll see what I can do. I mean, I'll talk to the man upstairs. It is a really cool event. Every year I'm like, I really wish I could go one of these years. I'm sure I will go in person because it just looks like such a fun time for folks like me who have never been in person. Is there something about the event that maybe you can only really understand if you've been in person that you can maybe give me a hint about? Well, I think walking around and talking to the students is, you know, it's great. Right. You're you again, you get to spill this energy, the passion, what it means to them for a lot of students. This is the first time they put their hands on what they've been doing engineering wise. I know for a lot of students, they perhaps were never in sports. Or any team activity throughout high school or college. So now they're literally in this very high stress, high pressure situation, trying to get this rocket to fly and get everything to happen. You know, the same is you need a million things to go right to launch a rocket. You need one thing to go wrong. Right. That's what we saw with Starliner and other things that are happening. And with their rocket, they don't need a million things, perhaps, but they need, you know, several thousand. And there's a lot of pressure. And you get that sense when you're walking around and talking to them. And I even went in, we have a medical tent. And last year I went into the medical tent kind of to see how things were going. And there were some students in there. Some had become dehydrated somewhere, you know, cut themselves or something while working on the rocket. But there was one person in there and I won't say who it was. And she was, I asked her why she was there. She said, it's just the pressure got to her. You know, that, you know, that she's far away from home. She'd been doing this all, all, you know, two semesters and things weren't going right that day. And she just needed to decompress. And well, we talked for a while about real world situations, you know, getting ready for that on the job. That's, I think, a sense you can get when you watch the live stream, when you watch the live stream, you get to see the rockets go off and there are some interviews. But it's that pressure and that energy that is unique to standing around and talking to those people. Yeah, it is a culmination of at least a year of work for a lot of these students. And, you know, while they're all trying to get their degrees on top of it, that is a great, I mean, it's no small deal. That is, yeah, I appreciate that. That's, I can imagine, especially when you're there and the physical stresses of the lack of sleep, the heat, the wind, that's got to be a lot. Yeah. Yeah, I appreciate that. Anything else that you want to let people know about the cup this year? And you may, I don't know if there's anything different from last year that maybe you want to highlight or maybe, I don't know. Well, you know, it's, you know, the space part of America didn't come up with the cup. The cup goes back before that time. It came to New Mexico in 2017, though. And what I've noticed is now there's other similar competitions around the world, right? Everybody realized that this very hands-on event is a great way for the students to apply what they've learned. So, and that's great that we're seeing more of that because we need that workforce development. We need the STEM outreach. We need younger kids to see that there's a place to go. Space, as we know, commercial space market is growing very fast. I think there's four space stations, private space stations being planned right now. We're trying to get back to the moon. So we need that workforce. And, you know, so it's just fun to see the, both Space Fort America cup grow a little bit and to see these other ones propagate around the world literally. Yeah, it is very cool. Scott, we're coming up on the end of our time. This is a quick chat, admittedly. But anything else you want to leave our audience with? Figure it's open forum for you. Well, we do have the last Virgin Galactic launches this Saturday. So that will be, when I say last, I mean last until they bring the two new Delta class spaceships here in a year. So we're super excited about that. And when they bring those back, we'll be talking about two launches a week eventually to start and then more launches after that. So we're trying to stay busy here at Space Fort America and we're having a good time doing it. Awesome. Thank you so much, Scott. And we're looking forward to all of these launches and more. So appreciate your time today. We'll be right back. Welcome back. We're going to mix things up now and talk about our planet for a change. Yes, whether you want to think about it or not, we live on a planet in space, use flash. So news from Terraferma is also of interest to us, especially when there's a space twist to the story. We recently shared with you the news that NASA carried tree seeds to space on the Artemis-1 flight in 2022 and that it planned to share the seeds with organizations that applied for them to grow moon trees. And one of those seeds has made its way to the U.S. Capitol. And in a ceremony two days ago, NASA astronaut and Artemis-2 commander Reed Wiseman joined a moon tree dedication ceremony. Yes, the seed that flew to space has since been germinated under the care of the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service and is now a seedling. The American sweet gum tree has been planted on Capitol Hill for all to enjoy. More moon tree seedlings are going out to institutions across the country, including young giant sequoias, Douglas furs, and sycamores. Super cool and super green. That's it for T-minus for this very busy day, June 6th, 2024, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes at space.n2k.com. We're privileged that N2K and podcasts like T-minus are part of the daily routine of many of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector. From the Fortune 500, many of the world's prominent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. This episode was produced by Alice Caruth, our associate producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliott Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliott Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Iben. Our executive editor is Brandon Karp. Simone Petrella is our president, Peter Kilpie is our publisher, and I'm your host, Maria Vermazes. Thanks for listening. We will see you tomorrow. [Music] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]