Astronaut Sen. Kelly touts ‘stunning’ space business growth, calls for more rocket competition

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who flew into space four times in a 15-year career as an astronaut, praised the growth of the space industry and made a rallying call for intense competition.

“Some of the progress is really amazing; it’s been a huge success,” Kelly said Thursday, speaking at a luncheon during the Commercial Space Transportation conference in Washington, DC.

Kelly said the cost of sending satellites, people and cargo into orbit is currently “a fraction” of what it costs to fly a NASA spacecraft. He added that – while industry growth is encouraging – rocket-makers need to “step up to the plate” and “bring new launch vehicles to market faster and embrace renewed competition, not to suppress it.”

“We need more launch vehicles to reduce the cost associated with getting payloads into orbit,” Kelly said.

Rockets are launching at an unprecedented pace with 2022 setting new annual record Most of the 87 from the US were by Elon Muskof SpaceX, which is currently launching every four days on average, but several other companies are aiming to increase the pace and are launching new rockets in the coming years – including rocket lab, United Launch Alliance, blue core, astra, virgin orbit, northrop grumman, firefly And abl,

Kelly acknowledged that, “probably like a lot of people at NASA and a lot of people in Washington” at the turn of the century, he was skeptical about relying on private companies for launches.

Kelly said, “I always like to think that I’m the first one to admit it when I’m wrong, and that’s about it.”

“The commercial space sector is critical. It is critical to the future of the American economy, and critical to our leadership overseas. Without the commercial space sector, we would not be able to get our national security assets into orbit. Without it, Entire sectors of the US economy, from telecoms to global shipping and navigation, will not be globally competitive,” Kelly said.