Hiya and welcome again to TechCrunch Area. I hope everybody had a good time at Area Symposium! Hopefully I’ll see you there subsequent 12 months.

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The Area Drive has contracted out its subsequent “responsive area” mission, and this one is a doozy. The 2 awardees, Rocket Lab and startup True Anomaly, will every construct and launch spacecraft that can conduct rendezvous and proximity operations on orbit.

Within the Area Drive’s phrases: “The distributors will train a practical menace response situation in an on-orbit area area consciousness demonstration referred to as Victus Haze.”

The 2 firms must function below deliberately tight time frames, too — the primary responsive area mission from Firefly Aerospace and Millennium Area set new data by way of launch readiness — so we’ll undoubtedly comply with this mission intently when it launches subsequent 12 months.

Picture Credit: Sam Toms and Simon Moffatt

Confidential monetary statements from SpaceX for 2018 and 2019 seize an early glimpse on the diploma to which the corporate is probably going depending on its Starlink enterprise unit, and bringing the Starship rocket on-line, to change into money circulate optimistic.

Whereas the great steadiness sheets are 5 years outdated, they supply an intimate look contained in the operations of arguably one of the vital, and secretive, non-public firms within the U.S.

Picture Credit: Michael Gonzalez / Getty Photos

I used to be very to see this reporting from Bloomberg on Starlink’s profitability — or not. It’s a very nice complement to my scoop above: Taken collectively, the 2 tales inform a story concerning the significance of Starlink as a revenue-driver for the corporate’s long run, and significantly bold, plans to colonize Mars.

What number of is just too many? Starlink dishes in a line on a Celeb Cruises ship. Picture Credit: Celeb Cruises

Houston, we have now an issue…

This week’s area historical past phase is devoted to the Apollo 13 mission, which launched on April 11 and returned to Earth on April 17. The three-person crew was destined for the moon, however these plans have been swiftly put to an finish when an oxygen tank within the service module ruptured two days after launch.

The prime restoration ship for the Apollo 13 mission hoists the Command Module aboard the ship. Picture Credit: NASA / Getty Photos