Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. Did you hear? Bridgit Mendler is coming on stage at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt to talk all things ground station. She’s just one of the amazing space industry entrepreneurs coming this year. Find out more here. October 28-30 — see you there!
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Two spacecraft built by Rocket Lab are about to embark on a two-stage journey. The first stage is a 55-hour, 2,500-mile journey to Cape Canaveral, California. The second stage? Just 11 months and 230 million miles to Mars.
What's even more exciting is that this NASA-mandated mission, which uses a scientific payload from the UC Berkeley Space Science Laboratory and a satellite bus provided by Rocket Lab, will cost just one-tenth of the cost of other orbital missions to the Red Planet. ESCAPADE is scheduled to launch from Blue Origin's New Glenn in October, but since this is the vehicle's first launch, the date could be pushed back. If you miss the opportunity, you'll have to wait 26 months for ESCAPADE to launch.
Okay, this isn't a scoop. But I haven't seen anyone else cover this topic, so maybe it's a bit exclusive. And this is the draft environmental assessment for the Stoke launch pad that the U.S. Space Force released last month. The regulatory document is long and can be hard to read, but it offers unique insight into the company's near-term plans.
The main thrust of the document is that Stoke is pursuing a “phased program approach,” meaning the company will first operate a fully expendable vehicle with a relatively low launch frequency (10 launches per year). The second stage, which requires supplemental environmental analysis and is not considered in this draft document, will involve a fully reusable rocket.
Since the Starliner astronauts have been in orbit for over 70 days (the original mission was supposed to last about a week), it can be hard to keep track of all the facts. I found this brief explanation from CNBC's Michael Sheetz to be really helpful. Please share it with your curious friends and anyone else who is confused about what's going on aboard the International Space Station.
This Week in Space History
Instead of looking back, I would like to draw your attention to some current astronomical news. The next full moon is a blue supermoon. “Blue” because it is the third full moon in a four-moon season, and “super” because it will be within 90% of the distance the moon will be closest to Earth. In other words, it will be very large.
