As we reach mid-2021, it’s time to reflect on the growing internationalism of spaceflight due in large part to the rise of Asian national activity. As profiled in Srinivas Laxman’s article about the Indian space program, what began in a relatively modest fashion has become a robust planetary and lunar exploration endeavor and will attempt crewed spaceflight within the next two years. China, of course, has already sent taikonauts into orbit and recently landed a rover on Mars as well as launching the core module of their new space station. Add to this the rise of private space efforts around the world, many of which were inspired by (and are emulating) SpaceX’s reusable design for the Falcon 9, and we’ve truly reached a new stage of Space 2.0. These topics will be explored in this and successive issues of Ad Astra.
Also in this issue, John Kross takes an in-depth look at the drama playing out in NASA’s Human Landing System for the Artemis program. Indicative of the current state of affairs, this article was updated at least five times prior to publication due to the many twists and turns of the decision to utilize SpaceX as the sole contractor for the Artemis lunar landing program and their competitors’ complaints to the U.S. government about said decision.