All the space news to follow this week

[View this email in your browser]( [Open Ars Technica in your browser]( [Image] [Catalina, an island off the coast of California and the new MacOS release name.]( It seems like only something out of this world can take our minds off COVID-19 these days, and (really) we're not even talking about [Space Force on Netflix](. Next week's big Space X / NASA launch, where US astronauts will head to the ISS on US rockets for the first time in nearly a decade, is the headliner, of course. So much so, that we've scheduled [our second Ars live chat for tomorrow, Thursday May 21, at 3p ET](. Senior Space Editor Eric Berger will chat up retired astronaut Karen Nyberg, who has spent half a year in space and may be invested in next week's launch more than most (her husband, Doug Hurley, will serve as commander for the inaugural crewed Crew Dragon mission). But there's much more going on in the space community than just that, so this week's Orbital Transmission has been fleshed out accordingly. Below are the space happenings to stay on top of ahead of what might be a high point for private space, which seems to be the rare industry potentially thriving in these quaran-times. A little extraordinary human achievement never fails to inspire, so perhaps we could use some images of humans in orbit now more than ever. —[@NathanMattise]( Orbital Transmission 05.20.2020 [(image) ]( [Next week's Crew Dragon launch will be transformative—if for no other reason than cost]( In his latest deep dive into space policy, Ars Space Reporter Eric Berger looked into the recent history of NASA opening up to private space companies. Under the commercial cargo development program, NASA eventually paid $396 million to SpaceX. However, this money was not earmarked just for the rocket. It also paid for development of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft and a launch pad in Florida. The modern Falcon 9 rocket can lift 23 metric tons to low-Earth orbit—and that's nearly as much lift capacity as the Ares 1 rocket (aka Scotty Rocket), which would have cost *50 times* as much to develop. [(image) ]( [Why did NASA's chief of human spaceflight resign this week?]( A mere eight days before NASA's first launch of humans in nine years, chief of human spaceflight Doug Loverro resigned yesterday. Timing could've been better, and the news rocked the civil aerospace community and kicked up a flurry of rumors. Ars today looked at what we know and don't about the resignation, but here's what Loverro wrote in his departure letter: 'Our mission is certainly not easy, nor for the faint of heart, and risk-taking is part of the job description. The risks we take, whether technical, political, or personal, all have potential consequences if we judge them incorrectly. I took such a risk earlier in the year because I judged it necessary to fulfill our mission. Now, over the balance of time, it is clear that I made a mistake in that choice for which I alone must bear the consequences." [(image) ]( [We don't know its purpose; we know the X-37B looked awesome at launch]( Last weekend, the ULA's Atlas V rocket launched from Florida and hauled the secretive X-37B space plane into orbit for the newly logo-d US Space Force. The webcast lasted five minutes since, you know, the mission is classified. So as the X-37B begins to carry out its about two-year mission, all we're left with is some images of launch. And given the quality of what ULA photographer Ben Cooper captured, we're kinda OK with that. [(image) ]( [SpaceX's VP for production just left for Relativity's 3D-printed rocket dreams]( Amid all the higher profile space happenings this week, it'd be easy to overlook a bit of personnel shifting. But Zach Dunn is no ordinary private space employee. Dunn was formerly the senior vice president of production and launch at SpaceX, and he's leaving for the 3D-printed rocket dreams of Relativity Space. At SpaceX, Dunn served as the "responsible engineer" for the Falcon 1 rocket's first stage and Merlin engine for both the third and fourth flights of that booster. And when it was undergoing a rapid depressurization during a transport flight over the Pacific Ocean in September 2008, Dunn played a pivotal role in saving the first stage of what would become the first Falcon 1 rocket to reach orbit. With Relativity, the goal is to build a rocket almost entirely out of 3D-printed parts and to eventually automate as much of the rocket assembly and test process as possible. That's presumably why they hired Dunn. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2020 Condé Nast, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Condé Nast One World Trade Center New York, NY 10007 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences](newsletter=ars) or [unsubscribe from this list](newsletter=ars).