Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. I hope everyone has a great 4th of July this week. Go grab a hot dog.
Read my story from last week on why the Starliner program is being delayed further and what it could mean for Boeing’s Starliner program.
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The undisputed story of the week is the massive contract NASA has awarded to SpaceX to develop the vehicle that will deorbit the International Space Station. Once the station re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, it will burn up, but the contract aims to ensure that it happens in a way that is safe for humans on Earth. Details about the American vehicle that will deorbit it are scant, but a NASA official said it will use Dragon’s Legacy hardware.
Check out my story on Starfish Space’s new deal with Intelsat. The satellite terrestrial services market is still a few years away, but deals like this show that it’s closer to reality than the haters might think…
![Illustration of the Starfish spacecraft in orbit.](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Starfish_Otter_2024.png 2500w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Starfish_Otter_2024.png?resize=150,93 150w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Starfish_Otter_2024.png?resize=300,185 300w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Starfish_Otter_2024.png?resize=768,474 768w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Starfish_Otter_2024.png?resize=680,419 680w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Starfish_Otter_2024.png?resize=1200,740 1200w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Starfish_Otter_2024.png?resize=1536,947 1536w, https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Starfish_Otter_2024.png?resize=2048,1263 2048w)
NASA has an article titled, “Fourth of July Holiday in Space“And folks – it’s as fun as the title suggests. Apparently, there wasn’t a Fourth of July celebration in orbit until 1982, and the second one was held 10 years later! Now that we have a regular presence of NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station, such celebrations have become an annual event. All I have to say is: God bless the pants with logos and stripes in space.
![](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/july_4_in_space_19_exp_52_fisher_whitson_jul_2017_iss052e009565.webp)