A Texas-size space summer has billionaires racing for the heavens – San Antonio Express-News

Theres something about summer and space travel.

Maybe its that sublime footage of a Saturn V rocket taking off against the blue Florida sky in 1969. You know, that slow motion rise, clouds of steam and sheets of ice flaking off the massive black and white rocket, that bold red U-S-A and billows of flame and smoke.

The clips appear in every video montage about the 1960s. You can almost hear Norman Greenbaums song Spirit in the Sky.

Apollo 11 landing on the moon on July 20, 1969, is the main reason space and summer seem to go together. But other space milestones have occurred in the summer months. On June 3, 1965, San Antonio native Ed White became the first American to walk in space.

On May 30, 2020, SpaceX sent two astronauts to space from American soil for the first time since 2011. The spectacle offered a brief escape from the realities of the pandemic, political chaos and civil turmoil. The launch, known as Demo 2, carried echoes of the late 60s.

On ExpressNews.com: 'This is not SpaceX property': Elon Musk's company looks to rename South Texas town 'Starbase'

2021 is shaping up to be a big space summer, and Texas is playing a leading role, much like it has in the past. But Texas summer space jam doesnt involve NASAs Johnson Space Center as much as it does two commercial space companies, SpaceX and Blue Origin.

The state could see at least two historic launches as two battling billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos look to push their commercial space endeavors to the next step. And its not a stretch to say San Antonio is at the crossroads of this new space race.

Apollo 11 liftoff as seen from the launch tower camera, July 16, 1969.

SpaceX plans to lob its Starship into orbit for the first time from its South Texas launch facility. According to plans filed with the Federal Communication Commission, a Super Heavy booster will carry Starship into orbit and return to earth, splashing down in the gulf 20 miles off the coast of Boca Chica. The Starship will continue its flight and perform a powered landing into the ocean about 60 miles off the coast of Kauai roughly 90 minutes after launch.

Its an impressive plan with a tight timeline. Elon Musk tweeted in March the company planned to do the test flight in July, but thats looking less likely. Federal licensing and authorizations are pending. The Boca Chica orbital launch tower is still under construction, and the company hasnt fully built or tested the Super Heavy booster.

On ExpressNews.com: SpaceX's Boca Chica venture has all the 'versus' categories covered

Then theres the continued legal skirmishes, land battles and the contingent of South Texas SpaceX critics. In the companys latest legal battle, the Cameron County district attorney sent SpaceX a cease and desist letter over complaints its private security staff had illegally denied access to public roads.

But its risky to doubt SpaceX. The commercial space juggernaut surprises critics time and time again.

Oh, and speaking of juggernauts lets talk about the Super Heavy booster. With at least 29 Raptor engines, the 230-foot tall stainless steel beast will be one of the most powerful rockets ever built. And all those engines likely pass through San Antonio on their way to Boca Chica from SpaceXs McGregor test facility.

Then, near Van Horn out in West Texas, Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos plans to fly to space along with his brother, Mark, an unnamed customer who paid $28 million for the seat and another passenger who hasnt been identified yet.

Theyre scheduled to launch July 20 aboard a reusable Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. The flight will last about 11 minutes, taking the crew above the 62-mile-high threshold of space. Blue Origins space capsule is fully autonomated. It features large windows and room for six passengers.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio firm is working on moon launch pads for NASA

New Shepard has had 15 successful consecutive missions, including three escape tests. Bezos and his crew mates will be the first people to fly in the capsule.

And dont forget Sir Richard Bransons commercial space firm, Virgin Galactic. While not in Texas, its a close neighbor at Spaceport America outside Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, about 100 miles from El Paso.

Virgins Unity spacecraft had a successful flight to space on May 22 from the spaceport. The success spawned speculation that Branson might try to beat Bezos to space in July, but Virgin hasnt announced the timing of its next flight.

Closer to home, in San Antonio, Southwest Research Institute remains the areas space heavyweight, and it has a busy summer scheduled.

On ExpressNews.com: Starbase, Texas? Really?

First, NASA announced June 10 that it selected a SwRI payload to go to Schrodingers Basin on the far side of the moon to study the lunar crust, mantle and core. Maybe that research will help Exploration Architecture and University of Texas at San Antonio researchers in the citys burgeoning moon infrastructure scene.

Then, SwRIs Lucy spacecraft, which will study the Trojan asteroids, is shipping to Cape Canaveral in July in preparation for an October launch.

Also over the Summer, scientists are calibrating SwRIs MASPEX Mass Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration instrument that will fly on Europa Clipper, a spacecraft scheduled to launch in 2024.

The Juno spacecraft, which carries SwRI instruments and got an extended lease on life in January, begins its follow-on mission in August that will include multiple flybys, expanding its investigation to the larger Jovian system, including flybys of Jupiters moons.

UVS-JUICE, a SwRI instrument on the European Space Agencys Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission, is on the spacecraft in Toulous, France. Its undergoing environmental vacuum tests this month in preparation for a September 2022 launch.

Finally, the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, a constellation of four SwRI spacecraft studying the Suns and Earths magnetic fields, got a three-year extension.

So heres to the Texas-sized space summer. Someday, todays space footage may dominate the video montages from the 2020s.

What will the soundtrack be?

Brandon Lingle writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. brandon.lingle@express-news.net

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A Texas-size space summer has billionaires racing for the heavens - San Antonio Express-News