Q&A with Dan Hart, president and CEO of Virgin Orbit (members only)

After years of studies, test-firings and a survey of U.S. industry in preparation for launch of a Mars Sample Return mission in 2026, NASA has settled on a solid-fueled design for a miniature rocket with a first-of-its-kind purpose: Launching a payload from Mars for a trip back to Earth.

SpaceX carried the Israeli-owned Amos 17 communications satellite from Cape Canaveral into orbit Tuesday on top of a Falcon 9 launcher, nearly three years after a SpaceX rocket explosion destroyed a predecessor payload before it could get off the ground.

Boeing is touting a lunar lander concept that the company claims could launch in one piece on an upgraded version of NASA’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket — which Boeing largely builds — and deliver astronauts to the moon’s surface in 2024 without going through NASA’s planned Gateway mini-space station.