Q&A with Steve Skladanek, president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services

Relativity Space’s co-founder and chief executive says his company is working on innovations in manufacturing and rocket technology, and plans to use 3D printing at unprecedented scale in the space industry to ease access to space for a range of satellite operators, joining a fray of smallsat launchers saturating the market.

Follow the unclassified portion of the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent to space from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-61 satellite. Launch is scheduled for Thursday at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT).

NASA officials have determined that the robotic InSight lander is ready for its mission to Mars after concluding that the probe should not suffer the same flaw that led to a crack in a heat shield undergoing tests for the space agency’s Mars 2020 rover, InSight’s chief scientist said Monday.