SPACE INDUSTRY'S YEAR

If 2021 was the year of ostentatious displays of wealthy space tourists chartering one-off missions, 2022 promises to be yet another year solidifying the private sector's grip on modern space travel.

Big businesses are beginning to permeate every area of spaceflight, from the most spectacular private launches to the smallest detail. A modified version of Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant will even hitch a ride on a future NASA trip around the moon. More missions to space chartered by the ultra-rich are on the docket. Elon Musk's SpaceX is also planning to put its colossal 400-foot-tall Starship rocket — intended to eventually reach Mars — into Earth's orbit for the first time.

As in past years, federal regulators will grapple with what its role can and should be in this new era.

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