What does cheaper orbit make possible?
Putting a kilogram in orbit on the Space Shuttle cost about $54,500. On SpaceX's rideshare today it costs $7,000. Everything above that price, from private space stations to factories and data centers in orbit, is being built because it fell. We track each layer with numbers that carry a date and a source.
Each layer, tracked
What it costs to launch a satellite
SpaceX's published prices since 2020, before and after inflation, against the Space Shuttle.
Commercial space station tracker
Five stations, their launch targets and every earlier target their companies gave.
When the ISS comes down
NASA's deorbit plan, year by year, to the final burn over the South Pacific.
What it costs to go to space
Seat prices, what NASA paid per seat, and NASA's price list for staying on the ISS.
In-space manufacturing log
Every capsule that went up to make or test something and come back, and what happened.
Orbital data centers
What computing hardware is actually in orbit, against what has been announced and filed.
What changed recently
- Oct 29, 2026 · People · Virgin Galactic unveils Apeiron, its first Delta-class ship, and moves its return to commercial flights to early Q2 2027 (Payload). Tracker
- Oct 20, 2026 · Manufacturing · Varda launches W-7 with a cancer-drug compound; SpaceX's Starfall capsule flies AFRL cargo on the same Bandwagon-5 mission. Tracker
- Oct 14, 2026 · Compute · China launches eight more computing satellites on a Zhuque-2E. Tracker
- Oct 9, 2026 · Stations · NASA issues its final call for commercial station proposals: due December 8, awards expected spring 2027. Tracker
- Oct 1, 2026 · Compute · Google's first Project Suncatcher prototype launches on Transporter-18, with Varda's W-8 and W-9. Tracker
- Sep 30, 2026 · Manufacturing · Varda raises a $251 million Series D, bringing its total to $598 million. Tracker
One layer, one week's numbers
Each issue takes one layer (launch, stations, manufacturing or compute) and shows what changed that week: new prices, new dates, missions flown, with the source for each.
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Every number has a date and a source
We read prices and dates from the companies and agencies themselves: their own pages, SEC filings, NASA and its auditors, archived copies of old pages. Press reports are used only when nothing primary exists, and are marked. When a company changes a date, the old one stays on the page with the day it was stated. How we check.