Another year is in the books. 2021 was quite a ride, and we’re so proud of our team’s accomplishments during another exciting year. We wanted to reflect on the year and thank all our incredible partners, customers, and employees for everything they do to make us successful. 

Among the noteworthy accomplishments of the year, the Sherpa-NG program has to be at the top of the list. We launched two models of our unique OTV in a six-month period, the free-flying Sherpa-FX and electric propulsion Sherpa-LTE. In total, we flew three Sherpa vehicles (Sherpa-FX1, Sherpa-FX2, and Sherpa-LTE1), across two missions, and deployed 50 payloads for more than 15 different customers. This represents nearly 63% of all the spacecraft Spaceflight deployed this year. And we aren’t slowing down. We’ve announced plans to fly our chemical propulsion OTV, Sherpa-LTC, on the SXRS-6 mission no earlier than January 2022 and our lunar-bound, bipropellant OTV, Sherpa-ES, on the GEO Pathfinder mission in late 2022. 

Of course, facilitating and executing launches is the backbone of our business. We executed 11 launches, the most the company has performed in a single year and twice as many as it executed in 2020, bringing our total of spacecraft launched to date at 392. We launched payloads for both first-time and returning customers, including 5 launches which took 9 BlackSky spacecraft to orbit over the course of the year. We navigated changing travel restrictions related to COVID, and made sure our team was where they needed to be in order to facilitate launches from multiple continents. Providing the flexibility to re-manifest spacecraft on another launch when delays happen is one of the services our customers most appreciated.

Looking ahead, we have another record-breaking year planned, with more than 15 launches tentatively scheduled. We know that the only constant in this industry is change, and the last year has shown us that Spaceflight is uniquely suited to adjusting and responding to industry needs and challenging circumstances. Whether it is a global pandemic, supply chain issues, or regulatory changes, our team can handle it. We believe that access to space and transportation within space are critical needs for our planet and our global economy, and are proud that we can be part of the growing and thriving commercial space industry. We’re looking forward to continuing to do what we do best in 2022: helping our customers get to space as efficiently as possible.

Thank you to all who made this possible. We wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday, and a fantastic new year.

Best,

Curt Blake