Your Guide to SpaceEntities and agencies
Space Companies & Agencies
The new space age runs through a working ecosystem of launch providers, public programs, station builders, lunar contractors, science teams, and startups trying to turn ambitious hardware into repeatable service.
Use this directory to see which organizations already fly critical missions, which ones are trying to build the next layer of space infrastructure, and which public signals are worth watching next.
Start with the role each organization plays. Agencies create missions and buy services, launch companies turn access to orbit into cadence, station builders try to replace the ISS with commercial destinations, and smaller vehicle teams test whether the next cost curve is real.
Sources reviewed June 2026
Companies and agencies with profile pages
Launch, Artemis, stations, science, exploration, and emerging reuse
Claims are tied back to agency, company, and mission sources.
Ecosystem roles
Organize the ecosystem by responsibility, not fame.
Space progress depends on handoffs. A mission objective becomes a contract, a contract becomes hardware, hardware reaches a launch pad, and the result either clears a dependency or reveals the next bottleneck.
These groups help readers follow those handoffs without treating every announcement as equal.
Agencies set the destination and the rules of proof.
NASA, ESA, and CNSA matter because public programs define missions, buy services, run science campaigns, and create the standards private companies have to meet.
Reusable and heavy-lift builders decide what can fly often.
SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, ULA, Firefly, Relativity, and Stoke are easiest to compare by evidence: cadence, recovery, certification, customers, and whether the next vehicle is still a test article or a service.
Stations, landers, cargo, and modules turn launches into infrastructure.
Axiom, Vast, Northrop Grumman, Blue Origin, and Firefly show why the ecosystem is bigger than rockets: people need places to work, cargo to arrive, power to last, and hardware to survive the mission.
Organization map
Company Table
Compare the organizations by the job they do in the space ecosystem: who launches, who buys services, who builds station hardware, who supplies critical systems, and who is still trying to prove a new vehicle.
SpaceX
Reusable launch, crew and cargo spacecraft, Starlink, lunar logistics, and deep-space vehicle development.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch services; Dragon crew and cargo spacecraft; Starship and Super Heavy integrated flight testing
- Watch
- operational cadence plus Starship test campaign
Blue Origin
Reusable launch, suborbital human spaceflight, engines, lunar landers, and heavy-lift commercial launch.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- New Glenn reusable heavy-lift rocket; Blue Moon lunar lander family; New Shepard suborbital human and research flights
- Watch
- New Glenn ramp-up and lunar systems
Rocket Lab
Small launch, spacecraft manufacturing, launch sites, and reusable medium-lift development.
- Home
- United States / New Zealand
- Programs
- Electron dedicated small launch; Neutron reusable medium-lift rocket; Photon and spacecraft systems
- Watch
- Electron operational, Neutron development
NASA
Civil space exploration, science, aeronautics, technology development, commercial partnerships, and human spaceflight.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- Artemis Moon-to-Mars campaign; International Space Station operations and commercial LEO transition; Commercial Crew and commercial cargo partnerships
- Watch
- Artemis, science, commercial partnerships
ESA
European launch access, exploration partnerships, Earth observation, science missions, and international program contributions.
- Home
- Europe
- Programs
- Ariane 6 and European space transportation; Earth observation and climate missions; International exploration partnerships
- Watch
- Ariane 6 and exploration partnerships
United Launch Alliance
High-reliability launch services for national security, civil, science, and commercial missions.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- Vulcan Centaur; Centaur V high-energy upper stage; National Security Space Launch missions
- Watch
- Vulcan certified, cadence still proving
Axiom Space
Commercial LEO station development, private astronaut missions, research/manufacturing platform, and Artemis spacesuits.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- Axiom Station module sequence and free-flight plan; Private astronaut missions to the ISS; Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit for Artemis
- Watch
- ISS missions proven, station and suits still proving
Vast
Commercial free-flyer station development, precursor spacecraft operations, human-rated habitat systems, and longer-term private station architecture.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- Haven-1 commercial station; Haven Demo in-space testbed; Crewed short-duration missions
- Watch
- Haven Demo proven, Haven-1 in integration
CNSA
Civil space policy, lunar and planetary exploration, international cooperation, and official updates on Chinese space programs, with human-spaceflight operations tracked through the separate China Manned Space Engineering Office.
- Home
- China
- Programs
- Chang'e lunar exploration, far-side operations, and lunar sample research; Tianwen planetary missions, including Mars and small-body sample-return objectives; China Space Station ecosystem through China Manned Space Engineering Office updates
- Watch
- lunar sample-return, planetary exploration, station ecosystem, and commercial-space policy watch
Northrop Grumman
Cargo spacecraft, solid rocket motors and boosters, Gateway habitation hardware, defense-space systems, station logistics, and exploration hardware contributions.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- Cygnus and Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft for ISS logistics; SLS five-segment solid rocket boosters and other solid propulsion systems; Gateway HALO habitation and logistics module hardware
- Watch
- ISS cargo, Artemis boosters, Gateway HALO, and national-security space
Firefly Aerospace
Commercial lunar delivery, small launch, responsive-space missions, in-space transfer and hosting, and emerging medium-lift partnerships.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- Blue Ghost lunar lander missions and CLPS payload delivery; Alpha small launch and responsive-space missions; Elytra orbital transfer, hosting, and in-space services
- Watch
- commercial lunar delivery, small launch, in-space services, and medium-lift transition
Relativity Space
Reusable launch development, additive-manufacturing strategy, Aeon R engine development, and medium-to-heavy vehicle planning after the Terran 1 retirement.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- Terran R; Aeon R engine development; Long Beach manufacturing
- Watch
- Terran R development after the Terran 1 pivot
Stoke Space
Full-reuse launch development with a reusable upper stage, launch-site activation, and responsive payload service ambitions.
- Home
- United States
- Programs
- Nova fully reusable launch vehicle; reusable upper-stage and actively cooled heat-shield development; Stage 1 structural and fluid-system qualification campaign
- Watch
- Nova hardware and LC-14 activation
Follow the systems these organizations shape
Move from the company directory into the live launch schedule and the guides that explain lunar programs, reusable vehicles, commercial stations, and launch failures.
Launch schedule
See the next rocket launches, local target times, watch links, schedule certainty, and plain-English context for why each mission is worth following.
Moon pathway
Can the Moon evolve from a destination visited briefly into a place where humans remain, build infrastructure, and eventually travel for reasons beyond government exploration? Human lunar landing has historical proof; the modern surface-return and infrastructure stack is still under construction.
Reusable rocket guide
Why Reusable Rockets Matter: A guide to booster reuse, ship reuse, refurbishment, launch cadence, cost evidence, and why landing is only one part of reusability.
Commercial station guide
Commercial Space Stations: A guide to why post-ISS stations are being built, who is building them, who might pay, and what has to work before they become real infrastructure.
Why rockets fail
Why Rockets Fail: A calm guide to engine failures, stage-separation issues, guidance problems, range safety, deployment anomalies, mishap investigations, and return to flight.