Founder Mateus Chipa wants the Black community to be more involved in space exploration. According to a Scripps News report of the 360 astronauts enlisted with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), just 18 had been Black astronauts as of Feb 5, 2024. For Chipa, he believed that to increase representation and empowerment it would be necessary for an influential Black entrepreneur to launch a company to break down barriers. According to his website, he waited eight years for Black leaders to step forward. In frustration after that time had passed, he decided to take matters into his own hands and established Theby Space Services (TSS) , a Black-owned private rocket company. “TSS came in a place of a lot of frustration, a lot of accountability and responsibility…For the last 10 years, I’ve been frustrated because I haven’t seen any Black nation or individual talking about going in a space,” Chipa said in a video shared on YouTube. “I’ve been asking myself why? Why...

At an early age, Sian Proctor dreamed to be afforded an opportunity to enter the galactic world. While celebrating her now achieved goal, she also made history in the process, becoming the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft, according to the New York Times. Determined to reach space, Proctor received her Ph.D. along with a pilot’s license and SCUBA certification. In 2009, she was selected to participate in the final round of NASA’s competitive astronaut selection process — an impressive feat for a cohort consisting of 3,500 applicants. Unfortunately, her candidacy would ultimately be rejected. Others may have stopped, but for Proctor, her rejection would serve as the catalyst to discovering a new path. In 2013, she would accompany six individuals during a four-month mission in a building located near a Hawaiian volcano for an experiment imitating the conditions and stresses on a habitat like Mars. Proctor caught the eyes of a panel of judges for the Inspiration4 mission because...