Astra’s Chris Kemp woke up one recent morning and chose violence

There are plenty of rivalries in the US launch industry. People who build big and brawny machines tend to have egos to match. And if you chat up the senior executives of these rocket companies offline, they are often more than happy to say derogatory things about their competitors. But rarely are such sentiments expressed in public, without filter. Chris Kemp, the chief executive officer of Astra, apparently didn't get the memo about playing nice. Kemp made some spicy remarks at the Berkeley Space Symposium 2025 earlier this month, billed as the largest undergraduate aerospace event at the university (see video of the talk). He provided an overview of Astra's successes and failures, and generally sought to make a good impression on prospective interns at the company, and future employees. The university is only a few miles away from the company's Bay Area headquarters.Read full article Comments