Interstellar Ventures

Are German VC providers, Interstellar Ventures, ready to fund first privately sponsored human spaceflight?

Likely sponsor of Austrian pilot's spaceflight plans identified.

The Space Sleuthing Blog has been reporting the bizarre story of Johanna Maislinger, for over three years.

Who is Johanna Maislinger? Well, she is a regular airline pilot, born in Austria, but who has worked, studied and lived in Germany, for the last 11 years. In 2016, she was allowed to enter the ‘German Woman in Space Project – Die Astronautin’ despite not being German. After she was eliminated, at the final thirty stage, she began to pursue her own project to get herself into Space.

The whole story can be read Here.

Bizarrely, Maislinger had told other candidates in 'Die Astronautin'  that she was eliminated because she could not obtain her German citizenship, in time. In truth, she had simply failed the assessment carried out my the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine. Looking back, that untruth now makes sense. If any would-be sponsor had been aware of the facts, they would quickly lose interest in her. She needed a good cover-story to stop that happening.

What began with a seemingly casual comment, in April 2017, “Someone in Berlin is very interested to send me into Space…” has evolved into a three year relationship with Space Adventures, the world’s leading Space Tourism provider. Her name is on the lips of cosmonauts, instructors and officials at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, and her details appear on every credible internet projection of Soyuz space crews, for 2021. She even has her own  Wikipedia page.   

Although numerous people have tried to organise a spaceflight through private sponsorship before, regardless of what happens from here, Maislinger has got closer to success than anyone before her. As we enter 2021, she seems to be on the very brink of being named to crew of the Space Adventures  organised Soyuz MS-20 flight, due to launch to the ISS next December!

But, with around 30,000 views of this Blog, in the last two years, the most popular question, in various forms, has been, “Who would pay $40-$50 million to send this woman into Space, and why?”

For three years, there has been no easy answer to that question.

However, in December 2020, a number of sources, connected to the ‘Die Astronautin’ project, recalled that in 2017 another ‘German Citizen in Space’ project emerged briefly. One report, from a source very closely associated to ‘Die Astronautin’ indicated that they understood this project was about to reappear. Further investigations indicated that this ‘German Citizen in Space’ project emerged in Berlin, and then vanished, at exactly the same time that Maislinger was starting to talk about her plans, and her sponsor, before she also vanished.

So, what do we know about the ‘German Citizen in Space’, and who was behind it?

Several contacts in Germany who recalled this short-lived project, being announced in April 2017, connected it to a Berlin-based Venture Capital company, Interstellar Ventures GMBH  set up in 2016, by entrepreneur, Sebastian Straube.

This company, when launched, was reported to have access to in excess on Euro 100 million, in Venture Capital funding, through a network of VC Investors, Family Offices and Business Angels. Clearly, this organisation presents itself as having access to sufficient resources to fund a private spaceflight, at a cost of around US$50 million. But, the return they would get is more difficult to determine, apart from the publicity of being the innovators who funded the first ever private orbital Spaceflight? Or perhaps, one of Straube's wealthy associates simply wants to help Maislinger fulfill her seemingly impossible dream, and generate substantial 'bragging rights', in the process?

Clearly, when faced with such clues, and circumstantial evidence, that Interstellar Ventures and Herr Straube had the opportunity, timing, motivation and resources to back Maislinger, the most obvious step was to ask them! If there is no connection, it would be logical for them to say so.

However, they have chosen not to make any comment, whatsoever.

In pursing the Maislinger story, for three years, we have approached numerous organisations or individuals who may have been involved. There has been a clear pattern of responses. Those who are not involved say so, clearly and unambiguously. This includes such blue-chip names as Siemens, Red Bull, Airbus, Lufthansa, ESA. 

Conversely, those who are involved, Space Adventures, Aerologic (Maislinger’s employer), DHL and Maislinger herself, remain evasive and silent. At this point, it seems reasonable to add Interstellar Ventures to that list.

In October 2020, just as negotiations and contracts would have been reaching a critical stage, a new company, Interstellar Ventures LLC,  was registered in the US state of Delaware. Coincidence?

So, whilst we cannot say with absolute certainty that Interstellar Ventures and Sebastian Straube are facilitating Maislinger’s funding, and her eventual launch into Space, as long as they do not distance themselves from the suggestion, they are certainly in pole position.    

In August 2020 both Space Adventures, and the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, confirmed that two clients* had signed up for the Soyuz MS-20 trip, and the clients would be named in January 2021. Conversations with personnel at Space Adventures** and Roscosmos confirmed that Maislinger was one of those two, and her name was familiar to many people at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.

However, this January deadline seems unlikely to be met, due the travel and other logistical considerations connected to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In addition, crewing plans for the two Soyuz flights due earlier in 2021 are currently in a state of flux. So, it currently seems more likely that any announcement from Space Adventures will come, no earlier than March.

Whether all parties are likely to be able to close the deal, was discussed in this earlier Blog. 

*The other client is understood to be a Japanese singer/actress, whose name we don't wish to reveal, at this stage. 

**Space Adventures are always keen to stress that they have never made any official comment about Johanna Maislinger, or any other client.