Space industry responds to protests against racism, police brutality

Driving the news: Blue Origin, Axiom Space, Virgin Orbit and others released public statements.

• The Planetary Society's statement commits the organization to fight racism and find concrete ways to make its portion of the industry more inclusive and diverse.
• For All Moonkind, a nonprofit, is sponsoring a "Race in Space" webinar on June 18 to bring the conversation about race in the industry to a wide audience.
• Phase Four — a company focusing on building a new kind of thruster — put out a statement explicitly in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and donated to ACCE Action as well.

Yes, but: It's not yet clear whether these statements of support will translate into specific action focused on bringing more diversity to the industry.

• 87.5% of aerospace industry workers identify as white and 5.6% identify as black or African American, according to 2019 numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.