For the second week in a row, Paris is presenting itself as the center of the space industry. Europe’s premier space business conference opened Monday, following a government-sponsored gathering last week where European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen touted the continent’s potential, corporate executives announced deals and French President Emmanuel Macron chatted with a French astronaut on the International Space Station. Missing from Macron’s summit were some prominent U.S. companies, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
The French government took a thinly veiled snipe at U.S. President Donald Trump by drawing a direct line between their absence and what it called “rumors of pressure” from his administration to sit out the event.
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