What on Earth is a TSA?

When we think about the space industry, we typically think about big rockets taking brave astronauts or large satellites into orbit. Most of the time we imagine these launches happening in the United States. The US is a world leader for space technology, and home to many of the largest and most successful launching companies in the world, including SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Rocket Lab, Virgin Galactic as well as a range of emerging businesses including Blue Origin, Firefly and Astra. In most cases, these businesses set themselves up in the US and then never leave. They launch from the US and their customers – whether they be governments, satellite owners or militaries – have to take their payloads to the US to be launched. But the big question is why?