US pet industry spending

As America has launched more rockets into space, it has also spent more money on its pets, a correlation that suggests either that space travel makes people sentimental about the animals they leave behind or that the same economy that can afford to put satellites in orbit can also afford organic dog food. The correlation is 0.961 across eighteen years, during which both trends climbed with the steady confidence of expenditure categories that have no intention of coming back down. The pets remain on the ground. The rockets do not.

Commercial space launches grew from a handful per year to over 80 by 2022, driven primarily by SpaceX and the commercialization of orbital access. US pet industry spending grew from about 36 billion dollars to over 136 billion during the same period, fueled by pet humanization, premium products, veterinary advances, and the simple demographic fact that more Americans own more pets and spend more per pet than at any previous point in history. Both trends are expressions of American affluence and technological ambition: we have enough money to launch rockets and enough affection to spoil our dogs, and the economy that enables both does not require us to choose between them.

Eighteen years of rockets and pet spending rising together is a portrait of a wealthy society with room in its budget for both ambition and affection. The launches add satellites to the sky, the pet industry adds products to the shelf, and neither trend has any reason to slow down. The dogs, for what it is worth, do not care about orbit. They care about treats.