Podcasts about Space Shuttle

In der heutigen Ausgabe vom BrickCast sprechen wir über eine Lampe, ein Spaceshuttle, einen Balrog, die Simpsons und einen ganz kleinen Turbo Tank.

Dinner chat on the space station, landing in the Shuttle and flying with William Shatner! Hosts Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham chat to NASA astronaut Nicole Stott about painting in space and whether we should send politicians into orbit! They also visit Space Shuttle Discovery in Washington to meet curator Jennifer Levassuer, Sue talks to Blue Origin astronaut Chris Boshuizen who pioneered phones in space, and the proposed NASA budget and what that means for Europe goes under the microscope...Contact us @spaceboffins and podcast@spaceboffins.com Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Dinner chat on the space station, landing in the Shuttle and flying with William Shatner! Hosts Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham chat to NASA astronaut Nicole Stott about painting in space and whether we should send politicians into orbit! They also visit Space Shuttle Discovery in Washington to meet curator Jennifer Levassuer, Sue talks to Blue Origin astronaut Chris Boshuizen who pioneered phones in space, and the proposed NASA budget and what that means for Europe goes under the microscope...Contact us @spaceboffins and podcast@spaceboffins.com Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Get ready to embark on a journey through aviation history as the LEGO Group announces the new LEGO Icons Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. This is a must-have for aerospace enthusiasts and LEGO® fans alike! The stunning new set allows you recreate the iconic Boeing™ 747™ and NASA Space Shuttle Enterprise, the dynamic duo that played a crucial role in shaping the future of space travel. Savor every moment, as you bring this iconic tribute to innovation and exploration to life, piece by piece.The LEGO Icons Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is available for LEGO Insiders from 15th May 2025 at www.LEGO.com/Shuttle and LEGO Stores for all from 18th May 2025 priced at €229.99/ £199.99/ $229.99.Enjoying the show...give us a like and comment on all platforms. Help us make the LEGO world available to all!Find us everywhere through LinkTreeMusic: www.bensound.comLEGO, the LEGO logo, the Minifigure, and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Group of Companies. ©2025 The LEGO Group.THE BRICKS KING PODCAST IS NOT ENDORSED BY THE LEGO GROUP OR AFFILIATED IN ANY WAY.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-bricks-king-podcast-lego--4920139/support.

Can your mind be hacked? In this gripping episode of the Azizi Podcast, Samir Azizi sits down with cybersecurity veteran John Caballero – an expert with over two decades of experience securing IT/OT infrastructures and educating Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and even the Department of Defense. This conversation goes beyond firewalls and phishing—it dives deep into the human factor and the psychology behind modern cyber threats.

A French astronaut who has been to space three times on board the Space Shuttle has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the US's aim to put a man on the Moon once again. The Artemis programme is well underway, with the aim of going to the Moon this side of 2027, for the first time since 1972. Jean-François Clervoy is involved in the mission himself: he is a Venturi Space ambassador. The company is working with NASA on some of the technology required for the programme. He spoke to us in Perspective.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) was created in 1984 by six Mercury 7 astronauts. Since then astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs have pursued the mission to encourage university students pursuing scientific excellence. The prestigious Astronaut Scholarship is known nationwide for being among the largest merit-based monetary scholarships awarded to undergraduate STEM juniors and seniors. ASF has a life-long relationship with each Astronaut Scholar and provides them with mentors, professional and personal development and networking with astronauts. Former NASA Astronaut Christopher Ferguson joins us to talk about the power of mentorship along with his mentee Vikas Patel. You can read more about the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation on their website. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on LinkedIn and Instagram. T-Minus Crew Survey We want to hear from you! Please complete our 4 question survey. It'll help us get better and deliver you the most mission-critical space intel every day. Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here's our media kit. Contact us at space@n2k.com to request more info. Want to join us for an interview? Please send your pitch to space-editor@n2k.com and include your name, affiliation, and topic proposal. T-Minus is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1984, Sally Ride kept a promise onboard the Space Shuttle. We'll be back on Friday with the April Newsletter, on the 28th with our Film Festival extravaganza and on May 5th with our season finale! Pick up your copy of FLORIDA! right here! Thank you to Chelsea Rice for her incredible design of our logo! Follow Chelsea on Instagram here!   Watch the full interview with Sally Ride here!   All of the music was originally composed.

Carl Walz is an astronaut, a pioneer of space exploration, and a proud Clevelander! As an astronaut, Carl is a veteran of four spaceflights, logging a total of 231 days in outer space and performing three spacewalks during that time.A physicist by training, with degrees from Kent State and John Carroll University, Carl made his way to NASA via the Air Force, where he served as a flight test engineer and managed all engineering activities related to F-16 avionics and armaments.At NASA, he was a mission specialist on STS-51 in 1993, an orbiter flight engineer on STS-65 in 1994, a mission specialist on STS-79 in 1996, and ultimately served 196 days in space as a flight engineer on ISS Expedition Four from 2001 to 2002.His expansive career at NASA includes missions aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). Most notably, Carl served as a flight engineer for ISS Expedition Four, living and working in space for 196 consecutive days. Later, as Director for the Advanced Capabilities Division at NASA Headquarters, Carl led critical programs involving Human Research, Technology Development, and Lunar Robotic Exploration.To say this was an awesome conversation would be the understatement of Lay of The Land…Our conversation explored his rigorous journey to becoming an astronaut, the profound experience of living and working in space, the awe-inspiring perspective gained from orbit, and the unique challenges of transitioning back to life on Earth. We also discussed his role in shaping the future of private sector space exploration (Oceaneering, Orbital ATK), international collaboration in space missions, and even his time performing with the only astronaut band in history!00:00:00 - Introduction to Carl Walz and His Journey  00:05:39 - The Path to Becoming an Astronaut  00:07:49 - The Ohio Astronaut Legacy  00:10:07 - Experiences in Space Missions  00:12:37 - The Awe of Spacewalks  00:14:58 - Life on the International Space Station  00:17:33 - Scientific Experiments in Space  00:19:46 - Dealing with Adversity in Space  00:21:41 - The Fulfillment of Space Exploration  00:23:56 - Transitioning Back to Earth and the Private Sector  00:30:55 - Navigating the Challenges of Spacecraft Development  00:35:09 - The Evolution of Public-Private Partnerships in Space  00:38:36 - The Future of Space Exploration: Mars and Beyond  00:43:59 - Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life and UFOs  00:45:40 - The Unique Experience of an Astronaut Band  00:50:38 - Hidden Gem-----LINKS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/carl-walz-21b4579/https://www.oceaneering.com/-----SPONSOR:Roundstone InsuranceRoundstone Insurance is proud to sponsor Lay of The Land. Founder and CEO, Michael Schroeder, has committed full-year support for the podcast, recognizing its alignment with the company's passion for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community leadership.Headquartered in Rocky River, Ohio, Roundstone was founded in 2005 with a vision to deliver better healthcare outcomes at a more affordable cost. To bring that vision to life, the company pioneered the group medical captive model — a self-funded health insurance solution that provides small and mid-sized businesses with greater control and significant savings.Over the past two decades, Roundstone has grown rapidly, creating nearly 200 jobs in Northeast Ohio. The company works closely with employers and benefits advisors to navigate the complexities of commercial health insurance and build custom plans that prioritize employee well-being over shareholder returns. By focusing on aligned incentives and better health outcomes, Roundstone is helping businesses save thousands in Per Employee Per Year healthcare costs.Roundstone Insurance — Built for entrepreneurs. Backed by innovation. Committed to Cleveland.-----Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and over 200 other Cleveland Entrepreneurs.Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayofthelandhttps://www.jeffreys.page/

Returning guest Steve Matier, CEO of Maritime Launch Services, joins the podcast to share the latest developments in the rapidly growing satellite industry and how Maritime Launch is shaping the future of commercial spaceflight. As the first commercial spaceport in Nova Scotia, Maritime Launch is poised to provide critical access to orbit for satellite companies worldwide. Steve discusses the increasing demand for launch capabilities, the challenges of global launch site logistics, and how Maritime Launch stands apart. With a prime location on the 45th parallel, a deep-sea port, and a strong regional infrastructure, the site offers unparalleled access to key orbital inclinations. He also explains the significance of the newly signed Canada-U.S. Technology Safeguards Agreement, which enables American launch vehicles and payloads to operate from Canadian soil, opening vast market opportunities. Beyond launching rockets, Maritime Launch is diversifying its operations with suborbital testing, data downlink ground stations, and satellite processing facilities. Steve provides a behind-the-scenes look at their innovative leasing model for multiple launch providers, ensuring a flexible and efficient solution for companies seeking reliable and frequent launch opportunities. About Steve Matier & Maritime Launch Services Stephen Matier, President and CEO of Maritime Launch Services, is the visionary and driving force behind the development of Spaceport Nova Scotia, a world-class commercial space complex that will launch Canada into the global space industry. A mechanical engineer (Bachelor of Science, University of New Mexico, 1989) and an award-winning former NASA contractor engineering manager (NASA White Sands Test Facility), Matier is leading coordination and approval among provincial, federal, and international governing bodies, securing private financing, leading satellite sales, coordinating launch vehicle integration, and selecting best-in-class commercial firms to support launch operations at Maritime Launch. As part of Steve's work with Maritime Launch, he is driving the collaboration and partnerships that will support the development of a safe and environmentally sustainable commercial space launch market in Canada. With satellite and launch vehicle clients within Canada and around the globe interested in launching from Spaceport Nova Scotia, Maritime Launch is joining a global industry that will exceed one trillion dollars annually within the next 20 years. While Steve's day-to-day focus is squarely on developing Canada's first commercial spaceport, his interest in space extends beyond the technology and the launch itself. Steve has a passion for teaching, which means he is never far from the classroom—whether guest lecturing at a local high school physics class in Canso or presenting to kids at summer programs in Antigonish. He has driven partnerships with St. Francis Xavier University and Cape Breton University and is a supporter of Dalhousie's cubesat program. His passion for working with schools began in his early career in the Space Shuttle program, recognizing that kids can look up into space and see opportunity for themselves on the ground. Steve is a recipient of the prestigious Silver Snoopy Award, an honor in recognition of outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success. His leadership in Canada's space sector continues to create new opportunities for commercial space access and international collaboration. Connect with Maritime Launch Services Visit MaritimeLaunch.com for updates and developments. Follow Maritime Launch on LinkedIn and X for real-time insights. Stay tuned for upcoming launches and new partnerships as Maritime Launch prepares for its first orbital mission in 2026. This episode is a must-listen for space industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and anyone curious about the evolving landscape of commercial spaceflight.  

In der heutigen Ausgabe vom BrickCast sprechen wir über Klone, Dalmatiner, Hogsmeade, ein Space Shuttle und Sherlock Holmes.

BastiMasti und anredo haben ihre Koffer wieder ausgepackt, die letzten Jetlag-Reste abgeschüttelt und liefern euch endlich die finalen Reiseberichte. Während der eine seinen Rückflug verpasst hat, erlebte der andere kulinarische Herausforderungen. Ex-Internetstar anredo ist back from America, zurück von seinem abenteuerlichen Männer-Roadtrip. Auf dem Weg nach Las Vegas fühlte er sich wie Lightning McQueen, nur ohne das Happy End. Stattdessen gab es ein kaputtes Auto, Creamy Cola und die überraschende Erkenntnis, dass sein Vater beim Topgolf mehr drauf hat als Stefan Raab. BastiMasti hat derweil Südkorea erkundet und dabei eine Toilette entdeckt, die mehr Funktionen hat als ein Spaceshuttle. Leider konnte sie ihn nicht vor einem kulinarischen Fehltritt retten, der ihn bis heute verfolgt. Aber das war noch nicht alles: Basti hat sich Botox spritzen lassen und sieht jetzt aus wie eine Mischung aus Harald Glööckler und der Katzenfrau. Neben den Reiseberichten stellen sich die beiden auch den wirklich großen Fragen: Reist die Seele wirklich langsamer? Oder sitzt sie möglicherweise in Abschiebehaft? Und wer hat eigentlich den Titel "Greatest Hoe of America" verliehen bekommen? Eine Jubiläumsfolge voller Chaos, Pannen und absurder Geschichten.

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Dr. Jennifer Levasseur, the Space Shuttle and International Space Station curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, joins us for a walkaround Space Shuttle Discovery in her home at the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center. Jennifer tells us all about caring for objects as big as a Space Shuttle and as personal as the watches the astronauts wore to space. Join us for an out of this world episode! (Yes, I went there)-----------------------------------------------------

This week on The Futurists retired-NASA astronaut and pilot of the Space Shuttle, is a former F14 fighter pilot, a test pilot, an engineer, and a veteran of four space flights. Kelly commanded the International Space Station (ISS) on three expeditions and was a member of the year long mission to the ISS. In October 2015, he set the record for the total accumulated number of days spent in space, the single longest space mission by an American astronaut at that time. Host Brett King gets into what he misses about life on station and what Mars crews are likely to face when they land on Mars, along with why we should go to Mars. This is one of our best episodes yet!

In his famous 1962 address to Rice University, President Kennedy declared,We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard . . .The current administration has chosen, among other things, to go to Mars. Some, Elon Musk included, are looking for a backup planet to Earth. For others, like Robert Zubrin, Mars is an opportunity for scientific discovery, pure challenge, and a revitalized human civilization.Today on Faster, Please — The Podcast, Zubrin and I discuss how to reorient NASA, what our earliest Mars missions can and should look like, and why we should go to Mars at all.Zubrin is the president of aerospace R&D company Pioneer Astronautics, as well as the founder and president of the Mars Society. He was also formerly a staff engineer at Lockheed Martin. He has authored over 200 published papers and is the author of seven books, including the most recent, The New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet.For more, check out Zubrin's article in The New Atlantis, “The Mars Dream is Back — Here's How to Make It Actually Happen.”In This Episode* Colonization vs. exploration (1:38)* A purpose-driven mission (5:01)* Cultural diversity on Mars (12:07)* An alternative to the SpaceX strategy (16:02)* Artemis program reform (20:42)* The myth of an independent Mars (24:17)* Our current timeline (27:21)Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. Colonization vs. exploration (1:38)I do think that it is important that the first human mission to ours be a round-trip mission. I want to have those people back, not just because it's nice to have them back, but I want to hear from them. I want to get the full report.Pethokoukis: Just before we started chatting, I went and I checked an online prediction market — one I check for various things, the Metaculus online prediction market — and the consensus forecast from all the people in that community for when will the first humans land successfully on Mars was October 2042. Does that sound realistic, too soon, or should it be much further away?I think it is potentially realistic, but I think we could beat it. Right now we have a chance to get a Humans to Mars program launched. This current administration has announced that they intend to do so. They're making a claim they're going to land people on Mars in 2028. I do not think that is realistic, but I do believe that it is realistic for them to get the program well started and, if it is handled correctly — and we'll have to talk a lot more about that in this talk — that we could potentially land humans on Mars circa 2033.When I gave you that prediction and then you mentioned the 2020s goal, those are about landing on Mars. Should we assume when people say, “We're going to land on Mars,” they also mean people returning from Mars or are they talking about one-way trips?Musk has frequently talked about a colonization effort, and colonization is a one-way trip, but I don't think that's in the cards for 2028 or 2033. I think what is in the cards for this time period on our immediate horizon is exploration missions. I do think that we could potentially have a one-way mission with robots in 2028. That would take a lot of work and it's a bit optimistic, but I think it could be done with determination, and I think that should be done, actually.To be clear, when people are talking about the first human mission to Mars, the assumption is it's not a one way trip for that astronaut, or those two astronauts, that we intend on bringing them back. Maybe the answer is obvious, but I'm not sure it's obvious to me.From time to time, people have proposed scenarios where the first human mission to Mars is a one-way mission, you send maybe not two but five people. Then two years later you send five more people, and then you send 10 people, and then you send 20 people, and you build it up. In other words, it's not a one-way mission in the sense of you're going to be left there and your food will then run out and you will die. No, I don't think that is a credible or attractive mission plan, but the idea that you're going to go with a few people and then reinforce them and grow it into a base, and then a settlement. That is something that can be reasonably argued. But I still think even that is a bit premature. I do think that it is important that the first human mission to ours be a round-trip mission. I want to have those people back, not just because it's nice to have them back, but I want to hear from them. I want to get the full report.A purpose-driven mission (5:01)In the purpose-driven mode, the purpose comes first, you spend money to do things. In the vendor-driven mode, you do things in order to spend money. And we've seen both of these.So should we just default to [the idea] that this mission will be done with government funding on SpaceX rockets, and this will be a SpaceX trip? That's by far the most likely scenario? This is going to need to be a public-private partnership. SpaceX is rapidly developing the single most important element of the technology, but it's not all the technology. We need surface systems. We need the system for making rocket fuel on Mars because the SpaceX mission architecture is the one that I outlined in my book, The Case for Mars, where you make your return propellant on Mars: You take carbon dioxide and water, which are both available on Mars, and turn them into methane and oxygen, which is an excellent rocket fuel combination and which, in fact, is the rocket fuel combination that the Starship uses for that reason. So that's the plan, but you need the system that makes itWe're going to need surface power, which really should be a nuclear power source and which is difficult to develop outside of the government because we're talking about controlled material. Space nuclear reactors will need to use highly enriched uranium, so it should be a partnership between NASA and SpaceX, but we're going to have to reform NASA if this is going to work. I think, though, that this mission could be the vehicle by which we reform NASA. That is, that NASA Artemis moon program, for example, is an example of how not to do something.That's the current government plan to get us back to the moon.Right. But you see, NASA has two distinct modes of operation, and one I call the purpose-driven mode and the other is the vendor-driven mode. In the purpose-driven mode, the purpose comes first, you spend money to do things. In the vendor-driven mode, you do things in order to spend money. And we've seen both of these. To be fair, there's been times when NASA has operated with extreme efficiency to accomplish great things in very short amounts of time, of which, of course, the Apollo Program is the most well-known example where we got to the moon and eight years from program start. The difference between Apollo and Artemis was it wasn't human nature — and there were plenty of greedy people in the 1960s that, when the government's spending money, they want a piece of the action, they were all there.There's no shortage of people who, when you've got a lot of money to spend, are willing to show up and say, “Hi, you got a great idea, but you can't do it until you fund me.” And there were plenty of them then, but they were shown the door because it was clear that if we did all these side projects that people were trying to claim were necessary (“you can't do your program until you do my program”) we would not make it to the moon by 1969. So actually, the forcing function was the schedule. That's what forced the nonsense out of the room.Artemis, on the other hand, has been undertaken as a project whose leadership thought that they could secure a lot of support for the program if they gave a lot of people money. So Artemis has five different flight systems which are incompatible with each other. It's a ridiculous program. That's not the way to do things. We have to have a program leadership which is committed to humans-to-Mars not as a way to get pet technology programs funded, or pet constituencies funded, or pet vendors funded, or any of that stuff. It's got to be: the mission comes first. And if you have that kind of emphasis on this, this can be done and it can be the way to reform NASA.I liken NASA today to a peacetime military, but then it gets thrown into battle, and you get rid of your McClellans and you bring in your Grants. In other words, you have a certain period of chaos and disorganization because you've got deadwood running the place, but under the stress of actually beginning a decisive mission and not being tolerant of anything less than real performance, you actually get the army you need.So that sounds like that's a presidential decision, to give that agency a very specific goal, and perhaps a timeline, to create that kind of purpose-driven culture.Yes. Now that's one necessity. There's another necessity as well, which is that the conceptual base of this program, the political base, if you will, which is derived from its intellectual base, has got to be expanded. This cannot be seen as a Trump-Musk boondoggle because Trump and Musk have both defined themselves in extremely partisan terms, and if this is seen as their program and not America's program, it will be gone as soon as the political fortunes of war shift, which they always do. Musk has this concept that he's been promoting, which is the reason why we have to go to Mars is so that there'll be survivors on Mars after the Earth is destroyed, and I don't think this is particularly —You don't find that a compelling reason, given that there's not currently an obvious threat of us being destroyed, to run a program that could necessarily exist over multiple administrations and be quite expensive.That idea is derived from Isaac Asimov's Foundation novel: The scientists go to the planet Terminus so they can reestablish civilization after the Galactic Empire collapsed. It may please science-fiction fans, but I don't think it's attractive to the general public, and also, frankly, I don't think it's practical. I don't think a Mars colony could have a million people on Mars that will survive as an autarchy. There's no nation on earth that survives as an autarchy. The ones that try are extremely poor as a result for trying.The correct reason to go to Mars is, immediately, for the science, to find out the truth about the prevalence of diversity of life in the universe; for the challenge, to challenge our youth, learn your science and you can be an explorer and maker of new worlds; and for the future, but for the future, it's not for a few survivors to be hiding away after the earth is destroyed, it's to create a new branch, or perhaps several new branches, of human civilization which will add their creative inventiveness to human progress as a whole, as America did for Western civilization. By establishing America, you had a new branch of Western civilization which experimented in everything from democracy to light bulbs and airplanes and greatly enhanced human progress as a result.And the Martians, you are going to have a group of technologically adept people in a frontier environment that's going to challenge them. They're going to come up with lots of inventions that they need for their own progress, but which will benefit human as a whole. And that is why you should colonize Mars.Cultural diversity on Mars (12:07)I believe that there will . . . be many colonies on Mars established by different people with different ideas on what the ideal civilization should be, and the ones with the best ideas will attract the most immigrants and therefore outgrow the rest.It very much reminds me of the scenario laid out in The Expanse book and TV series where mankind has spread throughout the solar system. They're all branches of human civilization, but being out there has changed people, and Mars is different than Earth. Mars has a different society. The culture is different. I think that's a very interesting reason that I had not heard Elon Musk discuss.I have a book called The New World on Mars, which you might want to check out because I discuss this very thing. I believe that there will, once it's possible to colonize Mars, there'll be many colonies on Mars established by different people with different ideas on what the ideal civilization should be, and the ones with the best ideas will attract the most immigrants and therefore outgrow the rest. So, for example, the one thing I disagree with about The Expanse is they have this militaristic Spartan civilization on Mars.There's just one sort of universal culture.Yeah, and I don't think that that civilization would attract many immigrants. The reason why the American North outgrew the South is because the North was free. That's why all the immigrants went to the North. That's why the North won the Civil War, actually. It had a larger population of more industry because all the immigrants went there and became far more creative. This is a very good thing, that the form of civilization that ultimately prevails on Mars will be one, I think, that will offer human freedom and be the most attractive in as many other respects as possible. That's why it will prevail, because it will attract immigrants.But I want to get back to this program. If it is possible not to land humans on Mars in 2028, but to land — if you can land Starship on Mars, you can land not a robot, but a robotic expedition.Starship, Musk claims it could land 100 tons on Mars. Let's say it could land 30. That's 30 times as much as we can currently land. The JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)-led Mars science community, they're still thinking about Mars exploration in the terms it's been done since the '60s, which is single spacecraft on single rockets. Imagine you can now land an entire expedition. You land 30 rovers on Mars along with 30 helicopters that are well instrumented and a well instrumented science lab in it. So now you are bringing not only heavy lift, but heavy lander capability to the Mars science program, and now you have a robotic expedition on Mars. For every instrument that made it onto perseverance, there were 10 that were proposed because they could only take six, and like 100 teams wanted to get their instruments on the rover. So imagine now we can actually land 30 rovers and 30 helicopters, not little ones like Ingenuity, but ones that can carry five or six instruments each themselves.So now you have 100 science teams, you've got life-detection experiments, you've got ground penetrating radar, you've got all sorts of things that we haven't done on Mars all being done. You're expanding Mars science by two orders of magnitude by bringing into existence the kind of transportation capability that is necessary to enable humans to Mars. So now you bring on board the science community and the science-interested public, which includes all parts of the political spectrum, but frankly it leans somewhat left, overall — university scientists, people like this.So now this isn't just about Elon Musk, the Bond villain. This is about what we as America and we as a culture which is committed to pushing the boundaries of science. This is what we are doing. It's not what SpaceX is doing, it's not what Musk is doing, it's not what Trump is doing, it's what America is doing, and celebrating the highest values of Western civilization, which is the search for truth.An alternative to the SpaceX strategy (16:02)Starship plus Starboat is the flight hardware combination that can do both the moon and Mars.That said — and we're talking about this being a public-private partnership —should we just default into thinking that the private part is SpaceX?Well, SpaceX is one part of it. There's no question, to me anyway —There's other companies that are building rockets, there's other rocket companies, maybe they aren't talking about Mars, but Blue Origin's building rockets.I think it should be fairly competed, but SpaceX is well ahead of anyone else in terms of a booster capability. That said, I think that the mission architecture that Musk has proposed, while workable, is not optimal, that there needs to be another vehicle here. He's got the Starship, I want to have a Starboat. I've written an article about this, which was just published in The New Atlantis.Basically, the problem with Musk's architecture is that the direct return from Mars using a Starship, which is a 100-ton vehicle, would require manufacturing 600 tons of methane oxygen on the surface of Mars, and if that's to be done in a reasonable amount of time, requires 600 kilowatts, which is about 13 football fields of solar panels, which means we're not doing it with solar panels, which means it has to be done with a nuke, and that then adds a lot to the development.If we had a Starboat, which is something 10 to 20 percent the size of Starship, but it would go from Mars orbit to the surface and we refuel it, and then it is what takes the crew down to the surface — although the crew could go one way to the surface in a Starship, that's okay, but whether they go down in a Starship or down in a Starboat, they come up in a Starboat, and now you're reducing the propellant requirement by an order of magnitude. It makes this whole thing work much better. And furthermore, Starship plus Starboat also enables the moon.We've forgotten about the moon in this conversation.Starship plus Starboat is the flight hardware combination that can do both the moon and Mars. If you take the Starship version of the Artemis thing, it takes 10 to 14 Starship launches to land a single crew on Mars refueling Starship on orbit, then refueling it in lunar orbit, and with tankers that have to be refueled in earth orbit, and doing all this, it's crazy. But if you positioned one Starship tanker in lunar orbit and then used that to refuel Starboats going up and down, you could do many missions to the lunar surface from a single Starship positioned in lunar orbit. Once again, Starship is suboptimal as an ascent vehicle to come back from the moon or Mars because it's so heavy. It's a hundred tons. The lunar excursion module we used in Apollo was two tons. So we make the Starboat — Starship plus Starboat gives you both the moon and Mars.Here's the thing: With rockets, you measure propulsion requirements in units we call delta V, velocity changes. That's what rockets actually do, they change your velocity, they accelerate you, they decelerate you. To go down from lunar orbit to the lunar surface is two kilometers a second. Delta V to come back up is two kilometers a second. Roundtrip is four. To go down from Mars orbit to the Martian surface is practically nothing because there's an atmosphere that'll slow you down without using your rocket. To come up is four. So the round trip on Mars and the round trip from orbit to the surface on the moon are the same, and therefore the same combination of the Starship plus the Starboat as a landing craft and, in particular, ascent vehicle (because ascent is where small is beautiful), this will give us both. So we don't have to wreck the moon program in order to do Mars. On the contrary, we can rationalize it.I mentioned one group of potential enemies this program has been the anti-Musk Democrats. The other group of enemies that this program has are the moon people who are very upset that their moon program is about to be wrecked because Musk says the moon is a diversion. Now, if it was a choice between the moon and Mars, then I would choose Mars. But we can do both. We can do both and without it being a diversion, because we can do both with the same ships.Artemis program reform (20:42)SLS was worth a lot in its time, but its time was the '90s, not now.There's been some talk about canceling — I'm not sure how serious it is — the Artemis program. If we want the next person on the moon to be an American rather than a Chinese, do we need to keep Artemis to make sure that happens?We need to reform Artemis and this is the way to do it: Starship plus Starboat will give you the moon.Aren't we under a time constraint, given that if we are competing and if we think for whatever national pride reasons we want the next person on the moon to be an American, do we just kind of have to continue with the Artemis program as sort of a wasteful boondoggle as it is?No, because there are things in the Artemis program that don't even make any sense whatsoever, like the lunar orbit gateway, which is simply not necessary. The SLS (Space Launch System) as a launch vehicle is not necessary now that we have Starship. SLS made a lot of sense when it was first proposed in the late 1980s under a different name. I happen to know that because, as a young engineer, I was on the design team that did the preliminary design for what we now call SLS at Martin Marietta in 1988. And it was really just a simplification of the Space Shuttle, and if it had been developed in flying by the mid-'90s, as was entirely reasonable, it could have had a great role in giving us massively improved space capabilities over the past quarter-century. But they let this thing go so slowly that by the time it has appeared, it's obsolescent, and it's as if someone had stalled the development of the P-51 fighter plane so it wasn't available during World War I, but it's just showing up now in a world of jet fighters — this is worthless. Well, it was worth a lot in its time. SLS was worth a lot in its time, but its time was the '90s, not now.Orion doesn't really make that much sense, and the National Team lander would make sense if it was modified to be Starboat. What happened was NASA gave the contract to SpaceX to use Starship as a lunar lander, and it can be, but it's suboptimal. In any case, the National Team, which was Lockheed, and Boeing, and Blue Origin, they complained, but basically their complaint was, “We want a contract too or we won't be your friends.” And so they had sufficient political heft to get themselves a contract. The least NASA could have done is insist that the lander they were getting a contract for run on methane-oxygen, the same propellant as Starship, so Starship could service it as a tanker. Instead, they let them do their own thing and they've got a hydrogen-oxygen rocket, which makes no sense! It's like someone going to the Air Force and proposing a fighter plane that runs on propane and saying, “Well, I can make a fighter run on propane, but my tankers use jet fuel.” Air Force, being sensible, insists that all their planes run on the same fuels. They don't just let someone come along and use whatever fuel they like. So the National Team contract should be changed to a Starboat contract, and the requirements should be interoperability with Starship.The myth of an independent Mars (24:17)We go to Mars not out of despair, we go to Mars out of hope, and by establishing new branches of human civilization, they'll be able to do all sorts of things.As we finish up, I just want to quickly jump back to something you mentioned earlier about autarchy. Do you think it's possible to have a thriving, successful, sustainable Mars colony that's on its own?No. I don't think it's possible to have a thriving, successful nation on earth that's on its own. This is why I think Trump's trade war is a big mistake. It will damage our economy. Now, obviously, we can survive a trade war better than a Mars —That's what Musk is also suggesting in its whole light of consciousness that we need to be able to establish sustainable, permanent colonies elsewhere that can be just fine without a relationship with Earth.I think that's incorrect, and as you know, since you are an expert in economics, it's nonsensical. I don't think a colony of one million people would have the division of labor to build anything like an iPhone or even an iPhone battery if you think of the complexity of what is involved.There's this famous essay, “I, Pencil,” which I'm sure you're acquainted with. An economist went through all the different things that went into —Yes, Milton Friedman used that example famously. I think I get your point.iPhones are more complex than pencils. I mean, you probably could build a pencil with a million-person city, but we need to build things more complicated than that. But that's not the point here, that's not why we're going on. And I object to this. It's the Masque of the Red Death theory of how you're going to survive a plague: We'll have our castle and we can go into it and we'll be fine. No, it's extremely unattractive and it's false. The people in that castle in the Masque of the Red Death, the Edgar Allen Poe story, did not survive the plague, and it's not why we should go to Mars. We go to Mars not out of despair, we go to Mars out of hope, and by establishing new branches of human civilization, they'll be able to do all sorts of things.America developed steamboats because we needed inland transportation because the only highways we had were rivers, and so forth, and so we've been an engine of invention. Mars is going to be an engine of invention. Mars is going to want to have not just nuclear reactors, but breeder reactors, and they're going to want to have fusion power because deuterium is five times as common on Mars as it is on earth, and they're going to be electrolyzing water all the time as part of their life-support system, which means releasing hydrogen, making deuterium separation very cheap, and one could go down this kind of thing. There's all sorts of things that a Martian civilization would develop, to say nothing of the fact that a spacefaring civilization will have the capability to divert asteroids so that they don't impact the earth. So that's why we're going to Mars. We increase the creative capacity of humanity to deal with all challenges raging from asteroid impacts to epidemics.Our current timeline (27:21). . . if you have your first humans on Mars in early 2030s, I think we can have a permanent Mars base by the end of that decade . . .So let me just finish up with this, and I think as far as a justification for going to Mars, that's about the most persuasive I know, and maybe I'm an easy audience, but I'm persuaded.Let's set aside just putting an astronaut or a few astronauts on the moon and bringing them home, and let's set aside the permanent, sustainable, solo, doesn't-need-Earth colony. Just as far as having a sort of a permanent outpost, what do you think is the reasonable timeframe, both technologically and given the politics?I do think, if we do what I am arguing for, which is to make it the mission of this administration to not only just land a Starship on Mars, but land a Starship on Mars bringing a massive robotic expedition to Mars, and then following that up with several more robotic landings to Mars that prepare a base, set up the power system, et cetera, then yes, I think landing the first humans on Mars in 2033 is entirely reasonable. What the Trump administration needs to do is get this program going to the point where people look at this and say, “This is working, this is going to be great, it's already great, let's follow through.”And then, if you have your first humans on Mars in early 2030s, I think we can have a permanent Mars base by the end of that decade, by 2040, a base with 20–30 people on it. A human expedition to Mars doesn't need to grow food. You can just bring your food for a two-year expedition, and you should. You establish a base of 10 or 20 to 30, 50 people, you want to set up greenhouses, you want to be growing food. Then you start developing the technologies to make things like glass, plastic, steel, aluminum on Mars so you can build greenhouses on Mars, and you start establishing an agricultural base, and now you can support 500 people on Mars, and then now the amount of things you can do on Mars greatly expands, and as you build up your industrial and agricultural base, and of course your technologies for actually implementing things on Mars become ever more advanced, now it becomes possible to start thinking about establishing colonies.So that's another thing. Musk's idea that we're going to colonize Mars by landing 1,000 Starships on Mars, each with a hundred people, and now you've got a hundred thousand people on Mars, kind of like D-Day, we landed 130,000 men on the Normandy Beach on D-Day, and then another 100,000 the next day, and so forth. You could do that because you had Liberty Ships that could cross the English Channel in six hours with 10,000 tons of cargo each. The Starship takes eight months to get to Mars, or six, and it takes a 100 tons. You can't supply Mars from Earth. You have to supply Mars from Mars, beyond very small numbers, and that means that the colonization of Mars is not going to be like the D-Day landing, it's going to be more like the colonization of America, which started with tiny colonies, which as they developed, created the crafts and the farms, and ultimately the industries that could support, ultimately, a nation of 300 million people.On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were PromisedMicro Reads▶ Economics* Why the Fed's Job May Get a Lot More Difficult - NYT* America's Economic Exceptionalism Is on Thin Ice - Bberg Opinion* Trump Is Undermining What Made the American Economy Great - NYT Opinion* Don't Look to the Fed for the Answer to Stagflation - Bberg Opinion▶ Business* Inside Google's Two-Year Frenzy to Catch Up With OpenAI - Wired* Some Nvidia Customers Are OK With Older Chips - WSJ* SoftBank to Buy Ampere, a Silicon Valley Chip Start-Up, for $6.5 Billion - NYT* Nvidia CEO Says He Was Surprised That Publicly Held Quantum Firms Exist - Bberg* The promise of the fifth estate is being squeezed - FT* Boeing Beats Lockheed for Next-Gen US Fighter Jet Contract - Bberg▶ Policy/Politics* Six Ways to Understand DOGE and Predict Its Future Behavior - Cato* Government Science Data May Soon Be Hidden. 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Saved His Life. - NYT▶ Clean Energy/Climate* Inside a new quest to save the “doomsday glacier” - MIT* Glaciers are melting at record speed, says UN - Semafor▶ Robotics/AVs* Disney's Robotic Droids Are the Toast of Silicon Valley - WSJ* The fantasy of humanoid robots misses the point - FT▶ Space/Transportation* The ax has become an important part of the Space Force's arsenal - Ars* NASA Won't Let Starliner Die Just Yet, Even After Boeing's Space Fiasco - Gizmodo* How Warp Drives Don't Break Relativity - Universe Today▶ Up Wing/Down Wing* Japan Urgently Needs an AI Vibe Shift - Bberg Opinion* What left-wing critics don't get about abundance - Niskanen Center▶ Substacks/NewslettersWhat is Vibe Coding? - AI SupremacyFaster, Please! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. 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Astronomy Daily | Space News: S04E67In this captivating episode of Astronomy Daily, host Anna explores a variety of groundbreaking stories that highlight human ingenuity and our expanding understanding of the cosmos. From the dramatic rescue of astronauts stranded in space to innovative solutions for space debris, this episode is packed with insights that will fuel your curiosity about the universe.Highlights:- Astronauts' Dramatic Return: Join us as we discuss the successful return of NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, who spent an unexpected nine months aboard the International Space Station. Discover the implications of their rescue for future space law and the need for clear protocols as space tourism grows.- Tackling Space Debris: Learn about an innovative project led by a consortium of European companies to combat the increasing problem of space debris. With funding from the European Space Agency, this initiative involves testing an inflatable drag sail that could significantly accelerate satellite deorbiting times.- Dream Chaser's Historic Flight Preparations: Get the latest updates on Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spacecraft as it enters its final testing phase. Set to be the first vehicle to return to Earth with a runway landing since the Space Shuttle, Dream Chaser promises to revolutionize space transportation.- Groundbreaking Images of the Infant Universe: Explore the remarkable new images captured by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, providing an unprecedented look at the universe just 380,000 years after the Big Bang. These observations offer critical insights into the formation of stars and galaxies.- New Theories on the Origin of Life: Dive into an intriguing new theory from Stanford University, suggesting that micro lightning could have played a crucial role in the emergence of life on Earth. This research challenges traditional views and opens new avenues for understanding life's beginnings.- Ambitious Lunar Mining Plans: Discover the plans of Seattle-based company Interlune to prospect for helium-3 on the Moon. This valuable resource, potentially key for future nuclear fusion, could revolutionize energy production and significantly impact space exploration.For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTubeMusic, TikTok, and our new Instagram account! Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.Thank you for tuning in. This is Anna signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and stay curious about the wonders of our universe.00:00 - Welcome to Astronomy Daily01:05 - Astronauts' rescue after nine months in space07:30 - European efforts to combat space debris12:15 - Dream Chaser spacecraft testing updates18:00 - New images of the infant universe22:30 - Micro lightning and the origin of life27:00 - Lunar mining for helium-3✍️ Episode ReferencesNASA Astronaut Return Details[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov)Space Debris Initiative[European Space Agency](https://www.esa.int)Dream Chaser Information[Sierra Space](https://www.sierraspace.com)Atacama Cosmology Telescope Observations[Atacama Telescope](https://www.example.com)Interlune Lunar Mining Plans[Interlune](https://www.interlune.com)Astronomy Daily[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news--5648921/support. for commercial-free episodes.

What happens when you put Captain Kirk, a NASA astronaut, and Neil deGrasse Tyson on a ship to Antarctica? Recorded on board with William Shatner and Scott Kelly, this episode explores the thrill of discovery — from rough seas to deep space — and what it means to boldly go.This episode of StarTalk, recorded live from Drake Passage during the Space2Sea Voyage of Legends to Antarctica, is presented in collaboration with FUTURE of SPACE.https://futureofspace.io/space2sea-antarctica/Follow or Subscribe to FUTURE of SPACEhttps://futureofspace.ioAbout FUTURE of SPACE:FoS is a media company that produces innovative content, programs, and experiential events that embrace new frontiers, celebrate the human experience, and elevate the conversation, engaging audiences in meaningful and transformative ways.NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://startalkmedia.com/show/risk-is-our-business-with-william-shatner-scott-kelly/Thanks to our Patrons John Shipe, Kenneth Kapptie, Dan Lee, Mark Randolph, Steven Green, David Pearson, Marius P, Sean Kershaw, Marc Bode, Jon Pulli, Sean Wins, Bessie Comer, alextravaganza, Matt in L.A., brian oakes, Tyler Carpenter, Stephan Spelde, Seymour buttz, Jeff Burton, Micheal Chinnici, stuart kim, Kathleen Ziegelgruber, Karl ryan, Fabio Later, Lorna Leigh, Abi Cats, Anthony Charlier, Zane White, Jonathan Plumb, Matthew Hinterlong, Danny K. , Muhammad Laiq Khan Rind, Khadeer Ahmed, Kathy Ziegelgruber, Bryan Smith, Shawn Nirdlinger, empty0vessel, Ruben Suarez, Jeffrey Roche, James Williams, Jules Victor, livingston ex, and Kora Celine for supporting us this week. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of StarTalk Radio ad-free and a whole week early.Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

In this episode of the U.S. Navy History Podcast, hosts Dale and Christophe complete their exploration of the Enterprise namesake series, focusing on the last three vessels named Enterprise, particularly the space shuttle Enterprise. The discussion covers its design, history, and its role in NASA's space program. The hosts also touch upon two other futuristic Enterprise concepts and honor Coast Guard hero, Damage Controlman Third Class Nathan B. Brackenthal, for his valor and sacrifice.usnavyhistorypodcast@gmail.com@usnhistorypod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Ships Store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hero Cards⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the Grateful Nation Project — Hero Cards⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠navy-cycling.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

The space business landscape is changing. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are moving at breakneck speed toward goals Americans have dreamed of since the 1960s. At the same time, a whole host of smaller startups are arriving on the scene, ready to tackle everything from asteroid mining to next-gen satellites to improved lunar missions.Today on Faster, Please — The Podcast, I'm talking with Matt Weinzierl about what research developments and market breakthroughs are allowing these companies to thrive.Weinzierl is the senior associate dean and chair of the MBA program at Harvard Business School. He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Weinzierl is the co-author of a new book with Brendan Rosseau, Space to Grow: Unlocking the Final Economic Frontier.In This Episode* Decentralizing space (1:54)* Blue Origin vs. SpaceX (4:50)* Lowering launch costs (9:24)* Expanding space entrepreneurship (14:42)* Space sector sustainability (20:06)* The role of Artemis (22:45)* Challenges to success (25:28)Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. Decentralizing space (1:54). . . we had this amazing success in the '60s with the Apollo mission . . but it was obviously a very government-led, centralized program and that got us in the mode of thinking that's how you did space.You're telling a story about space transitioning from government-led to market-driven, but I wonder if you could just explain that point because it's not a story about privatization, it's a story about decentralization, correct?It really is, I think the most important thing for listeners to grab onto. In fact, I teach a course at Harvard Business School on this topic, and I've been teaching it now for a few years, and I say to my students, “What's the reason we're here? Why are we talking about space at HBS?” and it's precisely about what you just asked.So maybe the catchiest way to phrase this for folks, there was one of the early folks at SpaceX, Jim Cantrell, he was one of the earliest employees. He has this amazing quote from the early 2000s where he says, “The Great American Space Enterprise, which defeated Communism in defense of Capitalism, was and is operating on a Soviet economic model.” And he was basically speaking to the fact that we had this amazing success in the '60s with the Apollo mission and going to the moon and it truly was an amazing achievement, but it was obviously a very government-led, centralized program and that got us in the mode of thinking that's how you did space. And so for the next 50 years, basically we did space in that way run from the center, not really using market forces.What changed in various ways was that in the early 2000s we decided that model had kind of run its course and the weaknesses were too big and so it was time to bring market forces in. And that doesn't mean that we were getting rid of the government role in space. Just like you said, the government will always play a vital role in space for various reasons, national security among them, but it is decentralizing it in a way to bring the power of the market to bear.Maybe the low point — and that low point, that crisis, maybe created an opportunity — was the end of the Space Shuttle program. Was that an important inflection point?It's definitely one that I think most people in the sector look to as being . . . there's the expression “never waste a crisis,” and I think that that's essentially what happened. The Shuttle was an amazing engineering achievement, nobody really doubts that, and what NASA was trying to do with it and with their contractors was incredibly hard. So it's easy to kind of get too negative on that era, but it is also true that the Shuttle never really performed the way people hoped, it never flew as often, it was much more costly, and then in 2003 there was the second Shuttle tragedy.When that happened, I think everybody felt like, "This just isn't the future." So we need something else, and the Shuttle program was put on a cancellation path by the end of that decade. That really did force this reckoning with the fact that the American space sector, which had put men on the moon and brought them back safely in 1969, launching all sorts of dreams about space colonies and hotels, now, 40 years later, it was going to be unable to even put a person into orbit on its own rockets. We were going to be renting rockets from the Russians. That was really a moment of soul searching, I guess is one way you think about it in the sector.Blue Origin vs. SpaceX (4:50)I guess the big lesson . . . is that competition really does matter in space just like in any other business.I think naturally we would lead into talking about SpaceX, which we certainly will do, but the main competitor, Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos company, which seems to be moving forward, but it's definitely seemed to have adopted a very different kind of strategy. It seems to me different than the SpaceX strategy, which really is kind of a “move fast, break things, build them back up and try to launch again” while Blue Origin is far more methodical. Am I right in that, is that eventually going to work?Blue Origin is a fascinating company. In fact, we actually opened the book — the book is a series, basically, of stories that we tell about companies, and people, and government programs, sprinkled in with some economics because we can't resist. We're trying to structure it for folks, but we start with the story of Blue Origin because it really is fascinating. It illustrates some really fundamental aspects of the sector these days.To your specific question, we can talk more about Blue in many of its aspects. The motto of Blue from its beginning has been this Latin phrase, gradatim ferociter or, “step-by-step, ferociously,” and Bezos in the earliest days, they even have a tortoise on their company shield, so to speak, to signal this tortoise and the hair metaphor or fable. From the earliest days the idea was, “Look, we're going to just methodically work our way up to these grand visions of building infrastructure for space,” eventually in the service of having, as they always said, millions of people living and working in space.Now there's various ways to interpret the intervening 20 years that we've had, or 25 now since they were founded. One interpretation says, well, that's a nice story, but in fact they made some decisions that caused them to move more slowly than even they would've wanted to. So they didn't continue working as closely with NASA as, say, for instance SpaceX did. They relied really almost exclusively on funding from Bezos himself issuing a lot of other contracts they could have gotten, and that sort of reduced the amount of external discipline and market competition that they were facing. And then they made some other steps along the way, and so now they're trying to reignite and move faster, and they did launch New Glenn, their orbital rocket, recently. So they're back in the game and they're coming back. That's one story.Another story is, well yes, they've made decisions that at the time didn't seem to move as fast as they wanted, but they made those decisions intentionally. This is a strategy we will see pay off pretty well in the long run. I think that the jury is very much still out, but I guess the big lesson for your listeners and for me and hopefully for others in the sector, is that competition really does matter in space just like in any other business. To the extent that Blue didn't move as fast because they didn't face as much competition, that's an interesting lesson for the private sector. And to the extent that now they're in the game nipping at the heels of SpaceX, that's good for everybody, even for SpaceX, I think, to have them in the game.Do you think they're nipping at the heels?Well, yeah, I was just thinking as I said that, that might have been a little optimistic. It really does depend how you look at it. SpaceX is remarkably dominant in the commercial space sector, there's no question there. They launch 100 times a year plus and they are . . . the latest statistic I have in 2023, they launched more than 80 percent of all the mass launched off the surface of Earth, so they run more than half the satellites that are operational in space. They are incredibly dominant such that concerns about monopoly are quite present in the sector these days. We can talk about that.I think “nipping at the heels” might be a little generous, although there are areas in which SpaceX still does have real competition. The national security launch sector, ULA (United Launch Alliance) is still the majority launcher of national security missions and Blue is looking to also get into the national security launch market. With Amazon's satellite constellation, Kuiper, starting to come into the launch cadence over the next couple of years, they will have demand for lots of launch outside of SpaceX and that will start to increase the frequency with which Blue Origin and ULA also launch. So I think there is reason to believe that people in the sector will have more options, even for the heavy-lift launch vehicles.Lowering launch costs (9:24)[SpaceX] brought the cost of getting a kilogram of mass into orbit down by 90 percent in less than, really 10 or 15 years, which had been a stagnant number for going on four or five decades.People in Silicon Valley like talking about disruption and disruptors. It's hard to think of a company that is more deserving, or A CEO more deserving than Elon Musk and SpaceX. Tell me how disruptive that company has been to how we think about space and the economic potential of space.We open our chapter in the book on SpaceX by saying we believe it'll go down as one of the most important companies in the history of humanity, and I really do believe that. I don't think you have to be a space enthusiast, necessarily, to believe it. The simplest way to summarize that is that they brought the cost of getting a kilogram of mass into orbit down by 90 percent in less than, really 10 or 15 years, which had been a stagnant number for going on four or five decades. It had hovered around — depending on the data point you look at — around $30,000 a kilogram to low earth orbit, and once SpaceX got Falcon 9 flying, it was down to $3,000. That's just an amazing reduction.What's also amazing about it is they didn't stop there. As soon as they had that, they decided that one of the ways to make the business model work was to reinvent satellite internet. So in a sector that had just over a decade ago only 1000 operational satellites up in space, now we have 10,000, 6,000 plus of which are SpaceX's Starlink, just an incredibly fast-growing transformational technology in orbit.And then they went on to disrupt their own disruption by creating a rocket called Starship, which is just absolutely massive in a way that's hard to even imagine, and that, if it fulfills the promise that I think everyone hopes it will, will bring launch costs down, if you can believe it, by another 90 percent, so a total of 99 percent down to, say, $300 a kilogram. Now you may not have to pass those cost savings on to the customers because they don't have a lot of competition, but it's just amazingWhat's possible with those launch costs in that vicinity? Sometimes, when I try to describe it, I'm like, well, imagine all your 1960s space dreams and what was the missing ingredient? The missing ingredient was the economics and those launch costs. Now plug in those launch costs and lots of crazy things that seem science-fictional may become science-factual. Maybe give me just a sense of what's possible.Well first tell me, Jim, which of the '60s space dreams are you most excited about?It's hard for me, it's like which of my seven kids do I love more? I love the idea of people living in space, of there being industry in space. I like the idea of there being space-based solar power, lunar mining, asteroid mining, the whole kit and caboodle.You've gone through the list. I think we're all excited about those things. And just in case it's not obvious to your listeners, the reason I think you asked that question is that, of course, the launch cost is the gateway to doing anything in space. That's why everyone in the industry makes such a big deal out of it. Once you have that, it seems like the possibilities for business cases really do expand.Now, of course, we have to be careful. It's easy to get overhyped. It's still very expensive to do all the things you just mentioned in space, even if you can get there cheaply. Once you put humans in the mix, humans are very hard to keep alive in space. Space is a very dangerous place for lots of reasons. Even when there aren't humans in space, operating in space, even autonomously, is obviously quite hard, whether it's asteroid mining or other things. It's not as though, all of a sudden, all of our biggest dreams are immediately going to be realized. I do think that part of what's so exciting, part of the reason we wrote the book, is that there is a new renaissance of enthusiasm of startups building a bit on the SpaceX model of having a big dream, being really cost-conscious as you build it, moving fast and experimenting and iterating, who are going after some of these dreams you mentioned..So whether it's an asteroid mining company — actually, in my course later this week, we're having Matt Gialich, who's the CEO of AstroForge, and they're trying to reboot the asteroid mining industry. He's coming in to talk to our students. Or whether it's lunar mining, we have Rob Meyerson who ran Blue Origin for more than a decade, now he's started up a company that's going to mine Helium 3 on the moon; or whether you're talking about commercial space stations, which could eventually house tourists, manufacturing, R&D, a whole new push to bring the cost savings from the launch sector into the destinations sector, which we really haven't had.We've had the International Space Station for 20 plus years, but it wasn't really designed for commercial activity from the start and costs are pretty high. So there is this amazing flowering, and we'll see. I guess I would say that, in the short run, if you're trying to build a business in space, it's still mostly about satellites. It's still mostly about data to and from space. But as we look out further, we all hope that those bigger dreams are becoming more of a reality.Expanding space entrepreneurship (14:42)The laws of supply and demand do not depend on gravity.To me, it is such an exciting story and the story of these companies, they're just great stories to me. They're still, I think, pretty unknown. SpaceX, if you read the books that have been published, very harrowing, the whole thing could have collapsed quite easily. Still today, when the media covers — I think they're finally getting better —that anytime there'd be a SpaceX rocket blow up, they're like, “Oh, that's it! Musk doesn't know what he's doing!” But actually, that's the business, is to iterate, launch again, if it blows up, figure out what went wrong, use the data, fix it, try again. It's taken a long time.To the extent people or the media think about it, maybe 90 percent of the thought is about SpaceX, a little bit about Blue Origin, but, as you mentioned, there is this, no pun intended, constellation of other companies which have grown up, which have somewhat been enabled by the launch costs. Which one? Give me one of those that you think people should know about.There's so many actually, very much to your point. We wrote the book partly to give folks inside the industry a view they might not have had, which is, I'm an economist. We thought there was room to just show people how an economist thinks through this amazing change that's happening.Economics is not earthbound! It extends above the surface of the planet!The laws of supply and demand do not depend on gravity. We've learned that. But we also wrote the book for a couple other groups of people. One, people who are kind of on the margins of space, so their business isn't necessarily involved in space, but once they know all the activity that's happening, including the companies you're hinting at there, they might think, “Wait a minute, maybe my business, or I personally, could actually use some of the new capabilities in space to drive my mission forward to have an impact through my organization or myself.” And then of course the broader population of people who are just excited and want to learn more about what's going on and read some great stories.But I'll give you two companies, maybe three because I can't help myself. One is Firefly, which just landed successfully on the moon . . . 24 hours ago maybe? What a great story. It's now the second lander that's successfully landed, this one fully successfully after Intuitive Machines was a little bit tipped over, but that's a great example of how this model that includes more of a role for the commercial sector succeeds not all the time — the first lunar lander in the program that was supporting these didn't quite succeed — but try, try again. That's the beauty of markets, they find a way often and you can't exactly predict how they're going to work out. But that was a huge success story and so I'm very excited about what that means for our activity on the moon.Another really fascinating company is called K2. A lot of your listeners who follow space will have heard of it. It's two brothers who basically realized that, with the drop in launch costs being promised by Starship, the premium on building lightweight small satellites is kind of going away. We can go back to building big satellites again and maybe we don't need to always make the sacrifices that engineers have had to make to bring the mass down. So they're building much bigger satellites and that can potentially really increase the capabilities even still at low cost. So that's really exciting.Finally, I'll just mention Varda, which is a really fun and exciting startup that is doing manufacturing in automated capsules right now of pharmaceutical ingredients. What I love about them, very much to your point about these startups that are just flowering because of lower launch costs, they're not positioning themselves really as a space company. They're positioning themselves as a manufacturing company that happens to use microgravity to do it cheaper. So you don't have to be a space enthusiast to want your supply chain to be cheaper and they're part of that.Do you feel like we have a better idea of why there should be commercial space stations, or again, is that still in the entrepreneurial process of figuring it out? Once they're up there, business cases will emerge?I was just having a conversation about that this morning, actually, with some folks in the sector because there is a wide range of views about that. It is, as you were sort of implying, a bit of a chicken-and-the-egg problem, it's hard to know until you have a space station what you might do with it, what business cases might result. On the other hand, it's hard to invest in a space station if you don't know what the business case is for doing it. So it is a bit tricky.I tend to actually be slightly on the optimistic end of the spectrum, perhaps just because, as an economist, I think you are trained to know that the market can't be predicted and that at some level that is the beauty of the market. If we drive down costs, there's a ton of smart entrepreneurs out there who I think will be looking very hard to find value that they can create for people, and I'm still optimistic we'll be surprised.If I had to make the other side of the case, I would say that we've been dreaming about using microgravity for many decades, the ISS has been trying, and there hasn't been a killer app quite found yet. So it is very true that there are reasons to be skeptical despite my optimism.Space sector sustainability (20:06)Space does face a sort of structural problem with investing. The venture capital industry is not really built for the time horizons and the level of fundamental uncertainty that we're talking about with space.It's also a sector that's gone through a lot of booms and busts. That certainly has been the case with the idea of asteroid mining among other things. What do you see as the sustainability? I sort of remember Musk talking about there was this kind of “open window to space,” and I don't know what he thought opened that window, maybe it was low interest rates? What is the sustainability of the financial case for this entire sector going forward?It is true that the low interest rate environment of the early 2020s was really supportive to space in a way that. Again, opinions vary on whether it was so hot that it ended up actually hurting the sector by creating too much hype, and then some people lost their shirts, and so there was some bad taste in the mouth there. On the other hand, it got a lot of cash to a lot of companies that are trying to make really hard things happen. Space does face a sort of structural problem with investing. The venture capital industry is not really built for the time horizons and the level of fundamental uncertainty that we're talking about with space. We don't really know what the market is yet. We don't really know how long it's going to take to develop. So that's I think why you see some of these more exotic financing models in space, whether it's the billionaires or the so-called SPAC boom of the early 2020s, which was an alternative way for some space companies to go public and raise a big pile of cash. So I think people are trying to solve for how to get over what might be an uncomfortably long time before the kind of sustainable model that you're talking about is realized.Now, skeptics will say, “Well, maybe that's just because there is no sustainable model. We're hoping and hoping, but it's going to take 500 years.” I'm a little more optimistic than that for reasons we've talked about, but I think one part we haven't really mentioned, or at least not gone into that yet, which is reassuring to investors that I talked to and increasingly maybe an important piece of the puzzle, is the demand from the public sector, which remains quite robust, especially from the national security side. A lot of startups these days, even when capital markets are a bit tighter, they can rely on some relatively stable financing from the national security side, and I think that will always be there in space. There will always be a demand for robust, innovative technologies and capabilities in space that will help sustain the sector even through tough times.The role of Artemis (22:45)Artemis is a really good example of the US space enterprise, broadly speaking, trying to find its way into this new era, given all the political and other constraints that are, of course, going to impinge on a giant government program. I can imagine a scenario where most of this book is about NASA, and Artemis, and what comes after Artemis, and you devote one chapter to the weird kind of private-sector startups, but actually it's just the opposite. The story here is about what's going on with the private sector working with NASA and Artemis seems like this weird kind of throwback to old Apollo-style way of doing things. Is Artemis an important technology for the future of space or is it really the last gasp of an old model?It's a very timely question because obviously with all the change going on in Washington and especially with Elon's role —Certainly you always hear rumors that they'll cancel it. I don't know if that's going to happen, but I certainly see speculations pop-up in the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times from time to time.Exactly, and you probably see debates in Congress where you see some Congress-people resistant to canceling some contracts and debates about the space launch system, the SLS rocket, which I think nobody denies is sort of an older model of how we're going to get to space. On the other hand, it's an incredibly powerful rocket that can actually get us to the moon right now.There's a lot of debate going on right now. The way I think about it is that Artemis is a really good example of the US space enterprise, broadly speaking, trying to find its way into this new era, given all the political and other constraints that are, of course, going to impinge on a giant government program. It's a mix of the old and the new. It's got some pieces like SLS or Gateway, which is a sort of station orbiting the moon to provide a platform for various activities that feel very much like the model from the 1980s: Shuttle and International Space Station.Then it's got pieces that feel very much like the more modern commercial space era with the commercial lunar payload services clips contracts that we were briefly talking about before, and with some of the other pieces that are — whether it's the lander that's also using commercial contracts, whether it's those pieces that are trying to bring in the new. How will it all shake out? My guess is that we are moving, I think inexorably, towards the model that really does tap into the best of the private sector, as well as of the public, and so I think we'll move gradually towards a more commercial approach, even to achieving the sort of public goods missions on the moon — but it'll take a little bit of time because people are naturally risk averse.Challenges to success (25:28)We're going to have some setbacks, some things aren't going to go well with this new model. There's going to be, I'm sure, some calls for pulling back on the commercial side of things, and I think that would be a real lost opportunity. . .How do we not screw this up? How do we not end up undermining this momentum? If you want to tell me what we can do, that's great, but I'm also worried about us making a mistake?There are threats to our ability to do this successfully. I'll just name two which are top of mind. One is space debris. That comes up in virtually every conversation I have. Especially with the increasing number of satellites, increasing number of actors in space, you do have to worry that we might lose control of that environment. Again, I am on the relatively more optimistic end of the spectrum for reasons we explain in the book, and I think the bottom line there is: The stakes are pretty high for everybody who's operating up there to not screw that part up, so I hope we'll get past it, but some people are quite worried.The second, honestly, is national security. Space has always been a beacon, we hope, of transcending our geopolitical rivalries, not just extending them up there. We're in a difficult time, so I think there is some risk that space will not remain as peaceful as it has — and that could very much short-circuit the kind of growth that we're talking about. Sadly, that would be very ironic because the economic opportunities that we have up there to create benefit for everybody on Earth and are part of what hopefully would bring people together across borders up in space. It's one of those places where we can cooperate for the common good.How could we screw this up? I think it's not always going to be smooth sailing. We're going to have some setbacks, some things aren't going to go well with this new model. There's going to be, I'm sure, some calls for pulling back on the commercial side of things, and I think that would be a real lost opportunity. I hope that we can push our way through, even though it might be a little less clearly charted.On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were PromisedMicro Reads▶ Economics* The Case Against Tariffs Is Getting Stronger - Bberg Opinion* NYC's Congestion Pricing Is Good for the US - Bberg Opinion* Musk and DOGE Are Doing It Wrong - Project Syndicate▶ Business* With GPT-4.5, OpenAI Trips Over Its Own AGI Ambitions - Wired* Google is adding more AI Overviews and a new ‘AI Mode' to Search - Verge* Home Depot Turns to AI to Answer Online Shoppers' Questions - Bberg▶ Policy/Politics* Trump Set to Meet With Technology Leaders Early Next Week - Bberg* EU Lawmakers Push Back on U.S. Criticism of Tech Antitrust Regulation - WSJ* China aims to recruit top US scientists as Trump tries to kill the CHIPS Act - Ars* Rebuilding the Transatlantic Tech Alliance: Why Innovation, Not Regulation, Should Guide the Way - AEI* A New Way of Thinking About the N.I.H. - NYT Opinion▶ AI/Digital* You knew it was coming: Google begins testing AI-only search results - Ars* Are Large Language Models Ready for Business Integration? A Study on Generative AI Adoption - Arxiv* Turing Award Goes to 2 Pioneers of Artificial Intelligence - NYT* ChatGPT for President! Presupposed content in politicians versus GPT-generated texts - Arxiv* Chat-GPT4 Does Enhance Creativity. But Human Ego Can Hamper its Potential - SSRN▶ Biotech/Health* Alzheimer's could be treated by enhancing the brain's own immune cells - NA* Will NIH Cuts Boost Public Health—or Destroy It? - Free Press▶ Up Wing/Down Wing* Many Chinese See a Cultural Revolution in America - NYT▶ Substacks/Newsletters* On the US AI Safety Institute - Hyperdimensional* What is Vibe Coding? - AI Supremacy* In defense of Gemini - Strange Loop Canon* Economic Uncertainty in the US Economy - Conversable EconomistFaster, Please! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. 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Chapter 1 What's Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz"Failure is Not an Option" is a memoir by Gene Kranz, the renowned Flight Director for NASA during the Apollo missions. In this book, Kranz shares his experiences in the early days of American space exploration, focusing on his role in critical missions, including the Apollo 11 moon landing and the dramatic Apollo 13 rescue. He emphasizes the importance of teamwork, leadership, and relentless determination, illustrating how these qualities were essential to overcoming the significant challenges faced in space missions. Kranz's philosophy, encapsulated in the book's title, reflects his belief that success is achievable through hard work, preparation, and collaboration. He recounts numerous incidents where quick thinking and innovative problem-solving were crucial, especially when lives were at stake. The narrative not only highlights the technical aspects of space missions but also delves into the personal stories of the people involved, fostering a deeper connection with readers about the human aspects of scientific achievement.Chapter 2 Failure is Not an Option by Gene Kranz Summary"Failure Is Not an Option" by Gene Kranz is a memoir that chronicles the life and career of Kranz, a prominent NASA flight director during the Apollo space missions. In this book, Kranz shares his experiences in the early days of NASA, his pivotal role during the Apollo missions, and the intense pressures and challenges faced by mission control teams.Key themes and points from the book include:Early Career and Preparation: Kranz describes his beginnings in the aerospace industry and how his education and early career experiences prepared him for the challenges of leading missions at NASA. He emphasizes the importance of rigorous training, discipline, and teamwork.Apollo Missions: The most critical moments highlighted in the book revolve around the Apollo missions, especially Apollo 11 (the first moon landing) and the near-disaster of Apollo 13. Kranz details the relentless efforts of the mission control team to solve problems under pressure, demonstrating the innovation and quick thinking required to keep the astronauts safe.Leadership Philosophy: A core message of the book is Kranz's leadership philosophy. He emphasizes the mantra "Failure Is Not an Option," which served as a guiding principle for him and his team. This mindset fostered a culture of accountability and excellence, where every team member was dedicated to achieving success.Teamwork and Collaboration: Kranz discusses the importance of collaboration and teamwork in high-stakes environments. He introduces readers to the diverse cast of engineers, scientists, and technicians who worked tirelessly to ensure mission success, highlighting how their shared commitment made monumental achievements possible.Lessons in Crisis Management: The book also provides insights into crisis management and the need for adaptability in the face of unforeseen challenges. Kranz reflects on moments during Apollo 13 when innovative problem-solving was essential to ensure the crew's safe return to Earth.Legacy and Inspiration: Finally, Kranz shares his reflections on the legacy of the Apollo program and its impact on future generations of engineers and space exploration enthusiasts. He conveys a passionate belief in the importance of pushing boundaries and striving for greatness.Overall, "Failure Is Not an Option" offers an inspiring account of one of America's greatest achievements in space exploration and serves as a motivational guide for overcoming obstacles, emphasizing the values of perseverance, teamwork, and leadership.Chapter 3 Failure is Not an Option AuthorGene Kranz is an accomplished aerospace engineer and former NASA flight director who is best known for his critical role in the success of the Apollo missions and the Space Shuttle...

Space journalist and TV personality Sarah Cruddas joins the On Orbit podcast this week ahead of her appearance as guest host at SATELLITE 2025.  Sarah has had an exciting career in space journalism and communications from being a weather presenter and science correspondent to being a TV personality, industry consultant and author. She's extremely passionate about how space technology can make life better on Earth, and wants to see the industry get out of its bubble and do a better job of communicating why space technology matters.  Sarah tells the story of how she covered the final Space Shuttle launch and landing in 2011 using a satellite dish to send a signal back to the BCC, and how she took a scientific look at reports of alien activity and UFOs as part of her work on two TV shows. We also talk about what she's looking forward to at SATELLITE, from the keynotes, GovMilSpace program, and networking opportunities to connect with folks in the industry. This episode is sponsored by AvL Technologies. AvL Technologies is a leading manufacturer of multi-band and multi-orbit satellite communications ground terminals, serving both government and commercial markets. With terminals ranging in size from 60 cm  to 4.6 m AvL provides efficient, cost-effective solutions for voice, video, and data connectivity without the need for specialized training. AvL's innovative and visionary approach to engineering and design ensures the critical requirements of today's missions are met. For more information please visit avltech.com, or visit AvL at the SATELLITE Show at Booth 2118 in the Exhibit Hall.

For this week's Throwback Thursday, Rebecca Shekleton, Presenter on 98fm's Big Breakfast joins Andrea to look back on the year that was 1981!

It was 38 years ago when the Space Shuttle Challenger experienced a catastrophic accident.  Join David Denault, Dawn Meyer and astronaut Story Musgrave in a Special Report - "They Were Alive."

Vor 25 Jahren startete die Raumfähre Endeavour ins All. Zur Besatzung gehörte der Heidenheimer Gerhard Thiele. Er war der Spezialist der Shuttle Radar Topografie Mission, bei der eine 3D-Karte der Erdoberfläche erstellt wurde. Lorenzen, Dirk www.deutschlandfunk.de, Sternzeit

Episode 134.2: Day in History, Space Shuttle Disasters, We Are the World, Bath Riots, Run In With A Brit, Norovirus, Diarrhea Cruise, and Cedar Ridge Single Barrel

No, it is not a Space Shuttle mission. It is Dr. Collins' newly coined name for the typical issues that characterize someone who does not agree with Tall el-Hammem being Biblical Sodom. It stands for Sodom Derangement Syndrome. In this episode, Dr. Collins begins addressing the core symptoms of SDS. Get out your Bible, the Doctor is in! Become an Inner Circle Partner:

On this day in 1995, Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle, the Discovery. Collins was also the US Air Force's first female flight instructor. 

War! The balance of power in the Cola Wars has been shifting for years. In a stunning move, Coke has swept into NASA and is about to send its signature beverage into orbit... but not if the underdogs at Pepsi have anything to say about it... https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/the-choice-of-the-next-generation/ Key sources for this episode include Charles T. Bourland and Gregory L. Vogt's The Astronaut's Cookbook; David H. Harland's The Story of the Space Shuttle; Tony Reichart's Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years; numerous patent applications; and contemporary newspaper reports. You're Wrong About: The Cola Wars Coca-Cola Space Can at the Smithsonian Pepsi Space Can at the Smithsonian Pepsi MIR Ad I'll be presenting at the Intelligent Speech conference on February 8, 2025! Register now at https://intelligentspeechonline.com/ and get 10% off with the promo code JACKALOPE! The Ancient and Esoteric Order of the Jackalope is a secret society devoted to sharing strange stories and amazing facts. No topic is off limits -- if it's interesting or entertaining, we'll do an episode about it! Email: jackalope@order-of-the-jackalope.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/orderjackalope.bsky.social Discord: https://discord.gg/Mbap3UQyCB TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@orderjackalope Tumblr: https://orderjackalope.tumblr.com YouTube: https://youtube.com/@orderjackalope

Welcome to my podcast. I am Doctor Warrick Bishop, and I want to help you to live as well as possible for as long as possible. I'm a practising cardiologist, best-selling author, keynote speaker, and the creator of The Healthy Heart Network. I have over 20 years as a specialist cardiologist and a private practice of over 10,000 patients. In this podcast, Doctor Warrick Bishop, a cardiologist and CEO of the Healthy Heart Network, discusses heart disease in Australia and introduces Mark Fox, CEO and founder of Resona Health, who specializes in pulse electromagnetic field (PMF) therapy. Mark shares his journey from chemical engineering to working on the Space Shuttle program and ultimately exploring energy therapy after a personal experience with his dog's arthritis. Initially skeptical, he became a proponent of PMF therapy after witnessing its effects on various conditions, including PTSD and anxiety.

Send us a textWhat were some of the most bizarre 900 numbers of the 1980s and 1990s? How in the world did crash test dummies become celebrities? What are some infamous banned drinks?Episode 180 answers those questions with a heavy prescription of nostalgia.It begins with the story behind the crash test dummies. No, not the 1990s alternative band. We look at how a safety measuring tool became a beloved part of 1980s pop culture. You will learn a lot from these dummies.We go way back in the day and dive into some of the weirdest 900 numbers of the 1980s and 1990s. In a time where it seemed like every celebrity, musician, and cartoon character had their own hotline these are the ones that really make you shake your head and laugh.This week's Top 5 showcases banned drinks. These were at one point popular but have since been removed from shelves or so drastically altered that they don't resemble what people knew.There is a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule centered around the tragic Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.For more great content become a subscriber on Patreon!Helpful Links from this EpisodePurchase My New Book Cape Cod Beyond the Beach!In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod Travel Guide(2nd Edition)Hooked By Kiwi - Etsy.comDJ Williams MusicKeeKee's Cape Cod KitchenChristopher Setterlund.comCape Cod Living - Zazzle StoreSubscribe on YouTube!Initial Impressions 2.0 BlogUPDATE: Bonnie Bickwit and Mitchel Weiser Case - Rolling Stone.comWebcam Weekly Wrapup PodcastListen to Episode 179 hereSupport the show

3:32:20 – Frank in New Jersey, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Watching walkway ice slowly melt, Challenger disaster 39 years ago, list of Space Shuttles, Rush, Reagan on the Challenger, lack of progress in space exploration, Shake Up The Picture, Duran Duran, The Path to the Moon, The Book of Images by William T. Horton, press […]

3:32:20 – Frank in New Jersey, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Watching walkway ice slowly melt, Challenger disaster 39 years ago, list of Space Shuttles, Rush, Reagan on the Challenger, lack of progress in space exploration, Shake Up The Picture, Duran Duran, The Path to the Moon, The Book of Images by William T. Horton, press […]

Does the US Navy have the right number and mix of amphibious ships, and are those ships being properly maintained?The Government Accountability Office's (GAO) recent report to Congress explored this topic in depth, and today's Midrats Podcast will delve into it further.From the summary of the report:Amphibious warfare ships are critical for Marine Corps missions, but the Navy has struggled to ensure they are available for operations and training. In some cases, ships in the amphibious fleet have not been available for years at a time. The Navy and Marine Corps are working to agree on a ship availability goal but have yet to complete a metrics-based analysis to support such a goal. Until the Navy completes this analysis, it risks jeopardizing its ability to align amphibious ship schedules with the Marine Corps units that deploy on them.As of March 2024, half of the amphibious fleet is in poor condition and these ships are not on track to meet their expected service lives.Our guests for the full hour to discuss the report and its implications will be two joint directors for the project, Shelby S. Oakley, Director, Contracting and National Security Acquisitions, and Diana Maurer Director, Defense Capabilities and Management at GAO.ShowlinksGAO Report: AMPHIBIOUS WARFARE FLEET Navy Needs to Complete Key Efforts to Better Ensure Ships Are Available for MarinesGAO Report: Navy Readiness: Actions Needed to Improve Support for Sailor-Led MaintenanceSummaryThe conversation delves into the critical state of the U.S. Navy's amphibious fleet, focusing on the challenges of ship maintenance, the role of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in assessing fleet readiness, and the ongoing controversy between the Navy and Marine Corps regarding ship availability. The discussion highlights the importance of metrics, accountability, and transparency in addressing these issues, as well as the need for a cultural shift within the Navy to prioritize maintenance and resource allocation effectively.TakeawaysMetrics and definitions of ship readiness need to be standardized.Cultural and bureaucratic challenges hinder effective maintenance practices.Accountability is essential for improving the Navy's operational readiness.Budgeting for maintenance is often deprioritized in favor of new acquisitions.Sailors are overworked and under-resourced, impacting their performance.The Navy must address root causes of maintenance issues to improve fleet readiness.Future leadership changes present an opportunity for reform in the Navy.Chapters00:00: Introduction and Context of the Discussion02:03: Understanding the GAO's Role in National Security09:35: Insights from the Fleet: Realities of Ship Maintenance14:49: Defining Ship Availability and Readiness18:15: The Need for Metrics and Accountability22:22: Challenges in Navy Bureaucracy and Culture30:04: Navigating Accountability in Navy Maintenance33:02: The Consequences of Deferred Maintenance36:53: Policy Challenges in Navy Maintenance43:09: Budgeting for Maintenance vs. New Acquisitions45:53: Cultural Attitudes Towards Manpower and Maintenance49:15: Realistic Expectations in Maintenance Planning54:34: Future Directions for Navy Reports and AccountabilityFull Guest BiosMs. Oakley is a Director in the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) Contracting and National Security Acquisitions team. In her role, she oversees GAO's portfolio of work examining the most complex and expensive acquisitions within the federal government. Her portfolio includes Navy and Coast Guard Shipbuilding programs, DOD acquisition policy and oversight, and leading practices in product development. In addition, she is responsible for GAO's annual work to assess the cost, schedule, and performance of DOD's entire portfolio of major defense and middle-tier acquisition programs. Ms. Oakley previously served as a Director in GAO's Natural Resources and Environment team where she led teams reviewing a range of nuclear security, policy, and nonproliferation related issues. From 2004 to 2015, Ms. Oakley led teams reviewing the activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with a focus on helping NASA improve its acquisition management practices. Her reviews covered key aspects of NASA's operations, such as Space Shuttle workforce transition and sustainment of the International Space Station, as well as reviews of all major NASA systems including in-depth reviews of NASA's human spaceflight programs and the James Webb Space Telescope. Ms. Oakley earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Washington and Jefferson College.Ms. Maurer is a Director in the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) Defense Capabilities and Management team, where she currently leads GAO's independent oversight of sustainment and readiness across the military services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Her recent work includes reviews of F-35 sustainment, Air Force and Army force generation, Navy ship maintenance, missile defense sustainment, Space Force readiness, and the mission capability of military aviation and surface ships. She has testified three dozen times before Congressional committees on a variety of issues including the F-35, military readiness, Navy ship maintenance, national drug control policy, and several DHS and DOJ management issues.Ms. Maurer was a Director in GAO's Homeland Security and Justice team from 2009-2017, where she led GAO's oversight of the federal prison system; the Secret Service, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies; and DHS's efforts to build a unified department. She worked from 2008-2009 as an Acting Director in GAO's Natural Resource and Environment team. From 1993-2007, Ms. Maurer worked in GAO's International team, where she led reviews of a variety of international security issues including efforts to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Ms. Maurer began her GAO career in 1990 in GAO's Detroit Regional Office.Ms. Maurer has an M.S. in national resource strategy from the National Defense University where she was recognized as a Distinguished Graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Ms. Maurer also has an M.P.P in international public policy from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in international relations from Michigan State University.

Retired NASA Astronaut Lieutenant General Susan Helms reflects on her 211 days in space and life onboard a young International Space Station.In this episode, Susan takes us through her groundbreaking journey as the first active-duty woman officer to become a NASA astronaut. She discusses attending the United States Air Force Academy, flight testing fighter jets, her five space missions, and a record-breaking spacewalk. This one is going to be cool!Key Takeaways:Susan's childhood dream was to attend the United States Air Force Academy. At the time, women were not permitted to learn at the USAFA, but in 1975 during her senior year of high school, President Ford signed a law allowing women to enroll. She applied and was accepted to the Academy, joining 157 other women in the first class of 1976.After graduating from the USAFA in 1980, Susan was assigned to Eglin Air Force Base as an F-16 Weapons Separation Engineer and then became the Lead Engineer for F-15 weapons separation. She then transferred to Edwards Air Force Base to be a Flight Test Engineer.While flight testing CF-18s in Canada, Susan was selected to become a NASA astronaut. She flew on STS-54, 64, 78, 101, and Expedition 2.Susan and crewmate Jim Voss trained and studied languages in Moscow with fellow Cosmonaut Yuri Usachov before their Expedition 2 flight.On a few of her missions, Susan operated the Remote Manipulator System on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. This robot arm is used to deploy satellites, capture objects, and assist astronauts during spacewalks.In 2001, Susan Helms and Jim Voss set a world record after spacewalking for 8 hours and 56 minutes. This record was held for 23 years before Chinese astronauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong broke it in 2024 by 10 minutes.Susan encourages listeners to do what they love and not to follow careers that others are pushing them towards.Resources:Susan Helms' Website Susan Helms' NASA Bio Susan Helms' Air Force Bio One of first female Air Force Academy graduates, Susan Helms, becomes first female military astronaut in space (Denver 7) Expedition 2 (NASA)(00:00) - Intro (01:00) - The First Space Tourist & Astronaut Roles (02:55) - Early Interest in Aviation (03:34) - USAFA Application (04:52) - The USAFA's First Class of Women (05:54) - Attending the USAFA (08:01) - F-15 & F-16 Weapons Testing (09:52) - The Flight Test Engineer Role (11:14) - Flight Testing in Canada (13:00) - Astronaut Selection & First Mission (14:45) - Flying at Mach 25 (15:32) - The Remote Manipulator System (RMS) (18:19) - Astronaut Training in Moscow (21:04) - A Record-Breaking Spacewalk (24:54) - Eating & Drinking During Spacewalks (26:17) - Living in Space (28:35) - Post Astronaut Career (30:22) - Space Exploration's Future (32:02) - Life Advice (32:45) - Outro

This week, we're talking to the authors of a new book about spaceflight called "Star Bound: A Beginner's Guide to the American Space Program, from Goddard's Rockets to Goldilocks Planets and Everything in Between," Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III. Emily started the popular Facebook group Space Hipsters, now 66,000 members strong, and Bruce is a retired lawyer and space enthusiast who also happens to be the son of Bruce McCandless II, the NASA astronaut who flew on the shuttle and pioneered the use of the Manned Maneuvering Unit. We're going to cover a lot of territory in this one, so take your hand off the eject lever and strap in! Get "Star Bound" (Amazon Affiliate): https://amzn.to/4hvHtXo Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik Guests: Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

This week, we're talking to the authors of a new book about spaceflight called "Star Bound: A Beginner's Guide to the American Space Program, from Goddard's Rockets to Goldilocks Planets and Everything in Between," Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III. Emily started the popular Facebook group Space Hipsters, now 66,000 members strong, and Bruce is a retired lawyer and space enthusiast who also happens to be the son of Bruce McCandless II, the NASA astronaut who flew on the shuttle and pioneered the use of the Manned Maneuvering Unit. We're going to cover a lot of territory in this one, so take your hand off the eject lever and strap in! Get "Star Bound" (Amazon Affiliate): https://amzn.to/4hvHtXo Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik Guests: Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

This week, we're talking to the authors of a new book about spaceflight called "Star Bound: A Beginner's Guide to the American Space Program, from Goddard's Rockets to Goldilocks Planets and Everything in Between," Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III. Emily started the popular Facebook group Space Hipsters, now 66,000 members strong, and Bruce is a retired lawyer and space enthusiast who also happens to be the son of Bruce McCandless II, the NASA astronaut who flew on the shuttle and pioneered the use of the Manned Maneuvering Unit. We're going to cover a lot of territory in this one, so take your hand off the eject lever and strap in! Get "Star Bound" (Amazon Affiliate): https://amzn.to/4hvHtXo Headlines - Trump's Mars Vision: The administration's push for a crewed Mars mission by 2029 sparks debate. Tariq notes Elon Musk's visible enthusiasm, while Rod highlights the technical and political hurdles. - NASA Leadership Shuffle: Janet Petro named interim NASA administrator, bypassing Jim Free. The move might signal potential shifts in Artemis priorities. - DEI Rollbacks: Executive orders halt NASA's diversity initiatives, sparking workforce concerns. - SpaceX Milestones: 400th Falcon 9 landing celebrated, with 60 Starlink satellites launched in a week. ULA's Vulcan launch remains delayed. - Meteorite Doorbell Footage: A meteorite impact in Canada, captured on camera, stuns scientists and homeowners. - Quirky Moon Naming: IAU dubs a quasi-moon "Cardea" after the Roman goddess of door hinges. Main Topic: Star Bound - Book Overview: A cultural history of the U.S. space program, connecting missions like Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab to societal shifts (e.g., civil rights movements). Authors Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III emphasized accessibility, avoiding "engineer-speak." - Skylab's Legacy: Emily's passion shines as she details Skylab's role as a bridge between Apollo and the Shuttle, citing the groundbreaking science performed and how it may help us send humans to Mars. - MMU & Bruce McCandless II: Bruce shares stories of his father's iconic untethered flight with the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), suggesting that future missions may revive jetpack tech for tourism and repairs. - Shuttle Era Love/Hate: Both guests defend the Shuttle's cultural impact (e.g., Judy Resnik's inspiring legacy) while acknowledging its flaws. - Conspiracy Corner: The duo laughs over wild theories (STS-1 being flown by clones; Neil Armstrong being a robot) and praises Rod's 2016 book "Amazing Stories of the Space Age" for documenting Project Orion's nuclear explosive propulsion tech. - Future of Space: The book ends at today's "precipice"—Artemis delays, Mars hype, and private ventures. Bruce predicts jetpacks and hotels; Emily urges newcomers to embrace space history's messy, human side. Don't Miss: - Emily's Space Hipsters Facebook group for lively space discussions. - Bruce's website (brucemccandless.com) with book sources and WWII project teasers. Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik Guests: Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

This week, we're talking to the authors of a new book about spaceflight called "Star Bound: A Beginner's Guide to the American Space Program, from Goddard's Rockets to Goldilocks Planets and Everything in Between," Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III. Emily started the popular Facebook group Space Hipsters, now 66,000 members strong, and Bruce is a retired lawyer and space enthusiast who also happens to be the son of Bruce McCandless II, the NASA astronaut who flew on the shuttle and pioneered the use of the Manned Maneuvering Unit. We're going to cover a lot of territory in this one, so take your hand off the eject lever and strap in! Get "Star Bound" (Amazon Affiliate): https://amzn.to/4hvHtXo Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik Guests: Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

At Gebhards Beer Culture with Matt and comedian and Ron the Waiter. Talking handcuffs, nyc deep freeze, tolls, plants know when you're coming, starting fires as kids, Ron went to the school where Christa McAuliffe taught. She was the first teacher to go up in space but tragically died in the Space Shuttle explosion! We have to find Ron's dirty donut and more! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Raymond Paul Johnson is an attorney, author, aviator, aerospace engineer and combat veteran who holds the Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal, and five Air Medals, among other awards. Ray has been a trial attorney for over 35 years, concentrating in product liability and aviation law, selected as a Super Lawyer by Los Angeles Magazine every year since 2006, and an adjunct instructor at the University of Southern California since 2021. He is also certified as a Mediator by Pepperdine University School of Law/Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution. While in the U.S. Air Force, Ray flew as a fighter pilot, jet instructor and functional test pilot. He also received a master-of-science degree in astronautics from the Air Force Institute of Technology and co-chaired the DOD/NASA working groups on Space Shuttle design and integration. Ray graduated from New York University (BS Aerospace Engineering) and the School of Law at the College of William and Mary. He is principal co-author of the legal treatise Defective Product: Evidence to Verdict, Juris Publishing/New York (Supp 2003) and has written more than 50 articles published in law journals and nationally circulated periodicals. Ray has also served as a legal consultant to the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and USA Today, and has been interviewed by CNN, NBC News and other televised programs. Listen to this informative Sharkpreneur episode with Raymond Paul Johnson about the inspiration behind his book Conspiracy Ignited. Here are some of the beneficial topics covered on this week's show: - How writing without a strict outline allows the characters to guide the story. - Why it's important to write what you know and draw on your real life experiences. - How writing a book of fiction is much different than writing non-fiction for law publications. - Why attracting literary agents and publishers is a difficult endeavor. - How Conspiracy Ignited is being considered for a movie adaptation. Connect with Raymond: Guest Contact Info X: @RPJohnsonBooks Instagram: @raymondpauljohnson_author Facebook: facebook.com/RaymondPaulJohnsonThrillerWriter Links Mentioned: https://raymondpauljohnson.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this edition of Parallax Views, Nikolas Schreck of the controversial cult deathrock/experimental band Radio Werewolf returns to discuss Wally George. For those unfamiliar, Wally George was the host of The Hot Seat, a popular talk show that aired in Southern California in the 80s into the 90s and even the 2000s before his passing. Dubbed the "Father of Combat TV", George provided a carnival-esque show which revolved around his shouting matches with various guests. On-air he presented himself as a conservative firebrand, complete with a John Wayne photo on his desk and an enlarged picture of a Space Shuttle blasting off behind him with the word "USA #1" written beneath. He'd bring on guests he deemed "sickos" and "freakos" including Satanists, marijuana legalization proponents, and, of course, liberals. In other words, Wally George pioneered the "Own the Libs" schtick/gimmick of Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and figures today like Ben Shapiro as well as being a precursor to the combative-and-chaotic talk show trash TV format of shows programs like the Jerry Springer Show. In recent years, there's been comparisons made between Wally George and President-elect Donald Trump, with most pointing out how both used a vulgar, combative style to appeal to their audiences. In fact, in 2016 Talking Points Memo referred to Wally George as the "Archeo-Trump". Nikolas Schreck, who was a practicing occultist whose band Radio Werewolf courted controversy, was a perfect fit for Wally George's The Hot Seat and he became a multi-time guest on the program. As such, Nikolas will be able to share his insight into Wally George and his audience. Some of those insights reveal George to be a consumate entertainer with a great deal of talent in terms of being able to provide a circus-like spectacle to his audience. However, Nikolas also notes a dark side to the kind of politics-as-entertainment Wally George brought to the table. In addition to Wally George and the parallels between Wally George and Donald Trump, Nikolas and I will also discuss the Satanic Panic and his analysis of how it connects to QAnon. As someone who was in the thick of the Satanic Panic, Nikolas has a great deal to say on this subject and will detail how he and his former wife have been targetted by QAnon. We will also discuss his analysis of Trump and MAGA, the vulgarian showbiz of GOP politics, the broken American male and the misogyny of right-wing influencers like Andrew Tate, the degeneration of American political discourse, why Schreck views Trump more as a Boss Tweed figure than a fascist, and much, much more.

What does an astronaut fear most? Believe it or not, it's not dying. What tricks do you play on yourself to get to sleep the night before lift-off? What do you feel when you are standing in front of 180 feet of rocket which is about to propel you into space?  Why would you eat at least one meal on the ceiling of the space shuttle each mission?Jim Wetherbee is one of NASA's most distinguished servants. During his 20-year career at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Jim successfully completed six space shuttle missions. He is the only astronaut to have commanded five missions and to have piloted five space shuttle landings.Today marks the 35th anniversary of Jim's first trip into space, 9th January 1990.  I was keen to talk about that first flight into space on the orbiter Columbia. I wanted to hear about the marvel of being launched into the ether with 7 million pounds of thrust under your seat, of seeing space, of experiencing weightlessness and all those other firsts that came with the trip. It's a poignant detail that the first space shuttle disaster in 1986,  Challenger,  occurred just after Jim had joined NASA, and that his sixth and last space shuttle flight was the one that preceded the second and final space shuttle disaster, Columbia, in 2003.  Jim talks candidly about his role in the aftermath of Columbia.Show Notes: https://www.battingthebreeze.com/jim-wetherbee-beyond-gravityWe love receiving your feedback - head over to https://www.battingthebreeze.com/contact/ Thanks for listening!

Charles F. Bolden Jr. is the Founder and CEO Emeritus of the Charles F. Bolden Group, a consortium of accomplished leaders founded in 2017 to foster international collaboration in making life better for all humanity. Appointed by the former president, Barack Obama, Charlie served as the 12th Administrator of NASA from 2009 to 2017, making him the first African American to hold the position permanently. Charlie is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Major General and former astronaut who has flown on four Space Shuttle missions. Charlie speaks with Kathy about his perspective on NASA's transition from space shuttle operations to commercial space flight. You'll gain insight into the real inside workings of Washington, DC, as well as his journey to becoming the 12th Administrator of NASA. Charlie also discusses what the future holds for space commerce and exploration, and the surprising who he'd like to take to space. “OUR PURPOSE IS TO MAKE THE EARTH A BETTER, MORE SUSTAINABLE PLACE. I THINK WE'RE UP TO THE CHALLENGE.”- CHARLIE BOLDENThis week on Kathy Sullivan Explores:• Charlie's last shuttle flight and the formation of the new space age• NASA's state of play and Charlie's road to Washington DC• His first experience with the National Space Council• The time Charlie had to convince the Congressional Black Caucus of the need for a space station• What working with Russian cosmonauts taught Charlie• My experience interacting with Soviet astronauts and cosmonauts• Charlie's meeting with the former president, Barack Obama, and his nomination to NASA• The birth of the SLS, Orion, and commercial crew and cargo• Why NASA will remain the leader and catalyst for discovery• The advantages of developing a vibrant commercial space sector• The James Webb Space Telescope and what gives Charlie hope for the futureOur Favorite Quotes: “EVERY CREW BECOMES A FAMILY.” - CHARLIE BOLDEN “STUDY HARD, WORK HARD, AND NEVER BE AFRAID OF FAILURE. LISTEN RESPECTFULLY TO YOUR PARENTS, BUT FOLLOW YOUR PASSION BECAUSE IT'S YOUR LIFE.” - CHARLIE BOLDENConnect with Charlie Bolden:• Inter Astra• Inter Astra on LinkedIn• The Charles F. Bolden Group• The Charles F. Bolden Group on LinkedIn• The Charles F. Bolden Group on YouTube• Charlie Bolden on LinkedInCredits: Executive Producer: Toby GoodmanAudio & Sound Design: Lee TurnerProduction by CxS Partners LTDSpaceship Not RequiredI'm Kathy Sullivan, the only person to have walked in space and gone to the deepest point in the...

On this Christmas Eve episode, we are honored to be joined by Emily Carney and Bruce McCandless III, authors of "Starbound: A Beginner's Guide to the American Space Program". Emily Carney is a space historian, podcaster with Space & Things, and the creator of the 'Space Hipsters' Facebook group. She shares her early fascination with space, sparked by the STS-2 launch in 1983. Bruce McCandless III, whose father was Astronaut Bruce McCandless II, shares his journey of becoming a writer and what it was like being the son of an Astronaut. We discuss all things space, including a friendly debate on the evolving definition of "astronaut" in the context of commercial space travel. We also discuss the Space Shuttle's legacy, the importance of space exploration on culture, and the potential of SpaceX, Artemis, and the pick for NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. They also express optimism about the future of space exploration despite current political challenges and the "Space Conundrum" of progress in the space industry. We hope you enjoy this lively discussion about all-things Space and we thank you our guests Emily & Bruce for sharing their time and thoughts with us! Get the book HERE: 'Star Bound: A Beginner's Guide to the American Space Program' (Affiliate Link) https://amzn.to/408XLzS Follow Emily & her work:  https://space.nss.org/category/this-space-available/  https://www.facebook.com/groups/spacehipsters https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/ Follow Bruce & his work: https://brucemccandless.com/ https://brucemccandless3.medium.com/ Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas! Topics:  space history, space shuttle, space exploration, astronaut definition, space policy, space industry, space books, space travel, space technology, space missions, space future, space programs, space innovation, space challenges, space inspiration Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introductions 02:08 Emily Carney's Origin Story 04:07 Bruce McCandless III's Background 08:46 Discussion on Space Books and Movies 09:58 Memorable Interviews and Space Industry Insights 14:27 The Evolution of the Term "Astronaut"  24:59 The Role of Commercial Space Travel 36:27 The Space Shuttle Program and Its Legacy 51:49 The Future of Space Exploration 56:24 Final Thoughts on the 'Space Conundrum' -------------------------- Here's to building a fantastic future - and continued progress in Space (and humanity)!  Spread Love, Spread Science Alex G. Orphanos We'd like to thank our sponsors: AG3D Printing Follow us: @todayinspacepod on Instagram/Twitter @todayinspace on TikTok /TodayInSpacePodcast on Facebook Support the podcast: • Buy a 3D printed gift from our shop - ag3dprinting.etsy.com • Get a free quote on your next 3D printing project at ag3d-printing.com • Donate at todayinspace.net #space #rocket #podcast #people #spacex #eva #science #3dprinting #nasa #vanallenbelts #spacetravel #spaceexploration #spacecraft #technology #aerospace #spacetechnology #engineer #stem #artemis #polarisprogram #3dprinting #polarisdawn #astronaut #3dprinted #spacewalk #crewdragon #falcon9 #elonmusk #starship #superheavybooster #blueorigin #newglenn #rocket #jaredisaacman #nasaadministrator #nasahistory #spaceshuttle  

Charles Frank Bolden Jr. formerly served as the 12th Administrator of NASA from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African American to head the agency permanently. In addition to being a retired U.S. Marine Corps Major General, Charlie is a former astronaut who has flown on four Space Shuttle missions. He is the Founder and CEO Emeritus of the Charles F. Bolden Group, a consortium of accomplished leaders founded in 2017 to foster international collaboration in making life better for all humanity. Charlie joins us today to describe what it was like growing up in the segregated South. He shares his experience as one of the first African Americans to attend the Naval Academy. You'll learn how he became a pilot in the Marine Corps despite hating flying in his youth. He also shares his observations on the leadership culture of NASA and underscores the characteristics astronauts have in common. “The one characteristic we all had in common in the Astronaut Corps is that we were all visionaries and dreamers—people who thought about what the world could be”- Charlie BoldenThis week on Kathy Sullivan Explores:● What it was like growing up in segregated South Carolina in the ‘60s● Charlie's experiences with the Naval Academy● Why Charlie used to avoid flying airplanes● What eventually led Charlie to the Marine Corps during his plebe year at the Naval Academy● Finding his way to flight school and aviation● Charlie's perceptions of NASA's culture and leadership when he arrived at the Astronaut Corps● Bringing Apollo-era astronauts to the 20th century and making NASA a welcoming place for women and people of colorOur Favorite Quotes: “The leadership skills in the astronaut office then were lacking, considering the challenge they had with making it a place that was openly welcoming to women and people of color. We were tolerated, rather than welcomed with open arms.” - Charlie Bolden“It's not about the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” - Charlie BoldenConnect with Charlie Bolden:• Inter Astra• Inter Astra on LinkedIn• The Charles F. Bolden Group• The Charles F. Bolden Group on LinkedIn• The Charles F. Bolden Group on YouTube• Charlie Bolden on LinkedInCredits: Executive Producer: Toby GoodmanAudio & Sound Design: Lee TurnerProduction by CxS Partners LTDSpaceship Not RequiredI'm Kathy Sullivan,...

Herb Baker, NASA veteran and author of From Apollo to Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA, takes us back to a time where growing up near NASA meant working near the “Manned Spacecraft Center,”  and running films to the TV station for Apollo missions.  Herb took what started as a “fun job” into an unforgettable 42-year career working on the Shuttle, Space Station, and Orion programs. Herb grew up surrounded by astronauts' families, watched history happen right in his backyard, and even got to see his mom play a key role in saving Skylab—a story that will absolutely make you smile. Herb's adventures working for NASA are pretty incredible—like riding in a helicopter flown by a Vietnam vet to deliver news footage, running around Mission Control like he owned the place, and learning that astronauts' biggest fear isn't danger... it's letting their teammates down. You'll hear just how much NASA's mission and people have meant to him. Herb's stories bring NASA's history to life in a way that feels personal, real, and so inspiring. If you've ever looked up at the stars and dreamed big, this one's for you.     Guest Bio: Herb Baker retired from NASA in 2017 after 42 years of service. He spent most of his career at the Johnson Space Center (JSC), supporting the Space Shuttle, Space Station, and Orion Programs. Herb also worked at the Kennedy Space Center and NASA Headquarters. His final position was Manager of the Operations Support Office at JSC, where he oversaw support for Mission Control, astronaut operations, and NASA's aircraft operations. Today, Herb serves as an Officer on the Board of Directors for the NASA Alumni League-JSC and dedicates his time to promoting STEM education through organizations like the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and Space Center Houston. He is a frequent speaker on human spaceflight and the author of From Apollo to Artemis: Stories From My 50 Years With NASA.     Connect with Herb: Want a signed copy of From Apollo to Artemis? Head to herbbaker.space. You can also find it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Check his website for updates on upcoming book signings and events. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to share, I'd love to hear it!  YOU CAN HELP US SEND STORIES TO SPACE!  Please visit our GoFundMe campaign and help send more stories to space!  https://gofund.me/62f1ff87  You can follow and share in the socials,  LinkedIn - @casualspacepodcast Facebook - @casualspacepodcast Instagram - @casualspacepodcast YouTube - @casualspacepodcast83 or email me at beth@casualspacepodcast.com. *Remember!!! You can send your story to space TODAY! The window for STORIES of Space Mission 03 is NOW OPEN! Send your story, for free, to www.storiesofspace.com Also, to help support sending stories about space to space.  Visit our 2025 GoFundMe Campaign at this link: https://gofund.me/0638ee0e

Dive into the fascinating world of spacecraft engineering as we explore SpaceX's groundbreaking approach to thermal protection. This episode unravels the mystery behind Starship's innovative stainless steel heat shield, a departure from traditional ceramic tiles used in spacecraft like the Space Shuttle. Learn how SpaceX combines grade 304L stainless steel with cutting-edge transpiration cooling technology to protect the world's largest spacecraft from temperatures reaching 3,000 degrees Celsius during atmospheric reentry. Our experts discuss the cost-effectiveness, durability, and engineering challenges of this revolutionary design, including the unique "belly flop" maneuver that helps distribute heat across the spacecraft. Discover how SpaceX's data-driven approach and willingness to challenge conventional wisdom is pushing the boundaries of space exploration. Whether you're a space enthusiast, engineering buff, or simply curious about innovation, this episode offers valuable insights into the future of space travel and SpaceX's mission to make it more accessible and sustainable.

The Space Shuttle was considered the most complex feat of human engineering in its day. Today, we explore the journey of what made it possible, and a huge question regarding the Challenger disaster from 1986, January 28th. Enjoy.

In this episode of The Jeff Fenster Show, we dive into the fascinating career of Neal Bloom, a connector, community builder, and venture capitalist with a background in aerospace engineering. Neal shares his journey from working on the Space Shuttle program to founding and scaling tech startups, and eventually launching Interlock Capital, a thriving venture capital group.   We explore Neal's passion for building meaningful relationships, his approach to entrepreneurship, and his unique ability to bridge the gap between tech and community. Tune in to hear Neal's insights on how to create value through connection, navigate the startup world, and the importance of betting on people rather than just ideas.   If you're interested in entrepreneurship, venture capital, or building a strong network, this episode is for you!