Talking Space

It was September 9, 2009; aka 09/09/09. That was the easy-to-remember air date of the first episode of Talking Space. The Space Shuttle era was ending. As far as most of the public was concerned, that represented the death knell for the U.S. Space Program. But Gene, Mark and Sawyer knew better, and they were trying to figure out how to best spread the word that all was not lost. Thus, Talking Space was born. And what a ride it’s been. In Part 2 of this retrospective (Part 1 can be found here), the team reveals: The role of audience feedback – pros and cons, and the methods by which we receive it (and don’t, despite our best efforts);  Our social media follies; The behind-the-scenes scrambles to cover launch anomalies; The proven importance of dissimilar redundancy, as well as interoperability; How we’ve dealt with the occasional bouts of podcast burnout over the last 15 years, because sometimes we just get tired, you know? And sometimes, Life just gets in the way. Those are the times we’re glad we’re not doin

It was September 9, 2009; aka 09/09/09. That was the easy-to-remember air date of the first episode of Talking Space. The Space Shuttle era was ending. For most casual observers, that represented the death knell for the U.S. Space Program. But Gene, Mark and Sawyer knew better, and they were trying to figure out how to best spread the word that all was not lost. Back then, there were basically only three places to publish a podcast: iTunes, Yahoo and your own website (probably made with Wordpress). Apple didn’t launch its first standalone Apple Podcasts mobile app until 2012. The app was later pre-installed with iOS beginning October 2014. Now, you can listen to Talking Space on any of what seems like dozens of available podcast aggregation apps. So, as our gift to you, you get to hear us talk about ourselves for a change – like it or not. Yay! This time around, our entire on-air team (as it existed when this episode was recorded on September 19, 2023) lets their collective hair down to celebrate and reminisc

Environmental regulators are beginning to clamp down on Starbase. The big question is: Do these enforcement actions have enough significance to force the FAA to delay launch activities at Boca Chica? Some troubling headlines  appeared on CNBC.com on Monday, August 12, 2024 concerning SpaceX’s alleged issues regarding compliance with environmental regulations that govern their activities at the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.  The story by Lora Kolodny alleges that “Elon Musk’s SpaceX violated environmental regulations by repeatedly releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water in Texas, a state agency said in a notice of violation focused on the company’s water deluge system at its Starbase launch facility. “The notice from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) last week came five months after the Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 office, which covers Texas and surrounding states, had also informed SpaceX that it violated the Clean Water Act with the same type of activity.” S

NASA has tried to get Extra Vehicular Activity Number Ninety underway since June 13th. The first attempt was thwarted by a space suit comfort issue, the second by a water leak that created a blizzard of ice inside the  Quest airlock. Are the Shuttle-Era Extra Vehicular Mobility Units (EMU) or space suits finally showing their age? Also, what about Collins Aerospace and their recent withdrawal from their NASA contract to build the next generation of space suits for the ISS and the Artemis Lunar Program when they indicated back in February that all was going well? We discuss. On June 17th, the FAA held a virtual public hearing to receive comments concerning SpaceX’s plans to use Launch Complex 39-A and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to support Starship Super Heavy Launches. We discuss what occurred during the session and the fallout from statements put into the record by both Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance. Talking Space continues our Boeing Space CST-100 Starliner Crewed Flight Test coverage. The team con

The Geosynchronous Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-U, launched at 5:26 PM EDT on 25 June 2024 from Launch Complex 39 A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.   A SpaceX Falcon Heavy took the 6000-pound satellite to its geostationary orbit in the Western Hemisphere. After a commissioning process, GOES –U will be renamed GOES 19 and take over the GOES EAST duties, standing sentinel, watching for severe storms, hurricanes, and wildfires. A unique option on this spacecraft: it can keep an eye on Coronal Mass Ejections or CMEs from the Sun. This episode is an all-you-can-eat GOES fest, complete with GOES-U Falcon Heavy launch audio at the beginning and a related special audio treat at the end of the episode.                    Mark Ratterman was at the Kennedy Space Center press site representing Talking Space during launch activities and was able to talk to several key players of the GOES-U team. In this episode you'll hear from:  John Gagosian - Director, NASA Joint Agency Satellit

“Starliner Stuck In Space!!!”, “Starliner Stranded at the ISS!!”, “Space-X To Rescue Starliner Crew!!!” These were the various outrageous headlines being thrown around by various space media outlets this week, concerning the Boeing Starliner Mission and its progress. None of these sensational headlines are true, the ship and crew are in good condition but the media claims that the Starliner mission is in a grave situation, remain.    In this special edition of Talking Space, Gene Mikulka and Heather Smith take the time to sort through the chaff that is out there about the mission and offer insight into what is going on. We explore why it is not just the usual social media suspects perpetuating the myth about a broken spacecraft and a “crew in peril” but mainstream media has been jumping on the same bandwagon. There have been some exceptions to the rule the social media rule: the YouTube channel Overlook Horizon released a fairly good video explaining some of the mission details that we also touch on, in this

A quick special report on the status of the joint NASA/Boeing Starliner Mission based on a Blog Post prepared by  NASA and Boeing for our listeners. 

After years of development, testing, disappointment, and perseverance,  NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Willams took Boeing's CST 100 Starliner to the International Space Station for its first flight with a human crew. The team discusses all facets of the launch, rendezvous, docking (not without its moments of drama), and public reaction to the mission thus far. Also this week, the fourth test flight of the SpaceX Starship Super-Heavy booster and a re-entry test of the Starship vehicle itself. The super-heavy vehicle is critical for NASA's Artemis lunar landing program, and a derivative of Starship was selected by NASA to be the human lunar lander used on Artemis III. The team puts the fourth Starship test into perspective. Starship development was also critical for the SpaceX/ Yusaku Maezawa dearMoon program, which was to take Maezawa and eight invitees into orbit around the Moon. However, Maezawa announced that since a 2023 launch had become "unfeasible" and lacked a "clear schedule," he was cancelin

May 6th was going to be the date that Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams were going to take the Boeing CST 100 Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station for the first time with astronauts on board. Starliner has undergone a rather stormy development period and is several years behind schedule as a result but NASA, Boeing, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) teams after the earlier flight readiness review were confident that the spacecraft was ready for crewed flight. The mission also marked the first time since Leroy Gordon Cooper’s Mercury-Atlas 9 on May 15th, 1963, that a human was going to ride to orbit on the “shoulders” of an Atlas launch vehicle. Even the weather for the attempt on May 6th was 95 percent “go.” Unfortunately, the May 6th date was not to be. A cranky valve on board the Second Stage (Centaur Stage) of the ULA Atlas V kept Starliner on the ground. We explore what exactly happened, put the event in context, and gauge public reaction on various social media outlets. We als

In this special episode of Talking Space, we delve into a rarely discussed, but crucial aspect of living in space: health and sickness. We're putting the spotlight on the unique challenges posed by bacterial and viral infections aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and future long-duration missions. We're bringing you a deep dive into a groundbreaking experiment, GEARS (Genomic Enumeration of Antibiotic Resistance in Space), recently transported to the ISS. What is the aim of this experiment? How can analyzing the genetic makeup of antibiotic-resistant microbes in space help us on Earth? Joining us for this insightful conversation are Dr. Sarah Wallace, a NASA microbiologist at the Johnson Space Center’s Biomedical research and Environmental Sciences Division Microbiology Laboratory, and Dr. Christopher Carr, co-director of the Georgia Tech Astrobiology Program. They'll shed light on the history of sickness on the ISS, the precautions in place, and the worst-case scenarios of illness or injury that ha

Welcome to another episode of Talking Space, where we bring you the latest updates on space exploration and technology. In this episode, we're excited to introduce our new team member, Heather Smith, who brings her passion for space to our discussions. Welcome, Heather! The episode kicks off with news about Slovenia signing the Artemis Accords. These accords outline best practices for sustainable space exploration and Slovenia is the third European country to sign them in less than a week, closely following Switzerland and Sweden. Next, we delve into the Mars Sample Return Mission. This ambitious mission aims to bring back samples from Mars to Earth. However, escalating costs and potential impacts on other missions have presented challenges. What will the mission team do to cope with a much lower budget and still retrieve the samples? The answer lies within this episode. We also bring you updates on the upcoming crewed flight test of the Boeing Starliner. The spacecraft, aptly named Calypso, has already parti

Is the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) system becoming unglued? During the NAC Science Committee meeting on March 21st, there were significant questions about the Primary NAC and its ability to deliver recommendations to NASA's leadership expeditiously so they can be acted upon by NASA Leadership. That wasn't the only thing on the minds of NASA's scientists and advisors. The Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory are profoundly impacted by NASA's austere FY 24 and FY 25 budget constraints, and one of the two missions may face cancellation. Also, the significant demands placed on NASA's Deep Space Network were of major concern. We report on what was said and offer analysis.   The Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission was officially declared completed when, as predicted, the robotic Odysseus lunar lander did not respond to a "wake-up" call on March 23rd. Larry Herrin and Mark Ratterman talked with Chantelle Baier, CEO of 4Space, who facilitated one of the commercial payloads on the IM-1 mission, to wrap

We’re giving up on new ways to describe how busy it is now in the world of space-related news. Nonetheless, we still have a Starship Flight 3 recap, a look at the next (and last) Delta IV Heavy launch, and we also focus on the upcoming total solar eclipse. But first, in the News Roundup, even more, including: Crew 7 returns from the ISS; RocketLab’s Electron booster launches the “Owl Night Long” mission for Japan-based Synspective; Japan-based Space One launch vehicle explodes during first launch; SpaceX’s controversial land-swap deal in Texas; The White House releases NASA 2025 budget on the heels of the final fiscal year 2024 spending bill for NASA, NOAA and FAA; NASA network of small moon rovers gets ready for work on IM-2 mission; The Post-Delta-IV-Heavy Future of Launch Complex 37 Next, the team discusses some possible alternatives for the future of Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The USAF conducted a public hearing (both in-person and online, which Gene attended)

There’s a ton of space news to discuss this time around, and we made the time to do it in this lengthy episode. Not to worry, there’s lots of good stuff in here, including: Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rolls out to LC-36; Changes in the ISS management team; ISS Leak in the Zvezda increases; Roscosmos selling off $124 Million in assets due to Ukraine war fallout; Former astronaut and NASA Admin Richard Truly dies; Lawmakers deciding whether to extend expiring FAA commercial human spaceflight “Learning Period” ; NASA cancels OSAM-1 Project.  IM-1 Lunar Lander Mission Review Next, the team discusses our takeaways from the Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar lander mission to the south pole region of the Moon that ended last week. The Intuitive Machines team dealt with some major challenges on the way to the Moon and during landing, with the first one sprouting up only an hour or so into the launch. Get all the juicy details of how the IM-1 lander and its payloads fared in this episode.  NASA’s Space Science Data Coordinat

It’ll do your heart good to have a listen to the IM-1 launch audio snippet at the opening of this episode. This episode finds us still focusing on the Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar lander launch and lunar landing attempt to come later this week. Chantelle Baier from 4Space joins us once again to talk about the launch and the lunar landing, scheduled for February 22, 2024. Both Larry and Mark witnessed the LM-1 launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Banana Creek Launch Viewing Area at 1:05 a.m. on February 15th courtesy of 4Space. But first, we have plenty of news in the roundup: Mark explains how NASA is looking for a new crew for a simulated year-long Mars mission ; Gene details the fallout from the recently announced Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) layoffs due to the Federal budget impasse; Uruguay and Greece sign the Artemis Accords. Next, the team and Chantelle discuss our impressions from the IM-1 launch, and hints at what may come next for 4Space. These lunar deliveries are part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial

Welcome to the First Talking Space of 2024! The Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission is the second flight of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions. Its purpose is to have commercial entities be responsible for sending NASA science payloads and eventually cargo to the lunar surface to support human exploration of the Moon. NASA isn't the lead of the mission, but simply one customer of many. This new way of getting to the lunar surface opens a new door for not only researchers but also other non-traditional businesses who may never have thought of participating in spaceflight before to make their first bold steps into the space business. Bolted to the side of the Intitutive Machines NOVA-C IM-1 lander set for its lunar voyage is sculpture called “Moon Phases” conceptualized and designed by artist Jeff Koons. Consisting of 125 small and unique lunar phase sculptures, each one dedicated to someone who contributed to humanity for good in some way, it’s bolted to the side of the spacecraft set to be t

First off, apologies are in order for our extended absence from your podcast-hungry ears. We try our best to record on a consistent basis, but sometimes there’s a perfect storm of Life Events getting in the way for the Talking Space team when it comes down to getting an episode in the can. We DID even record an episode with Gene and Larry that we could not air because Larry’s audio track for the recording was not usable due to, of all things, an intermittently malfunctioning microphone. Sometimes the Universe just plain conspires against us. In the News Roundup:  First: Be encouraged and inspired. Watch an interview with former astronaut Jose Hernandez on This Week in Space, as well as his new biopic, A Million Miles Away. Here’s a link to the trailer. His daughter interviews him here. Next, we have an update on the Center for Biological Diversity, et al’s Starship lawsuit against the FAA, SpaceX, and a new defendant added recently: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Also, what’s happening now to qualify Spa

There’s a lot going on this time around, as usual. First, in the news roundup: Starship: The Lawsuit pitting the Center for Biological Diversity against the FAA and SpaceX proceeded mostly as expected (with a notable exception). The FAA awaits the US Fish and Wildlife Service to complete their Biological Assessment portion for review of the Starship’s next launch license. Here’s the Wallops Spaceport site map about which Gene quoted Eric Roesch in our discussion. Harry Stranger first tweeted about the maps on X. LUCY Mission makes its first asteroid flyby on November 1st. India has announced an ambitious, multi-planetary expansion of its space program on a short, 20-year timeline. NASA picks three museums in which to display OSIRIS-REx asteroid Bennu samples. When can you go see them? Actually very soon! Then, Mark discusses a brief history and laments the lessened art of spacecraft call signs and aircraft nose art. He also informs us that Commander Callie continues her mission in NASA’s newest issue of its

So much has happened so fast in the last couple of weeks related to SpaceX’s pursuit of Starship’s Flight 2 launch license. Look at all these goings-on: September 10, 2023: The list of 63 corrective actions specified in the Mishap Investigation Report are published; September 13, 2023: Acting FAA Administrator Polly Trottenberg comments to reporters that “We’re working well with them (SpaceX) and I think we’re optimistic sometime next month,” whatever that means. Trottenberg also mentions that SpaceX would also need a separate environmental approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) before a launch. She didn’t say how long that might take. Late Friday afternoon on September 15, 2023: News from FAA that they were performing a Written Reevaluation (WR) of the 2022 Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA). The WR will evaluate all the new environmental data collected as a result of the April 20, 2023 initial test launch of Starship, and will include results of an Endangered Species Act (ESA) con

This episode brings lots of Space news from around the globe, as well as from our own back yards. Literally.  First off: both Sawyer and Mark witnessed the plasma trail from the latest Crew Dragon reentry from their own back yards. A photo that looks … kind of like what they saw (taken by NASA) … is shown here. Next, we have plenty of news in the roundup, including: How LeoLabs worked with the European Space Agency (ESA) to support Aeolus satellite’s controlled reentry ULA's 98th launch for NRO and 157th launch with 100 percent mission success was SILENTBARKER/ NROL 107 on 10 Sept, 2023 How and why the majority of NASA’s buildings are in need of serious maintenance – or demolition The ongoing New Horizons Mission saga Virgin Galactic flies a group of “Founder” astronauts in its fourth flight NASA’s Frank Rubio breaks the US space endurance record NASA and Axiom announce the Axiom 3 crew The GAO says NASA’s Space Launch System needs more cost transparency Then, the team discusses the 36-page report of the NAS