I’m Anthony Colangelo.

Jake and Anthony sit down for an election-week palate cleanser and explore some fun discussion prompts from Anomalies just like you!

Donald Trump has been reelected President of the United States, and the main character of spaceflight, Elon Musk, is one of his top advisors. Some thoughts on where things may go from here, and a bit of my wishlist.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age, to talk about the 2024 US elections, the return of President Trump, Musk’s role in the next administration, and what space policy looks like over the next four years.

Jared Isaacman of the Polaris Program joins me to talk about the Polaris Dawn mission, his EVA experience, the Hubble Space Telescope situation, how the Polaris Program and SpaceX approach tech development and flight planning, and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Mission Pilot of Polaris Dawn, retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, and former Thunderbird #4 Demonstration Pilot, to talk about his recent flight to space.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, Former Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and leader of ETH Zurich Space, to talk about some of the big stories in science at NASA—Mars Sample Return, cost growth in missions across the board, and more. Note: Dr. Z cited the Europa Clipper solar arrays at 100 yards across, as in one football field, but clarified via email that they are actually 100 feet. He is European, so the football field mix up is understandable. Go Birds.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Jack Beyer, Content Manager for NSF, to talk about SpaceX doing the dang thing! They caught the booster!

SpaceX is entering a new era for Starship after the epic Flight 5, with its pinpoint ship reentry and staggeringly beautiful booster catch.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Casey Handmer, Founder of Terraform Industries, to talk about Mars Sample Return, and the general state of government projects, NASA, and so much more.

Jake arrives sad about space, and Anthony tries to cheer him up. We talk ISS, Artemis, budgets, and government strategy and goals.

SpaceX and the FAA have been going a few rounds back and forth in public over fines and delays. It’s weird and inscrutable but maybe helpful in the long run in a few ways.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Joe Barnard to air their grievances with the FAA.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX, to talk about his newest book, Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age.

Jake is joined by Emma Louden and Tanya Harrison to talk about their new children's book Mia and the Martians and how distilling space down to a child's level is a fascinating and challenging topic.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Dr. Gerard van Belle, Astronomer at Lowell Observatory, to talk about the recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis, which is about to do some crazy stuff that it does every 78 years and honestly, we really need help understanding it.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Casey Dreier, Chief of Space Policy at The Planetary Society, to share the Good News about Human Spaceflight.

Andy Lapsa, Co-Founder and CEO of Stoke Space, joins me to talk about the company, their vision for the future, their approach to launch, the larger trends that are shaping the market, and how that all might come together in the next few years.

Jake and Anthony are joined by John Conafay, founder of Integrate, to talk about what they’ve been up to lately, his time at SmallSat, all the space news of late, our bizarre JSC theories, and probably a review of Salt Lake City favorites in advance of the conferences’s move next year.

Jeff Foust of Space News joins me to talk about Starliner, Fram2, VIPER, Blue Moon, and everything else going on in space. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 31 executive producers—Jan, Warren, Pat from KC, David, Frank, Lee, Joonas, Josh from Impulse, Steve, Harrison, Russell, Joel, Bob, The Astrogators at SEE, Stealth Julian, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Kris, Fred, Theo and Violet, Matt, Donald, Will and Lars from Agile, Ryan, Pat, Better Every Day Studios, and four anonymous—and 823 other supporters.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Logan and Alan from MSI DFAT to talk about blasting satellites and spacecraft with sound. Seriously, that is their job.