And here’s the megafeed of everything I’ve been doing.
Debra Werner of SpaceNews joins me to talk about Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the ways that it is affecting the space industry, how their last invasion had similar effects, and how the situation solidifies several arguments that have been made over the past decade or more.
A special feature of a very-MECO episode of my other podcast, Off-Nominal, that I did this week with Michael Sheetz of CNBC and Eric Berger of Ars Technica. If you have yet to check out Off-Nominal, find us on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Michael Sheetz of CNBC and Eric Berger of Ars Technica join Anthony to talk about the latest in the finance side of space—what’s up in the world of funding, which businesses look steady and which look shaky, and of course, how you can’t spell space without SPAC.
Jake and Anthony talk about some (really good) changes coming to the show, Jared Isaacman’s privately-funded Gemini program, and SpaceX’s Starship…update.
Jared Isaacman, commander of Inspiration4, announced the Polaris Program—a privately-funded development program to “rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities” via flights on SpaceX’s Dragon and Starship vehicles. It begins with a mission to the highest Earth orbit ever flown by humans, featuring the first commercial spacewalk, and culminates with the first crewed Starship flight.
Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins me to talk about what’s on our radar in 2022, to predict when the big new rockets will fly, and to generally catch up on what’s going on in the space industry.
Jake and Anthony are joined by Dylan Taylor, Chairman & CEO of Voyager Space Holdings, founder of Space for Humanity, and commercial astronaut on Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-19.
Last week I left my full-time gig at Big Cartel. I’m going independent to do more Main Engine Cut Off and Off-Nominal, and to make these space-focused projects the primary work that I do. I’m also going to be building some apps of my own, and doing a good bit of client work—which could include you! If you’ve got an app or a site or really anything digital to build, hit me up and let’s work together.
Jake and Anthony are joined by Matthew Russell of the The Interplanetary Podcast to talk about the wackiest space news of the year and to crown the winners of the 2021 Off-Nominees.
Today is my last day at Big Cartel. I’m going independent to do more Main Engine Cut Off, more Off-Nominal, to build some apps of my own, and to round all that out with a good bit of client work—which could include you! If you’ve got an app or a site or really anything digital to build, hit me up and let’s work together.
Phil McAlister, Director of Commercial Spaceflight at NASA, joins me to talk about the history of and lessons learned from the Commercial Cargo and Crew programs, what things went well and not so well in those programs, the difficulty of changing NASA’s approach to human spaceflight, how to deal with varying levels of Congressional funding and buy-in, and how all of that feeds into the new Commercial LEO Destinations program.
Bill Spetch, Manager of the ISS Vehicle Office at NASA, joins me to discuss the operational considerations of docking and berthing ports on the International Space Station, the recent traffic jams we’ve seen on station, why certain vehicles and systems use one port over the other, how to fit large cargo through docking ports, and what the future of ISS port operations look like in the era of commercial space station expansion.
Marshall Smith, Senior Vice President of Space Systems of Nanoracks, joins me to talk about Starlab, their commercial space station which recently won a contract award from NASA as part of their Commercial LEO Destinations program.
Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation joins me to talk about the technical and political fallout of Russia’s recent anti-satellite weapons demonstration, the history of anti-satellite weapons and testing, the geopolitical situation surrounding the topic, and what the future of space debris tracking and management looks like.
Jake and Anthony are joined by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian to talk about Russia’s latest endangerment to the ISS—their anti-satellite operationthat resulted in a huge debris field—and about how Jonathan does all the excellent work he does tracking launches, satellites, and where everything in space is going.
Russia recklessly carried out an anti-satellite operation on a large, defunct satellite in one of the most heavily-used and most important sections of Earth orbit. I share my thoughts on the operation, Russia’s status in the space industry at large, and what the technical and political fallout may be coming out of this.
Commercial space station mania! Blue Origin, Sierra Space, Boeing, and Redwire announced Orbital Reef, while Nanoracks and Lockheed Martin announced Starlab, all in the run up to the expected awards as part of NASA’s Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Destinations program.
I took a half-hour ride out to the National Aerospace Training and Research (NASTAR) Center to take a tour with Glenn King, (COO, Director of Advanced Pilot & Space Training, and recent Netflix star) about their training, what they’ve been up to lately in this busy season of people going to space, and what the future may hold for spaceflight training. We tour their altitude chamber, spatial disorientation device, and high performance human centrifuge along with its various cockpits.
Jake and Anthony are joined by two returning favorites, Loren Grush and Miriam Kramer, to talk about Loren’s time away from the space news grind, and Miriam’s excellent podcast following Inspiration4.
Ryan McDevitt, CEO of Benchmark Space Systems joins me to talk all about what Benchmark has been up to lately, what mobility-as-a-service means for the industry, and their partnership with Orbit Fab.