I’m Anthony Colangelo.

SmallSat was last week which meant a flurry of announcements. This year was launch heavy, so I break down some announcements from SpaceX, Arianespace, and Rocket Lab.

Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins Jake and Anthony to talk about his recent trip to Boca Chica for Starhopper’s first hop, propellant depots, NASA policy, Artemis, and the passing of his friend, Chris Kraft. Upcoming meetup! Hang out with Jake, Pat (creator of RocketLaunch.Live), and other fellow Anomalies in Kent, WA on August 31! Details at events.offnominal.space.

Steve Altemus, President & CEO, and Dr. Tim Crain, VP of Research & Development, from Intuitive Machines join me to talk about their Nova-C lander, the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, and their task order from NASA for a landing on the Moon in July, 2021.

NASA terminated OrbitBeyond’s CLPS task order, opened CLPS up to more providers, and announced exciting partnerships with Blue Origin, SpaceX, and others.

I share some thoughts on three important stories from this week: NASA quietly announced their intention to sole source the Gateway habitat to Northrop Grumman, Starhopper made its first flight, and Lockheed Martin invested in ABL Space Systems.

Two top NASA human exploration leaders—Bill Gerstenmaier and Bill Hill—have been ousted from their positions. I break down what this means for NASA and its plans, where things could go from here, and ponder whether these changes really matter.

On the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, Jake and Anthony talk about the aftermath of Apollo and alternate histories we could have seen—the Apollo Applications Program, a crewed Venus flyby, and more Skylab.

Andrew Jones returns to the show to update us on China’s various efforts. We talk Chang’e-4 and Yutu-2, the mysterious Long March 5 delay, and what the future of Chinese launch may look like.

NASA put out a draft RFP for Gateway Logistic Services, the House Armed Services’ Committee weighs in on the US Air Force launch contracting drama, and a new company building small geostationary satellites has emerged.

Chris Gebhardt of NASASpaceflight joins Jake and Anthony to talk about space media in modern pop culture, the way its made and received, and what stands the test of time. Upcoming meetup! Hang out with Jake and other fellow Anomalies in Kent, WA on June 29! Details at events.offnominal.space.