I’m Anthony Colangelo.

At a town hall this week, NASA announced that the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate will be split in two: the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, led by Jim Free, and the Space Operations Mission Directorate, led by Kathy Lueders. I discuss what this change might mean for the future of NASA’s human spaceflight program, and why I think it’s not something to worry about if you’re a Kathy Lueders stan.

Last week, Firefly made their first flight attempt of Alpha, and Astra launched their latest vehicle, LV0006. Though both ended in failure, it’s a good time to check in on them and other small launchers that will debut soon like, ABL’s RS1 and Relativity’s Terran 1, and how they may all compete with each other.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Joe Barnard of BPS.Space to talk about what he’s been working on lately, what it’s like being a creator online these days, and various other topics like Firefly’s first launch, Virgin Galactic’s Kobayashi Maru, and what Chuck E. Cheese has been up to during the pandemic.

Eric Berger of Ars Technica returns to the show to talk about the recent crewed suborbital flights by Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, Blue Origin’s Project Jarvis and their future work, and what the chaotic arrival of Nauka means for the future of the ISS and international space politics.

Jake and Anthony are joined by Chelsea Gohd from Space.com to talk about the rarest of space events: double hot drama! Nauka, after a tumultuous week of its own, almost destroyed the ISS, and Blue Origin wrote an open letter while simulatenously losing its protest.

Richard Branson flew to space aboard SpaceShipTwo on Virgin Galactic’s Unity 22, and Jeff Bezos flew to space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard 16. I share my thoughts on the flights, the vehicles, and how I’m currently looking at suborbital tourism and why it does or doesn’t matter.

Marcia Smith of SpacePolicyOnline.com joins me for a round up of space policy news, including how the Biden and Nelson administrations are doing so far, things that are being overlooked or sidelined, the Senate’s NASA Authorization bill, NASA’s Human Landing System contract and the battle for funding, the space tourism learning period, and we finish with a quick look at what China and Russia have been up to lately.

Jake is moving, and has left Anthony alone with the keys to the show. Chris Gebhardt of NASASpaceflight and Jason Davis of the Planetary Society return to the show to talk about our newest Venus armada, China’s new space station, and the space politics cold war of Artemis vs China & Russia’s International Lunar Research Station. And bizarrely, an entire segment about Ares I-X.

I’m joined by Matt LaPointe, Technical Director at Redwire’s Deployable Space Systems, and Andrew Rush, COO of Redwire, to talk about the newest upgrade to the International Space Station: the Roll-Out Solar Arrays that are currently being deployed over the course of several spacewalks.

Phil Bracken, Vice President of Engineering at Spaceflight, joins me to talk about their past, current, and upcoming missions, the Sherpa program, and to dive into the technical details of it all.