Main Engine Cut Off

The Space Force rolled out the draft RFP for Phase 3 of the National Security Space Launch program, and it looks pretty good ! Elsewhere, NASA selected New Glenn to launch ESCAPADE in 2024, so I check in on the state of things over at Blue Origin—as always, it’s about the engines . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 44 executive producers—Simon, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan,...

Lori Garver , former NASA Deputy Administrator, joins me to talk about a whole host of space policy topics, including Artemis and lunar politics, the legacies of Commercial Cargo and Crew, the status of Commercial LEO Destinations, and also Lance Bass. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 42 executive producers—Simon, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bo...

Caleb Henry of Quilty Analytics and I took a trip down to Wallops Island to watch Rocket Lab’s first Electron launch from the US . Listen to our conversation on the drive down to Virginia, a bit of me at the press site before launch, and the launch itself in wonderful stereo audio. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 43 executive producers—Simon, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan,...

Virgin Orbit’s first launch from the UK ended in failure , putting them in an even more precarious financial position . And on the other side of the North Pole, ABL’s first launch attempt ended in failure right on the launch pad in Alaska. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 43 executive producers—Simon, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, M...

SpaceX rolled out Starshield , a new, Starlink-inspired (derived?) offering for national security space systems. And I have some thoughts on the upcoming National Security Space Launch Phase 3 contracting setup. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 42 executive producers—Simon, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joo...

Casey Dreier of The Planetary Society joins me to talk about Artemis I , where the Artemis program goes from here, and what the 2022 midterm elections mean for space. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 44 executive producers—Simon, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!)...

The crew of Polaris Dawn —Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis, and Anna Menon—join me to talk about the mission and its operations, their preparation and training so far, how their roles on past missions play into their role on this one, what they are learning and bringing back to their day-to-day roles, and what they’re excited about as they get ready to fly next year. This episode of Main Engine C...

Jared Isaacman of the Polaris Program joins me to talk about how the program began, how it’s envisioned, how they choose what to take on and solve, how they interact with SpaceX, and why he’s chosen to contribute to spaceflight in this way. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 43 executive producers—Simon, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell,...

Last week, I took a visit to Pittsburgh to visit Astrobotic , who is working on a few different landers and rovers destined for the Moon . I got to sit down with several team members for a series of conversations about what they’re working on, how things are going, and how the company is approaching the next few years in the industry. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 43 exe...

In the wake of Axiom-1, NASA has revised the requirements for future Private Astronaut Missions. It seems to put pressure on the market to focus on a certain customer base, like research and national astronauts , and it definitely changes the math for future flights. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 43 executive producers—Simon, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Ch...

Bob Pearce , Associate Administrator of NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate , joins me to talk about Aeronautics at NASA. We talk about how the directorate fits into the agency overall, how they develop its strategic direction, how they choose which projects to take on, how they transfer technology to industry, what they’re working on right now, and what they’ll tackle in the future. T...

Richard Parker, Head of Space at Canopius , and John Farnsworth, insurance broker and space advocate, join me to talk about the (seemingly) most mysterious topic in spaceflight: insurance! This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 42 executive producers—Simon, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (th...

Artemis I scrubbed its way through its first and second launch attempts , and is now undergoing repairs on the pad , ahead of its next launch attempt . I talk about the initial attempts, general thoughts on where we’re at with this program, where it’s headed in the future, and what public reactions to Artemis I have been. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 43 executive produc...

Jonathan Barlow from the NASA Ames Research Center joins me to talk about Astrobee —the free-flying robots on the International Space Station that test new technologies, sensors, and operations , and assist astronauts and mission controllers alike. Jonathan is the Astrobee Lead Engineer and has been with the program since the beginning, so we go way back to its origins and talk in-depth about what...

Northrop Grumman and Firefly announced a partnership to develop a new first stage for Antares—the same first stage that will power Firefly’s larger launch vehicle, Beta . It’s a great partnership for both parties that will surely lead to more interesting things in the future. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 42 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan...

Mike Loucks and John Carrico of Space Exploration Engineering join me to talk about astrogation, mission planning, missions they’ve worked on, how they interact with teams of all types, and everything else they do at SEE. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 42 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joe...

Rick Mastracchio, former NASA astronaut and current Director Of Business Development at Northrop Grumman Space Systems, joins me to talk about Northrop Grumman’s Commercial Space Station concept that they are working on as part of NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations program . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 42 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan,...

NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program is in a tricky spot right now. VIPER has been delayed a year , new task orders are being awarded to new teams like the one led by Draper , and Masten is all but dead . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Ja...

Some thoughts on where we are now that Dmitry Rogozin has been dismissed as head of Roscosmos , and that NASA and Roscosmos have signed a seat exchange agreement for future flights to the ISS. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb,...

Our good friend Jake Robins , host of WeMartians and my cohost on Off-Nominal , joins me to talk about Psyche missing its launch window , the state of the SIMPLEx program , its troubles with launch slots , and how NASA might approach this in the future. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, W...

Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins me to talk about the Artemis Program’s space suits , expensive launch sites , maybe-cheaper-but-at-least-not-as-delayed launch sites , vehicles, and its manifest over the next decade. Plus, a few bonus topics like Astra , Firefly , and Lori Garver’s new book . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 42 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat,...

SpaceX’s plans for launching Starship to orbit from Boca Chica cleared an environmental review with the FAA , but more than 75 mitigations are required in order to receive a launch license to carry out flights in the future. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz,...

Boeing completed Starliner’s long-awaited Orbital Flight Test-2 mission to the ISS, but about a week after landing, NASA announced its intent to buy more Dragon flights from SpaceX. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (t...

Mike Gold , Executive Vice President of Civil Space Business Development and External Affairs at Redwire , joins me to talk about his previous role at NASA , where he served as Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships, and was the driving influence behind the Artemis Accords . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat,...

Brent Sherwood, Senior Vice President of Advanced Development Programs for Blue Origin , joins me to talk about Orbital Reef . We talk about the long history leading up to this architecture, the nature of their partnership with Sierra Space and other team members, the parts of the program that are specific to their contract with NASA on the Commercial LEO Destinations project, and dive into how th...