Casual Space

Beth Carr is a formally trained performer and brand communications designer, who became passionately obsessed with figuring out how she could elevate storytelling for a brand creating authentic, long-lasting relationships with their ideal audiences and how that could be expressed through all their design, branding, messaging, and marketing.  And when it comes to telling the story about space, Beth...

Joyce Hirai and Beth Mund experience turbulence in two very different ways.  Joyce is an Air Force Hurricane Hunter and Flight Meteorologist! She, along with her team of experts from the Air Force Reserves fly WC-130Js into tropical storms and hurricanes to take atmospheric measurements that are then fed into weather models.  These models then help forecasters make predictions about locations and...

Amanda Gutierrez knows the exact moment she fell in love with space. She was in 2 nd grade. That moment, along with others since, have made such a strong impression on Amanda that she's already defined her career goal- to become an aerospace engineer and ultimately go to space. Since she's a junior in high school, she'll have to go to college first, but she won't have to wait for college to get to...

A continuous source of nutritious food is essential for long-duration exploration missions, and the typical pre-packaged astronaut diet will need to be supplemented by fresh foods produced in space. Researchers at NASA have been testing a plant growth unit on the International Space Station known as  Veggie  and have successfully grown a variety of leafy greens.  Veg-05 , the next step in that wor...

How can we help others find their path to success in the space exploration industry?  Because of your help and support, the Casual Space Podcast is on its way toward our 200 th episode!  So on this week's show, allow me to recognize some fine folks who have not only contributed to the success of the show (#2 in Space Podcasts that are Out of this World, according to We Edit Podcast), but to the ca...

From a young age, Time would gaze at the Moon from his window, and dreamed of to becoming an astronomer but lost courage due to his visual impairment- Tim is legally blind. One day, Tim's wife bought him a telescope to "help get him out of the house." While stargazing with a group from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), Tim discovered his superpower: the ability to see in part UV lig...

This band is on a mission: To boldly go where no star band has gone before, mixing pop culture with rock-n-roll theater, comedy, and sci-fi awesomeness to unite and entertain multiple generations of fans throughout the nerd-o-sphere. Insert Star Trek voice-over voice :  Casual Space Podcast formally invites you to experience the artful and entertaining parodies of the classic movies, tv scores, po...

This is the story of Andromeda Wright. Planet PA-99-N2. The war between the planet of fire and the planet of snow, and the only heroine who would be able to stop the war and change the way people think of stars.,, it's all part of the VERY FIRST story that's been selected from the submitted STORIES of Space Project!  I'm reading it on the podcast this week, as I will each and every week from now u...

The worlds of music, art and science can symbiotically exist and share center stage together to offer a sense of awe, wonder and inspiration about moons of the solar system, and ultimately about our home planet. Award winning composer and pianist Amanda Lee Falkenberg has created THE MOONS SYMPHONY- a project 5-years in the making, consulting with planetary scientists from NASA's JPL to ensure the...

Erin grew up in Florida watching shuttles launch and shake the windows of her house on reentry. She has always had a passion for making things, leading to her degree in mechanical engineering. Erin works at NASA's Johnson Space Center as a science communication specialist for the International Space Station at NASA's Johnson Space Center. She shares the amazing stories of research on the space sta...

Space is hard and complicated. Space norms are even harder and even more complicated. SO, in order to develop successful space norms, we will need creativity, perseverance, and a large and inclusive range of participants in the process. On today's episode, Robin Dickey discusses an approach towards space exploration that examines what's responsible to do, what is feasible to do, and what can be do...

Impulse Space is partnering with Relativity Space to perform the first ever commercial landing on the red planet! Places in space, like Mars, are being viewed as potential destinations that can support the expansion of human presence in the inner solar system. Impulse Space and Relativity Space's mission to Mars is a step forward for the entire community interested in the benefits that space can b...

Robert Feierbach returns as our special guest this week on the podcast and announces his new endeavors as President of Maritime Launch USA, Inc., the US affiliate of the Canadian commercial spaceport based in Nova Scotia, and, Robert unveils his new business, 0-G Launch, a Washington-DC based company deploying a fleet of specially-modified commercial aircraft to provide high-precision microgravity...

"We are in a space renaissance right now, but with that comes new challenges. This is especially true for spacesuits." Will Green is a Ph. D. student at the University of North Dakota. He is collaborating on research with NASA that is centered on applying breakthrough technologies to push the boundaries of what is possible with spacesuits. Will has taken part in analog missions at UND's Inflatable...

Martynas Fedotovas and Nika Chinchaladze are space entrepreneurs and CEOs of Altair Enterprises LLC - a space education & research organization that enables people to pursue careers in the space industry - and the organizers of the International Space Convention 2022 - the biggest space industry business event in the Caucasus region. They also Co-authored the book - Space Business 101: 7 Steps to...

Do you have a story? A story about space that you've been thinking about for some time?   Your story has the potential to change the way we explore space, but opportunities to share your story have been limited, challenging, and undiscovered. Until today.  Today, a simple story will fly to space, changing how we explore it.  Your story. Right here, right now. www.storiesofspace.com   Listen to thi...

This week, NASA has announced that they are moving towards the first launch attempt for the Artemis I mission with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft currently in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA is currently targeting launch for no earlier than Monday, Aug. 29, at 8:33 a.m. EDT during a 2 hour window!!!!! So, Dean and Beth...

Big dreams start at Space Camp.    The kids and family recipients from the Cosmic Odyssey scholarship program are joined by Inspiration4 astronaut Chris Sembroski in this creative conversation. Together, we discuss how our experiences can be put into the next Space Camp movie! From who's in mission control and on the rocket to where we're going to explore- we giggle through creating our own space...

Author and astronomer John Read is back with a BEAUTIFUL new book, Learn to Stargaze for Kids https://www.learntostargaze.com/books , and we're talking about what's within the James Webb images, and comparing some of them against Hubble.  As always, there's a lot to learn (so much fun)! During the second half of our conversation, John helps walk us through all of the super-easy ways we can find so...

Brad West will have to eat the same food, do the same exercise, contain and restrict his social circles, conduct similar experiments, tasks, and basically copy everything his twin brother Brent will do…while in space…for more than 500 days… simulating the same amount of time it will take for humans to get to Mars- and helping to prepare humans to explore Mars.  Why would Brad and Brent do this? It...

In just DAYS (July 12, 2022), NASA will release the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope for the WORLD to enjoy …and Dean and Beth are on the edge of their seats (making bets on what we're about to see) and what it will mean for space exploration when we look further into the universe than ever before.   The world's largest and most complex space science observatory will now begin six...

Starting a non-profit, serving on a board of directors, conducting medical research, and speaking at space exploration conference has been some of the activities for Gitika Gorthi. Oh, and recently graduating from HIGH SCHOOL! Gitika is busy working toward a career in aerospace medicine, and she knows exactly where she wants to be, what she wants to study and what problems she wants to solve in th...

This weekend, Beth's heading down to Huntsville, Alabama to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Space Camp!  Space Camp has been inspiring trainees since 1982, and has been a gateway for the future's astronauts, scientists, and engineers.  On this episode, Beth shares her personal story of her very first time attending Space Camp (there would be several more throughout the years) and shares a c...

On Tuesday, May 17, A House Intelligence subcommittee held the first congressional hearing in more than 50 years to focus on military reports of unexplained aerial phenomena (UFOs and UAPs)! This rare event included documents, discussions, videos and testimonies from Pentagon officials, pilots and others- along with the formation of a new organization called, AOIMSG….and YOU KNOW wherever there's...

Nicole is an astronaut, aquanaut, artist, mom, and now author of her first book  Back to Earth ~ What Life In Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet - And Our Mission To Protect It .  She creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire everyone's appreciation of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth.  Today on the Casual Space Podcast is Beth...