Failure To Launch

In a desperate bid to one-up the American Apollo missions, the Soviets built nuclear Moon tanks. We’re joined by auto journalist and podcaster Victoria Scott for a series on the Soviet Lunokhod rovers. In Part 1, we talk about the three-pronged Soviet lunar program, how they built the first space tank, and how you can stay warm in winter with a kilo of Polonium-210.  Check out Victoria’s work here...

On July 9th, 1962, the US Navy lit space on fire from Hawaii to New Zealand and fried a quarter of all active satellites in orbit. This week, we’re joined by engineer and friend of the show Ian to talk about Starfish Prime, the largest nuclear test ever conducted in space, and all the satellites that test killed. Find our merch store here Support FTL on Patreon to get bonus content and join our Di...

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, support Failure To Launch on Patreon at any tier. For June’s bonus, we’re joined by Ani Mejlumyan of the Lions Led By Donkeys podcast to talk all about The Lesson, a strange Soviet-Armenian animated short about environmentalism. Or possibly John Lennon. Or being so relentlessly horny that you short...

The earliest manned spaceflights were universally cramped, uncomfortable, and dangerous. What if your job was to do that multiple times a year underwater? This week, we're joined by Dr. Alan Jamieson, an accomplished marine biologist, veteran of many deep sea dives, and a host of the Deep Sea Podcast to compare our respective environments and see how they line up. Check out the Deep Sea Podcas...

More Ace Combat announcements are coming out and we're very excited about that, so we're unlocking our bonus episode from earlier this year on the Gleipnir flying stealthing aircraftlasermissilebattlecarrier. The final boss of superweapon development. A weapon worth double digits of the GDP of Laesath. The universe's most powerful Blue Angel. This time, we're tackling a fan request...

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon .

A lot of people know that the Soviets canceled their manned lunar program after losing the Moon Race to Apollo. What most don’t know is how that program ended: in a backroom, cloak-and-dagger palace coup that made one man the unquestioned King of Soviet Space. This week, we’re joined by Joe Kassabian to talk about The Coup of OKB-1 by 𝓜𝓞𝓜.  Listen to Lions Led By Donkeys here and check out Joe’s u...

In April 2026, while the crew of Artemis 2 was still travelling around the Moon, the Trump administration put forward a budget proposal to gut NASA. This week, we’re joined by space policy analyst and host of the Talking Space podcast, Gene Mikulka, to go over the threats to space science and the grassroots resistance to the cuts.  Check out the Talking Space podcast here and follow Gene on Bluesk...

Alternate title: Railing Rockets. We're joined by Gareth Dennis , host of the RailNatter podcast, to talk about the intersections of rockets and trains. Gareth came prepared with a wonderful story of horses' arses and the NASA Railroad. Quinn, meanwhile, got sidetracked and wrote about how Soviet OKB head Sergei Korolev accidentally bankrupted a city. Check out RailNatter and Gareth's...

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon .

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a motorcycle. We're back for part 2 of our series on Viktor Ilyin and the story leading up to the attempted assassination of Leonid Brezhnev in 1969. Find our merch store here! Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community! SOURCES: - Into the Cosmos, Asif Siddiqi and James Andrews - The First...

What would alien life look like? Would it look shockingly like an Ho-229 jet fighter? Would it be best researched by an AI with the mind of a preschooler? This week, we're joined by comic artist and speculative biology enthusiast Jay Eaton to talk about potential alien life and a really weird 2005 Discovery documentary, Alien Planet . Check out Jay's webcomic, Runaway to the Stars, here an...

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon .

Cosmonaut Boris Volynov almost died twice in one week in January 1969. The first was when his Soyuz-5 capsule nearly burned up on reentry. The second was when a Soviet Army defector ambushed the motorcade carrying him, seven other cosmonauts, and Premier Leonid Brezhnev with akimbo Makarovs. This is Part 1 of our series into the weird story of an attempted assassination of the leader of the Soviet...

ЩΉΛƬ DӨ YӨЦ ƧΣΣ? On audience request, this time we're reviewing 2007's Sunshine . It's got a great cast, a legendary soundtrack, good reviews, financial failure, and it made Cillian Murphy an atheist.

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon .

No, a trio of astronauts on NASA's Skylab station did not stage a mutiny over poor working conditions. Yes, they would've been justified if they had staged a real mutiny. Today, we're tackling Skylab-4 and the legend of the First Strike in Space. Find our new merch store here! Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community! SOURCES: - Skylab: The Human Si...

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon .

In the late 70s, OKB-52 head Vladimir Chelomey decided to try and compete with the new Buran space shuttle project. He did it in secret, with stolen funds, and against express orders from the Kremlin. Today, we're talking with space history youtuber Alexander The OK about how it all somehow went wrong. Watch Alex's content here! Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our D...

Like most stuntmen, Michael Hughes had a very confusing life and an overwhelming need to become famous at any cost. In this episode, we cover how that need drove him into conspiracy mania and got him killed flying a glorified pressure cooker. Sources: - DIY Rockets, Daredevils, and the Tragedy of Mad Mike Hughes [WIRED] - "Mad Mike" Hughes Rejected Science and Chased Fame. It Killed Him....

CONTENT WARNING Only 21 people were ever convicted for crimes at Mittelwerk. Only 1 was executed. This week, we're finalizing our series on the slave factory that produced Hitler's vengeance weapons. Joining us is genocide historian Joe Kassabian to lend his insight on how Mittelbau fit into the larger German camp network and slave labour scheme. Listen to Joe talk more history on Lions Le...

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon .

CONTENT WARNING This week we're back into our series delving into Mittelwerk, the underground rocket factory / concentration camp that produced Hitler's "Vengeance Weapons". In Part 5, we look at the official establishment of the Mittelbau complex and the constellation of subcamps that sprung up around it. SOURCES: Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of th...

The White Bird. The Bridge to Peace. Osea's greatest superweapon. Today, we're talking about the High-Altitude Mobile Spacecraft (HAMS) or as it's more commonly known: The Arkbird. We cover everything from its conception in the paranoid heyday of the Cold War, how it was created as a symbol of peace and cooperation, and its use as a weapon of war. Sources: - Arkbird Declaration (2008 G...

CONTENT WARNING This week we're back into our series delving into Mittelwerk, the underground rocket factory / concentration camp that produced Hitler's "Vengeance Weapons". In Part 4, we take a look at the wider events in Nazi politics and the war in 1944 and how they all filter back to the tunnels under Nordhausen. SOURCES: Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold...