Max-Q: The Podcast

Artemis II has taken flight and there are now 4 people of their way around the moon!! On this episode Iain and Ethan break down the near flawless launch of SLS and highlight some funny and highly relatable issues the crew has faced in space. They also discuss some financial stuff regarding terrible budget cuts to NASA as well as the filing for IPO that SpaceX gave. NASA Budget cuts SpaceX IPO Star...

This week Iain and Ethan discuss everything around New Glenns second flight including a genius way of keeping the booster stable of the droneship. We also have a few updates to Firefly's mishap from September, the Baguette one is going orbital, and SES gave Relativity a contract. We wrap the week up with our launch roundup with the final non Amazon or Starliner Atlas V launch. Blue Origin Laun...

This week Iain and Ethan discuss all things IAC which, shockingly, isnt much. They also talk about firefly's mishap during a test, a new reusable vehicle Avio is designing, and they discuss everyones favorite company Vantor! https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/09/after-another-fiery-setback-it-seems-fireflys-alpha-rocket-is-still-in-beta/ https://europeanspaceflight.com/avio-wins-e40m-esa-contr...

This week Iain and Ethan discuss all the happenings at NASA, and boy was there a lot to talk about! First we congratulated the new class of astronaut candidates, then we discuss the Artemis two timeline. Blue Origin also got the VIPER contract and SpaceX could be the biggest delay in the Artemis program. Iain then goes on a lengthy rant about NASA leadership that he will someday regret. Then, to c...

Show Notes: https://www.spacecom.mil/Newsroom/News/Article-Display/Article/4308024/press-release-us-and-uk-demonstrate-partnership-in-first-ever-on-orbit-operation/ https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/09/rocket-lab-eyes-mto-nasa-revives-mission-concept https://www.blueorigin.com/news/blue-origin-mars-telecommunications-orbiter https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/09/crs-ng-23 https://www.nasa.gov...

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/firefly-granted-faa-clearance-resume-alpha-rocket-launches-2025-08-26/ https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronaut-megan-mcarthur-retires/ https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/rocket-lab-opens-launch-complex-3-a-critical-milestone-on-the-path-to-neutrons-first-launch/ https://www.exploration.space/blog/the-exploration-companys-nyx-earth-capsule-...

In this weeks show Iain and Ethan discuss all the various new contracts and missions that got announced this past week, and boy, there are some very interesting things to note here!! Amentum secures a 4 billion dollar contract to revamp the range systems by the space force The UK Space Agency has been shut down and absorbed by the DSIT ESA announced a mission to asteroid Apophis SpinLaunch raised...

In homage to one of our past episodes, entitled "Nothing Went Boom", we talked about a very important boom this week. For a while. Actually, we talked about a couple of booms. What booms are those? Well, tune in and find out! Also, Beagle goes on a whole rant about funky astrophysicist naming schemes. They're... weird.

This week Ethan and Iain discuss the politics surrounding NASA and the pulled nomination of Jared Isaacman. We also discuss the fallout between Musk and Trump and what that means for SpaceX contracts. After the political bit we talk about the Hakuto R mission and StarShip's ninth test flight. Our Links:Max-Q News website: ⁠ https://max-q-news.space/%E2%81%A0 Max-Q News X (formerly Twitter): ⁠...

In this interesting episode Iain is on his own and he is less than enthused, however the news is very exciting so that helped. Over the past month a lot has happened and we cover it all, which shockingly took only 20 minutes. RocketLab had their quarterly review and it went quite well IM-2 investigation is complete and it shows exactly what we expected Dragonfly defies expectations and passes its...

New Horizons turned back on and Firefly Blue Ghost did not Redwire and Ispace sign contract for lunar landers ULA sponsors a coffee shop Texas senators want Space Shuttle Discovery and so do we Jared Isaacman faced a tough confirmation hearing. No links available go check previous ep for links.

This week Butch and Suni come home after a 9 month stint on the ISS, ISRO gets approval for another lunar lander, and SpaceX breaks a turnaround record Crew-9 return  Blue Ghost goes offline wish potential for revival on April 1st  https://x.com/Firefly_Space/status/1901414669677449256   https://x.com/firefly_space/status/1902003622201745632 Chandrayaan 5 has received mission approval  https://www...

In which Iain & Beagle discuss Moon landers! (Late congrats to Firefly, by the way. They nailed their landing Sunday morning!) Management changes at NASA Another Falcon 9 second stage mishap Tons from Rocket Lab's Q4 report and more! Stay in touch with us: Patreon - ⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/Maxq_News⁠ Website - ⁠https://max-q-news.space⁠ BlueSky - ⁠https://bsky.app/profile/maxqnews.bsky....

Why is a space podcast entitled "Oops, It's A Tesla"? Guess you'll just have to watch to find out! Plus, we've got: - Lunar Lander recaps - Boeing's Organizational Failures - New NASA Admins (eventually) - and more! Follow Us! Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/Maxq_News Website - https://max-q-news.space BlueSky - https://bsky.app/profile/maxqnews.bsky.social Discord - https://discord.com/invite...

Welcome to season 3 of Max-Q News! This week we talk about Blue origins inaugural flight of New Glenn, Starships failed launch, and two lunar landers launching on the same rocket? that cant be right! listen to find out! Thank you all for your support over the past 3 years, none of this could be possible without you, our listeners. Our Links - Join and Interact with our Crew: Max-Q News website: ⁠...

This week Iain and Ethan have a wide ranging discussion about the new NASA nominee Jared Isaacman and what he will bring. We discuss about wether or not company towns are a good idea (hint: they arent). Blue Origin gets ready to fly New Glenn, the first aircraft incident report on Mars is finished, and Fleet Space company was awarded raised 100 million dollars to build their creepy robot! Our Link...

We spend a ton of time this episode looking into PLD Space's plans for their Miura rocket family, along with plenty of other news from this and last week! Boeing: Selling Off Space? Gilmour: Going, Going, Finally! Blue Origin: Busted (by Water!) NEOWISE returns to Earth and a few more things, just for good measure! All this, on this week's Max-Q. Our Links - Join and Interact with our Crew: Max-Q...

This week Starship launched and what a catch that was. We have several thoughts we didn't even have time for a cold open! Europa Clipper also launched this past week and Iain has some controversial thoughts on it. Then Ethan talks about all of the contracts that were singed this week (note from Iain: there were a stupid amount of contracts). then to top it all off we cover IAC as well as some othe...

Like the name suggests, we've got a double whammy in terms of anomalies this week -- one with a Falcon 9 (yes, again) and one with a Vulcan SRB... come give a listen to our analysis of what exactly happened and why only one of them is getting an FAA investigation. What else do we have? Hurricane Helene & Starlink (which, cool note to add, since we've recorded, Starlink and T-Mobile have offici...

This week, on the return of Max-Q (sorry 'bout that.): We chat about SLC-40 finally hosting crew Crew-9 (and a half), plus the future possibilities for the cut crew Deep Blue Space's Nebula-1 Vertical Testing Vehicle... and their drone pilot. Firefly gets paid The Office of Unhelpful and Redundant makes a return and more, only to be found here on the Max-Q Podcast! Oh yeah, and we also discuss som...

This week Iain goes solo for a retro style show with futuristic topics. There were many new things happening this week such as Stoke doing suction testing, a New Glenn at Port Canaveral, and a new satellite bus. There were also a few old topics such as Viper coming back from the dead and some Starliner updates. Our Links: Max-Q News website: ⁠ https://max-q-news.space/%E2%81%A0 Max-Q News X (forme...

This week Iain and Beagle discuss old news, new news, and things that aren't news! For starters we provide some updates into what happened during Starlink 9-3, freak out about an asteroid that's way too close for comfort, and have a debate about whether free launch service is a good idea (Hint: It's not! -Iain (It totally is. -Beagle)). Dragon gets its very own "pimp my ride"...

This has been a CRAZY week! Iain survived Beryl, but his fence did not. CHAPEA went much better than Biosphere 2. We remember one of the all-time greats, Joe Engle, a veteran of the late Apollo and early Space Shuttle programs at NASA, and we rant about Europe's space industry. Ani is forced to talk about Virgin Galactic's headquarters, Travis goes on a very detailed explanation of the Par...

In this episode, Beagle and Ani cover every corner of the globe, from a Japanese H3 launch and a runaway Chinese rocket to an American company expanding to international facilities and a rocket losing a payload — all this and more on this week’s episode! What, you expected our links here? Yeah, sorry, we forgot them this week. Oops.

Ethan and Ani (as well as Iain) discuss all things rocket lab and how peter beck started it. They also discuss Firefly, a UN council meeting, ESA's return to space with Ariane 6. they also briefly mention Chinas return to the moon (or rather their return to earth) Ariane 6 to make its debut: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane/Ariane_6_pre-show_wet_dress_rehearsal_...