Space and Things

One of the big stories of this year has been the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner space craft which has now been at the ISS for 2 months, when it was only scheduled to be there for 8 days. We dig a little deeper and also have a conversation about misinformation. Eric Berger Article: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/yes-nasa-really-could-bring-starliners-astronauts-back-on-crew-dra...

This week we talk to Mike Haddad, who retired in 2011 from NASA at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) with 32 years of Flight and Ground systems engineering and operational experience. We find out more about life behind the scenes of the space shuttle and all about the efforts involved to restore some of the hardware that was used back then. Michael Haddad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-e-haddad-473...

This week, Emily and Dave talk about their favourite space missions, both crewed and uncrewed. What are your favourites? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you. Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp204-our-favourite-space-missions Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week. Image Credits: Sp...

This week we lost another of our heroes. Joe Engle the only astronaut to have flown to space on the X-15 and the Space Shuttle died at the age of 91. We wanted to pay tribute to this incredible pilot so we asked Michelle Evans to join us. Michelle previous wrote and released what is the definitive book on the X-15, “The X-15 Rocket Plane: Flying The First Wings Into Space” - Joe was interviewed fo...

As we move forward with plans to live on the moon, new technology needs to be developed to make this possible, and today we’re talking to someone who is helping to make that happen. Madison Feehan is the founder and CEO of Space Copy who are building 3D printers which will work on the Moon or Mars that will be able to use the resources found their to 3D items which will be required to survive ther...

This week we pay our respects to Bill Anders, the Apollo 8 astronaut who died last month at the age of 90. To help us do this we’re joined by Francis French who had numerous visits to Bill Anders home while writing his book “In The Shadow of the Moon.” Bill Anders Obituary:  https://heritageflight.org/about/maj-gen-bill-anders/remembering-bill-anders/#:~:text=Major%20General%20William%20Aliso...

Can you believe it? 200 episodes! Today we bring you something extra special as we interview Sterling Crawford and General Charlie Duke. Sterling recently opened Stall Three Studio in South Carolina and unveiled a brand new portrait of her grandfather General Duke as part of the “Space Exploration: Past Present and Future” exhibit, so we find out more from both of them about the portrait, space an...

And so this week is part 3 of 3 in which we get to listen to some interviews with Alan Bean conducted by Rick Houston back in 2016. An incredible insight into the mind and life of the 4th person to walk on the moon. Makes sure you listened to parts one and two first! We're also joined by Rick to talk about the what, why and how of these interviews. Alan Bean Obituary: https://www.nasa.gov/news-rel...

And so this week is part 2 of 3 in which we get to listen to some interviews with Alan Bean conducted by Rick Houston back in 2016. An incredible insight into the mind and life of the 4th person to walk on the moon. Makes sure you listened to last week's episode first. Alan Bean Obituary: https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/family-release-regarding-the-passing-of-apollo-skylab-astronaut-alan-bean/ &...

A very special episode this week, part 1 of 3 in which we get to listen to some interviews with Alan Bean conducted by Rick Houston back in 2016. An incredible insight into the mind and life of the 4th person to walk on the moon. Alan Bean Obituary: https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/family-release-regarding-the-passing-of-apollo-skylab-astronaut-alan-bean/   Rick Houston: X: https://x.com/ric...

SpaceX are the number 1 launch provider in the world currently, and author/journalist Brad Bergan has just released a wonderful book about them called SpaceX: Elon Musk and the Final Frontier. So we think it’s about time that we have a conversation about SpaceX. Brad Bergan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-bergan/   SpaceX - Elon Musk and the Final Frontier: https://www.quarto.com/...

Over the weekend Blue Origin launched their first crewed mission after nearly two years and today we’re speaking to someone who has won their ticket for one of their future flights. Dr. Eiman Jahangir entered the MoonDAO Ticket To Space raffle and his name was picked out, however, Dr. Jahangir is so much more than a space tourist as you’ll find out in this week’s episode. Dr. Eiman Jahangir: X: ht...

In nearly 200 episodes we’ve never had any in depth discussion about the military uses of space, so we’ve decided this is the week. We’re joined by Dwayne Day, a space historian who is an expert on the history of reconnaissance satellites and it’s a fascinating conversation.  Dwayne Day: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwayne-day-41983723/   X: https://twitter.com/CORONAGAMBIT Eye...

Ever wondered what life might be like on a remote part of the world while tracking spacecraft and communicating with them? Ever considered the dangers of being in a blockhouse close to a rocket launch as it explodes? Well our guess this week has some stories for you. We speak to Dan Kovalchik who started working on tracking stations and eventually became the Systems Administrator for the Delta lau...

We can’t get enough of talking about the moon and we love a bit of poetry, so it was a joy talking to Christopher Cokinos for this week’s podcast. Christopher has just released a book called ‘Still as Bright - An Illuminating History of the Moon, from Antiquity to Tomorrow’ - and it’s a must read! Christopher Cokinos:  https://www.christophercokinos.com/ Still As Bright: https://www.simo...

With the recent moon landing attempts by private US companies having some mixed results, it seems that everyone is an expert on how to land something on the moon all of a sudden, well today we speak to an actual expert to find out what's really going on up there. Brandon Dotson has all the degrees and is currently writing a thesis on the difficulties of landing on the moon. Brandon Dotson: https:/...

This week we speak to Lisa Young, Supervisory Conservator at the National Air and Space Museum, who has been responsible for the preservation of the spacesuits and spacecraft in the Smithsonian collection. Ever been to a museum and wondered about how they look after the spacesuits? Well Lisa is the expert. Lisa Young: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-young-06a22512/ https://airandspace.si.edu/peop...

On 24th March of this year, George Abbey died at the age of 91. One of the most influencial people working behind the scenes at NASA for many years and someone who has come up many times during many interviews. So we wanted to spend an episode to pay tribute to his contributions. To do this we’re joined by Michael Cassutt, author of the 2018 book “The Astronaut Maker - How One Mysterious Engineer...

On April 8th there will be a total eclipse travelling across Mexico, the United States and Canada so today we talk to Stephen Wolfram, who earlier this year released a book called “Predicting the Eclipse: A Multimillennium Tale of Computation.” - we learn about the history of predicting eclipses and so much more.  Stephen Wolfram: https://www.stephenwolfram.com/   X: https://twitter.com/...

This week we talk to Dr. Tracy Scott who has just started a project to bring together her own history as an early era “astronaut kid” (daughter of David R. Scott: Gemini 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 15) with her professional expertise as a sociologist and teacher. 100 Patreons By Show 200: https://www.patreon.com/Spaceandthings Dave’s Tour Dates: http://www.davejgiles.com/gigs Dr Tracy Scott: https://tracy...

Sad news this week as the space world mourns the loss of General Thomas P. Stafford, pilot of Gemini 6 and commander of Gemini 9a, Apollo 10 and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. A true legend of spaceflight and he will be missed. 100 Patreons By Show 200: https://www.patreon.com/Spaceandthings Dave’s Tour Dates: http://www.davejgiles.com/gigs Tom Stafford Obituary:  https://www.space.com/n...

This week we conclude the interviews we recorded at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in January by asking about what it means to be a curator at the museum. We had three interview and we spoke to each of the individually about various aspects of life as a curator and have merged those aspects into this episode. We hope that you enjoyed the episode from our field trip and hope that we get to do...

This week we speak to David Woods, the editor of a brand new movie called ‘Galileo Moon’ which is all about the Apollo 15 mission and is produced by the commander of that mission, Dave Scott. 100 Patreons By Show 200: https://www.patreon.com/Spaceandthings Dave’s Tour Dates: http://www.davejgiles.com/gigs David Woods: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-woods-22979734/   Galileo Moon:...

This week we speak to Dr. Margaret Weitekamp, the Space History Department Chair at the Smithsonian Institution and the curator of the Air and Space Museum’s social and Cultural history of spaceflight collection, more than 5,000 artefacts that include space memorabilia and space science fiction objects. Dr. Weitekamp also recently published Space Craze: America’s Enduring Fascination with Real and...

This week we speak to Logan Jaeren who is just about to launch STEAM4SPACE to try and use his extensive mission patch collection to help inspire the next generations. 100 Patreons By Show 200: https://www.patreon.com/Spaceandthings STEAM4SPACE: https://steam4space.org/?page=section/home.html Space exploration Patches: https://sxpatches.com/   Logan Jaeren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loganjae...