Terranauts

Just a short announcement today to wrap up season four of Terranauts - and yes, there will be a season five. I hope you have been enjoying the journey so far and that you'll join us in the fall as we make the transition from Gemini to Apollo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's episode is dedicated to all of those Terranauts who work in the back hallways and committee meeting rooms to make sure that there is support (and funding) for the various programs that get humans and their inventions a chance to get off the planet. I have worked with too many of these dedicated and talented individuals to mention them here by name.  It can be a thankless job and...

When last we left Mac Evans (in an episode called The Flag Is A One) - he was in the mission control centre of the Canadian Telecommunications Satellite (CTS), having just rescued it from an untimely demise. This was important because CTS was the first modern telecommunications satellite and set the pattern for 20 years of satellite development. It was an important Canadian contribu...

n today's episode we pick up the Gemini story with preparation for Gemini IX. That means that we have to talk about the tragic events surrounding the deaths of Elliot See and Charles Basset who were the first NASA astronauts to die in the line of duty. We'll also talk about how NASA and the Gemini program moved on past this tragedy and how the backup crew of Tom Stafford and Gene Ce...

Today we take a little bit more time to examine the events of Gemini VIII and what NASA learned from that experience. For one thing it learned the value of having test pilots as astronauts. But it also learned that having a team on the ground that could adapt to rapidly changing events on orbit was pretty important as well. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information...

When we left first time Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott aboard Gemini VIII, they were just getting to orbit after what had been a pretty nominal launch of both their spacecraft and the Agena target vehicle that would rendezvous with. As we'll see, as the crew settled down to begin their rendezvous task the flight continued to go very well. Until it didn't... Hosted on Acast. See...

Gemini VIII was the first mission of 1966 and the first mission of the second half of Gemini's flight program. All of the big boxes had been checked, but that did not mean there was not a lot left to do. This week we talk about plans for Gemini VIII and we introduce a gentleman named Neil Armstrong who, at the time, was just a first time mission commander. Hosted on Acast. See acast...

In this episode we get caught up on what had been going on with the Agena program. Remember those guys? They were the ones whose rocket had blown up after launch which had caused the Gemini VI mission to be aborted before it even got off the launch pad. While the rest of the Gemini program has been making history, they have been trying to figure out how to get back to flight status. Host...

As the calendar turned over from 1965 to 1966, the Gemini program was entering a new phase. Having completed half of it's flight program and having made progress on all of it's major objectives, the program was already thinking about wrapping up. In a sense though, Gemini was just a marker of its time. A lot of things were changing quickly as the world moved from 1966 at NASA, in th...

As the year 1965 ended, astronauts Jim Lovell and Frank Borman were proving that human beings could adapt to the environment of space, having lived there for almost two weeks before successfully returning home. Similarly, the Gemini program and NASA itself were also getting used to a new environment. An environment where they were focussed less on meeting the daily challenges of the Gemini pr...

In this episode we finally get the party together on orbit as Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford in Gemini VIA complete the very first rendezvous with Jim Lovell and Frank Borman in Gemini VII.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When we left the Gemini program Jim Lovell and Frank Borman were just getting to orbit to begin a week long wait for Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford to join them in the first-ever on orbit rendezvous of two spacecraft. Today we will finally get the crew of Gemini VI to orbit... although it may take a little while longer than we thought. Today we will finally get the crew of Gemini VI to orbit....

Each January NASA pauses to honour NASA astronauts who lost their lives in cause of space exploration. This year, today, the 26th of January is the day NASA has chosen to mark this Day Of Remembrance. Once again this year, we, at Terranauts, also mark this day with a special episode to honour those flight crew that have died in humanity's quest to travel to and live off our planet. ...

When we left the Gemini program, President Lyndon B. Johnson was just stepping up the microphone at his ranch in Texas to explain how NASA was going to respond to the failure of Gemini 6 barely 72 hours previously. Instead of stepping back and contemplating the big pile of lemons that life had just handed them, NASA was about to make pitcher of pretty impressive lemonade by attempti...

It was the 25th of October, 1965. And Houston had a problem. And by that I mean that Gene Kranz and the flight control team in the mission control centre of the manned spaceflight center in the Houston had a problem, Gemini VI had failed. For the first time in over 4 years NASA had launched a human space flight mission that had ended in failure. True, the humans in the mission had n...

In this episode of the Terranauts podcast, NASA is about about to launch Gemini VI but something happens somethings that had never happened to a crewed mission before. As the launch of Gemini VI approached in the fall of 1965, everyone on the Gemini program was focussed on the problem of rendezvous. Last episode we talked about what that entailed. But in addition to worrying about h...

By the Fall of 1965, the Gemini program was well underway and riding the wave of a couple of very successful flights. NASA engineers and management could take pride in the fact that success had actually been fairly hard won. NASA had proven that it could work through significant issues and contingencies and still find a way to make it all work on orbit. There was still one major obj...

In this episode NASA and Project Gemini really stretch their legs in an attempt to set the record for the longest human space flight. Reaching the goal of 8 days will mean proving that humans can live and work in space long enough to get to the Moon and back. All that NASA needed was a good plan, a little bit of luck... and a working fuel cell. Tune in to see how THAT worked out. Ho...

This time on Terranauts we are back to talking about Project Gemini. With the accolades from Ed White's stunning spacewalk still ringing in their ears, the Project Gemini team needed to go back to work to continue their mission of getting NASA ready for the Apollo program and it's date with destiny on the surface of the Moon. By the time Gemini IV landed less than 4 and half years remain...

Terranauts is back for Season 4. This season we are planning to follow Gemini as it accelerates off the launch pad on the way to putting NASA firmly on a course for the Moon. Today, though, in addition to setting the stage for season 4, I'd like to pause and think about how some parts of the Terranaut journey haven't changed all that much in nearly 60 years. Including the fact the M...

Well Terranauts listeners, that is, in fact, going to be a wrap for season 3 of Terranauts. We will have to pick up the story of the Gemini program after the summer break. Never fear, over the summer we will be posting some of our favourite episodes from the past three seasons of Terranauts for your continued listening enjoyment. In the meantime, we really would appreciate your feedback on th...

In this episode the NASA flight control confronts one of its biggest challenges to date as they prepare to attempt not only NASA's first EVA but also the very first ever attempt at the rendezvous of two spacecraft on orbit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last episode of Terranauts, the Gemini Program had finally returned NASA astronauts to orbit - after a hiatus of almost 2 years. But getting to orbit had never been the objective of the Gemini program. Now that the spacecraft and the booster had been checked out the real work could begin - and that was the work of helping NASA get ready to go to the Moon. Hosted on Acast. See acas...

In which we finally get NASA astronauts back to orbit - despite Mother Nature's best efforts to the controversy and in which we discuss blackouts, Broadway musicals, and beef (of the corned variety) and how all of these things helped point the way to the new era that was about to begin at NASA. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are talking to a couple of Terranauts from The Next Generation. Laura Bradbury and Frederic Fortier both work for GHGSat, a Canadian company that is doing big things to combat climate change with small satellites. Find out what it's like to be working with today's cutting edge space technology. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.