Today In Space

Who is Elon Musk? What role does he play in the Space Industry of tomorrow and how has all of this Space Progress happened recently? Is SpaceX the true cause? Elon Musk alone? Well, if it were that easy to explain this podcast wouldn't be 365 episodes long and Brad Bergan would not have written two wonderfully detailed books about the Space Race 2.0 and the history and people behind it! We hope yo...

Starship performs their 6th Test Flight a month after their 5th - and it was.....BANANAS! That's right we are breaking down IFT6, with our (almost) LIVE reaction to the launch! We started recording during Starship's Reentry, so you catch our reaction live to that. It was a great day for data! The Starship team's have pulled off the practically impossible and soft landed both the Super Heavy Booste...

Welcome back for another episode of Today In Space! This week we're exploring the next phase of AG3D, our 3D printing lab where we bring ideas into reality. Enter - the Part Detective, where you can book us on the case of your next 3D printed part mystery! What if the crew of Apollo 13 were able to 3D print the square filter adapter for the round hole of the spacecraft's CO2 Filtration system? The...

Welcome to another episode of the podcast! On this episode, I'm sharing my thoughts on AI. Specifically, the tools I actually use with some practical-use metrics to show how it's helping me (the individual) do more and spend more time in my creative zone and less time doing things I dont like. I also share my thoughts on AI, and some fundamental beliefs I use to guide my adoption of it. The idea o...

This week, we welcome Ethan Siegel on the podcast! Our guest, author of "Infinite Cosmos," discusses his STEM origin story from a curious child with a telescope to a renowned astrophysicist and science communicator. He recounts his educational path, including his PhD from the University of Florida and postdoctoral work at the University of Arizona. Siegel emphasizes the importance of curiosity and...

Hey there Space Fam we're back for another episode of Today In Space! We need to review SpaceX's historic success of Starship's Flight Test 5, which happened just this past Sunday on October 13th, 2024. They made the impossible possible and gave us a glimpse of what our future looks like going back to the Moon, on to Mars in 2026, and beyond in the future of human space travel. Let's dive right in...

We're back to start October for a Space Update!  This week on Episode 359:  Crew-9 successfully docked with the space station, marking a significant milestone for the Commercial Crew Program as Crew Dragon acts as backup to bring Suni & Butch home in Early 2025 Astronomy news | Comet C/2023-A3 Atlas is now visible, with its brightness increasing as it approaches perihelion (best time might be the...

On this week's episode we are joined by John Conafay, the CEO & Co-Founder of Integrate to share his STEM Origin story and chat with us about the company. Integrate is touted as the only program management tool built specifically for multi-team hardware development. Another way of saying it could be that Integrate is bringing all of the various hardware teams involved in launching a rocket to spac...

On this episode, we're breaking down the Polaris Dawn Mission after the Crew of 4 has returned safely from their 5-Day mission & 1st Commercial Spacewalk! If you wanted a quick catch up of everything Polaris Dawn - we got you covered. We'll start with a mission overview, and discuss the Human Spaceflight records broken, the scientific research done, the details of the spacewalk, reentry & splashdo...

On this week's episode Matthew Onassis and Luca De Caneva, co-founders of NAVXCOM, join us to discuss their company's mission to develop a Lunar Positioning System (LPS) for autonomous navigation and communication on the moon. Matt & Luca share their STEM origin story which includes meeting at NASA identifying a gap in lunar infrastructure. NAVXCOM won a contract with NASA Marshall Space Flight Ce...

We're back for another Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test update! NASA has finally made the decision to return the Starliner uncrewed, leaving the Crew 9 mission with two empty seats so that SpaceX can bring Astronauts Suni Williams & Butch Wilmore back to Earth in February 2025. It's been a summer full of human spacflight and enough chaos to go with it! We share the top 3 press questions from the...

On this episode we are breaking down the next exciting human spaceflight mission: Polaris Dawn! The mission will be the 1st Commercial Spacewalk at 700km/435 miles above the Earth. Aside from breaking human spaceflight records, there will be an incredible amount of research, science, and technology demonstrations as well! The new SpaceX EVA (Spacewalk) suit, Crew Dragon spacecraft, and Falcon 9 ro...

We're back for the next update of Boeing's Starliner's Crew Flight Test (CFT) and the subsequent delays in the flight readiness review meeting. Coupled with reported internal NASA concerns related to the Starliner's Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters - it's clear there isn't 100% confidence & more options needs to be considered. That means engineering is involved! So let's dive into the world...

In this week's episode Alex breaks down his thoughts on the connections between Space & Sea Travel! It's amazing what being on an adventure in a beautiful place like Scotland can do for your imagination and deep thinking. All the island (isle) hopping we did, along with hiking the highlands and the lowlands, made me see just how similar sea travel is with space travel! The same small crews of prof...

We got an update from the NASA & Boeing teams about Starliner CFT on July 10th, 2024. We wanted to share the TOP 4 Press & Media Questions and the NASA/Boeing team answers for us to all gain more INSIGHT into this Crew Test Flight for Boeing. I think we learned a lot about the problem and how the Boeing & NASA teams think about this. As most revealing things, it brings up more questions. So buckle...

There was A LOT of space news happening the last 2 weeks while we were adventuring in Scotland! (more on that soon) Our first episode back is dedicated to the Boeing Starliner news and reports of the astronauts being "stranded" on the ISS. We break down why that click-bait headline isn't true but also how NASA is dealing a double standard with Boeing's test flight status.  We review the latest fro...

On this episode we dive into the Human Factor where we talk about what it means to be human, and how ALL of our traits & skills matter (good and bad). This week we're discussing what it means to be DEDICATED and why 'the Mission' is so important to a person like myself, especially after 10 years of podcasting about all-things space! We want to thank  ‪@veefriends‬ for making these AWESOME Characte...

The first week of June went HARD for Space - and for Human Spaceflight it was fully loaded! So many launches, including the success of Boeing's CFT Starliner that brought Astronauts Sunita Williams & Butch Wilmore! We break down what happened, why it was a success, and our thoughts on the Crew Test Flight. We really can't stress how important having TWO human-rated spacecraft for the US to launch...

Last week was some of the most exciting and jam packed space events I've seen in a while. So many launches, including the success of SpaceX's Starship Test Flight 4! We break down what happened, why it was a success, and our thoughts on Flight Test 4, 5, and beyond. We really can't stress how much progress was made with IFT4 - and we do our best to tell that story with this episode. For those wond...

On this episode we speak with NASA Astronaut Don Pettit about his Astronaut Origin Story and the 'maker mentality'. Don is preparing for Expedition 71/72 which will launch to the International Space Station aboard a Soyux (MS-26) from Baikonur Cosmodrome later this year. We were grateful for the NASA teams for helping us set up time with Don to chat all-things space. Welcome our first Astronaut to...

On this episode, we're recapping last weeks Aurora Extravoganza that the internet was a buzz about! We got pictures from folks like you that whole weekend, which was all we needed to survive a weekend of cloud-filled New England nights. But one thing many curious folks were thinking - what are Auroras? How can we know when the next one is coming? Why do Auroras happen? What impacts do solar weathe...

On this episode, we dive into the Human Factor - which is all about learning about what it is to be a human and how that can help us grow and succeed in life. Because regardless of what we do, we are all human beings - even scientists and engineers. This week, I talk about one of my earliest passions - trading cards! Pokemon, YuGiOh, Dragon Ball, Magic the Gathering - all a MASSIVE part of my chil...

In this episode, we prepare for next week's human space launch of Boeing's Starliner, the first Crewed mission for Altas V & the CST-100 spacecraft! This is the culmination of the investment NASA & US taxpayers put into the Commercial Crew Program. Two human-rated spacecraft were given contracts to test & evenutally fly human beings to the ISS. SpaceX Crew Dragon already flies to the ISS regularly...

On this episode we have some Astronomer friends on to discuss our thoughts from the Total Solar Eclipse! Matt Schricker (@Bostronomy), Andrew Abban (@aa.astro01), and Thorne Ransom (@ransomobservatory) join us to share their Astronomy Origin Stories and their experience during the Total Solar Eclipe. For some it was our first, and others were looking for redemption from 2017. But all of us were cl...

On this episode we talk about the North American Total Solar Eclipse happening on April 8th, 2024! We break it down into three parts: (1) What to Expect, (2) What to do during the Eclipse ,  and (3) Our Telescopes Vespera and our newest Vaonis device - Hestia. We close out the episode with an unboxing and first demo with Hestia practicing for the Total Solar Eclipse. There is always lots of excite...