Talking Space

Episode 222: A Pain in the Asteroid

On this show, we discuss a policy to be released by President Obama about future space policies and international cooperation. At this time, the report is already released, but we discussed what we predicted, and listen up for a short episode to be released shortly discussing the outcome of it. We then continue to talk about Sen. John Glenn's letter regarding human spaceflight. To read Gene's blog post on it, visit our Team Blog page. We then also discuss a possible plan to land on an asteroid by 2025 and the delays of STS-133 and STS-134. Finally, we discuss Mark's time at the NASA Family Education Night as part of its Summer of Innovation program. Below are two images which were taken from the event at the Astronaut Hall of Fame as part of NASA's Summer of Innovation program: Two images were inserted here. To view them, please visit http://talkingspaceonline.com to view them. Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 6/27/2010

Episode 221: Space Your Face

On this episode, We discuss the return of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA)  Hayabusa probe after a 7 year voyage to obtain a piece of Asteroid Itokawa. We discuss the Mars 500 experiment and answer two questions from our mailbag, and a thanks to @QuantumG and @racshot653 for the questions. Keep them coming! After that we look at NASA's  Expedition 24 to the International Space Station,  and review an  interesting editorial from MSNBC's James Oberg on reliance on the Russian Soyuz vehicle. We comment on relatively breaking news of President Obama's plan to take $100 million out of NASA's budget to put toward job training for NASA contractors who will be losing their jobs as a result of the Project Constellation shutdown on the space coast and elsewhere.  We end with a discussion of a mystery on board Atlantis, NASA giving you a chance to send your face into space, and a brand new exhibit opened at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum honoring the crew of Apollo 1 called "27 Seconds". A special thank you to CraftLass for "pinch hitting" for Gina Herlihy as a guest panel member this week! Follow CraftLass on Twitter: @CraftLass. To see the video blog for day 1 for the Mars 500, you can check it out here on YouTube. You can also follow Diego Urbina on Twitter at @diegou. You can see that the Falcon 9 launched at T-0 here on YouTube, the roll of the vehicle at launch here on YouTube, and the UFO "sighting" in Australia here on YouTube. The op-ed article written by James Oberg can be read here on MSNBC To send your "Face in Space", you can visit http://faceinspace.nasa.gov/ As well, here is the surprise which was left by the STS-132 crew aboard locker A-16 on Atlantis: A picture was inserted here. To view the picture, please visit http://talkingspaceonline.com Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman, and special guest panelist CraftLass Show Recorded - 6/18/2010

Episode 219: Scott Had the Spirit to Accept Opportunity

On this episode, we are not only joined by guest panelist Tavi Greiner from Astronomy.FM, but we invite on special guest Scott Maxwell, one of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) "drivers". He discusses his experiences at the Jet Propulsions Laboratory and his work playing around with robots on another world. Frankenstein, anybody? For more info on Scott, check out his blog "Mars and Me" at http://marsandme.blogspot.com/ Learn more about the MERs at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov Be sure to also follow him on Twitter: @marsroverdriver Also, thanks to Tavi Greiner, who is part of Astronomy.FM, which broadcasts Talking Space every Tuesday night at 10pm EDT and is replayed every three hours. There's even an interactive chat. Check it out at http://astronomy.fm Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman, and special guest panelist Tavi Greiner. Special Guest: Mars Rover "Driver" Scott Maxwell. Show Recorded - Sunday 5/30/2010

Episode 217: It's Raining 'Meteorite Men'

On this very special episode, we are joined by special guests Geoffrey Notkin and Steve Arnold of the Science Channel show, "Meteorite Men". We discuss their show, how they both got their start as meteorite hunters, some of their favorite moments from their television program, along with some science and some friendly poking fun.  Gina Herlihy's batteries needed recharging after the STS-132 Tweet-Up so , we asked  Rebecca Setzer (@beccasetz on Twitter) from the broadcast "Astronomy Out & About" heard weekly on Astronomy.FM to join our panel for this week. For more information on the Meteorite Men, please check out the following links: Meteorite Men Website: http://meteoritemen.com Meteorite Men on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meteoritemen Meteorite Men on Twitter: @meteoritemen Steve Arnold's Company: http://stevearnoldmeteorites.com Geoff Notkin's Company: "Aerolite Meteorites": http://aerolite.org Science Channe's Official Meteorite Men Page:http://science.discovery.com/tv/meteorite-men/ An image has been inserted here. To view the image, please visit http://talkingspaceonline.com. Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman, and special guest panelist Rebecca Setzer. Special Guests: Steve Arnold and Geoffrey Notkin of the Science Channel show Meteorite Men. Show Recorded - Sunday 5/16/2010

Episode 215: Theory of the Evolution of Shuttles

On this episode, we discuss everything to do with the shuttle somehow. We start off with the recent STS-131 mission, along with the final three missions and the rotation of the final two flights and their order. We then go on to discuss the launch of the US government's own mini-shuttle, which was originally designed in cooperation with NASA and nothing to do with the military. We also discuss the 20th anniversary of the release of Hubble and its journey, as well as an SDO update. For information on SDO and to see First Light pictures, visit their website as mentioned in the show:http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/firstlight/ As a note: We have heard your comments regarding issues with our uneven volumes and sound problems. We have done our best to fix that for this episode. Please send us a comment in our Contact Us section letting us know if the sound quality has improved. Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - Monday 4/26/2010

Episode 214: Houston, We Have a Plan

On this episode, we discuss the major announcement made by President Barrack Obama, who on Thursday, April 15, 2010, announced his future plan for NASA, which included a budget increase, a new Heavy Lift Vehicle to be ready by 2015, and the goal to land on an asteroid and then get into orbit around Mars with humans by the 2030s. Quite an interesting conversation. Also thanks to Alex Shimp (@shimpster) for sending his email to us at mailbag@talkingspaceonline.com to aid in the discussion. Again, these are just our views. If you have a different view, we want to hear it. We then went on to discuss Gina's trip to Kennedy Space Center for the Apollo 13th Anniversary event.

For more information on Gina's organization mentioned in this show, visithttp://astronautscholarshipfoundation.org

Also a special thanks to @CraftLass for allowing us to use her song, Bake Sale for NASA, which along with her new album Above the Sky is available at http://craftlass.com

Show recorded - Sunday, 4/18/2010

Episode 212: Talking Shakes

On this episode,we have special guest Brian Shiro with us, who is an geophysicist who is currently stationed at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in ʻEwa Beach, Hawaii. He discusses his role in the recent earthquakes and tsunami potentials that have come out of that. Then, it's on to his time on FMARS 2009 (Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station) and MDRS Crew 89 (Mars Desert Research Station), and what it would be like to spend some time on Mars. For more info on Brian, check out his blog: http://astronautforhire.com and for more on the PTWC, visit http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/ Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy and Mark Ratterman. Announcer: Russ Dale (@flight0001), Theme Composed by: Todd Cecilio (@negativereturn). Also a very special thanks to Jen Scheer (@flyingjenny) for designing the amazing Talking Space logo. Of course, a special thanks to you, the listener, for making this podcast a success! Remember to email us with questions or comments as text OR an .mp3. Send it to our email, talkingspaceonline@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/talkingspace and be sure now to become a fan of us at our Facebook page. Become a fan at http://bit.ly/talkingspacefb Show Recorded - Tuesday, 3/16/2010

Episode 204: We're not 'Live' in 3, 2, 1

On this very special episode, we invite Rebecca and Jeff Setzer on our show from "Astronomy Out and About" which airs Tuesdays at 9pm EST/8pm CST on http://astronomy.fm. We talk with them about the live show that they do every week, how they got started, and some of the challenges they face. Afterward, we discuss some topics currently floating around the space industry including budget cuts to NASA's programs, congressmen/women who just won't listen, and the future of space travel and if it really can get much safer depending on NASA's decision to keep or scrap project Constellation. Also, we're pleased to announce some good news: Talking Space will now be played on http://astronomy.fm on Tuesday nights at 10pm EST/9pm CST following Becca and Jeff's show "Astronomy Out & About" and will be replayed throughout the 24 hours after it is initially played. To keep up with Becca and Jeff, follow them on Twitter at @beccasetz and @astrosetz respectively. Also, to write a letter to your local congress person saying you support NASA as mentioned in the podcast, please go to this link: http://bit.ly/204support Host this week: Gene Mikulka.  Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Mark Ratterman, Sawyer Rosenstein and special guests Rebecca and Jeff Setzer. Announcer: Russ Dale (@flight0001), Theme Composed by:Todd Cecilio (@negativereturn). Also a very special thanks to Jen Scheer (@flyingjenny) for designing the amazing Talking Space logo. Of course, a special thanks to you, the listener, for making this podcast a success and bringing us to our second season! Remember to email us with questions or comments as text OR an .mp3. Send it to our new email, talkingspaceonline@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/talkingspace and be sure now to become a fan of us at our new Facebook page. Become a fan at http://bit.ly/talkingspacefb Show Recorded - Sunday, 1/24/2010

Episode 203: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

In this episode, we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of what has happened this week in space. We talk about some comments NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said at a safety meeting. also discussed is a Rasmussen poll released showing a decline in public interested in NASA and funding its programs. We also discuss the fallout of the bag of cocaine discovered inside Discovery's hangar at the Kennedy Space Center. Along with that, we answer your questions, and thanks to @racshot653 and Russ Dale (@flight0001) for submitting your questions and comments. Don't forget that we have a new Facebook page. Be sure to become a fan and check us out there. You can access it at http://bit.ly/7Hzfm7 Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein.  Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman. Announcer: Russ Dale (@flight0001), Theme Composed by:Todd Cecilio (@negativereturn). Also a very special thanks to Jen Scheer (@flyingjenny) for designing the amazing Talking Space logo. Of course, a special thanks to you, the listener, for making this podcast a success and bringing us to our second season! Remember to email us with questions or comments as text OR an .mp3. Send it to our new email, talkingspaceonline@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/talkingspace and be sure now to become a fan of us at our new Facebook page. Become a fan at http://bit.ly/7Hzfm7 Show Recorded - Sunday, 1/17/2010

Episode 202: Model Styrofoam Planets on the Ceiling or in Space?

In this first round-table discussion of 2010, we discuss a large amount of topics going around in the short time that the new year has been with us. We discuss Charlie Bolden's speech at the AAS, and that's not meant as a dirty word, that is the American Astronomical Society. We also talk about the launch of STS-130 which probably won't be February 7th anymore. We then lead in to the possibility of the shuttle not finishing its flights by December 2010 and Spirit's Martian woes as it celebrates its 7th birthday stuck on a rock. We then discuss Kepler's findings of 5 exoplanets in its 6 weeks of operation and a patch contest to commemorate the shuttle program. For the information discussed in the podcast relating to the patch contest, check out the link on collectSPACE and you can vote for your favorite. Also, be sure to check out the new Young Astronomers website at http://ya.astroleague.org Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein.  Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman. Announcer: Russ Dale (@flight001), Theme Composed by:Todd Cecilio (@negativereturn). Also a very special thanks to Jen Scheer (@flyingjenny) for designing the amazing Talking Space logo. Of course, a special thanks to you, the listener, for making this podcast a success and bringing us to our second season! Remember to email us with questions or comments as text OR an .mp3. Send it to our new email, talkingspaceonline@gmail.com and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/talkingspace Show Recorded - Sundayday, 1/10/2010