Episodes

Sunday Jul 30, 2017
Episode 907: Lots to See at ISSRDC
Sunday Jul 30, 2017
Sunday Jul 30, 2017
On this very special episode of Talking Space, with a new crew onboard the International Space Station, we go to Washington DC for the 2017 International Space Station Research and Development Conference, or ISSRDC. We learn all about the science happening on station, the future of the ISS, a look at the commercial partners, and some other topics you might not know had to do with ISS. We begin by talking with NASA astronaut and molecular biologist Dr. Kate Rubins about her time on station and her groundbreaking research on decoding genes in space. We also talk with the Principal Investigator for that project, Dr. Sarah Wallace, on what being able to work with DNA in space means for future space flight as well as right back here on Earth. Next, we listen in as students got to talk live with astronaut Jack Fischer onboard the ISS through ham radio and ARISS. Next, after our discussion last week about the merits of the National Space Council returning, we talk with a former member of the council, Courtney Stadd. Finally we take a look at Elon Musk's lunch keynote address and some major announcements regarding Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and future Mars exploration.
An image gallery was inserted here. To view it, visit http://talkingspaceonline.com
Show recorded 7-25-2017
Host: Sawyer Rosenstein
Panelist: Gene Mikulka with special guest interviews with Dr. Kate Rubins, Dr. Sarah Wallace, Courtney Stadd and quotes from Elon Musk

Sunday Jul 16, 2017
Episode 906: NSC, KSC, and What Did Juno See?
Sunday Jul 16, 2017
Sunday Jul 16, 2017
On this episode of Talking Space, we recap a busy time for SpaceX, who completed their 3rd launch in less than 2 weeks with the launch of Intelsat 35e. In that time came the return of a SpaceX Dragon capsule from the ISS full of science. We then discuss the crew of the next Soyuz mission to the ISS passing their certification ahead of a launch at the end of the month. We also discuss a veteran astronaut, Julie Payette, who now has a new role in the Canadian government. We also go back to China where they recently encountered their 2nd failure in 3 launches, and this rocket was extra important, as you'll hear.
We then take a deep look at the revivial of the National Space Council and discuss what we think can be done and how to avoid errors made in previous iterations of the council. We then talk about the chairman of the council, Vice President Mike Pence, and his recent trip to the Kennedy Space Center, which was surprisingly more than just pomp and circumstance. We then stick with policy and look at a potential 6th branch of the US military involving space.
Lastly we look at plantary science and stunning images from NASA's Juno spacecraft around Jupiter and a look at an upcoming mission to Mercury called BepiColombo.
To view the images taken from Juno, visit http://missionjuno.swri.edu
Show recorded 7-12-2017
Host: Sawyer Rosenstein
Panelists: Gene Mikulka and Mark Ratterman

Sunday May 21, 2017
Episode 903: Micro, Heavy, and Everything In-Between
Sunday May 21, 2017
Sunday May 21, 2017
On this episode of Talking Space, we discuss how SpaceX's Falcon 9 delivers again sending the Inmarsat 5-4F Communications satellite into its proper orbit. The company also tested the core stage of its Falcon Heavy booster slated for a hopeful debut this year. A SpaceX employee was also in the news with some interesting words for the competition and what may have been a mild rebuke of NASA Space Launch System. We report on NASA's 200th Spacewalk in support of ISS operations and in particular an enthusiastic NASA astronaut in Jack Fischer
Show recorded 5-15-2017
Host: Sawyer Rosenstein
Panelists: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman

Monday May 08, 2017
Episode 902: FIRST Place and News About Space
Monday May 08, 2017
Monday May 08, 2017
On this extra packed episode of Talking Space, we discuss the successful launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the classified NROL-76 satellite. We also address a tweet sent to us regarding our view on SpaceX, a comment we get quite often and wanted to address. We also discuss the arrival of the Cygnus resupply vehicle to the International Space Station, and the return of a 4K camera from the station. This reportedly allowed more detailed science documentation, but our opinion of 4K, including the first live 4K broadcast from space? You'll have to listen.
We then address some shake-ups happening at Roscosmos, and why one of the most decorated cosmonauts is choosing to leave. We then discuss the first of 22 dives taken by Cassini into the space between the rings of Saturn and what we're hoping to get as it nears its "Grand Finale". Of course, we had to discuss the announcement that the launch of NASA's SLS is now set for 2019, coming shortly after a report from the GAO stating that 2018 was highly unlikely. It's not just the rockets that are facing issues, but so are the aging spacesuits used by NASA.
Finally, we discuss Mark's time at the FIRST Robotics Championships in Houston, Texas. Mark discusses the tech inn, the Program Executive for Solar System Exploration at NASA Headquarters. You'll also hear from Cathy Olkin, the Deputy Project Scientist for NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Deputy Principal Investigator for NASA’s Lucy mission to study Trojan asteroids
For more information on FIRST, visit https://www.firstinspires.org/
To view the video Mark referenced in the episode, visit https://youtu.be/ZU3hHHFJT_k
To see Mark's "Get Smart" team at the competition, visit https://twitter.com/MaureenWilt/status/855618901685698560
Show recorded 4-29-2017
Host: Sawyer Rosenstein
Panelists: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman

Sunday Dec 11, 2016
Episode 813: We Are 'GOES' for Launch
Sunday Dec 11, 2016
Sunday Dec 11, 2016
This week we must sadly open with the news of the passing of John Glenn, whose list of accomplishments has been surpassed by none, serving America with honor both on and off our planet for almost all of his 95 years. Unfortunately, the news doesn’t get much better quickly as we discuss the recent failure of the Progress 65 resupply mission. We discuss the impact on ISS operations and the reliability of not just Progress, but other cargo resupply providers and what sort of payloads might be a bit more critical than others.
On the brighter side, we get an update on a SpaceX return to flight following their September 1, 2016 anomaly. Still brighter, after numerous attempts were thwarted by bad luck with weather and small glitches, Virgin Galactic completed the first free flight test of the VSS Unity, successfully gliding the new craft for the first time since the tragic loss of the VSS Enterprise.
Perhaps brightest of all, though, is our coverage from the successful launch of the first in a new line of extremely powerful weather satellites, NOAA/NASA GOES-R (now GOES-16). Our own Sawyer Rosenstein was at Cape Canaveral to capture the sights and sounds of what turned out to be a spectacular night launch, and you really don’t want to miss our exclusive audio on this one (grab the headphones!).
Then again, what’s brighter (to us) than our own sun? Pulling double special-duty this week, Sawyer brings an exclusive interview with Terry Kucera, an astrophysicist from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Solar Physics Laboratory and the STEREO Deputy Scientist. She brings us an update on the recently-recovered STEREO-B and hits home the importance of and ongoing efforts in understanding our local variable star in the Space Age.
[An image gallery was added here. To view amazing images from the GOES-R launch, visit http://talkingspaceonline.com]
Show recorded 12-05-2016
Host: Sawyer Rosenstein
Panelists: Kat Robison and Kassy Tamanini
Listen now:

Saturday Nov 12, 2016
Episode 812: Hello Rocket
Saturday Nov 12, 2016
Saturday Nov 12, 2016
This week we’re (mostly) back to our regular programming, kicking off with two of our favorite subjects – the launches and landings of International Space Station crews, and it’s a busy season of shift changes via Kazakhstan. Since our last regular episode, we saw the conclusions of Expeditions 48 and 49 with some beautiful landings and the beginning of Expedition 50, with an additional 3 crewmembers scheduled to launch next week. Peggy Whitson, legendary astronaut, commander, and current holder of the record for spaceflight time for women, will not only add another long-duration mission to her impressive list of accomplishments, but will resume command for Expedition 51.
In other launch news, China’s Long March 5 joined the list of successfully-launched heavy lift vehicles last week while Worldview 4’s Atlas 5 launch issues spread across the country to affect GOES-R. It’s not all bad news for United Launch Alliance and their workhorse rocket, though, as Orbital ATK announced they will use it to launch another Cygnus on an ISS cargo mission. This time, rather than using it as a backup, it is for the additional rocket power enabling Orbital ATK pack a bit more cargo into Cygnus. Meanwhile, their competition, SpaceX, is narrowing down their investigation of the anomaly that took out the AMOS-6 mission, and is still planning to return to flight this year.
Moving from launches to space itself, we turn to NASA Goddard for some celebration and investigation. The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) set yet another world record, this time for using GPS at the highest altitude. We also had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Noah Petro, also at NASA Goddard, about his background in lunar geology and the upcoming supermoon. Be sure to check out this cool visual! Finally, we close out this episode with a discussion of the successful failure of the ESA’s Schiaparelli lander.
Show recorded 11-07-2016
Host: Sawyer Rosenstein
Panelists: Kat Robison and Kassy Tamanini

Sunday Oct 23, 2016
Episode 810: From 67P and IAC with Love
Sunday Oct 23, 2016
Sunday Oct 23, 2016
We begin this episode with an ending, as Rosetta joined its companion, Philae, on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on September 30, with confirmation arriving at mission control in Darmstadt at 11:19 UTC. This is hardly a time for mourning, but rather the celebration of an ambitious mission accomplished and still more data to learn from. While we await those studies we invite you to check out the latest installment of Rosetta’s cartoon and the short film Ambition.
Meanwhile, back in the States, Orbital ATK was preparing to return the Antares to flight. Carrying their Cygnus cargo ship full of supplies headed to the International Space Station, this launch has been plagued by storms in the Atlantic and other delays, and our own Gene Mikulka headed down early to keep an eye on the process and discusses what this launch means for the launch facility, the area around it, as well as for Orbital ATK and NASA.
Speaking of recovering from mishaps, this brings us down to the Kennedy Space Center and the investigation of what happened with SpaceX’ AMOS-6. Was it the second stage helium tank… or could it have been sabotage? The Washington Post reports that an official from SpaceX wanted to investigate the roof of a United Launch Alliance building known as the SMARF. We discuss the rumors, innuendo, known facts, and when there might be some concrete answers that will allow SpaceX to prepare for future launches safely. Looking further ahead, how will this incident affect the larger space industry?
Looking still further ahead, we begin our coverage of the 67th International Astronautical Congress with a breakdown of Elon Musk’s presentation, Making Humans an Interplanetary Species with insights from in the room by Kat Robison and Kassy Tamanini. Is Musk’s plan to not only have SpaceX be the first to land on Mars but to move 100 people at a time to the red planet realistic? From the details he revealed (and didn’t) to the way the event was managed, we’ve got plenty to comment on.
An image was inserted here. To view it, visit http://talkingspaceonline.com.
Show recorded 10-10-2016
Host: Sawyer Rosenstein
Panelists: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman, Kat Robison, Kassy Tamanini

Saturday Sep 17, 2016
Episode 808: Lost and Found
Saturday Sep 17, 2016
Saturday Sep 17, 2016
We talk about the ISS Expedition #48 crew returning to Kazakhstan via the Soyuz TMA20M capsule and upcoming crew and cargo missions. Gravitational waves are causing a ripple effect in the science community. LIGO and its' value, well the science community is recognizing a need for greater emphasis on this type research. The ESA Rosetta spacecraft finds the Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko less than a month before the end of the Rosetta mission. Adding to the list of found spacecraft, the NASA Deep SpaceTracking Network located spacecraft STEREO-B. Hopefully future news will include establishing positive control and resumption of solar science observation. JUNO is sending spectacular pictures of Jupiter including never before seen images of the Polar Regions. JUNO is changing our understanding of the planet in dramatic ways. Citizen science is real, check out JunoCam to learn what regular people have a voice in. We again discuss the cost paid per astronaut for NASA to use Roscosmos to launch and return our astronauts to the International Space Station. So sad too bad.
Speaking of bad, on September 1, 2016 SpaceX lost the AMOS-6 Falcon 9 rocket/payload on the pad during an engine test. Investigations into the SpaceX described “anomaly” are ongoing and as of September 17 no information has been updated on the SpaceX website since September 2nd (the day after the rocket was lost). The Talking Space crew talks more about this unfortunate “anomaly” than what we’ve heard from SpaceX so far. Investigations into these type events often take more time than one anticipates....#justsayin. The Talking Space Team reminisces about our 7 years of bringing news and more to you our listener. Thank all of you for joining us here.
Show recorded 09-06-2016
Host: Sawyer Rosenstein
Panelists: Gene Mikulka, Kassy Tamanini, Kat Robison

Friday Aug 12, 2016
Episode 806: Objects In Motion
Friday Aug 12, 2016
Friday Aug 12, 2016

Thursday Nov 05, 2015
Episode 713: IAC 2015 In The Spotlight
Thursday Nov 05, 2015
Thursday Nov 05, 2015
The theme for IAC 2015 this year was "Space: The Gateway for Mankind's Future" and we review the various gateways starting to open though the International Space Station, leveraging cis-lunar space, and finally humanity declaring "Earth independence" setting sail for Mars. The episode includes commentary from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and new European Space Agency Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner. On various concepts including analysis of NASA's Journey to Mars outline and ESA's vision for a permanent research outpost on the lunar surface.