Talking Space

Episode 312: Space Flight Gives You Wiiings

On this episode of Talking Space, Sawyer returns from his two week absence. We start with Mark's adventures covering the upcoming STS-134 Space Shuttle mission at the Kennedy Space Center and learn more about the crew, the payload, and the preparaitons for this mission. Next we move on to discuss the first images returned from a spacecraft orbiting Mercury. We talk about what we believed would be the Falcon 9 Heavy rocket announcement, and it turns out, as of April 5th, the announcement of the vehicle was made. We were right on the money! Find out about it in the show. We move on to the lack of signal from our rover friend Spirit and discuss the retirement of Burt Rutan. We then move onto NASA's song contest, and finally discuss how NASA and Victoria's Secret come together. To vote in NASA's song contest, please visit: https://songcontest.nasa.gov Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 4/3/2011 *Note: Two images were inserted here. To view these images, please visit http://talkingspaceonline.com

Episode 301: A Quick Rollback to Ignite Season 3

On the first episode of season 3 and of 2011, the team, through the magic of editing, has come together once again to discuss a year in review, hilighting the major stories in space of 2010, as well as our own personal favorites. Plus, we throw in a few of our own predictions for the new year. Be prepared for great things to come this season. We have some fun things planned for you, the listener, that we think you'll enjoy so stay with us through the year. To visit ISSWave, please visit http://isswave.org or check them out on Twitter as @ISSWave Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 1/4/2011 and 1/5/2011

Episode 243: Closing the Year with OpenLuna

On this episode, we talk about OpenLuna Foundation OpenLuna is a volunteer organization. They welcome and encourage participation. The OpenLuna Foundation was founded to return mankind to the moon through private enterprise. Listen to our conversation with Paul Graham, President/ Chairman of the Board and Debi-Lee Wilkinson VP of Membership/Development & board member. OpenLuna is innovative and open source. Yes! Open Source. This is a show you'll want to download, save and listen to several times. They joined us to talk about……… “Your Moon, Your Mission, Get Involved!” http://openluna.org/ And on twitter Follow OpenLuna @OpenLuna Hosts this week: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman and Sawyer Rosenstein Special Guests: Paul Graham and Debi-Lee Wilkinson of OpenLuna Foundation Show Recorded – 10/2010 & 12/19/2010

Episode 242: Tanks Again

On this episode, we talk about STS-133 tanking test and rollback to the VAB. The launch of Soyuz TMA-20 with Expedition 26 crew members Dmitry Kondratyev, Catherine Coleman and Paolo Nespoli. We kick around some ideas wondering about the loss of communications from the mission control center outside of Moscow to both the Soyuz and the ISS. Then we reminisce about @NanoSailD :( Moving on to another bit of bad news we cover the failure of the JAXA Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (Planet-C) to enter orbit around Venus. Ending on a high note, NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy or SOFIA completed its' first of three science missions. AKATSUKI's first shots of Venus: http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/topics/2010/1210.shtml Bill Nye the Science Guy visits NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, CA home to SOFIA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIA/bill_nye_visits_daof.html Late news: NASA Hosts Planet-Finding Tweetup in California's Silicone Valley. For Information about the #NASATweetup visit: http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup Hosts this week: Sawyer Rosenstein, Gene Mikulka and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 12/19/2010

Episode 235: Stop, Drop, and Suborbital Flight

On this episode, the team discusses the successful launch and docking of the new digital Soyuz TMA-01M carrying the Expedition 25 crew to the International Space Station for a 5-1/2 month stay aboard the orbiting complex. We then discuss the successful drop test of the VSS Enterprise, or Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo and its implications for the future of commercial flight. We then indulge on a lengthy discussion regarding the belief that NASA should design its own spacecraft, not congress, as well as going into a brief history of the shuttle as we get into budgetary discussions. Lastly, after talking about the new Obama-approved future of NASA, we finally go out of left field and discuss the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) grants being issued for research into private space flight and space ports. Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 10/10/2010

Episode 234: And We're ARF

On this episode, the whole team of four is back in action. First, we discuss Mark's visit to the Assembly and Refurbishment Facility (ARF) for the final mating of the External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters for STS-134 scheduled for launch in February 2011. Many former members as well as astronauts were there for the occasion and we have audio clips from them, as well as the team's reaction. We also discuss the passing of NASA's budget. However, it's not appropriated yet, so it is still unofficial. We discuss our reactions to what is actually in the budget. We then move on to the finding of a "Goldilocks Zone" planet possibly able to harbor life. As well, we wish NASA a happy 52nd birthday and congratulate our good friend Miles O'Brien on his new job as the science correspondent for the PBS News Hour. Please note: The outro music is copyright Thin Lizzy and Vertigo Records. Talking Space is in no way associated with Vertigo Records and the audio clip is used under Fair Use. Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 10/3/2010

Episode 229: Tribbles...in...SpaceUp

On this humorous episode, the gang discusses the progress of STS-133, some maintenance on the crawler transporters, and the pending demolition of Launch Pad 39B, first used for the space shuttle on January 28, 1986. We then move on to discuss how NASA is helping out Chilean government in discussing the survival of the 40 trapped miners. We also discuss Kepler's findings of two exoplanets transiting one star. To wrap it up, Sawyer discusses his meeting with TJ Creamer at the Intrepid. As well, Gene recaps his time representing the Talking Space Podcast at SpaceUp DC held at George Washington University...oh yeah, and the tribble fights. Astronaut and friend of the show Tom Jones discussing NASA's role in the miners rescue on Fox News can be seen on their website To find out if an astronaut will be visiting a location near you, check out CollectSPACE's site For more information on Project Calliope, visit http://projectcalliope.com. Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 8/30/2010

Episode 228: Rock 'n' Roll Maneuver

After returning from an unannounced two week vacation, it's Guy's Night Out as Gina was unable to join us. We start off recapping the ISS repair of the broken ISS ammonia pump. We then move on to some shuttle news as we discuss the processing of Discovery for her final flight: STS-133, as well as some washers in the External Tanks (liquid fuel tanks) constituting some x-rays. Ending the shuttle conversation, we discuss the STS-133 tweetup. We then discuss a fun little story about picking out wake-up music for the final two shuttle flights, so either vote or write your own! We then discuss a little policy including Deputy Administrator Lori Garver voicing her opinion on Constellation, the FAA getting involved in private space travel, SpaceX completing its Dragon capsule drop test, and a new program called Open Luna. To vote for a wake-up song or to submit your own, visit http://songcontest.nasa.gov For more information on Open Luna, visit http://openluna.org/ Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 8/23/2010

Episode 222A: Cosmopolicy

On this special episode, we all discuss a recent release by the United States Government entitled the National Space Policy of the United States of America. It discusses six key goals the government hopes to implement in terms of international cooperation in space as well as unmanned space exploration, manned space exploration, and military use of space. To view the full document, you may click here. The document is a PDF and needs Adobe Reader. If you do not have it, it is available for free at http://adobe.com We want to hear your comments. To send them to us, you can email us text or an .mp3 to mailbag@talkingspaceonline.com. You can send it to us at our Twitter account @talkingspace or our Facebook page at http://bit.ly/talkingspacefb. Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 6/28/2010

Episode 220: The Eagle is Down and the Falcon is Up

Gina Herlihy returns this week, as we discuss the upcoming STS-133 mission schedule for September. We also congratulate the 2010 Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees as Gina gives an overview of the induction ceremony. We discuss the major event of the week; the successful launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.  The booster was  commercially launched with minimal support from NASA. A big thanks to listeners Alex Shimp (@shimpster), @sciencenate/@MrTubbs220 and @Kiki_Gaviln for their comments on SpaceX and Falcon 9 . Remember to send  your comments in to us! For more information, check out our Contact Us page. We also talk about the Boeing X-51 "Waverider" going hypersonic, the WISE demise, and SOFIA's first light. Lastly, Gene and Guest panelist  CraftLass discuss the New York City World Science Festival Tweetup. To watch the 2010 Astronaut Hall of Fame inducition ceremony, you can watch the full event on YouTube here: http://tinyurl.com/astrohalloffame. Also, for more information on the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, check out http://astronautscholarshipfoundation.org. For more information on SOFIA, visit http://www.sofia.usra.edu/ To help sign the petition to bring a space shuttle to NYC as mentioned in the show, visithttp://shuttle2nyc.com Closing music is "Above the Sky" by CraftLass, and can be downloaded from her websitehttp://craftlass.com or on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/above-the-sky/id366098402 Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman, and special guest panelist CraftLass Show Recorded - 6/7/2010