Space and Things

Space and Things

A weekly podcast devoted to the exploration of space, with updates on what is happening in the space flight world as well as looking back at some of the key moments and figures involved with the evolution of space flight. Presented by historian Emily Carney and space nerd Dave Giles. More info: https://www.spaceandthingspodcast.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/spaceandthings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

August 8, 2024 48 mins

One of the big stories of this year has been the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner space craft which has now been at the ISS for 2 months, when it was only scheduled to be there for 8 days. We dig a little deeper and also have a conversation about misinformation.


Eric Berger Article:

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/yes-nasa-really-could-bring-starliners-astronauts-back-on-crew-dragon/


Guardian Article:

https://...

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This week we talk to Mike Haddad, who retired in 2011 from NASA at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) with 32 years of Flight and Ground systems engineering and operational experience. We find out more about life behind the scenes of the space shuttle and all about the efforts involved to restore some of the hardware that was used back then.


Michael Haddad:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-e-haddad-47356511/


Astro Restoration Proje...

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July 25, 2024 33 mins

This week, Emily and Dave talk about their favourite space missions, both crewed and uncrewed. What are your favourites? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you.


Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp204-our-favourite-space-missions

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.


Image Credits: Space And Things Podcast


Spac...

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This week we lost another of our heroes. Joe Engle the only astronaut to have flown to space on the X-15 and the Space Shuttle died at the age of 91. We wanted to pay tribute to this incredible pilot so we asked Michelle Evans to join us. Michelle previous wrote and released what is the definitive book on the X-15, “The X-15 Rocket Plane: Flying The First Wings Into Space” - Joe was interviewed for the book and wrote the forward, s...

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As we move forward with plans to live on the moon, new technology needs to be developed to make this possible, and today we’re talking to someone who is helping to make that happen. Madison Feehan is the founder and CEO of Space Copy who are building 3D printers which will work on the Moon or Mars that will be able to use the resources found their to 3D items which will be required to survive there.


This interview could also be ...

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This week we pay our respects to Bill Anders, the Apollo 8 astronaut who died last month at the age of 90. To help us do this we’re joined by Francis French who had numerous visits to Bill Anders home while writing his book “In The Shadow of the Moon.”


Bill Anders Obituary: 

https://heritageflight.org/about/maj-gen-bill-anders/remembering-bill-anders/#:~:text=Major%20General%20William%20Alison%20Anders,the%20time%20of%20his%...

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Can you believe it? 200 episodes!


Today we bring you something extra special as we interview Sterling Crawford and General Charlie Duke. Sterling recently opened Stall Three Studio in South Carolina and unveiled a brand new portrait of her grandfather General Duke as part of the “Space Exploration: Past Present and Future” exhibit, so we find out more from both of them about the portrait, space and art!


Stall Three Studio:

htt...

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And so this week is part 3 of 3 in which we get to listen to some interviews with Alan Bean conducted by Rick Houston back in 2016. An incredible insight into the mind and life of the 4th person to walk on the moon. Makes sure you listened to parts one and two first! We're also joined by Rick to talk about the what, why and how of these interviews.


Alan Bean Obituary:

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/family-release-regarding-the...

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And so this week is part 2 of 3 in which we get to listen to some interviews with Alan Bean conducted by Rick Houston back in 2016. An incredible insight into the mind and life of the 4th person to walk on the moon. Makes sure you listened to last week's episode first.


Alan Bean Obituary:

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/family-release-regarding-the-passing-of-apollo-skylab-astronaut-alan-bean/ 


Rick Houston:

X: https://x...

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A very special episode this week, part 1 of 3 in which we get to listen to some interviews with Alan Bean conducted by Rick Houston back in 2016. An incredible insight into the mind and life of the 4th person to walk on the moon.


Alan Bean Obituary:

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/family-release-regarding-the-passing-of-apollo-skylab-astronaut-alan-bean/ 


Rick Houston:

X: https://x.com/rickhouston73

LinkedIn: https://www....

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SpaceX are the number 1 launch provider in the world currently, and author/journalist Brad Bergan has just released a wonderful book about them called SpaceX: Elon Musk and the Final Frontier. So we think it’s about time that we have a conversation about SpaceX.


Brad Bergan:

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-bergan/ 


SpaceX - Elon Musk and the Final Frontier:

https://www.quarto.com/books/9780760384015/spacex


Spa...

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Over the weekend Blue Origin launched their first crewed mission after nearly two years and today we’re speaking to someone who has won their ticket for one of their future flights. Dr. Eiman Jahangir entered the MoonDAO Ticket To Space raffle and his name was picked out, however, Dr. Jahangir is so much more than a space tourist as you’ll find out in this week’s episode.


Dr. Eiman Jahangir:

X: https://x.com/DrEJahangir

LinkedIn: ...

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In nearly 200 episodes we’ve never had any in depth discussion about the military uses of space, so we’ve decided this is the week. We’re joined by Dwayne Day, a space historian who is an expert on the history of reconnaissance satellites and it’s a fascinating conversation. 


Dwayne Day:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwayne-day-41983723/ 

X: https://twitter.com/CORONAGAMBIT


Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Cor...

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Ever wondered what life might be like on a remote part of the world while tracking spacecraft and communicating with them? Ever considered the dangers of being in a blockhouse close to a rocket launch as it explodes? Well our guess this week has some stories for you. We speak to Dan Kovalchik who started working on tracking stations and eventually became the Systems Administrator for the Delta launches, a job he held for 21 years. ...

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We can’t get enough of talking about the moon and we love a bit of poetry, so it was a joy talking to Christopher Cokinos for this week’s podcast. Christopher has just released a book called ‘Still as Bright - An Illuminating History of the Moon, from Antiquity to Tomorrow’ - and it’s a must read!


Christopher Cokinos: 

https://www.christophercokinos.com/


Still As Bright:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Still-As...

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With the recent moon landing attempts by private US companies having some mixed results, it seems that everyone is an expert on how to land something on the moon all of a sudden, well today we speak to an actual expert to find out what's really going on up there. Brandon Dotson has all the degrees and is currently writing a thesis on the difficulties of landing on the moon.


Brandon Dotson:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?use...

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This week we speak to Lisa Young, Supervisory Conservator at the National Air and Space Museum, who has been responsible for the preservation of the spacesuits and spacecraft in the Smithsonian collection. Ever been to a museum and wondered about how they look after the spacesuits? Well Lisa is the expert.


Lisa Young:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-young-06a22512/

https://airandspace.si.edu/people/staff/lisa-young 


Full ...

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On 24th March of this year, George Abbey died at the age of 91. One of the most influencial people working behind the scenes at NASA for many years and someone who has come up many times during many interviews. So we wanted to spend an episode to pay tribute to his contributions. To do this we’re joined by Michael Cassutt, author of the 2018 book “The Astronaut Maker - How One Mysterious Engineer Ran Human Spaceflight for a Generat...

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On April 8th there will be a total eclipse travelling across Mexico, the United States and Canada so today we talk to Stephen Wolfram, who earlier this year released a book called “Predicting the Eclipse: A Multimillennium Tale of Computation.” - we learn about the history of predicting eclipses and so much more. 


Stephen Wolfram:

https://www.stephenwolfram.com/ 

X: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram 

LinkedIn: http...

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This week we talk to Dr. Tracy Scott who has just started a project to bring together her own history as an early era “astronaut kid” (daughter of David R. Scott: Gemini 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 15) with her professional expertise as a sociologist and teacher.


100 Patreons By Show 200: https://www.patreon.com/Spaceandthings

Dave’s Tour Dates: http://www.davejgiles.com/gigs


Dr Tracy Scott:

https://tracylscott.org/

https://sociology.em...

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