Talking Space

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 Member

Pull up your chairs for some travelers tales from both Gina Herlihy and Mark Ratterman. Gina visited the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, Virginia and describes her exploration through the museum. Mark was one of the lucky attendees at the International Space Station (ISS) NASA Tweetup hosted by NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. The guest speaker was ISS Expedition 23 Astronaut T.J. Creamer. Mark offers insights into the event and discusses some of his other discoveries and meeting some old friends of the podcast. Mark also offers some of his  thoughts on the "27 Seconds " exhibit at the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum in New York. The team also discusses the failed ammonia cooling pump on the ISS and an analysis of the first spacewalk in support of removing and replacing the broken pump.  Other topics include the announcement by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation to create their own heavy lift rocket and the Mars Exploration Rover " Spirit" will it come back to life after this winte

On this episode, we invite on special guest, Apollo 9 astronaut and founder of the B612 foundation as well as a member of the Association of Space Explorers, Rusty Schweickart. Having logged thousands of hours in high performance jets as well as having performed an EVA (a spacewalk), Rusty comes on to discuss his role in the future of asteroids and their potential of impacting the earth, as well as working to avoid an impact if necessary. Also discussed was the future of manned space flight, where humans should go next, as well as other countries participation in the hunt for asteroids. Rusty's foundation, the B612 Foundation, is located online at http://www.b612foundation.org/ He has also authored the preface to the Association of Space Explorer's book The Home Planet, which is available on Amazon. Host this week: Gina Herlihy. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman, Sawyer Rosenstein, and special guest Russell "Rusty" Schewickart Show Recorded - 7/26/2010

On this episode, we discuss the 41st anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which occurred on the release date of this show, July 20th in the year of 1969. We focus on one question throughout the whole program. What impact did the Apollo program have on your life? Not only does our panel answer, but we have some special interviews with those that worked on the program: Joe Blondin who worked on the Saturn V guidance ring, and Sara Howard who worked on the Saturn V's S-IC stage. As well, we open up our twalk.in lines to some of our listeners who gave their imput. Thanks Russ Dale, Todd Cecilio, and Kathy O'Brien for participating! Also, thank you Aaron Cunningham for writing us the letter. What impact did the Apollo program have on your life? We want to hear! Send them to us at mailbag@talkingspaceonline.com or on Twitter or Facebook. A picture was placed here. To view it, please visit http://talkingspaceonline.com to view it. Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka and Mark Ratte

Sara Howard, our guest on this Talking Space Exclusive interview played an integral part in that "One Giant Leap for Mankind". Working as a systems test engineer, she helped breathe life into the 138 foot tall S-1C, the first stage of the Apollo Saturn V rocket. Her duties at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, included examining the telemetry transmitted from sensors on board the S-1C during it's test firings. Sara helped to discover, correct, and repair causes of leaks, fires, and at times explosions. Her work verified that the the first stage of the Saturn V was ready carry humans on their lunar journey. Sara's contributions helped to insure the success of the historic Apollo 11 flight and subsequent Apollo lunar missions. Sara was one of the few women engineers that worked on the Saturn V, and is a trail blazer for women in the aerospace field. She is the author of Two books, "Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Moon” and "The Biggest Explosions in the Universe" She also writes her musings on man

On this episode released especially on the 4th of July in the United States, we honor an American hero: Apollo 7 astronaut Walter "Walt" Cunningham. We discuss with him the state of America's space program, as well as looking back in the past to help predict the future. We also discuss aviation, piloting, and the recently-released National Space Policy of the United States of America and his opinion on it. Walter Cunningham is also the author of The All-American Boys, available from Amazon by clicking here. You can also find out more about him at his website: http://waltercunningham.com. Host this week: Gina Herlihy. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman, and Sawyer Rosenstein Show Recorded - 6/30/2010

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

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

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 spe

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 Fou

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

On this episode, we discuss a very busy week in space news. We talk about the Ariane 5 returning to flight, as well as Japan's (JAXA) H-II A launch of a probe to Venus. We then visit Opportunity setting a longevity record, SpaceX adding more delays, and honor PROP officer Lonnie Schmitt on his 100th shuttle mission behind the doors of mission control. For more info on Lonnie's accomplishment, check out the collectSPACE article by clicking here. We then discuss with Gene and Gina the STS-132 Launch Tweetup which they were selected to attend.  Credit for the audio of David Letterman is from CBS, and CBS maintains all rights to the clip. Below is a picture from the tweetup event. An image has been inserted here. To view the image, please visit http://talkingspaceonline.com. Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - Sunday 5/23/2010

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/ A

On this episode, we discuss the STS-132 mission set to launch on May 14th. As well, we get into the tweetup which is accompanying it, as our very own Gina Herlihy and Gene Mikulka will be there participating. Stay tuned as they will be giving updates on the field and we will post them. We then discuss the successful test of the Pad Abort system for Ares/Orion, and then finally remember the late Guenter Wendt, aka the "Pad Führer" who died Monday at age 85 For more information on Guenter Wendt, here is a link to collectSPACE rembering his life: http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-050310a.html As well, here is the video that Mark mentioned. Original source was from here Host this week: Sawyer Rosenstein. Panel Members: Gina Herlihy, Gene Mikulka, and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - Monday 5/9/2010

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

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

In this episode, we discuss the recent launch of STS-131 and Discovery, and it seems that no matter what we talk about, we keep coming back to that beautiful bird. We then go on to discuss Spirit who will hopefully have the spirit to survive the Martian winter, as well as NASA helping out Toyota, and president Obama's visit to Florida. But, is it all about space, or is it just a secondary thought? Listen and find out! 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! 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

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. Sen

On this episode, the crew discusses the potential delay for the space shuttle Discovery, which is scheduled to launch on April 5th on STS-131 to the ISS. We then also discuss the successful test firing of the Falcon 9 and what it means for the future of commercial space industry. We finally go on to discuss the extension of the ISS, Obama's speech on the space coast coming up, and the Legends of Aerospace event on the USS Intrepid, which Gene and Sawyer went to. The link in which Mark references in the podcast can be found by clicking here. 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! Remember to email us with questions or comments as text OR an .mp3. Send it to our email, talking

On this episode, we welcome back friend of the show Miles O'Brien, who currently is the host of "This Week in Space", an online video podcast, as well as a commentator for shuttle launch coverage for SpaceFlightNow. Recently, Miles went in front of the US Congress to testify regarding the NASA 2011 Fiscal Year budget. We talk about his testimony as well as his thoughts on the future of manned space flight and NASA as a whole. A conversation not to be missed. To see "This Week in Space", check out http://milesobrien.com http://spaceflightnow.com or download it on iTunes by clicking here. For more info, check out Miles on Twitter: @milesobrien as well as This Week in Space: @thisweekinspace. Due to circumstances beyond our control, Mark Ratterman was unable to join us for this episode. Host this week: Gina Herlihy. Panel Members: Gene Mikulka, Sawyer Rosenstein, and special guest Miles O'Brien. Announcer: Russ Dale (@flight0001), Theme Composed by: Todd Cecilio (@negativereturn). Also a very special thanks to