Main Engine Cut Off

Yesterday, I had the chance to visit the Pentagon and sit down with General Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations—the head of the United States Space Force. We talk about the service 6 years into its existence, the state of acquisitions, the threats and space environment today, and what the future may hold for the Space Force when it comes to human spaceflight.

Stephen Clark of Ars Technica joins me to talk about a ton of stories in the news—Jared Isaacman was back in front of Congress, a few Starliner flights have been cut from the ISS manifest, Starship received environmental approval to proceed at SLC-37, Zhuque-3 almost stuck its first landing attempt, the Soyuz launch pad fell apart at Baikonur, and the Space Force has a new mission naming scheme.

Blue Origin is fresh off an incredible few weeks—a successful second launch and first landing of New Glenn, followed by an exciting unveil of upgrades to the vehicle, including an enormous new version, New Glenn 9x4.

Simone D’Amico of Stanford and EraDrive, DJ Bush of NVIDIA, and Al Tadros of Redwire join me to talk about autonomy in space, to get into the specific details of what they’re working on and how it comes together, and what it may do for the industry in the next few years.

Thinking through the chaos that has ensued over the NASA Administrator role, the Artemis 3 lander acceleration movement, the SpaceX Starship HLS update, and a bit on how we actually got here.