Main Engine Cut OffA special simulcast of this week’s Off-Nominal—the other show I do, if you somehow haven’t heard of it!—because it’s exactly the topic list with exactly the guest I had up next on my list. I’m joined by Adrian Beil of NASASpaceflight to talk about the recent mayhem at Starbase, and to kick around European space policy topics in the run up to the ESA Ministerial later this year.
Lori Garver, former NASA Deputy Administrator, joins me to talk about the chaos of the last week: the withdraw of Jared Isaacman’s nomination for NASA Administrator, Starship Flight 9, and of course, the wild public breakup of Elon Musk and President Trump.
Mark Albrecht joins me to talk about his time on the Trump 2024 Transition Team, the thinking behind some of the policy decisions we’re starting to see in the space and national security spheres, and more.
We take a tour of Marotta Controls in Montville, New Jersey, to see how they work, how they develop, produce, and test products at rate, and we learn about the most feared topic in space—valves!
Caleb Henry, Director of Research at Quilty Space, joins me to talk megaconstellations, the hypersonics industry, and more.
Jared Isaacman was in Congress for a confirmation hearing for his nomination as NASA Administrator, which was followed up by reports of huge proposed budget cuts at NASA and NOAA. And as expected, SpaceX, ULA, and Blue Origin all received awards for NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2.
Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins me to talk about his recent interviews with Butch and Suni in the aftermath of their flight, the update NASA put out about Starliner, and how it all lands from where we are now.
Eric Schmidt has taken a majority stake in Relativity and will serve as its CEO, so this is a good time to check in on their plans. Rocket Lab is planning to acquire Mynaric, and I have a theory I felt like I needed to float.
Josh Dinner of Space.com joins me to talk about a wild week in space—Firefly’s Blue Ghost 1, Intuitive Machines’ IM-2, SpaceX’s Starship Flight 8, Rocket Lab announcements, and more.
Former Congressman and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine joins me to talk space policy, then and now: CLPS, Commercial Space Stations, Artemis, international partnerships, and more.