Main Engine Cut OffTim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, joins me to talk all about SpaceX’s Starship, its history thus far, it’s nearly-impossible-to-keep-up-with development in the open, and what we may see in the coming months. We make some timeline predictions, talk about the predicament of Boca Chica, and both randomly stumble into completely unsupported theories.
Long-time head of human spaceflight at NASA, Bill Gerstenmaier, has joined SpaceX as a consultant, but everyone is excited for the wrong reasons. And SpaceX missed a booster landing on their most recent Starlink launch, which prompted a new round of debates over whether booster recovery is part of mission success or not.
Mike Suffredini, President and CEO of Axiom, joins me to talk about their recent announcement: Axiom has been selected by NASA for access to an ISS port. They will build out Axiom Station as an expansion of the ISS, and eventually operate it as a free-flying space station. Before Axiom, Mike was NASA’s ISS Program Manager for a decade.
Loren Grush of The Verge joins me to talk about a whole host of current topics—SpaceX’s in-flight abort test, Starliner’s shaky first test and its fallout, space traffic, Starlink, the NASA Authorization bill, and why ”Space is hard” is the worst mantra.
Caleb Henry of SpaceNews joins me to talk about the recent happenings in the satellite industry, including new ITU milestones for megaconstellations, SpaceX’s big year for Starlink, OneWeb’s progress, and DirecTV’s battery issue.
A look back at 2019 through the lens of “Who actually did something that matters this year?”
Starliner’s flight test did not go as planned, and the US 2020 budget was passed, which creates Space Force and has big implications for NASA’s work.
Last week, I took a ride out to the AGI offices and sat down with Josh Poley and T.S. Kelso. We shot a handful of videos for AGI’s YouTube channel, the longest of which was this interview right here. I talked with T.S. Kelso about the history of CelesTrak.com and satellite tracking on the internet as a whole, as well as a few topics relevant to the modern day: satellite tracking and orbit reporting among operators, conjunction and collision monitoring, and space debris mitigation and management. Be sure to follow along with AGI’s channel as the rest of the videos go live throughout the week!
Dylan Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Voyager Space Holdings, joins me to talk about the new company, how it fits into the industry, his vision for space, and their first acquisition (and past MECO guest!), Altius Space Machines.
Blue Origin successfully protested the US Air Force’s RFP for the National Security Space Launch program, which will have big implications for the way the current round of contract awards plays out. NASA added five new providers to the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, and I’ve got some thoughts about the inclusion of those options in what is quickly becoming my favorite NASA program.