Main Engine Cut OffLori Garver, former NASA Deputy Administrator, joins me to talk about a whole host of space policy topics, including Artemis and lunar politics, the legacies of Commercial Cargo and Crew, the status of Commercial LEO Destinations, and also Lance Bass.
Caleb Henry of Quilty Analytics and I took a trip down to Wallops Island to watch Rocket Lab’s first Electron launch from the US. Listen to our conversation on the drive down to Virginia, a bit of me at the press site before launch, and the launch itself in wonderful stereo audio.
Virgin Orbit’s first launch from the UK ended in failure, putting them in an even more precarious financial position. And on the other side of the North Pole, ABL’s first launch attempt ended in failure right on the launch pad in Alaska.
SpaceX rolled out Starshield, a new, Starlink-inspired (derived?) offering for national security space systems. And I have some thoughts on the upcoming National Security Space Launch Phase 3 contracting setup.
Jared Isaacman of the Polaris Program joins me to talk about how the program began, how it’s envisioned, how they choose what to take on and solve, how they interact with SpaceX, and why he’s chosen to contribute to spaceflight in this way.
Richard Parker, Head of Space at Canopius, and John Farnsworth, insurance broker and space advocate, join me to talk about the (seemingly) most mysterious topic in spaceflight: insurance!
Northrop Grumman and Firefly announced a partnership to develop a new first stage for Antares—the same first stage that will power Firefly’s larger launch vehicle, Beta. It’s a great partnership for both parties that will surely lead to more interesting things in the future.
Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins me to talk about the Artemis Program’s space suits, expensive launch sites, maybe-cheaper-but-at-least-not-as-delayed launch sites, vehicles, and its manifest over the next decade. Plus, a few bonus topics like Astra, Firefly, and Lori Garver’s new book.
SpaceX’s plans for launching Starship to orbit from Boca Chica cleared an environmental review with the FAA, but more than 75 mitigations are required in order to receive a launch license to carry out flights in the future.
Boeing completed Starliner’s long-awaited Orbital Flight Test-2 mission to the ISS, but about a week after landing, NASA announced its intent to buy more Dragon flights from SpaceX.