Are We There Yet?

NASA’s mega-rocket the Space Launch System has left the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center and made its way to a launch pad, ahead of an uncrewed mission around the moon and back later this year. It’s the first time a moon-class rocket has seen Launch Complex 39B since the days of Apollo and marks the start of NASA’s newest moonshot missions called Artemis.

NASA’s mega-rocket the Space Launch System has left the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center and made its way to a launch pad, ahead of an uncrewed mission around the moon and back later this year. It’s the first time a moon-class rocket has seen Launch Complex 39B since the days of Apollo and marks the start of NASA’s newest moonshot missions called Artemis.

Next week, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket is set to take 6 people to the edge of space and back. Central Florida married couple Sharon and Marc Hagle will be on the flight from West Texas.

Sharon Hagle is the founder and CEO of SpaceKids Global, a non-profit organization aimed at getting kids, especially girls, interested and excited about STEM learning. She hopes to share her experience in space with future explorers -- and highlight all the different career paths that lead to space.

We’ll talk with Sharon and Marc about their upcoming mission, how they’re preparing for flight and what they hope to bring back down here to Earth.

Then, NASA is focusing on climate change -- specifically, observing our changing climate from space. The agency named a new head scientist who will also serve as senior climate advisor. But NASA’s focus on climate isn’t new. It has been observing the Earth’s climate for more than 50 years.

What is new is a renewed focus on missions aimed at tracking climate-related data from space and inspiring action down here on Earth. Four missions are set to launch just this year with that goal in mind.

To talk more about NASA’s past and future efforts to monitor and mitigate climate change, we’ll revisit an earlier conversation with NASA’s Karen St. Germain, the director of NASA’s Earth Science division.

Next week, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket is set to take 6 people to the edge of space and back. Central Florida married couple Sharon and Marc Hagle will be on the flight from West Texas. Sharon Hagle is the founder and CEO of SpaceKids Global, a non-profit organization aimed at getting kids, especially girls, interested and excited about STEM learning. She hopes to share her experience in space with future explorers -- and highlight all the different career paths that lead to space.

Next week, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket is set to take 6 people to the edge of space and back. Central Florida married couple Sharon and Marc Hagle will be on the flight from West Texas. Sharon Hagle is the founder and CEO of SpaceKids Global, a non-profit organization aimed at getting kids, especially girls, interested and excited about STEM learning. She hopes to share her experience in space with future explorers -- and highlight all the different career paths that lead to space.

It seems like a lot more people are going to space these days. Commercial companies are not only sending NASA astronauts into space, they’re giving ordinary people with the right amount of cash the chance to fly in space, too.

Last year we saw the commercial space tourism business kick into high gear with trips from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Netflix took us with the all-civilian crew of Inspiration4 last summer and William Shatner traveled to the edge of space, bringing back with him profound words of the experience once on the ground.

With the opportunities to fly into space growing -- and hopefully the cost shrinking -- it’s easy to imagine one day you or me getting the chance to see Earth from space. Laura Forczyk wants us all to start thinking about that opportunity -- and planning and training for a future where we get the chance to venture into space.

We’ll speak with Forczyk about her new book “Becoming Off-Worldly: Learning from Astronauts to Prepare for Your Spaceflight Journey.”

Then, a University of Central Florida researcher is on the hunt for water on the moon. Kerri Donaldson Hanna is co-investigator of the Lunar Trailblazer Mission -- a CubeSat that will survey the moon for potential pockets of ice. Are We There Yet’s intern Beatrize Olivera speaks with Donaldson Hanna about the mission and why water on the moon is so important for future deep space exploration.

It seems like a lot more people are going to space these days. Commercial companies are not only sending NASA astronauts into space, they’re giving ordinary people with the right amount of cash the chance to fly in space, too.

It seems like a lot more people are going to space these days. Commercial companies are not only sending NASA astronauts into space, they’re giving ordinary people with the right amount of cash the chance to fly in space, too.

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia are high as the U.S. imposed strict sanctions in the wake of the Russian military’s invasion of Ukraine, but some 150 miles above Earth an important partnership between the U.S. and Russia remains: the International Space Station. Historically, the partnership between the two countries has transcended political tension here on Earth. But how long will that last?

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia are high as the U.S. imposed strict sanctions in the wake of the Russian military’s invasion of Ukraine, but some 150 miles above Earth an important partnership between the U.S. and Russia remains: the International Space Station. Historically, the partnership between the two countries has transcended political tension here on Earth. But how long will that last?