Are We There Yet?

Every rocket that launches from Cape Canaveral falls under the watchful eye of the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing. Headquartered at Patrick Air Force Base, the Wing is responsible for the safety of the rocket by monitoring thing like weather, and the safety of the residents of Florida’s Space Coast.

Air Force leaders want to ramp up launches from the Cape – targeting 48 launches a year. That drive falls under the command of the new leader of the 45th Space Wing, Brigadier General Douglas A. Schiess

General Schiess spoke with host Brendan Byrne at Patrick Air Force Base to talk about the 45th’s role in launching rockets and upgrades happening at the base to help support more launches.

Every rocket that launches from Cape Canaveral falls under the watchful eye of the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing.

Tory Bruno. His social media presence is almost as large as the rockets he launches. He’s the CEO of United Launch Alliance, the rocket giant responsible for Delta and Atlas rockets. Recently, ULA launched NASA’s Parker Solar Probe on a mission to touch the sun, thanks to its Delta IV Heavy rocket

ULA has sent more than a dozen missions to Mars, and early next year it will lift Boeing’s Commercial Crew capsule, the Starliner, into orbit. We sat down to talk the Atlas’ legacy, the commercial crew missions, and ULA’s next rocket: The Vulcan.

Tory Bruno is CEO of United Launch Alliance, the rocket giant responsible for more than a dozen missions to Mars.

Chris Ferguson is a Boeing astronaut and soon he’ll command the first crewed mission of Boeing’s Starliner on a trip to the International Space Station. It’s a bit symbolic that Chris is heading back to space. As a NASA astronaut, he commanded the last space shuttle mission more than seven years ago. It was the last launch of human from U.S. soil. Soon, Ferguson will be one of the first to return the country to the launching business.

We are just months away from the first launches of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Private companies Boeing and SpaceX are poised to launch astronauts to the International Space Station from Florida.

Earlier this week, 90.7’s space reporter Brendan Byrne sat down with Ferguson to talk about final preparations going into the first few flights of Starliner and what he misses most about being in space.

Chris Ferguson is a Boeing astronaut and soon he’ll command the first crewed mission of Boeing's Starliner on a trip to the International Space Station.

The debate over Pluto’s planethood has been reinvigorated once again, thanks to a new paper co-authored by a University of Central Florida planetary scientist.

Back in 2006, the International Astronomical Union adopted new classification rules. In order for an object to be considered a planet it must be the largest gravitational force in its orbit. In Pluto’s case, its orbit is influenced by neighboring Neptune, so according to the IAU, what was once our 9th planet is no longer a planet. Instead, Pluto is classified as a dwarf planet.

Phil Metzger co-authored the paper that is re-examining the debate. He is a planetary scientist at the Florida Space Institute at UCF so he stopped by to talk about the paper and the case for classifying planets.

The debate over Pluto’s planethood has been reinvigorated once again, thanks to a new paper co-authored by a University of Central Florida planetary scientist.

Last week, NASA announced Commercial Crew mission assignments. The Commercial Crew program will launch astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil for the first time since 2011. NASA is doing it with private companies SpaceX and Boeing.

In this episode we’ll meet the astronauts flying on Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner: Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson and NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, Suni Williams, Josh Cassada and Eric Boe.

Also, SpaceNews.com’s senior staff writer Jeff Foust brings us up to speed on the latest developments of the Commercial Crew program ahead of a launch later this year.

Last week, NASA announced Commercial Crew mission assignments. The Commercial Crew program will launch astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil for the first time since 2011. NASA is doing it with private companies SpaceX and Boeing.