Astronomy Cast’s 2014/15 season begins! With Rosetta’s arrival at Comet 67/P, we’re about to see a comet up close and personal. What will it take to explore, exploit and enjoy the asteroids and comets hurtling around our Solar System. And how does science fiction have it all wrong??

AstronomyCast 350: SpaceShip One

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

AstronomyCast 349: Mercury 7 Astronauts

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

SpaceShipOne is the spacecraft created by Scaled Composites to win the $10 million Ansari X-Prize in 2003. It was the first privately built spacecraft to reach 100 km in altitude, twice in two weeks, carrying the equivalent of 3 people. It’s the prototype of the upcoming SpaceShipTwo, created for Virgin Galactic to carry paying passengers into space.

Before the Apollo Program, there was the Gemini Program, and before Gemini came the Mercury Program. 7 elite astronauts chosen from a pool of military test pilots. How did NASA choose these original 7 men?

Although NASA is spread across the entire US, the headquarters is based right in Washington, DC. And the headquarters building is known as Two Independence Square. This is where past and future space policy for the agency was developed.

AstronomyCast 348: 2 Independence Square, the NASA Headquarters

by Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay

AstronomyCast: Live from Balticon, with P.G. Holyfield

by Dr. Pamela Gay

Enjoy our live show from Balticon!

Who knows what mysteries lurk at the military's Area 51 complex in Nevada? Conspiracy theorists and UFO chasers think it's a big alien coverup. But it's probably something more boring, like advanced military aircraft. Let's talk about what we know, and what we think we know about this infamous military base.