This episode takes us all over the world from the U.S. to Russia, from public to private. It's a global and low earth orbit episode of Talking Space.

Has Russia's Roscosmos become a little more "Space-X" like in their launch coverage to the point where they have started to rival NASA's? The team looks at the possibility.

The orbiting homestead called the International Space Station underwent some renovations, installing a set of a new set of ISS Roll Up Solar Arrays or iROSA's. These not only will this power up the station for the next set of demands the platform will face in the coming years but the roll-up arrays are also a technical demonstration for NASA's upcoming Artemis Lunar Program.  

NASA's Space Launch System core stage is in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is being stacked for a launch attempt. This is just one more step for the first Artemis mission. The team discusses the SLS as a scientific exploration tool, to allow planetary spacecraft to reach destinations faster, so they can begin data collection and return expeditiously. 

China has launched the first segment of its Tiangong space station and the crew has arrived to live on the platform for 90 days. It shows that China is indeed pursuing its own agenda in space but will it produce the same level of science that the International Space Station has and will it be as friendly to work with?

Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos announced that he is flying on the inaugural "New Shepard" sub-orbital flight for paying clients on 20 July. A few days later Richard Branson then announced that he intended to fly on Virgin Galactic's first commercial sub-orbital mission before Bezos. Does this sub-orbital one-upmanship signal the start of a  new era, opening spaceflight for all, or is it just a case of two large egos? The team looks at the promise that both these spacecraft have as scientific and research platforms.

All this and more on this installment of Talking Space!

Host: Sawyer Rosenstein

Panelists: Dr. Kat Robison, Gene Mikulka