Liftoff

By Relay

Liftoff was a podcast about space, the universe, and everything. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand the major developments as explained by enthusiastic space fans Stephen Hackett an... more

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FAQs about Liftoff:

How many episodes does Liftoff have?

The podcast currently has 172 episodes available.

Liftoff episodes:

May 24, 201621: The Excitement Has Exploded
Jason and Stephen catch up some news, talk about some weird ways stars end and are then joined by Loren Grush, science reporter at The Verge to talk about commercial crew, inflatable space hotels and more.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
CuriosityStream: The world’s first, ad-free nonfiction streaming service. Use promo code RELAYFM to get two months free.
Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!
Guest Starring:
Loren Grush
Links and Show Notes Photos: Final space shuttle fuel tank moves through Los Angeles to museum – Spaceflight Now The External Tank Has Arrived! What's Next for L.A. Space Shuttle Display Spaceflight Now | STS-134 | Space shuttle Endeavour leaves LAX Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit | Kennedy Space Center OV-105 "Endeavour" | California Science Center India launches mini space shuttle - BBC News India's 1st Mini 'Space Shuttle' Test Launch in Pictures China reveals design for planned Tiangong 3 space station - SpaceFlight Insider TASS: Science & Space - Russia has no plans to deliver US astronauts to ISS after 2018 — official Watch NASA Deploy First Expandable Habitat at Space Station | NASA SN 2003fg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Progenitor IA supernova - Supernova - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Loren Grush (@lorengrush) | Twitter Loren Grush - The Verge Commercial Crew Program | NASA Juno | NASA Bigelow and ULA Partner to Launch Commercial Space Habitat in 2020 - Universe Today Space in Videos - 2016 - 02 - ESA Euronews: Moon Village
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58min
May 10, 201620: The Lifecycle of our Sun: Like a M&M
After catching up Kepler news and the Mercury transit, Jason and Stephen talk about the lifecycle of our sun. Spoiler alert: things won't end well for Earth.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
CuriosityStream: The world’s first, ad-free nonfiction streaming service. Use promo code RELAYFM to get two months free.
Links and Show Notes Briefing materials for the announcement of 1,284 Kepler planets | NASA Worlds that could support life are found practically in the Sun’s backyard | Ars Technica JCSAT-14 Mission in Photos | SpaceX Three Camera Angles | Falcon 9 First Stage Landing on Droneship - YouTube Cassini confirms methane sea on Titan - SpaceFlight Insider Mercury Enters Spotlight on May 9 | NASA Guide to the Mercury transit on May 9, 2016 - Slate NASA's SDO Captures Mercury Transit Time-lapse - YouTube Liftoff #6: The Sun - Relay FM Introduction to Stars, Galaxies, & the Universe - Prof. Richard Pogge HubbleSite - Picture Album: Nebulae: Planetary
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1h 1min
April 25, 201619: Venus: The Pizza Planet
This fortnight, Jason and Stephen take a trip to Venus.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!
CuriosityStream: The world’s first, ad-free nonfiction streaming service. Use promo code RELAYFM to get two months free.
Links and Show Notes Bigelow Expandable Activity Module - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia NASA - Bigelow Expandable Activity Module Bigelow and ULA Partner to Launch Commercial Space Habitat in 2020 - Universe Today MOON - the most accurate lunar globe by Oscar Lhermitte and Kudu — Kickstarter Comets may explain much about the weird brightness dips in Tabby's Star. Behind the Scenes at The Pen Addict 200 – 512 Pixels Venus - Overview | Planets - NASA Solar System Exploration Why Venus Spins the Wrong Way - Scientific American Observations and explorations of Venus - Wikipedia Mariner 2 - Wikipedia Venera - Wikipedia Image of Venus from Venera 14 ESA Science & Technology: Venus Express' swansong experiment sheds light on Venus' polar atmosphere Akatsuki (spacecraft) - Wikipedia NASA Vision for Venus: HAVOC Airships | Video Fix capitalism with floating cities on Venus says Charles Stross • The Register Amazon.com: Saturn's Children eBook: Charles Stross: Kindle Store
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1h
April 11, 201618: The SLS
This fortnight, Jason and Stephen talk about rockets on drone ships, visiting space via virtual reality and NASA's next launch vehicle, the SLS.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
Relay FM Membership: With a Relay FM membership, you can directly support the hosts of your favorite shows — like this one!
Links and Show Notes
Liftoff on Twitter: "TWITTER POLL! Which NASA logo is better?" NASA In-Space Manufacturing Logo Challenge | Freelancer Liftoff #9: The Space Shuttle - Relay FM International Space Station panoramic tour / ESA Blue Origin launches same New Shepard spacecraft for third time – Spaceflight Now Pluto may once have harbored liquid nitrogen lakes - SpaceFlight Insider SpaceX on Twitter: "Falcon 9 first stage on our droneship in the Atlantic after propelling the Dragon spacecraft to the @Space_Station https://t.co/Cnnej7zEnt" CRS-8 | First Stage Landing on Droneship - YouTube Triangulation 244 Bill Atkinson | TWiT Oculus Rift | Oculus The Apollo 11 Experience | Apps | Oculus Share Space Launch System | NASA Space Launch System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia NASA SLS Fact Sheet (PDF) Constellation program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Orion (spacecraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Orion Service Module - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Space Shuttle external tank - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Space Shuttle main engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Solid fuel boosters, not liquid, will likely launch NASA’s giant SLS rocket | Ars Technica Asteroid Redirect Mission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Falcon Heavy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Is NASA Building a Huge Rocket to Nowhere? - Bloomberg Orion and SLS: Time to rethink NASA's direction. Orion test launch success: Will the Space Launch System succeed for crewed flight? Space KSC: Wait 'Til Next Year
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1h 6min
March 28, 201617: Space Stations: Totally Not Obsessed
This fortnight, Jason and Stephen take a tour of the space stations that have graced Low-Earth orbit over the decades.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!
Links and Show Notes
Valeri Polyakov spent 437 uninterrupted days on Mir.
Liftoff on Tumblr Kepler Catches the Shock Breakout of a Supernova | NASA Reissue of the 1975 NASA Graphics Standards Manual. by Jesse Reed & Hamish Smyth — Kickstarter NASA Graphics Standards Manual PDF Liftoff on Twitter: "TWITTER POLL! Which NASA logo is better?" NASA: Commercial Crew firms ready to fly next year - SpaceFlight Insider Did the New Russia-Europe Mars Mission Narrowly Escape a Launch Disaster? Russia Actually Lights Rockets With an Overgrown Wooden Match NASA Space Pen : snopes.com NASA: Commercial Crew firms ready to fly next year - SpaceFlight Insider Salyut programme - Wikipedia Salyut 1 - Wikipedia Soyuz 11 - Wikipedia Salyut 7 - Wikipedia Skylab - Wikipedia Everything You Need to Know About Skylab | Astronotes Skylab 2 - Wikipedia Photo of Skylab
Don't miss the solar shade and lack of second square solar panel.
The Day Skylab Crashed to Earth: Facts About the First U.S. Space Station’s Re-Entry Photo of Skylab dummy prank Mir - Wikipedia Shuttle–Mir Program - Wikipedia Apollo–Soyuz Test Project - Wikipedia Valeri Polyakov - Wikipedia International Space Station - Wikipedia International Space Station | NASA Bigelow Aerospace's Inflatable Habitat Ready for Space Station Trip Space Station Freedom - Wikipedia Mir-2 - Wikipedia Tiangong program - Wikipedia Chinese large modular space station - Wikipedia The Silly Reason the Chinese Aren’t Allowed on the Space Station | TIME US-China Cooperation in Space: Is It Possible, and What's in Store? Gravity (2013) - IMDb Spacelab - Wikipedia
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1h 11min
March 14, 201616: Like a Curtain in the Wind
This fortnight, Jason and Stephen travel the length of the Solar System to catch up on the news.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!
Squarespace: Use code ‘LIFTOFF’ for 10% off your first purchase.
Links and Show Notes The strangest moon in the Solar System — Starts With A Bang! — Medium Alexander Kramer on Twitter: "@jsnell && @ismh , approx. sketch of Moon Draft 2016 and their owners. (@liftoffpodcast ) https://t.co/vw1lXO2Olv" Mimas (moon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Callisto (moon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin plans to start taking tourists into space in 2018 | The Verge Jeff Bezos Lifts Veil on His Rocket Company, Blue Origin - The New York Times Why did Blue Origin leave so many female space reporters out of its big reveal? | The Verge Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut: Mike Mullane: 9780743276832: Amazon.com: Books Watch Us Epically Fail NASA’s Astronaut Test | WIRED Hubble Team Breaks Cosmic Distance Record | NASA Methane Snow on Pluto’s Peaks | NASA Scientists think they’ve spotted clouds on Pluto, so they want to call it a planet again - Quartz Dawn's First Year at Ceres: A Mountain Emerges | NASA Dawn Mission | Dawn Home Page ESA - Robotic Exploration of Mars: The ExoMars programme 2016-2018 NASA officially delays its next mission to Mars until 2018 | The Verge NASA Targets May 2018 Launch of Mars InSight Mission | NASA Comet Flyby Threw Mars’ Magnetic Field Into Chaos | NASA How Do We Terraform Venus? - Universe Today SE2016Mar09T.GIF (1197×1547) An EPIC Eclipse : Natural Hazards NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 Aug 21 Emily Lakdawalla on Twitter: "Says Jupiter to Earth: So you think your lunar eclipse the other day was cool? I had two simultaneous moon eclipses. https://t.co/WqiV8gtIlW" Scott Kelly’s first days back on Earth — bananas, basketball, and Super Tuesday | The Verge Robot or Not? - a podcast from The Incomparable NASA JPL on Twitter: "Earlier today in a galaxy right here at home: #BB8 met our real robots and learned about @NASA's #JourneytoMars https://t.co/IMBPeK9hmS" NASA JPL on Twitter: "These are the droids you're looking for. #BB8 visited our historic clean room where real @NASA space robots are made https://t.co/s1EItwoF3a" We finally know how Mercury gets its dark gray color: an ancient carbon crust | The Verge Remote sensing evidence for an ancient carbon-bearing crust on Mercury : Nature Geoscience : Nature Publishing Group
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1h 2min
February 29, 201615: The Moon Draft
On this episode, Jason and Stephen pick their favorite solar system moons in an action-packed draft.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!
Links and Show Notes Virgin Galactic unveils new SpaceShipTwo vehicle that will replace lost spaceplane Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashes during test flight “Upside Down & Inside Out” - OK Go Makes Art at Zero-G Liftoff on Tumblr Titan Europa Triton Enceladus Io Charon Iapetus Ganymede Titania Phobos
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48min
February 15, 201614: Outside the Gates
During the last fortnight, humankind detected gravitational waves for the first time and Jason spent some time at NASA's Ames Research Center.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!
Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code ‘LIFTOFF’ for 10% off.
Links and Show Notes Liftoff on Tumblr Visions of the Future Gravitational Waves Detected, Confirming Einstein’s Theory - The New York Times Scientists have finally found gravitational waves - YouTube LSC - LIGO Scientific Collaboration Administrator Bolden Discusses the 'State of NASA' - YouTube NASA budget request for 2017. First Details of the 2017 NASA Budget Request | The Planetary Society NASA Goes Social to Take Its Case Directly to the People About NASA's Ames Research Center | NASA Jason Snell on Twitter: "Nerding out at supercomputer. Every blade server has 2 processors with 16-24 cores. #NASASocial https://t.co/dGOcFdneA3" Jason Snell on Twitter: "Fun sticker logo from SPHERE. #NASASocial https://t.co/dH7VFREZFC" SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites) | NASA
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1h 1min
February 01, 201613: It's Important to Have a Dryer Sheet
This week, Stephen and Jason catch up on Space X and Blue Origin news, wish Opportunity a happy 12th birthday and reflect on the 30th anniversary of the Challenger disaster.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!
Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code ‘LIFTOFF’ for 10% off.
Links and Show Notes Liftoff on Tumblr SpaceX fails a third time to land its Falcon 9 on a drone ship in the sea | The Verge Polar orbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Blue Origin | Launch. Land. Repeat. Blue Origin beats SpaceX to re-launching a reusable rocket | The Verge Opportunity Mars Rover Marks 12 Years on Red Planet Your Age on Other Worlds | Exploratorium Mars Rover Opportunity Busy Through Depth of Winter | NASA Opportunity (rover) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Opportunity mission timeline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Image Opportunity's heat shield and springs 11+ Years of Mars Roving in 8 Minutes | Time-Lapse Video - YouTube Everything You Need To Know About The Deep Space Station NASA Has To Build By 2018 Habitat Concepts for Deep Space Exploration (PDF) Mike Brown (@plutokiller) | Twitter Amazon.com: How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming (9780385531108): Mike Brown: Books Caltech Researchers Find Evidence of a Real Ninth Planet | Caltech Evidence found of a possible planet in the outer solar system. Find Planet Nine Liftoff #9: The Space Shuttle - Relay FM NASA Day of Remembrance 'Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes' recounts space shuttle tragedy 30 years later | collectSPACE An Oral History Of The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster President Ronald Reagan - Address on the Challenger Disaster - YouTube The Challenger Disaster: CBS Evening News 1-28-1986 - YouTube The Challenger Disaster (2013) (TV) Richard Feynman and the Space Shuttle Challenger investigation
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1h 3min
January 18, 201612: The Size of a Refrigerator
Jason and Stephen are joined by Geof Morris, a Payload Rack Officer for the International Space Station. Geof works at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.
This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:
Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!
Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code ‘LIFTOFF’ for 10% off.
Guest Starring:
Geof Morris
Links and Show Notes Turn up your speakers and take a wild ride on a Shuttle solid rocket booster - Bad Astronomy : Bad Astronomy Four to five: Engineer details changes made to SLS booster - SpaceFlight Insider New Budget Bolsters NASA's Journey to Mars Plans | The Planetary Society NASA’s next flagship space telescope to get formal start | Spaceflight Now James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NASA China plans more than 20 space launches in 2016 Tiangong-2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia JunoCam cruise data, and a look ahead to Jupiter | The Planetary Society Inside the vault: A rare glimpse of NASA’s otherworldly treasures | Ars Technica International Space Station | NASA About Marshall | NASA Astronauts Prepare for Busy Week of Fluid Shift Experiments and End of Week Spacewalk | Space Station
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57min

FAQs about Liftoff:

How many episodes does Liftoff have?

The podcast currently has 172 episodes available.