Over our next few episodes, co-hosts Emily Carney and Eleanor O’Rangers had the opportunity to interview space historian and policy analyst Dwayne A. Day.

Day is a senior program officer for the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, where he has served as a study director on studies concerning NASA's aeronautics flight research capabilities, the planetary exploration program, the size of the astronaut corps, the threat of asteroids striking Earth, NASA workforce skills, radiation hazards to astronauts on long duration spaceflights, U.S. Air Force astrodynamics standards, and other projects. He previously served as a program officer on the Space Studies Board and served as an investigator for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. He has also written extensively on the history of American satellite reconnaissance.

In Part 1 of our interview, we’ll discuss how Dwayne became interested in satellite reconnaissance, the process of intelligence declassification in the United States, and the value that first-hand accounts of individuals who previously worked in declassified programs brings to his historical research in this area.

We’ll conclude with his thoughts as a historian on how the Apple TV show, For All Mankind, has carefully crafted their alternative history tale.