Space and Things

SpaceX are the number 1 launch provider in the world currently, and author/journalist Brad Bergan has just released a wonderful book about them called SpaceX: Elon Musk and the Final Frontier. So we think it’s about time that we have a conversation about SpaceX.

Brad Bergan:

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-bergan/ 

SpaceX - Elon Musk and the Final Frontier:

https://www.quarto.com/books/9780760384015/spacex

Space Race 2.0:

https://www.quarto.com/books/9780760375549/space-race-2-0 

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp196-spacex-elon-musk-and-the-final-frontier-with-brad-bergan

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: Quarto Publishing

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Over the weekend Blue Origin launched their first crewed mission after nearly two years and today we’re speaking to someone who has won their ticket for one of their future flights. Dr. Eiman Jahangir entered the MoonDAO Ticket To Space raffle and his name was picked out, however, Dr. Jahangir is so much more than a space tourist as you’ll find out in this week’s episode.

Dr. Eiman Jahangir:

X: https://x.com/DrEJahangir

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drejahangir/ 

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@drejahangir 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drejahangir/ 

MoonDAO:

https://www.moondao.com/ 

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp195-winning-a-trip-to-space-with-dr-eiman-jahangir

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: Cassandra Klos

Space and Things:

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In nearly 200 episodes we’ve never had any in depth discussion about the military uses of space, so we’ve decided this is the week. We’re joined by Dwayne Day, a space historian who is an expert on the history of reconnaissance satellites and it’s a fascinating conversation. 

Dwayne Day:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwayne-day-41983723/ 

X: https://twitter.com/CORONAGAMBIT

Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites:

https://smithsonianbooks.com/store/aviation-military-history/eye-in-the-sky-the-story-of-the-corona-spy-satellites-smithsonian-history-of-aviation-and-spaceflight-paperback/ 

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp194-reconnaissance-satellites-who-what-and-why-with-dwayne-day

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: NRO

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Ever wondered what life might be like on a remote part of the world while tracking spacecraft and communicating with them? Ever considered the dangers of being in a blockhouse close to a rocket launch as it explodes? Well our guess this week has some stories for you. We speak to Dan Kovalchik who started working on tracking stations and eventually became the Systems Administrator for the Delta launches, a job he held for 21 years. He has a new book out called ‘Days of Delta Thunder’ so we caught up with him to have a chat.

Dan Kovalchik:

http://www.rangerat.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-kovalchik-43311880/

Days of Delta Thunder:

https://www.amazon.com/Days-Delta-Thunder-Dan-Kovalchik-ebook/dp/B0D1SCJ8HN

Delta II Launch Failure: 1997

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTmb3Cqb2qw 

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/iipr8znurppofdacwh63nc5c87nidh

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: 30th Space Wing Public Affairs

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We can’t get enough of talking about the moon and we love a bit of poetry, so it was a joy talking to Christopher Cokinos for this week’s podcast. Christopher has just released a book called ‘Still as Bright - An Illuminating History of the Moon, from Antiquity to Tomorrow’ - and it’s a must read!

Christopher Cokinos: 

https://www.christophercokinos.com/

Still As Bright:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Still-As-Bright/Christopher-Cokinos/9781639365692 

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp192-talking-about-the-moon-and-poetry-with-christopher-cokinos

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: Pegasus Books

Space and Things:

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With the recent moon landing attempts by private US companies having some mixed results, it seems that everyone is an expert on how to land something on the moon all of a sudden, well today we speak to an actual expert to find out what's really going on up there. Brandon Dotson has all the degrees and is currently writing a thesis on the difficulties of landing on the moon.

Brandon Dotson:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=h-bD-jkAAAAJ&hl=en

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp191-why-is-it-so-difficult-to-land-on-the-moon-with-brandon-dotson

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: NASA

Space and Things:

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This week we speak to Lisa Young, Supervisory Conservator at the National Air and Space Museum, who has been responsible for the preservation of the spacesuits and spacecraft in the Smithsonian collection. Ever been to a museum and wondered about how they look after the spacesuits? Well Lisa is the expert.

Lisa Young:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-young-06a22512/

https://airandspace.si.edu/people/staff/lisa-young 

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/how-to-look-after-a-spacesuit-with-lisa-young

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: Space and Things Podcast

Space and Things:

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On 24th March of this year, George Abbey died at the age of 91. One of the most influencial people working behind the scenes at NASA for many years and someone who has come up many times during many interviews. So we wanted to spend an episode to pay tribute to his contributions. To do this we’re joined by Michael Cassutt, author of the 2018 book “The Astronaut Maker - How One Mysterious Engineer Ran Human Spaceflight for a Generation”

George Abbey NASA Obituary:

https://www.nasa.gov/people/george-w-s-abbey/

Michael Cassutt:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-cassutt-5680841/

X: https://twitter.com/MichaelCassutt 

The Astronaut Maker:

https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/the-astronaut-maker-products-9781613737002.php?page_id=30&cid=347961

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp189-remembering-george-abbey-with-michael-cassutt

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: NASA

Space and Things:

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On April 8th there will be a total eclipse travelling across Mexico, the United States and Canada so today we talk to Stephen Wolfram, who earlier this year released a book called “Predicting the Eclipse: A Multimillennium Tale of Computation.” - we learn about the history of predicting eclipses and so much more. 

Stephen Wolfram:

https://www.stephenwolfram.com/ 

X: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwolfram/ 

Predicting the Eclipse:

A Multimillennium Tale of Computation

https://www.wolfram-media.com/products/predicting-the-eclipse/

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp188-predicting-the-eclipse-a-multimillennium-tale-of-computation-with-stephen-wolfram

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

Space and Things:

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This week we talk to Dr. Tracy Scott who has just started a project to bring together her own history as an early era “astronaut kid” (daughter of David R. Scott: Gemini 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 15) with her professional expertise as a sociologist and teacher.

100 Patreons By Show 200: https://www.patreon.com/Spaceandthings

Dave’s Tour Dates: http://www.davejgiles.com/gigs

Dr Tracy Scott:

https://tracylscott.org/

https://sociology.emory.edu/people/bios/Scott-Tracy%20L..html

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prof.t.l.scott/ 

Full show notes: https://spaceandthingspodcast.com/podcast/stp187-moonshot-astronaut-families-exploring-image-vs-reality-in-the-early-space-era-with-dr-tracy-scott

Show notes include links to all articles mentioned and full details of our guests and links to what caught our eye this week.

Image Credits: Life Magazine

Space and Things:

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