In this episode: 

We meet Erin Roethlisberger, the Mission Operations Systems Lead for the InSight Mars Lander with Lockheed Martin Space. In this role, she is responsible for successful operations of the spacecraft in flight and throughout the landed mission. Previously, she worked on the interplanetary mission experience on GRAIL and Juno missions as a Systems Engineer, and for MAVEN, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Odyssey, GRAIL, Juno, OSIRIS-Rex performing Real-Time Operations.

Roethlisberger shares with us what it is like to work on a mission to another planet, the challenges she faced and how she has grown professionally and personally working in the aerospace field. 

Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:

We meet Geoff Chester, the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) for the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., a position he has held since 1997.  Prior to joining the Observatory Geoff worked for the Smithsonian Institution's Albert Einstein Planetarium in positions that ranged from Special Effects Technician to Staff Astronomer.  

Chester shares with us the history and work done by the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., as well explaining to listeners how and why we keep time and what a clock really is. This information is used along with physics to determine where a celestial object is located and provides us a map of the stars.

Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:

We meet Dr. Anita Greenberg, the COO and VP for Academics for Opifex Global out of Georgetown, Texas.

Dr. Greenberg is not only an educator by training but also an accomplished and experienced entrepreneur. She’s part of a new generation of space industry members that are bringing new ideas, energy, approaches and creativity to the greater space community. 

Dr. Greenberg talks to us about commercial astronaut, civilian astronaut and space tourism training work being done at Opifex Global. She shares information about training with the neutral-buoyancy tank, giving astronauts on Earth the simulation of working without gravity in pure darkness.

Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:

We meet Dr. Kavya Manyapu, a Space Scientist working in Flight Crew Operations and Testing for the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. 

Dr. Manyapu currently serves as the Regional Officer for a United Nations organization called Space Generation Advisory Council. She is passionate about human space exploration with a belief in the universal applicability of space research for the betterment of our planet.

Learn about the design and features of the new Boeing spacesuit and why it is blue. Dr. Manyapu explains the evolution of spacesuits and the steps she is taking to become astronaut. 

Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:

We meet Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, Director of the Vatican Observatory and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ was born in 1952 in Detroit, Michigan. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in 1974 and Master of Science in 1975 in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona in 1978. 

In 1983 he joined the US Peace Corps, where he served for two years in Kenya teaching physics and astronomy. Upon his return to the U.S. in 1985 he became an assistant professor of physics at Lafayette College, in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he taught until his entry into the Jesuit order in 1989. He took vows as a Jesuit brother in 1991, and studied philosophy and theology at Loyola University Chicago, and physics at the University of Chicago before his assignment to the Vatican Observatory in 1993.

Brother Guy explains to us the connection between science and religion and the work he does for the Vatican Observatory.

Br. Guy shares insights into the relationship between Galileo and the Church as well as why the Vatican Observatory has a facility in Tucson, Arizona.

Learn more about him and the Vatican Observatory Foundation at https://www.vofoundation.org/.

Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:

We chat with Lou Ramon, a self proclaimed "Old-Fashioned Spaceman" about his work with NASA. 

Lou Ramon has been a "space cadet" his entire life. As a young boy, he had his own model plane "air force" hanging from his bedroom ceiling and he grew up reading and watching science fiction TV shows and movies. It's no wonder he ended up turning that passion into a lifelong career in the space industry.

He has been involved in nearly every U.S. human spaceflight program from Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle, the International Space Station to Orion. Among the many highlights for him was working as part of Apollo 11, alongside astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. 

In this episode we get some fun tidbits from Lou about the Apollo 11 mission and you will learn about the candy smuggled into space that you won't read about in any book.

Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:

We speak with NASA photographer, Bill Ingalls. Ingalls, who has worked with NASA for over three decades, tells us about his technique, the highlights of his career and how he documents the space journey, giving us a chance to see what otherwise would be nearly impossible.

Ingalls shares a story about his toasty Canon DSLR, which made national headlines and he continues to keep in his office as well as the tale of an iconic photo of President Bill Clinton showing John F. Kennedy, Jr., and his wife Carolyn Bessette the portrait of JFK during a White House showing of Tom Hank’s HBO film series From Earth to the Moon.

Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged