Andy Aldrin is a true child of the Apollo era. Son of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, his career has spanned nearly every aspect of the space economy from big defense contractors, to entrepreneurial space, and academia. Currently an Associate Professor at the Florida Institute of Technology, Aldrin has recently launched the Center for Space Entrepreneurship, a program developed in partnership between FIT and the International Space University. He has built a modern curriculum and assembled a group of world-class professors and business people across all space industries to show graduate students what it takes to start and run a successful business in the Entrepreneurial Space Age.

Anousheh Ansari has many firsts to her name—the first female private space explorer, the first Iranian in space, the first blogger from space. She is also responsible for helping to open up the Entrepreneurial Space Age through her work as the title sponsor of the Ansari XPrize. We spoke with Anousheh on how she made a childhood dream reality, the profound impact space travel has had on her life, and what the future has in store for this life-long explorer.

Jane Poynter is nothing if not fascinating. A former Biospherian and co-founder of Paragon Space Development Corporation, she is currently the co-founder and CEO World View, which is pioneering a new frontier at the edge of space and leading the way in the emerging stratospheric economy. Stratollites are high-altitude balloons that serve a variety of mission functions and a broad range of critical commercial needs and applications. Poynter discusses the benefits of stratollites compared with traditional launch vehicles, how her team came together and where World View is headed next.

What rules exist to govern and grant property rights in space? What are you allowed to do and not do? And how are things changing as more new entrants join the space economy? To answer these questions, we spoke with Richard Garriott, a private astronaut and famed video game developer. He is also the Vice Chairman of Space Adventures, a trustee of the XPRIZE Foundation, a Fellow of the Explorers Club, and an advisor for our venture fund, Space Capital. But Richard’s credentials are not the reason we’ve invited him to the podcast—Richard is the first person to credibly claim ownership of extraterrestrial territory.

Investors often think space entrepreneurs like Elon Musk have achieved success all on their own. But government has played a major role in the development, growth, and revenue of companies like SpaceX. This episode's guest, Eric Stallmer, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, explains how the entire commercial space economy is built on a foundation of 60+ years of technology developed by governments. Episode 6 addresses the question: What is NASA’s role in the future entrepreneurial space?

Every year Space Angels ​host​s​ an Expedition, where a limited group of 20 of our most active investor members come together for an inside, first-hand look at the nascent private space industry. In prior years we’ve traveled to space industry hotbeds like San Francisco, Seattle, and Southern California, where members have enjoyed unique access to some of the most prominent entrepreneurial space ventures. Joining us on this year’s Expedition was author, journalist, British television personality, and Space Angels contributor, Sarah Cruddas, who’s joins us on this episode to give us an inside listen to Expedition 17 Houston.

With a number of new plans emerging to take humans to the moon and Mars, the question of affordable transportation remains. Our guest today, Chris Lewicki—CEO of Planetary Resources, has a solution. The asteroid-mining company ​plans to drastically reduce the cost of deep space missions by ​refueling launch vehicles ​in space ​with ​water extracted from asteroids.​ ​Their technology enables rockets bound for Mars, and other destinations, ​to ​carry five times more cargo than what’s possible today​, without simply building larger vehicles. In this episode we're discussing asteroid mining, how it works, the market opportunity, and who's going to pay for this water.

By the 2020’s, near the planned end of the life of the International Space Station, NASA’s intention is to transition Low Earth Orbit from a domain that is primarily government-led to one that is primarily led by the private sector. The future is commercial and in this episode we welcome Jeff Manber to the show, who is CEO of NanoRacks, the world's leading supplier of commercial space station services. We’ll be discussing commercial space stations and how they’ll help actualize a future where millions of people live and work in space. 

While we went to the moon a handful of times in the Apollo era of the 1960-70’s, commercial space ventures like Astrobotic are taking us back to the moon by developing an economically viable transportation service, which will enable a sustained human presence. In this episode, we interview John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic and one of the most influential leaders in the entrepreneurial space sector. He's currently planning the world’s first commercial mission to the moon in 2019.