Donald Trump has been reelected President of the United States, and the main character of spaceflight, Elon Musk, is one of his top advisors. Some thoughts on where things may go from here, and a bit of my wishlist. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 31 executive producers—Lee, Russell, The Astrogators at SEE, Theo and Violet,…

Jared Isaacman of the Polaris Program joins me to talk about the Polaris Dawn mission, his EVA experience, the Hubble Space Telescope situation, how the Polaris Program and SpaceX approach tech development and flight planning, and the Philadelphia Eagles. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 31 executive producers—Jan, Matt, Fre…

SpaceX is entering a new era for Starship after the epic Flight 5, with its pinpoint ship reentry and staggeringly beautiful booster catch. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 31 executive producers—Matt, Will and Lars from Agile, Steve, Harrison, Warren, Frank, Russell, Josh from Impulse, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), St…

SpaceX and the FAA have been going a few rounds back and forth in public over fines and delays. It’s weird and inscrutable but maybe helpful in the long run in a few ways. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 31 executive producers—Donald, Pat from KC, Joel, Jan, Lee, Better Every Day Studios, Fred, Theo and Violet, Russell, Pat…

Andy Lapsa, Co-Founder and CEO of Stoke Space, joins me to talk about the company, their vision for the future, their approach to launch, the larger trends that are shaping the market, and how that all might come together in the next few years. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 31 executive producers—Steve, Fred, Joonas, Bett…

Jeff Foust of Space News joins me to talk about Starliner, Fram2, VIPER, Blue Moon, and everything else going on in space. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 31 executive producers—Jan, Warren, Pat from KC, David, Frank, Lee, Joonas, Josh from Impulse, Steve, Harrison, Russell, Joel, Bob, The Astrogators at SEE, Stealth Julian…

Mark Albrecht joins me to talk about the state and future of space policy in a very dynamic Presidential election year. He shares some stories from the past, talks about his experience in presidential transitions and on the National Space Council, and ruminates on what we may see in November and beyond. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brough…

Andrew Rush returns to the show to talk about his new venture, Star Catcher. They are working to build an energy grid in space, beaming energy directly to existing solar panels on satellites in LEO. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 31 executive producers—Steve, Kris, Theo and Violet, Warren, Ryan, Josh from Impulse, Better E…

NASA announced their intent to cancel VIPER, the rover that was due to go to the Moon on Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, after severe schedule and cost growth. SpaceX had a rare failure of Falcon 9 that has led to a (seemingly short) grounding of the vehicle. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 31 executive producers—Frank, Donald…

A few weeks ago, we talked about Redwire’s SabreSat spacecraft, and today we’re talking about their Europe-based Phantom spacecraft. We talk about the spacecraft platform itself, how the different parts of Redwire work together, VLEO and its use cases, and how to fly satellites through little bits of atmosphere. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off …

Firefly added launch sites in Virginia and Sweden for its Alpha vehicle. NASA has selected SpaceX to build the ISS US Deorbit Vehicle, closed out their task orders to Collins for ISS spacesuits, and decided to keep Starliner at the ISS for a few more weeks. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Joel, The As…

Join Dakota Jackson, Benjamin Wiltz ,and Jared Ramos as they dip their toe into the world of effect pedal usage on the trombone. They explore the history and development of pedals for trombone and brass as well as the pioneers who have and continue to use them to create new sounds.By Dakota Jackson, Benjamin Wiltz

Redwire announced today that it has been awarded a contract from DARPA to serve as the prime mission integrator for its Otter program. For the program, and for the industry beyond that, they’ll be developing SabreSat, an air-breathing spacecraft flying in VLEO. Spence Wise, Senior Vice President of Missions and Platforms at Redwire, joins me to dis…

NASA selected the organizations who will be carrying out mission design studies for the Mars Sample Return rethink, and the US Space Force selected the first 3 bidders for the National Security Space Launch Program Phase 3 Lane 1. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Lee, Kris, Joel, Ryan, Russell, Steve, …

Starliner flew its first crew, Starship flew its fourth flight, Chang’e-6 collected its first samples, and Agnikul Cosmos flew its first mission. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Warren, Bob, Stealth Julian, Will and Lars from Agile Space, Harrison, Jan, Josh from Impulse Space, Russell, Lee, Donald, R…

United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan debut went smoothly, but sluggish hardware integration raises doubts about meeting commitments, while Orion faces heat shield issues, potentially shaking up the Artemis manifest. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Lee Ryan, SmallSpark Space Systems, Benjamin, Pat, Lee, Fre…

NASA is heading back to the drawing board for a Mars Sample Return architecture, and is accepting proposals for mission studies by May. I talk about a few takeaways from the communication of that plan, and ponder whether or not SpaceX is going to do the damn thing. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Lee,…

NASA selected 3 teams to work on unpressurized rovers for Artemis, while Japan signed on officially to provide a pressurized rover in exchange for seats on Artemis landers. Elsewhere, Mitsubishi took a stake in Starlab, and I still needed to catch up on Starship’s 3rd flight and the ensuing update from SpaceX. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is…