Terranauts is a podcast about people who work in space without ever leaving the ground.
A Reminder - Terranauts will be part of Intelligent Speech this year. Have a listen to the trailer and visit the website to get more info and to sign up!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vkv4f9yu3lgtpbu/Intelligent%20Speech%20Group%20Trailer.wav?dl=0
https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/
And some details about how the Gemini spacecraft was a really the next generation in space exploration technology!
https://play.acast.com/s/terranauts/the-pointy-end
With the successful launch of the Gemini I, the Titan Gemini Launch Vehicle was fully checked out and ready for flight operations. So, it's time to take a look at the spacecraft it was designed to launch. In this episode we'll take a look in some detail at the Gemini spacecraft and what NASA hoped t...
A little bit about what the Humans of Project Gemini have been up to while the spacecraft made its way to the launchpad
https://play.acast.com/s/terranauts/the-human-connection
In this episode of Terranauts we take a bit of break from talking about the development of the technology for the Gemini Program and go back and take a look at what the humans that would fly Gemini - both in orbit and from the ground - have been up to. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out i...
Ever wondered why space projects take so long...
https://play.acast.com/s/terranauts/spacecraft-a-time-of-testing
In this episode we take some time to look at just what it takes to get a spacecraft from the factory floor to the launch pad. And, in case it wasn't obvious from the title of the episode - the answer is that it takes a lot of testing. A whole lot of testing. And guess what, when you do a lot of test...
Hope to see you at Intelligent Speech!
Garry Stevens of History in the Bible Podcast will be presenting "Remaking Judaism, Constructing Christianity: The Heirs of Abraham in the Second Century" at Intelligent Speech on June 25th!
Use his code BIBLE at checkout for a discount on your ticket!
https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/
Continuing the back catalog. In this episode we talk about "The One That Go Away". A technology that actually never made it to flight.
https://play.acast.com/s/terranauts/gliding-to-a-stop
Today on Terranauts we are back to talking about the history of human spaceflight and we finally get project Gemini out of the starting gate. When we left the project it was off to a "fast, clean start" under project manager Jim Chamberlin. It was not to last. In the first year of its existence, pro...
Exciting news. I will be speaking at the Intelligent Speech conference on 25 June! The conference is a one day, online event, showcasing educational podcasts from across the spectrum and around the world. If you are looking to expand your listening horizons - start here. Check out the details at the link below. Terranauts listeners can use the promo code Terra to get a $5 discount on registration.
https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/
THE Conference for History Buffs
Continuing the updates. In this episode the Gemini project confronts the classic question in any engineering project...
https://play.acast.com/s/terranauts/good-fast-or-cheap
In today's episode we are going to pick up the story of project Gemini as it makes the transition from an engineering study to a full up space project. In order to understand what that means, and what that meant we will have to talk a bit about how space projects get managed - and why contrary to ma...
I have been falling behind on keeping the page up to date. I need to work on that! Let's start by getting some of thee back catalog out there. Here's the next part of the story of Gemini.
https://play.acast.com/s/terranauts/technological-imperatives
In the last episode of Terranauts we talked about the origin of the Gemini Project. It basically started because some Project Mercury engineers wanted to improve the Mercury capsule and make it easier to build, test and fly. But that on its own was not enough to convince NASA to actually build a new...
A New Episode is up. Have a listen.
https://play.acast.com/s/6165e2fbe9caae00140bfc61/61b20fa95d5d2a001356f670
In this episode of Terranauts we return to the historical narrative of humanity's journey off the planet. We are going to wind the clock back to September, 1962 when John F. Kennedy made his famous "we choose to go to the moon" speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas. It was an important moment....
The Second Part of "Just Call Me Robo" is up on Acast
https://play.acast.com/s/6165e2fbe9caae00140bfc61/619eb7be72c90f0013b683e7
In this episode I continue my conversation with three Terranauts who have all worked in Mission Control of the International Space Station as callsign ROBO - responsible for the operation of the International space Station's robotic arm. They have been witness too, and participants in some amazing e...
A reminder. If you want to hear more stories about what it's like to be there as history is being made in space. Check out the Terranauts Podcast.
https://play.acast.com/s/aac3c300-50b3-5cde-bcc1-5b08c22c6cbd
When most people think about space they think of astronauts, names like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Chris Hadfield are familiar to an awful lot of people. But for every astronaut that makes it to space there are legions of smart, dedicated, and interesting people who plan, design, build and ope...
25 years ago today... the very first international space station assembly took place in orbit as Canadian Chris Hadfield used the Canadarm to attach the Russian Docking Module to the American Space Shuttle in preparation for delivering it to the Russian MIR space station the next day.
I had a front row seat - working in Mission Control. The little black dots you see in the picture were there as part of the Advanced Space Vision System which Chris and American Astronaut Bill MacArthur used to test it's ability to help put together the International Space Station. I was the SVS expert in MCC that day. I helped write the procedures and teach Chris and Bill how to use the system.
SVS had some significant "teething problems" that day. But Chris, Bill and the arm performed flawlessly. The era of the International Space Station had begun.
A new episode of Terranaut is up. This time we are talking to three space station Mission Controllers about what it was like to install a brand new piece of the space station.
https://play.acast.com/s/terranauts/just-call-me-robo-part-1
In this episode we continue our series on the evolution of Mission Control. Last time, I talked about my experience walking into Mission Control in the middle of the Space Shuttle program and at the end of the era of the Apollo control centre as it was about to make a transition to the Space Station...
New episode of Terranauts is up
https://play.acast.com/s/terranauts/just-call-me-robo-part-1
In this episode we continue our series on the evolution of Mission Control. Last time, I talked about my experience walking into Mission Control in the middle of the Space Shuttle program and at the end of the era of the Apollo control centre as it was about to make a transition to the Space Station...
Just finished recording a great interview with three Mission Controllers who have been working on the ISS for the last 25 years. Looking forward to sharing part 1 of that interview with you later this week>
This day in Space - Nov 3, 1994 saw the launch of STS-66, the mission which preceded STS-63 that I talked about in the last episode of Terranauts.
I was not involved in this flight but I certainly remmber talking about it and the ATLAS and CRISTA-SPAS payloads that it carried with my colleagues at NASA at the time.
The Stage Is Set. Want to learn more about why it takes multiple rocket "stages" to get off the planet? Check out this video where I use the game Kerbal Space Program to illustrate the effect - and usefulness of staging. It's all about the "rocketry equation" that we talked about on Terranauts in the episodes on Rocket Science
https://youtu.be/gN2MX7bNkBg
The second episode of season 3 is up on Acast. This one is a bit more of a trip down memory lane for me.
https://shows.acast.com/terranauts/episodes/a-moment-in-time
Listen to A Moment in Time from Terranauts. In this episode of Terranauts we explore the world of NASA's Mission Control Centre as it was in 1995.At that time, Mission Control was still being performed out of the same building and the same control room as it had been since 1964 when control of manne...
Hey Kerbal Space Program Fans! Just wanted to let you know that there are some Terranauts themed KSP videos on my YouTube channel to go along with some of the episodes on the basics of spaceflight. Here's one about the most basic concept of getting to space - It's about how fast you go, not how high you get.
https://youtu.be/ElT4mTETdxM
For background check out the episode of Terranauts called Rocket Science
https://play.acast.com/s/aac3c300-50b3-5cde-bcc1-5b08c22c6cbd/808f7456-27d1-41ee-8146-44cffe8f7b8e
In this episode of Terranauts, Iain Christie discusses the history of rocket science as part of a new series, a Terranauts guide to leaving the planet. Since the new series is about leaving the planet it only makes sense to talk about rockets, rocket science and its history. And you'll be surprised....
Season 3 is a GO! Our new launch vehicle is ready. We have migrated Terranauts to a new podcast provideer - ACAST. We hope that the ACAST will provide us with the chance to reach a bigger audience and to bring you even more and better stories about people who go to space without ever leaving the planet.
The first episode of Season 3 is now available on ACAST but so is the entire back catalog.
Have a listen. Let us know if you have a favourite episode
https://play.acast.com/s/terranauts
When most people think about space they think of astronauts, names like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Chris Hadfield are familiar to an awful lot of people. But for every astronaut that makes it to space there are legions of smart, dedicated, and interesting people who plan, design, build and ope...
Here's the second part of "The Flag is a One!" in which (spoiler alert) Mac and the team rescue the satellite and the mission. Although it is a small and largely forgotten piece of space history, it is still an example of truly world class engineering as far as I am concerned.
Have a listen and see if you agree!
https://youtu.be/P5P6aCX0-vA
Part 2 of a conversation about the mission that launched the era of the modern communications satellite with someone who was there! Mac Evans discusses the ...
The Video of Version of "The Flag Is A One!" is up on YouTube. Check it out to learn about the birth of the modern communications satellite and how it almost didn't happen.
https://youtu.be/pw3Oc2i-RcY
A conversation about the mission that launched the era of the modern communications satellite with someone who was there! Mac Evans discusses the launch of ...
Chris Hadfield on Terranauts. It's the summer season so Terranauts is reposting episodes from the past season. This week its the episode that I recorded with Commander Chris Hadfield back in February to mark NASA's Day of Remembrance
https://anchor.fm/terranauts/episodes/Best-of-Season-2---Chris-Hadfield-and-Iain-Christie-on-NASAs-Day-Of-Remembrance-e14toao
For something a little bit different... but much the same... Many of you probably know the game Kerbal Space Program. If you don't you reall should! As well as being fun to play, it is also a great simulation of a lot of the physics of space flight.
So, I decided to use it to illustrate some of the principles I talked about in the podcast. Here's the first video - all about why going to space is not about "getting hight" its about "living fast"... although you do have to do your fast living in the right direction 😉
https://youtu.be/ElT4mTETdxM
I'm a Terranaut. That means, I've spent my career working in space -It's just that I have never left the planet to do it. in this video I'm going to share so...
Here's the video version of the Episode on The First Terranaut - Wernher von Braun. A truly fascinating story.
https://youtu.be/HxC0Coojuy8
In this episode we continue the story of how humans learned to leave the planet by looking at the story of Wehrner Von Braun who is, arguably, the first huma...
What is a Terranaut?
I started the Terranauts podcast two years ago because I wanted to tell the story of the space program from the perspective of the people who work in the program, but who do not actually get on board the space craft and travel to space.
These thousands of people, after all, make up the vast majority of people who have ever had anything to do with getting Humanity to space, and with keeping us there.
I came up with the name "Terranaut" as a way of describing a person who goes to space but who never leaves the planet to do it.
These are people like me. I have spent a career in and around the space program. In the course of 30 years I have helped to conceive, design, build, test, launch and operate human inventions outside the atmosphere of our planet. And although, i have never physically taken a trip even to the edge of space, I have definitely been there in other ways.
Like anyone who works in the space business, I know that making things work in space requires that talented, committed and creative people send their innovation, their imagination, their expertise and their experience into space with their creations. The success of any human endeavour in space depends on the ability of people on the ground to be able place themselves mentally in that environment in order to solve the problems it presents.
This, in fact, is the whole story of humanity's journey to the stars. We could not have made any progress without those who could not only imagine the world beyond our planet, but who could also analyse in excruciating detail, what it would be like in an environment that they had never and would never experience themselves.
In a sense it is the ultimate act of innovation, the combination of great creativity combined with extreme engineering discipline to solve a real problem and to make something that has never existed before.
That is the story that I wanted to tell on Terranauts. The story of the combination of creativity and discipline that drives and has driven our travels to the world beyond our planet.
The podcast is a description of that journey as it happened and as it is happening today. The story is told in my words and in the words of others who were there and continue to be there now.
I hope you join me to find out more about how humans got to, and go to, space - even when they never leave the planet.
https://anchor.fm/terranauts?fbclid=IwAR2aapGXucpO4JO_-IALaEScipM1gFQFsqRzS7DNGG9RWNOR3Zk3l2duyQQ
When most people think about space they think of astronauts, names like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Chris Hadfield are familiar to an awful lot of people. But for every astronaut that makes it to space there are legions of smart, dedicated, and interesting people who plan, design, build and ope...
Looking for more Terranauts content? Mark Boucher is going to be publishing the transcripts from episodes from last season on SpaceQ. Here's a link to the story of Wernher von Braun, The First Terranaut.
https://spaceq.ca/the-first-terranaut-wernher-von-braun-transcript/
In researching the history of spaceflight for my podcast Terranauts I've come to realize that something fundamental has changed ...
If anyone is having trouble finding the audio version of the podcast, you can find it here:
https://anchor.fm/terranauts?fbclid=IwAR2aapGXucpO4JO_-IALaEScipM1gFQFsqRzS7DNGG9RWNOR3Zk3l2duyQQ
When most people think about space they think of astronauts, names like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Chris Hadfield are familiar to an awful lot of people. But for every astronaut that makes it to space there are legions of smart, dedicated, and interesting people who plan, design, build and ope...
Ottawa, ON
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