AirSpace

Latest Episodes:

Movie Mini: Contact Sep 26, 2024

Show notes

What if there are intelligent lifeforms elsewhere in the universe? And what if all we need to do to find them is to listen to the right radio frequency at the right time? That's what the scientists of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have been working on for decades. And that research got the Hollywood Glow-Up back in 1997 with Contact, starring Jodie Foster as SETI researcher Dr. Ellie Arroway. Because if we were alone in the Universe, wouldn't that be such a waste of space?

Find the transcript here.

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Birds of a Feather Sep 12, 2024

Show notes

It's a bird? It's a plane? Its a guy pretending to be a bird?? We have a very odd aircraft in the collection. It's an ultralight. Small, highly maneuverable and based off the wings hang gliders use to jump off mountains, this particular ultralight was used to help birds migrate. And it starred in the movie in the '90s! When we heard that we were like, say more please.

Thanks to our guest in this episode:

Russ Lee - curator and chair of the Aeronautic Department, National Air and Space Museum

Find the transcript here

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Limited Edition Aug 22, 2024

Show notes

Back in the 'Golden Age' of air travel in the 50s, 60s and 70s going on a trip in an airplane was an event. On those flights you would often get a little souvenir of your air travel; a deck of cards, a little toy, a trading card, captain's wings and a hat for your little tyke. It was a way for you to show off to your friends and for the airline to keep themselves top of mind for your next airline purchase. Like a lot of things from the era, deregulation came along in 1978 and completely changed the flight experience. Now that an airline can offer you a cheap ticket, they're not trying to get your business through tchotchkes. But! There are still some airlines giving out swag. Some of it you have to pony up for first class and some of it you have to ask for. We asked for it (because the AirSpace budget sadly doesn't include first class tickets).

Thanks to our guest in this episode:

Bob Van der Linden — Curator of Air Transportation, National Air and Space Museum

Find the transcript here

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Lasso the Moon Aug 08, 2024

Show notes

Over six missions, the Apollo astronauts collected and brought back 842 pounds of Lunar samples. Most of those Moon rocks were put aside for science, but some were earmarked for things like touch rocks (like we have at NASM) or educational disks (which you might have seen if you had a particularly cool science teacher growing up) and to countries and states as diplomatic gifts. But who decides what rocks go where? And how in the heck did the National Cathedral get a rock to put in a stained glass window??

Thanks to our guests in this episode:

Dr. Ryan Zeigler-Lunar Sample Curator, NASA Johnson Space Center
Dr. Cari Corrigan- Curator of Antarctic Meteorites, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Elody Crimi - Photo Curator, Washington National Cathedral Archives

Find the transcript here

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AirSpace Bonus! My Mom the Rocket Scientist Jul 25, 2024

Show notes

Our conversation with Jack Black and his brother Neil Siegal about their Mother, Judith Love Cohen was too good just to give you just the taste from the end of our Star Search episode. Here's the extended producers cut with everything from Jack's birth story, to being an engineer in the 70s, to Judy's 2nd career as a book publisher.

Thanks to Jack Black and Neil Siegal for sharing their memories about their Mom.

Find the transcript here

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Star Search Jul 25, 2024

Show notes

There are a lot of air and space celebrities; pilots, astronauts, engineers, etc etc. But there's another category of celebrities that are famous for other things but also have surprising ties to air or space. Today we're talking about three of those; a famous tv chef who also helped create a shark repellant for aviators and spacecraft, an actor from Hollywood's golden years who invented the basis for wifi, and an aerospace engineer who worked on Apollo and more--and also has a pretty famous kid. Stay tuned to the end for a special celebrity guest.

Thanks to our guests in this episode:

Paula Johnson, Curator of Food History-Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
Dr. Andrew Meade McGee, Curator of Computing-National Air and Space Museum
Dr. Teasel Muir Harmony, Curator of the Apollo Program-National Air and Space Museum
Dr. Neil Siegal and his brother, Jack Black

Find the transcript here

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X-Ray Vision Jul 11, 2024

Show notes

When the Chandra X-Ray Observatory launched 25 years ago, it showed us our universe in a whole new light (literally). From the remnants of exploded stars to Jupiter's auroras, Chandra has shown us so many beautiful and scientifically important sights. Even after a quarter decade this unique telescope is still giving us new data about black holes and whirling neutron stars and all the things out in space that give off x-rays.

Thanks to our guest in this episode:

Dr. Daniel Castro - Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Megan Lin - Chandra X-Ray Observatory Flight Operations Team Lead

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Welcome to Roswell Jun 27, 2024

Show notes

The city of Roswell, New Mexico is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Out in the dessert west of Texas, this small oasis in the dessert was first home to indigenous peoples, then cowboys, ranching and farming and then the military before becoming the crash site of a possible UFO in 1947. That story took on a life of it's own and by the time the Army came out with an official explaination in 1997, the myths had stuck. Today, Roswell is still a farming and ranching community but 'the incident' as it's known bred a tourism economy based on aliens. From the flying saucer McDonalds, to the International UFO Museum and Research Center, and the annual UFO festival; Roswell is a unique space-y destination all its own.

We're joined by Dr. Emily Margolis, Curator of Contemporary Spaceflight

Thanks to our guests in this episode:

Jan Dunnahoo- Roswell historian
Juliana Halvorson- Roswell City Councilor

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AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

Let's Talk About Sex Jun 13, 2024

Show notes

Sci-fi is full of giant ships full of humanity living and dying and reaching out to new places far far away. Usually, these are called generations ships. And they rely on well, generations. But today in science-fact there's so much more about reproducing in space that we don't know than the small amount that we do. And as we get closer to commercial space travel that might include honeymooning on the moon, we kind of need to figure out what's going to happen with pregnancies that are a little extra-terrestrial in origin. Space sex ed is now in session!

Thanks to our guest in this episode:

Dr. Alex Layendecker, Director-ASRI

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AirSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

Tiny Jumper May 23, 2024

Show notes

Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick was 15 years old when she first jumped out of a hot air balloon with a parachute in 1908. Over the next 14 years she would make over 1,000 jumps, first out of balloons and then as the first woman to jump from an airplane. Her talent and skill was sought after by the Army in WWI when they first started training their balloon and airplane pilots to use parachutes as a safety device. Tiny even accidentally invented the ripcord that's a staple in parachute design today. Her legacy stretches long, even if she's not as well known of a name as some in early aviation. We're exploring her life and legacy today on AirSpace.

Thanks to our guest in this episode: