Stay ConnectedThe new space age is upon us, and This Week in Space leaves no topic untouched. Every Friday, join Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine, Rod Pyle and Managing Editor of Space.com, Tariq Malik as they explore everything related to the cosmos.
You can join Club TWiT for $10 per month and get ad-free audio and video feeds for all our shows plus everything else the club offers…or get just this podcast ad-free for $5 per month.
New episodes posted every Friday.
Copyright: © This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Recorded live from the International Space Development Conference in McLean, Virginia, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Apollo legend and former Johnson Space Center director Gerry Griffin. Griffin takes us on a journey through his extraordinary career, from his appointment as a flight director in the wake of the Apollo 1 fire, through the audacious decision to send Apollo 8 around the moon, all the way to the nail-biting rescue of Apollo 13. We also venture behind the scenes of Ron Howard's Apollo 13 film, where Griffin reveals the real story behind some of Hollywood's most famous dramatic liberties. It's a rare, firsthand account of the golden age of human spaceflight — from one of the few people who was there for all of it.
Headlines:
Main Topic: Jerry Griffin's Legacy in Space Exploration
(Note: Apologies for the video flickering that occurs in the podcast.)
Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik
Guest: Gerry Griffin
Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.
Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
Sponsors:
What a wild week in space news! We were all set to discuss Starship Test Flight 12 and NASA's recent press conference updating their lunar base plans, when on Thursday night, Blue Origin lost a New Glenn rocket on the pad during a static test. The explosion appears to have severely damaged the launch structure, LC36, along with the loss of the rocket. Fortunately, there were no casualties. But this does throw NASA's schedule for returning American astronauts to the moon into question, given that the agency had recently signaled their choice of Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander for Artemis 4 in 2028. It's now a toss-up between the US and China, with the competition hotter--and closer--than ever. And of course, we'll still discuss Starship and the latest lunar base plans! Space.com's Mike Wall joins us.
Headlines:
• Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Static Fire Test
• Manhattanhenge Aligns City Streets with the Sunset
Main Topic: NASA's Artemis Moon Base and Lunar Exploration Plans
• SpaceX Starship Flight 12 Performance and Booster Mishap Investigation
• Starship's Role in Artemis and Competitive Moon Race with China
• Moon Base Contract Awards: Landers, Rovers, and Robotics
• National Security and Legal Implications of Lunar "Territory"
• China's Push for a 2030 Lunar Landing and US Response Strategy
Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik
Guest: Mike Wall
Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.
Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
When one ponders the diet of Mars-bound astonauts, oysters don't often come to mind... but they should. As it turns out, the plucky bivalves have much to offer space voyagers, including water filtration and a ready source of protein. Jacob Scoccimerra, formerly of Nanoracks and now with Monolith Space, initiated a research project with students from the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, to design, build, and operate a closed-circuit, automated support environment for oysters in a simulated space analog. It's a fascinating discussion that may leave you hungry.
Headlines:
Main Topic: Oysters in Space – Bioregenerative Life Support and Student Research
Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik
Guest: Jacob Scoccimerra
Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.
Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
Sponsor:
Poor Mars. After a warm, wet childhood, the planet dried out and became cold and arid. And why? Mostly because it lost most of its atmosphere, scraped away by solar radiation. NASA's Maven mission studied the phenomenon of atmospheric loss for years, but has now gone silent. Enter Mars ESCAPADE—the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers—twin orbiters that will study the loss of Martian atmosphere more closely than ever before. The mission has been executed at a budget price. was largely built by industry upstart Rocket Lab, and launched on a New Glenn rocket. It will arrive at Mars in 2028, but we're giving you an early look at why it's an important and, frankly, very cool mission.
Headlines:
Main Topic: ESCAPADE Mars Mission—Twin Satellites to Study Atmospheric Loss
Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik
Guest: Dr. Robert Lillis
Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.
Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
