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Jerry L. Ross, Tuesday, 4-30-13 May 1, 2013

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Jerry L. Ross, Tuesday, 4-30-13

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1999-BWB-2013-04-30.mp3

Guest:  Jerry L. Ross.  Topics:  “Spacewalker: My Journey In Space And Faith as NASA’s Record-Setting Frequent Flyer,” HSF safety, NASA & space policy.  Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information.

We welcomed retired astronaut Jerry L. Ross to our program to discuss his new book, “Spacewalker: My Journey In Space And Faith as NASA’s Record-Setting Frequent Flyer,” space policy and leadership, HSF safety, and much more.  If you buy his book which I recommend, use this Amazon link as Amazon will make a donation to The Space Show/One Giant Leap Foundation: www.amazon.com/Spacewalker-Journey-Space-Record-Setting-Frequent/dp/1557536317/ref=onegiantlea20.  Please visit Jerry’s website for more information, www.jerrylross.com.  During the first segment of our 90 minute program, Mr. Ross spoke about the Space Shuttle & retirement, Constellation, returning to the Moon, going BLEO, the ISS, and his test flights on the B1 bomber.  This led us to talking about the safety test program used by NASA, the B1, and the private spaceships.  I asked if NASA was overkill in this area and if the privates would be able to engage in comprehensive flight safety testing with programs radically different from those NASA has used. You do not want to miss this discussion, especially when I asked about the complexities of the B1 as compared to a spaceship.  We talked about SLS, Orion, & Inspiration Mars which Jerry supports.  In response to an email from Becky, we talked about the NASA astronauts, the fact that there are more astronauts than flight opportunities, and the current situation for NASA astronauts.  Our guest mentioned two year training missions and when I inquired about that time period, we learned that it included learning Russian, training with ESA, Japanese, Canadian, and Russian hardware and more.  Jerry was asked if he rode on a Soyuz. He said no but was in a Soyuz and talked about his going on board MIR.

In our second segment, we started out asking him about faith which is part of the subtitle of his book.  Here again our guest had much to say so listen carefully to this discussion.  As Jerry was part of the team that recovered debris from the Columbia accident, I asked him about it. He told us about his experience in learning about the disaster, crew families and more.  This is a first hand accounting of getting the news and working with the families and the people involved in finding the debris.  Another topic discussed was on orbit construction, mainly with the private companies.  Jerry talked about this at length given his work in establishing how to do it for the ISS and actually doing multiple missions making and assembling parts in space.  We also talked about gender differences in these space walks.  Toward the end of our discussion, space leadership came up as did missions and goals.  The shuttle thermal tiles were discussed and he referenced tile damage on his Atlantis flight which was the third flight after Challenger.  This was an amazing story and luck was really shining on the Atlantis crew.

If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog.

Rand Simberg, Dr. Margaret Jordan, Bill Simon, “Evoloterra,” Friday, 7-20-12 July 20, 2012

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Rand Simberg, Dr. Margaret Jordan, Bill Simon, “Evoloterra,” Friday, 7-20-12

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1818-BWB-2012-07-20.mp3

Guests:  Rand Simberg, Dr. Margaret Jordan, Bill Simon.  Topics:  Celebration of the 43rd Anniversary of our moon landing per Evoloterra.  You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Rand Simberg & Bill Simon and for the first time, Dr. Margaret Jordan, to present Evoloterra to The Space Show audience to commemorate and honor the 43rd anniversary our Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.  You can download or print the Evoloterra Ceremony at www.evoloterra.com.  During our first segment, the three authors of Evoloterra provided us with an overview and history of how Evoloterra came to be written, then the four of us read the ceremony on air.  Rand took the part of the ceremony leader, then Bill, Margaret & I alternated with one another reading the paragraphs following the leader questions.  This segment, our reading of Evoloterra, told the story of how humans evolved and were able to develop the knowledge, skills, and technology to go to the Moon in 1969.  On the completion of the ceremony we then went to our break.

In our second segment, we started off with “dinner conversation” about Evoloterra, our Moon landing, what it meant then, and what it means for today.  We fielded listener calls & emails about the ceremony.  We talked about educational outreach, our public schools, and doing the ceremony tonight (July 20), this weekend, or in the near future to remember and understand this important accomplishment with family and friends.  Another of our topics was focused on making sure that those 500 years in the future will know what we did 43 years ago today and just how we did it.  This remembrance gets more & more complicated as our Moon landing fades into our past history.  One listener asked if Evoloterra had impact on policy makers. Rand said he did not think so.  Rand told us about a website, www.wherewereyou.com.  Here, you can upload your story as to where you were when we landed on the Moon, what you were doing, & what it meant to you.  As our program was ending, we finished the ceremony by reading the Evoloterra Epilogue. Our guests then closed out the program with their concluding thoughts and comments.

Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog.  You can email the three co-authors through me at DrSpace@thespaceshow.com.

Jay Barbree, Monday, 3-5-12 March 5, 2012

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Jay Barbree, Monday, 3-5-12

http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1727-BWB-2012-03-05.mp3

Guest:  Jay Barbree.  Topics:  Overview of the space program today, SLS, presidential politics and NASA.  You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed NBC veteran space reporter Jay Barbree back to The Space Show for a conversation that focused on our best options for today’s space program.  Our discussion was one hour forty minutes without a break.  We started out discussing Jay’s thoughts when he reported on the last shuttle flight given he had reported on every shuttle flight ever made.  He also told us he had updated and reissued his best selling book “Moonshot” which he co-authored with Alan Shepherd and Deke Slayton.  Remember, if you buy it from Amazon with this specific URL, Amazon makes a contribution to The Space Show: www.amazon.com/Moon-Shot-Alan-Shepard/dp/1453211977/ref=onegiantlea20.  Other topics discussed included a comparison of the original astronauts to astronauts today and the need to return to the Moon.  In fact, Jay told us about ideas being discussed to use the ISS to do a figure 8 loop to and from the Moon rather than crashing it into the ocean at the end of its life.  To do this, he said nuclear propulsion was needed and this led him to discuss the overall need for the nuclear rocket, especially for going to Mars.  A listener asked him if he favored a one way trip to Mars and he said yes.  Don’t miss his complete answer.  Next, we started talking about the Space Launch System which ended up as the main discussion topic for the balance of the program.  Jay strongly supports SLS and is concerned that it might be cancelled.  We talked about what the Obama administration would likely be doing with space and then he talked about his conversations with the Republican candidates and his impressions of each one and their interest in space.  He talked at length about Newt’s Florida primary comments and returning to the Moon in general. He also talked about the need for space settlement given the vulnerability of Earth.  Later, a listener asked Jay if he was familiar with the accusations being made against NASA for how they dealt with the chimps in the early space program and their idea to get KSC to donate space for a chimp museum documenting abuse during their NASA days and dedicating to stopping lab research.  Jay was not familiar with the story but listener Tim found the story on the PETA website:  http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2012/02/29/peta-to-launch-memorial-at-space-center.aspx.   Jay talked more about the SLS but also about Falcon 9, Dragon, the Boeing CTS 100, and the Atlas 5.  He expressed his concerns many times that the politicians might actually mess up NASA and our future, specifically by cancelling SLS, Orion, or both.  At the end, he told us about his MSNBC.com series “Getting to Mars” which is already underway.  Post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog URL above.

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