The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

Spaceflight News— K2 Space wins contract (spaceinsider.tech) (spacenews.com) (addtheegg.com)Short & Sweet— Contracts awarded for NASA’s Near Space Network (spacenews.com)— Record breaking spacewalk set by Shenzhou-19 crew (spacenews.com)— Crew-10 delayed (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 2 Jan, 1959. Launch of Luna 1, first spacecraft to reach the Moon (en.wikipedia.org) (smithsonianmag.com) (mentallandscape.com) (smithsonianmag.com)— Next week (1/7 - 1/13) in 1968: Highlander - there can be only one (of seven)

Spaceflight News— Orion’s heat shield (americaspace.com) (nasa.gov)Short & Sweet— Tests of Russian Orbital Station core module announced (interfax.com)— Ingenuity’s Crash Investigation (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Joel Rogers via email: Young and Crippen didn’t fly on Enterprise.This Week in Spaceflight History— December 17, 2012: Grasshopper makes its first real hop (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (1/1 - 1/6) in 1959: To the moon! Uh... to the Sun!

Spaceflight News— Swirl-dominated chambers (payloadspace.com) (https://www.sierraspace.com) (Pic, from researchgate.net) (PDF: nasa.gov)Short & Sweet— So long Sutherland Spaceport (satellitetoday.com)Further delays to Artemis program announced (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 12 Dec, 1970. Launch of Uhuru (nasa.gov) (PDF: jhuapl.edu)— Next week (12/17 - 12/23) in 2012: Ride ‘em, cowboy

Spaceflight News— Epsilon can’t stop exploding (space.com) (youtu.be) (PDF: jaxa.jp)— A Dragonfly on a Falcon Heavy (satellitetoday.com)Short & Sweet— Old spaceport, newish rocket (europeanspaceflight.com)— New rocket, new spaceport (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: New Glenn on the pad (space.com) (blueorigin.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 3 Dec, 2003: Shuttle Training Aircraft loses part of an engine (iasa.com.au VIA web.archive.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (simpleflying.com)— Next week (12/10 - 12/16) in 1970: Equatorial eyes

Spaceflight News— Global grasshoppers — Russia’s hopper (arstechnica.com) — EU’s hopper (europeanspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— Omani spaceport looks to launch next month (www.thenationalnews.com)— China tests inflatable spacecraft on orbit (news.cgtn.com) (space.com) (spacenews.com)— Starship Test Flight Six (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Progress contamination (russianspaceweb.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— November 28, 1983: Launch of STS-9, Columbia (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)  (americaspace.com)— Next week (12/3 - 12/9) in 2003: You’ve heard of the space banana, but what about the Banana River dunk?

Spaceflight News— Zvezda leak disagreement (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com)Short & Sweet— NGR is in the building! (spacenews.com)— Bye bye ABL (from launch anyway) (arstechnica.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 24 Nov, 1970. Launch of Kosmos 379 (astronautix.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com) — Next week (11/26 - 12/2) in 1983: And then there were six

Spaceflight News— CRS-2 extended (spacenews.com) (sam.gov)Short & Sweet— Gilmour ups and Bowen downs (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)— LignoSat to be deployed from ISS (popsci.com) (nanosats.eu)— Long March 9: Starship (arstechnica)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: LEO safety study (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)This Week in Spaceflight History— 12 Nov, 1981: The launch of STS-2 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov)— Next week (11/19 - 11/25) in 1970: LELO: Low-Earth “Lunar” Orbit

Spaceflight News— Shenzhou-19 reaches Tiangong (spaceflightnow.com)— Mirror platform for Tiangong (news.cgtn.com) (youtube.com)— Low-cost Tiangong cargo S/C (spacenews.com)— “Kinetica-2 [selected] as top launcher choice” (twitter.com/cas_space)— Crewed moon rover (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/YuqiiQian)Short & Sweet— Artemis heat shield chunks (spacenews.com)— Liquid water on Mars (nature.com VIA nasaspaceflight.com) (news.berkeley.edu)— California startup develops ABEP system (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— November 8, 2004: First launch of a Soyuz 2 carrier rocket (en.wikipedia.org) (v2rockethistory.com)— Next week (11/12 - 11/18) in 1981: 40% of the mission, 90% of the objectives.

Spaceflight News— Starship Flight 5 Review “Leaked” (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (spacenews.com) (HT DennisO: x.com/StarshipGazer)Short & Sweet— Crew-8 post-landing medical issue (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)— Companies to bring commercial launch to Ireland (europeanspaceflight.com)— ACS-3’s a little crooked (space.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)— Mars Sample Revision (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Aerojet 260 solid rocket test (en.wikipedia.org)This Week in Spaceflight History— 3 Nov, 1994. Launch of STS-66 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nss.org) (youtu.be)— Next week (11/5 - 11/11) in 2004: A blind bowling ball

Thanks to Dennis O for naming this week’s episode!Spaceflight News— Intelsat 33e loses power and blows up (spacenews.com) (x.com/S4S_SDA) (reddit.com)Short & Sweet— Sirius Space hot fire (europeanspaceflight.com)— A Firefly to launch a Jackal (satellitetoday.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Ross Peterson: Super Heavy’s reentry heating— Taylor S Marks: ISS graveyard orbit (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History—  27 Oct, 1992. Launch of the Znamya 2 solar power antenna (en.wikipedia.org) (thespacereview.com) (qsl.net) (skypub.com VIA web.archive.org)— Next week (10/29 - 11/4) in 1994: holding the weight of LEO on your shoulders

Spaceflight News— Worries about ISS making a splash (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (space.com)Short & Sweet— X-37B to perform aerobraking maneuver (defenseone.com)— Rocket Lab wins Mars Sample Return concept award (spacenews.com)— Vast unveils details on Haven-1 (payloadspace.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Starship Flight Test 5 (youtu.be) (nasaspaceflight.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— October 17, 1974: Founding of OTRAG (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (youtube.com) (bernd-leitenberger.de)— Next week (10/22 - 10/28) in 1992: To shreds, you say!

Spaceflight News-- Vulcan anomaly (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/dwisecinema) (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet-- Voyager 2 turns off science instrument (inverse.com)-- Super bright Qianfan satellites (spacenews.com)-- NASA reduces rate of ISS leak (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- Unc’ Willy: Crossfield’s employer (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 8 Oct, 2012: The launch of CRS-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasaspaceflight.com)-- Next week (10/15 - 10/21) in 1974: The original SpaceX

Spaceflight News-- VIPER opinions (spacenews.com) (sam.gov) Short & Sweet-- Chinese lunar spacesuit revealed (cgtn.com) (space.com)-- Upper stage anomaly grounds Falcon 9 (space.com) (spacenews.com)-- MaiaSpace moves in (spacenews)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 2 Oct, 1921. Birth of Scott Crossfield (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: govinfo.gov) (magazine.washington.edu)-- Next week (10/8 - 10/14) in 2012: A boxy box delivery

Spaceflight News-- ISRO rising (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet-- Iran successfully launches research satellite (almayadeen.net)-- Ariane 6 software fix (spacenews.com)-- Yutu 2 turns six (space.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From the intro: Sirius Space will launch from Australia (europeanspaceflight.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- Launch of Shenzhou 7 (神舟七号) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nescacademy.nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)-- Next week (10/1 - 10/7) in 1921: Flying with Michael Burnham

Spaceflight News-- Landspace lands (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)Short & Sweet-- New Glenn to attempt landing (HT Chris Radcliff: https://twitter.com/davill)-- Chang’e-6 extended mission (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From the intro: Polaris Dawn spacewalk (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 22 Sep, 2006. Launch of Hinode (日の出) (nasa.gov)  (eoportal.org) (esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org)-- Next week (9/24 - 9/30) in 2008: And then there were three

Spaceflight News-- BepiColombo insertion delayed (europeanspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (esa.int)Short & Sweet-- EscaPADE DelAYED (spacenews.com)-- Starliner Returned (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)-- Vega’s final launch (satellitetoday.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From the intro: Blue Origin’s new drone ship (HT DennisO: https://x.com/_mgde_) (space.com)-- Haragopal: Europa Clipper’s flying on Falcon Heavy, not New Glenn (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 10 Sept, 2009: The launch of HTV-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (humans-in-space.jaxa.jp) (PDF: nasa.gov)-- Next week (9/17 - 9/23) in 2006: Flying to where the Sun never rises

Spaceflight News-- B1062 lost (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com) (HT ArcadeEngineer: twitter.com)Short & Sweet-- Intuitive Machines selected for lunar South Pole mission (spacenews.com)-- Stoke Space wins contract to prototype cargo delivery (satellitetoday.com) (stokespace.com)-- Starliner wob wob (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From the intro: Europa Clipper (planetary.org)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 6 Sept, 1988: The troublesome landing of Soyuz TM-5 (russianspaceweb.com) (en.wikipedia.org)-- Next week (9/10 - 9/16) in 2009: Stork with a smile

Spaceflight News-- Starliner crew to return on Dragon (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet-- EscaPADE arrives in Florida (spacenews.com)-- SLS gets bumped up a block (spacenews)-- RFA first stage lost in test-firing anomaly (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (europeanspaceflight.com) (youtu.be)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 27 Aug, 1985. Launch of STS-51-I (PDF: nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (forum.nasaspaceflight.com) (historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (wikiarchives.space) (en.wikipedia.org)-- Next week (9/3 - 9/9) in 1988: Shouldn’t have had that last cup of coffee

Spaceflight News-- First polar-orbiting crewed mission announced (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com)Short & Sweet-- New solid rocket game in town (breakingdefense.com) (spacenews.com)-- Spaceport Rundown (flyingmag.com) (europeanspaceflight.com) (cnbc.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From Espen Urkedal via email: Raptor 3 is not as incomplete as it looks (twitter.com/gwynne_shotwell)Interview -- Rocket Lab’s Cristophe Mandy and Sarah Blyde-- There’s also a brief appearance by Lane Cook, Senior Program Manager-- Thank you so much to the Rocket Lab team for making their time and facility available to us!-- rocketlabusa.comThis Week in Spaceflight History-- 24 Aug, 1958: The failed launch of Explorer 5 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov)-- Next week (8/27 - 9/2) in 1985: Big Astronaut, Little Astronaut

Spaceflight News-- Megadebris? (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (slingshot.space)Short & Sweet-- NEOWISE ends operations (space.com) (spaceflightnow.com)-- Starliner still stuck at Station (spaceflightnow)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From Upcoming Spaceflight Events: -- JUICE Earth flyby #1 on Aug 19/20 (esa.int) -- Online FAA meeting RE: Starship launch cadence on Aug 20 (faa.gov)This Week in Spaceflight History-- August 15, 1969: Creation of ISRO (en.wikipedia.org) (britannica.com)-- Next week (8/20 - 8/26) in 1958: Catching a second wind