The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

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

Spaceflight News-- ADRAS-J rendezvous (HT Zach: twitter.com/CRD2_JAXA) (astroscale.com) (PDF: astroscale.com VIA astroscale.com)Short & Sweet-- POLARIS spaceplane startup back on track (europeanspaceflight.com)-- Dawn does docking (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From the intro: JWST looks at Epsilon Indi A (nasaspaceflight.com)-- Ryan R: TEA-TEB is a pre-mixed fluid (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 10 Aug, 1992. Launch of the first major oceanographic research satellite, TOPEX/Poseidon (en.wikipedia.org) (jpl.nasa.gov) (eoportal.org) (aviso.altimetry.fr) -- T/P data is used in this sea level rise dashboard (climate.nasa.gov)-- Next week (8/13 - 8/19) in 1969: This agency is ro-bust

Spaceflight News-- Falcon 9 Return to Flight (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet-- ABL Static fire failure (spacenews.com)-- Starliner Debugging (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- The RAX bug was caused by differing clocks (youtube.com)Interview -- Martin Frederick, Northrop Grumman Corporate Director, Civil Space Programs-- linkedin.com-- Further reading: -- JWST (northropgrumman.com) -- TRMM (gpm.nasa.gov) (trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov)This Week in Spaceflight History-- July 31, 1992: Launch of Atlantis on STS-46 (en.wikipedia.org)  (americaspace.com) -- EURECA was also the subject of a TWSF about STS-57 (theorbitalmechanics.com) -- TSS-1 was also the subject of a TWSF about STS-75 (theorbitalmechanics.com)-- Next week (8/6 - 8/12) in 1992: The zeroth argonaut.

Spaceflight News-- NASA nixes VIPER (spacenews.com) (newscientist.com)European Short & Sweet-- Ariane 6 may carry crew (europeanspaceflight.com)-- Europe announces RAMSES mission to Apophis (arstechnica.com) (esa.int)-- Themis gets delayed (europeanspaceflight.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 29 Jul, 1999. Deep Space 1, NASA’s first S/C with ion propulsion, flies by asteroid 9969 Braille (en.wikipedia.org) -- We interviewed DS-1’s chief mission engineer and deputy mission manager Marc Rayman in Episode 75 (theorbitalmechanics.com) -- Ron Garret discussed the RAX bug in his talk The Remote Agent Experiment (youtube.com)-- Next week (7/30 - 8/5) in 1992: We’ll hang on to this one, and come back for that one later

Spaceflight News-- Falcon 9 Failure (spacenews.com)  (spaceflightnow.com)-- Ariane 6 anomaly (europeanspaceflight.com) (spaceflightnow.com)-- Hyperbola-1 mishap (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet-- Europa Clipper faces last-minute obstacle (space.com)-- Dawn gets green light for spaceplane tests (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 17 July, 1977. First launch of a complete TKS spacecraft (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (nasa.gov)-- Next week (7/23 - 7/29) in 1999: Is that a grid of dots on that asteroid?

Spaceflight News-- Luch (Olymp) 2 “caught” snooping (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (thespacereview.com)Short & Sweet-- The Poles make it to space! (europeanspaceflight.com)-- ISRO announces major size increase to Indian space station (x.com/ISROSpaceflight)Interview --  MSI-DFAT-- We talked to: -- Alex Carrella, VP Strategy & Growth -- Bradley Hope, Business Manager -- Max Myers, Systems Engineer/Lead Rigger-- Before DFAT (and RFAT), we had feet. (youtube.com)-- msidfat.com-- linktr.ee/msidfatThis Week in Spaceflight History-- July 12, 2001. Launch of Artemis GEO satellite (en.wikipedia.org) (esa.int) (PDF: esa.int)-- Next week (7/16 - 7/22) in 1977: One month now, 312 months later

Spaceflight News-- The Vulcan train is leaving the station (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet-- Starliner’s extended-er ISS stay (spacenews.com)-- A not-so-static test fire (spacenews.com)-- Resurs P1 breaks up (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From the intro: (americaspace.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 8 July, 1994. Launch of STS-65 (en.wikipedia.org)-- Next week (7/9 - 7/15) in 2001: Spiraling into control

Spaceflight News-- Long March 10 hot firing (spacenews.com) (weixin.qq.com) (youtube.com) (spacenews.com)-- Latest taikonaut class selected (space.com)Short & Sweet-- ESA gets involved in Vega C’s transfer (europeanspaceflight.com)-- Ariane 6 gets dressed (spacenews.com)-- Starliner’s extended ISS stay (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- Next week (7/1 - 7/8) in 1994: From rocket to lab

Spaceflight News-- Starliner OFT (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (HT deltaV: twitter.com/cbs_spacenews) (twitter.com/SciGuySpace) -- Suni Williams gave a tour on orbit (HT Dennis O: youtube.com)Short & Sweet-- Chinese space plane proximity ops (sattrackcam.blogspot.com)-- NASA selects companies to explore Mars Sample Return methods (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)-- VOYAGER’S BACK!!! (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From the intro: ISS replicates War of the Worlds radio drama (space.com) (twitter.com/airplaneian)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 24 Jun, 1982. Soyuz T-6 carries Jean-Loup Chrétien, the first Frenchman, to Salyut 7 (en.wikipedia.org) (spacefacts.de)-- Next week (6/25 - 7/1) in 1983: Six seconds calls for vodka

Spaceflight News-- Starship Test Flight 4 (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com) (spacey.space/@spmttracker)Short & Sweet-- Vast plans for ESA (spacenews)-- Chang’e-6 has its moon rocks (spacenews) (spacenews.com)-- Hubble Hobble (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- RIP Bill Anders (apnews.com)-- Traches: Relativity and Novas (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 11 June, 2008. Launch of the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov)-- Next week (6/18 - 6/24) in 1982: First wolf in space?

Spaceflight News-- ThinkSubOrbital (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (sbir.gov) (sbir.gov)Short & Sweet-- Starliner scrub (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)-- Indian startup Agnikul Notches launches first flight (payloadspace.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From the intro:-- Chang’e 6 landing (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)-- Dear Moon canceled (spacenews.com)-- Deathkin via discord.com: Centaur’s not a workhorse-- Heads up for a recurrent nova! (planetary.org)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 8 June in 1959: Regulus Missile Mail (HT SciKyle: postalmuseum.si.edu)-- Next week (6/11 - 6/17) in 2008: A salty Italian

Spaceflight News-- More Starliner Delays (spacenews.com) (HT deltaV: twitter.com/jeff_foust) (spacenews.com) (HT deltaV: https://arstechnica.com)Short & Sweet-- U.S. accuses Russia of launching countersat weapon (spacenews.com) (payloadspace.com) -- Redwire wins award for European lunar lander’s robot arm (europeanspaceflight.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections-- From the intro: Bepi-Colombo power failure (esa.int)-- Ryan R: Technology Connections talked about heterodyne radios (youtube.com VIA discord.com)Interview --  Justin Fiaschetti, CEO and Co-Founder of Inversion-- twitter.com/InversionSpace-- inversionspace.com-- linkedin.com-- linkedin.com This Week in Spaceflight History--  2 Jun, 2003. Launch of Mars Express (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (universetoday.com)-- Next week (6/4 - 6/10) in 1959: A short-term version of the above

Spaceflight News-- NASA Joins Rosalind Franklin Team (spacenews.com)-- Unknown Russian sat launched (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (russianspaceweb.com)Short & Sweet-- Georgia scraps Spaceport Camden (actionnewsjax.com)-- Starliner leaks Helium (spacenews)This Week in Spaceflight History-- 27 May, 1999: The launch of STS-96 (nasa.gov) (nss.org) (eoportal.org) (nasa.gov) (youtu.be)-- Next week (5/28 - 6/3) in 2003: The last opportunity that was this good was 60,000 years ago

Spaceflight News— Chang’e-6 mission underway (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nature.com) (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Starliner delayed (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com)— Long March 6C makes first flight (cgtn.com) (spacenews.com)— Neutron debut slips into 2025 (payloadspace.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Zubrin opinion piece on MSR (spacenews.com)Interview -- Adam Higginbotham— Preorder Challenger: A True Story of Heroism & Disaster on the Edge of Space (simonandschuster.com)— adamhigginbotham.com— twitter.com/HigginbothamAThis Week in Spaceflight History— 14 May, 2009: Launch of Herschel Space Observatory (en.wikipedia.org) (cosmos.esa.int) (planetary.org) — Next week (5/21 - 5/27) in 1999: Putting schoolchildren to work

Spaceflight News— Artemis I Lessons (spacenews.com) (PDF: oig.nasa.gov VIA oig.nasa.gov)Short & Sweet— Thunder from down under (abc.net.au) (abc.net.au) (southernlaunch.space)— JAXA’s SLIM survives third lunar night (japantimes.co.jp)This Week in Spaceflight History— May 9, 1963: Launch of West Ford 2 (PDF: orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov VIA orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci-hub.se) (stuffin.space)— Next week (5/14 - 5/20) in 2009: The first space telescope

Spaceflight News— Voyager is communicative! (blogs.nasa.gov)— ESA debris removal mission finds a new target (satellitetoday.com)Short & Sweet— China releases a lunar landing update (spacenews)— TESS enters safe mode… again (nasa.gov)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Dennis O: SOFIA clarifications (discord.com) (youtube.com)— VAXheadroom shot SOFIA some footage in 2012 (youtube.com) (youtube.com)Interview -- Jeff Williams, CEO/CTO Exum Instruments— Jeff co-authored a paper that is a good primer on spectroscopy and Massbox (spectroscopyonline.com)— exuminstruments.com — linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-williams-372118128  This Week in Spaceflight History— 9 Apr, 1999: Titan IVB (402) takes DSP-19 (USA 142) to GEO (astronautix.com) (klabs.org)— 30 Apr, 1999. Titan IVB (401) takes Milstar-3 (USA 143) to GEO (washingtonpost.com) (PDF: direct.mit.edu VIA direct.mit.edu)— Next week (5/7 - 5/13) in 1963: Not a good day for trypanophobics

Spaceflight News— Lunar buggy selection (spacenews.com) (PDF: sam.gov VIA sam.gov) (twitter.com/DubnHG1) (nikkei.com)Short & Sweet— Dragonfly mission officially confirmed (nasa.gov)— Mars Sample Revamp (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Unc Willy: Cape launch complexes (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 26 Apr, 2007. First flight of SOFIA (en.wikipedia.org) (747sp.com) (HT Colin: youtube.com)— Next week (4/30 - 5/6) in 1999: Taped too tightly

Spaceflight News— Last Delta IV heavy (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: ulalaunch.com) (arstechnica.com)Short & Sweet— Relativity Space wins contract (spacenews)— Japan secures a moon landing (spacenews)— Max Space Modules (spacenews)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Csaba via Discord: SOIR means "evening" in French, pretty clever pun (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 19 Apr, 1975. Launch of Aryabhata satellite (lowyinstitute.org) (ursc.gov.in) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (4/23 - 4/29) in 2007: Looking at stars through a wall

Spaceflight News— Broken records and Starship’s near future (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— New Shepard Plans Crewed Flight (spacenews.com)— Lunar Rover Mk 2 (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History—  April 11, 2006: Arrival of Venus Express at Venus (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci.esa.int VIA sci.esa.int)— Next week (4/16 - 4/22) in 1975: Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000