This Week In Space podcast: Episode 150 — Our Listener Special
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
On Episode 150 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik answer your questions, respond to your comments, and have lined up a number of your most tummy-tickling space jokes. This one is more fun than wearing new shoes!Join us as we talk about asteroid 2024YR4, the Space Launch System's prospects, Katy Perry in space, the newest lunar missions, the X-37B "secret shuttle," Apollo-era flight director Gene Kranz and astronaut Buzz Aldrin, solar sails, the cage match between Elon and astronaut Andreas Morgenson, and the best meteor shower of the year!
Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit
'That's impact probability zero folks!' Earth safe from 'city-killer' asteroid 2024 YR4
Long-time advocate of SLS rocket says it's time to find an 'off-ramp'
NASA Working to Reestablish Communications With Lunar Trailblazer
Katy Perry will launch to space with historic all-female crew on Blue Origin rocket
Private Blue Ghost moon lander captures amazing footage of Earth behind and lunar surface below
U.S. Space Force releases rare image of the mysterious X-37B spacecraft in orbit
Astronauts vs. Musk: Public spat ensues over claims that politics delayed a flight to Earth
TOP TELESCOPE PICK:
Looking for a telescope to see planets and comets? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide.
Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.
This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?
Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
What the Trump-Musk Feud Means for SpaceX and NASA
Musk and Trump before the feud, at the test launch of a Starship rocket in Nov. 2024 Credit - Getty Images What happens in Washington decidedly does not stay in Washington, with practically every action taken by the richest and most powerful country in the world having a near-immediate global reaction—on tariffs, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, global health, and more. Sometimes those reactions aren't even confined to the planet—as the recent social-media smackdown between President Donald Trump and former adviser Elon Musk illustrated. On June 5, as the feud between the two erstwhile besties escalated, Trump posted on his Truth Social Platform, 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Just over 90 minutes later, in a post on X, Musk clapped back: 'In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.' Not long after that post went wide, Musk quietly deleted it. Later that evening, an X user posted to Trump and Musk, 'This is a shame this back and forth. You are both better than this. Cool off and take a step back for a couple days.' Minutes later, Musk responded, 'Good advice. OK, we won't decommission Dragon.' Read more: The Musk-Trump Implosion Can Be Seen From Space That defused the immediate emergency, but the threat and counterthreat raised questions about just how dependent America's space efforts are on the whims of two sometimes mercurial billionaires. Could a mere word from Musk ground the nation? Could a stroke of a Trump Sharpie similarly hobble SpaceX? The short answer in both cases is maybe, but not likely. There's no overstating just how central SpaceX has become in the space sector in the 23 years since it was founded as the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. Since the inaugural flight of the company's Falcon 9 in 2010, the rocket has become the world's workhorse vehicle for rides to orbit, with 485 completed missions, including 440 acrobatic landings of its reusable first stage. The rocket and its Dragon spacecraft provide regular service to the International Space Station (ISS), carrying crews up and down, and ferrying cargo and supplies aboard uncrewed Dragons. In 2024, the company's larger Falcon Heavy launched NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa. It is set to launch the ambitious Nancy Grace Roman Telescope in May 2027. The working relationship between SpaceX and the government is by no means limited to NASA. In April, as Ars Technica reports, the U.S. Space Force awarded the company a $5.9 billion contract, making SpaceX the leading provider of launch services for Pentagon satellites. The military is also a major customer of SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation, with 50 military commands now using the orbiting Internet service, according to Defense News. 'We have $22 billion in government contracts,' said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president and COO, in a live streamed public panel last year. 'We earned that. We bid it, we were the lowest price, best bidder, we won and we execute.' If anything, the company is going to have the opportunity to execute still more, reinforcing the ties between SpaceX and the government. In 2021, NASA selected SpaceX's still-in-development Starship rocket to serve as the lander that is planned to carry American astronauts down from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon sometime before the end of the decade. In 2024, the space agency tapped SpaceX to build the vehicle that will nudge the ISS out of orbit when the program ends in 2030. And in May, Trump's so-called skinny budget called for NASA to cancel its over-budget and behind-schedule Space Launch System, the 21st century answer to the 1960s' Saturn V moon rocket, leaving Starship as the likeliest successor. Meantime, while Boeing's Starliner spacecraft was supposed to be joining Dragon in providing rides to the ISS—taking a share of the launch business revenue from SpaceX—Starliner famously failed in its inaugural flight last year. This left astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams stranded aboard the station for 8 months, on a mission that was supposed to last merely eight days. Similarly, Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Musk's fellow mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos, was expected to provide some launch-service competition for SpaceX, but the company has managed just one, only partially successful orbital launch of its New Glenn rocket, in January 2025, and has limited most of its activity to flying popgun suborbital missions for wealthy space tourists. 'It's not a planned monopoly,' said Shotwell in the live stream. 'If our competitors could get it together…' All of this leaves SpaceX and the government mutually interdependent, with Washington counting on the company to provide services no one else currently can, and the company happy for the paying work. That's not to say neither one could foul the joint nest. Trump's nomination of private astronaut and Musk friend Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator was widely seen as a sign of Musk's influence on the president—and Trump's decision on May 31 to pull the nomination was similarly seen as the first sign of the rift between Musk and Trump. But the president has made no other moves against Musk-world, and Musk's decision to delete his provocative post on X may have cooled tempers on both sides. SpaceX investors and other customers may serve as a brake on Musk's worst tendencies, and lawmakers from space-heavy states including California, Texas, and Florida may similarly restrain Trump. None of this says that neither man is beyond acting against his own—and his government's or his company's—best interests. The scorpion in the venerable fable famously stung the frog that was its only ride across the river—explaining before they both sank and drowned that 'it's in my nature.' Trump's and Musk's natures have always been impulsive. The space and defense sectors can only hope the two men show some restraint now. Write to Jeffrey Kluger at
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump's term a ‘rough time for science in America': Ex-NASA astronaut
(NewsNation) — The United States has grown 'completely reliant' on SpaceX, said Col. Terry Virts, a former NASA astronaut and International Space Station commander. 'It's not only NASA, also the Defense Department and the intelligence community are very dependent on SpaceX,' Virts told NewsNation. President Donald Trump has threatened to cut SpaceX contracts amid a public feud with onetime adviser Elon Musk, who briefly countered with a threat to decommission his Dragon space capsule. Pulled NASA nomination blindsides space community: 'Major blunder' Musk's threat has since been walked back, but Virts said it indicates a greater problem: national needs left to Musk's whims. 'I think it's very concerning, especially when the CEO is so unstable and has been so, you know, unpredictable and some might say, dangerous in recent years,' Virts said. Trump's proposed NASA budget would cut $6 billion — the largest single-year cut in the agency's history, according to the nonprofit Planetary Society. Under the budget, human space programs would get a boost, with more than $7 billion allocated for lunar missions and $1 billion allocated for new investments in efforts to get people to Mars. The budget includes significant cuts to staffing, maintenance, environmental compliance, and the space and Earth science programs. 'It has been a chaotic and stressful time. Unfortunately, it affects the nation's space exploration and science community, not only at NASA, but also in the medical research and other fields,' Virts said. Milky Way has 50-50 chance of colliding with neighbor galaxy Musk's company is set to launch Falcon 9 for Axiom Space's Axiom Mission 4 on Tuesday, seemingly signaling a secure partnership between SpaceX and NASA. But Virts warned of overarching damage to the American science community that has been building since Inauguration Day. 'You can't just turn on a space program, and in a matter of months. You can certainly turn it off, and that's what's happened with this administration's chaos,' Virts said. 'But getting it back is going to be a problem.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Amid Musk threat to decommission SpaceX Dragon, NASA reveals more Boeing Starliner delays
As the fracas between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump escalated last week to the point of Musk threatening to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, NASA revealed even more delays to Dragon's alternative, Boeing's Starliner. 'NASA is assessing the earliest potential for a Starliner flight to the International Space Station in early 2026, pending system certification and resolution of Starliner's technical issues,' according to a statement sent to media late Friday. Though it didn't mention SpaceX specifically, the statement — coupled with Musk's threat — underscored the extraordinary degree to which NASA remains dependent on the private company for many of its key endeavors. It came after the fallout between the two powerful men sparked in part by Musk's opposition to Trump's so-call 'Big Beautiful Bill' that critics including Musk say would increase federal spending. Trump posted a threat on his Truth Social platform last week saying, 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' That would include NASA's Commercial Crew Program contracts that rely on SpaceX as the lone U.S.-based option to safely fly astronauts to the International Space Station. 'In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,' Musk posted to X in retort, although he later backed off. By now, Boeing's Starliner was supposed to have been a viable alternative sharing the taxi duties with SpaceX, but it has fallen behind Musk's company by more than five years. Last year, Starliner made its first flight with crew on board to the station, but suffered thruster issues and helium leaks on the way to docking with the station. NASA elected to send the spacecraft home without its crew, and the original plan for as short as an eight-day stay on board turned into more than nine months. While Starliner was able to make a safe landing, NASA and Boeing's path forward required not only a fix of the thruster and helium leak issues, but juggling whether or not the next flight would risk humans on board. That decision is pending, NASA said Friday. 'The agency is still evaluating whether Starliner's next flight will be in a crew or cargo configuration,' NASA stated. 'NASA astronauts are training for a Starliner post-certification mission as the agency continues to review its forward plans and execute testing campaigns targeted throughout the spring and summer.' With the continued delay, two of the crew that were looking to fly on the first operational rotational crew mission — Starliner-1 — were pulled and reassigned to the upcoming SpaceX Crew-11 mission that's targeting liftoff in late July. NASA said it has not yet determined just who will be assigned to the full Starliner-1 crew. But if the next flight is yet another uncrewed certification mission to ensure it's safe for astronauts, and that doesn't come until early 2026, then an actual operational flight would come likely no earlier than summer 2026. In the meantime, SpaceX will be relied on to continue rotational missions, although for now NASA has not announced the mission that will relieve Crew-11. If SpaceX were not a viable option, the U.S. would have to return to relying on Russia and its Soyuz spacecraft to maintain a presence on the space station. That's the situation NASA was in after the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011. It wasn't until May 2020 when SpaceX was successful with the crewed Demo-2 mission that NASA was able to launch from the U.S. again. Since then, SpaceX has flown its fleet of four Crew Dragons 17 times carrying 64 humans to space. That includes 10 operational crew rotation missions as well as three private company visits to the space station for Axiom Space. A fifth Crew Dragon is set to launch for the first time Wednesday morning on Axiom Space's Ax-4 mission taking another four-person crew on a two-week trip to the space station. _____
