The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

David Fourman, Ben Etherington, and Dennis Just
  • 4.8 (174)
  • NATURAL SCIENCES
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

Every week we cover the latest spaceflight news, discuss past, current and future exploration efforts, and take a look at upcoming events. Tune in to hear about how humans get to space, how they stay in space and how unmanned craft reach farther and farther into the universe around us.

  1. Episode 510.1: Hold hold hold

    JUN 10

    Episode 510.1: Hold hold hold

    Weird, short episode here, but it still feels weird to not start the show by saying “and I’m Ben.” So, we’ve had a personal emergency here on the crew. All three of us are fine, and we will let you know more about what’s happened, but for right now, this week’s episode is delayed. Hopefully it’ll be coming out later this week, but I don’t know. It may take a little while for things to get back to normal, but hopefully not too long. We just need a little bit of time to cope, and then we can figure out what our plans are. Thank you guys for listening, and you know, I miss y’all.

  2. JUN 4

    Episode 510: Leakspin

    Spaceflight News — Starship Block 2: 0 for 3 (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) — Block 3 Update (nasaspaceflight.com) Short & Sweet — Xodiac flies final time (arstechnica.com) — China successfully tests vertical-takeoff vertical-landing rocket (cgtn.com) This Week in Spaceflight History ii May 24, 1962: Fourth flight of Project Mercury (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) — Next week (6/10 - 6/16) in 1973: Dos equis

    49 min

  3. MAY 14

    Episode 509: Hungry Hopping Hippos

    Spaceflight News — Neutron update (spacenews.com) Short & Sweet — China announces mission to Venus (ieee.org) Tianhe to be expanded (spacenews.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — 14 May, 1973. Launch of Skylab (historicspacecraft.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) — Next week (5/20 - 5/26) in 1962: Kickin’ up fireflies.

    59 min

  4. MAY 7

    Episode 508: North of Antarctica

    Spaceflight News — Firefly Nozzle Anomaly (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) Short & Sweet — Efforts continue to rescue Lunar Trailblazer (spacenews.com) — ISS avoids space debris (space.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — From the intro: Kosmos 482’s parachutes dangling out? (space.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — May 10, 1994: Last contact with the Clementine Spacecraft (en.wikipedia.org) (researchgate.net) (nap.nationalacademies.org) (klabs.org) — Next week (5/13 - 5/19) in 1973: It’s the final countdown

    37 min

  5. APR 30

    Episode 507: Prolate Marshmallow

    Spaceflight News — Sierra Space impact test (asdnews.com) — Atmos reentry test of PHOENIX-1 (spacenews.com) (europeanspaceflight.com) Short & Sweet — Kosmos 482’s deorbit update (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — Blue Origin tank failure? (HT ArcadeEngineer: fixupx.com/kerballistic07) This Week in Spaceflight History — 1 May, 1979: Enterprise rolled out to 39A (nasa.gov) — Next week (5/6 - 5/12) in 1994: Lost and gone forever, in orbit

    44 min

  6. APR 23

    Episode 506: ISS at Risk

    Spaceflight News — The Riskiest Period of ISS’ Existence (spacenews.com) — Enginefest — Latitude (europeanspaceflight.com) — Pangea Aerospace (europeanspaceflight.com) — Venus Aerospace (prnewswire.com) Short & Sweet — Building destroyed in explosion at Northrop Grumman test site (space.com) — Seat barter agreement extended through 2027 (spacenews.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — Unc’ Willy: “First flight” is a better term (discord.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — April 24, 1970: Launch of Dong Fang Hong (astronautix.com) (en.wikipedia.org) — Next week (4/29 - 5/5) in 1979: Heading out for a three-month stay

    44 min

  7. APR 16

    Episode 505: Confirming Isaacman

    Spaceflight News — Confirming Isaacman (spacenews.com) (law.cornell.edu) (aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org) — One of the Lunar Terrain Vehicles unveiled (lunaroutpost.com) Short & Sweet — New addition to DSN (space.com) — DOD hires Astroscale (satellitetoday.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — From the intro: Jonathan McDowell retiring (archive.ph) This Week in Spaceflight History — 18 Apr, 2001. Maiden flight of GSLV Mk. I (a.k.a GSLV-D1) (isro.gov.in) (astronautix.com) (PDF: sci-hub.se)  (planet4589.org) — Next week (4/22 - 4/28) in 1970: Is the national anthem really 20 days long?

    49 min

  8. APR 9

    Episode 504: Mark Soyuzworth

    Spaceflight News — Two more PAMs (spacenews.com) (sam.gov) Short & Sweet — Fram2 launches and lands (arstechnica.com) (space.com) — SpinLaunch turns to broadband (spacenews.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — From the intro: Starliner shakeup (spaceflightnow.com) — From Espen Urkedal: FTS vs VTS This Week in Spaceflight History — April 10, 1979: Launch (and early return) of Soyuz 33 (en.wikipedia.org) (blazingbulgaria.wordpress) — Next week (4/15 - 4/21) in 2001: Stumbling 58 minutes short of the finish orbit

    38 min
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4.8
out of 5
174 Ratings

About

Every week we cover the latest spaceflight news, discuss past, current and future exploration efforts, and take a look at upcoming events. Tune in to hear about how humans get to space, how they stay in space and how unmanned craft reach farther and farther into the universe around us.

Information

  • Creator
    David Fourman, Ben Etherington, and Dennis Just
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2025
  • Episodes
    300
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
  • Show Website
    The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

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