Ares 5

Guest: Jim McDade. Topics: space polls, Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, Constellation, Direct. Jim McDade was our guest for this Space Show program, discussing a wide variety of topics from recent Rasmussen space polls, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), and much more. In segment one, we jumped right into the Rasmussen poll showing 50% of Americans favor a cut in NASA spending.

Guest: Taylor Dinerman. Topics: NASA and commercial space; Climategate, China, SSP, space policy. Taylor Dinerman returned for the first program of 2010 which went almost two hours. In segment one, Mr. Dinerman talked about the coming NASA space policy announcement and programs. He suggested there might be a coming "train wreck." Listen to his analysis in this important discussion. Taylor talked about Constellation, politics, the coming 2010 congressional elections, and possible budget fights.

Guest: Dr. Robert Zubrin. Topics: Goals and vision for space program, Augustine Commission. Dr. Robert Zubrin returned for this Space Show program to provide us with his assessment of the Augustine Commission's report and to put in context his goals and vision for our space program. In our first segment, Dr. Zubrin said that the Augustine Commission failed by not presenting a plan of action . Our entire segment was devoted to this discussion as was much of our program. Heavy lift was brought up and he said we would go nowhere in space without it.

Guest: Rick Tumlinson. Topics: Space frontier development, private/public partnerships, Augustine Commission. Rick Tumlinson returned for this special two hour Space Show program. Each segment was one hour but an overriding theme went through the entire show. This theme was the need to develop the space frontier and that the private sector could do it, that the government civil space program should address space exploration from LEO and beyond, but Earth to Leo should be turned over to the private sector companies. As Rick said, NASA should buy the ride, not the rocket.

Guest: Dr. Paul Spudis. Topics: Return to the Moon, VSE Mission Statement, lunar science, NASA, Mars, U.S. public and space exploration. Dr. Paul Spudis returned for this special two hour program to discuss why we should return to the Moon. In Segment 1, Dr. Spudis talked about the Moon as a transitioning resource and our training ground for how we can learn to live and settle in space. He said that the way the VSE has evolved, its gotten away from the true mission of our return to the Moon. This is a discussion that you must hear and its repeated throughout this two hour show.

Guests: First Hour: Dr. Klaus Dannenberg, John Karas, Jeff Hamstra; Second Hour: Open Lines: Topics: propulsion, breakthrough propulsion, NASA, AIAA, Open Lines, Space Show guests, bone loss, microgravity, acceleration, NASA. The first hour of this two hour program was dedicated to discussing the coming AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference which will be in Denver, Colorado at the Colorado Convention Center from August 3-5, 2009. For more information about the conference and registration, please visit www.aiaa.org. During Segment 1, our two guests, Dr.

Guest: Ross Tierney. Topics: Direct 3.0, heavy lift, Ares 1, Ares V. Ross Tierney was our guest to update us on progress with the Direct alternative to the costly Ares 1 and Ares V launchers. We referenced several websites during this program and here are the web links to what we mentioned. First, for the DIRECT discussion thread at the nasaspaceflight forum, please use http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=17295.msg415258;topics….

Guest: OPEN LINES. Topics: NASA bureaucracy, Return to the Moon or Mars, low cost space access, North Korea space program, SPESIF, astrosociology, education. This was our regular Open Lines program and runs slightly longer than two hours. Our program started with a call from listener Marshall about the NASA bureaucracy and what is known as “bureaucratic drift.” This was an interesting discussion which we applied to other government agencies, even national healthcare given comments from other listener. Don't miss it.

Guest: Alan Lawrie. Topics: Saturn 1/1B rocket, A-1B manned flights, Saturn 5, rocket engineering, design challenges, Von Braun, lost knowledge. Alan Lawrie was our guest to talk about his new Apogee book, "Saturn 1/1B." We discussed the Saturn rocket program in-depth from the engineering qualifications and risk-taking to the management and leadership needed to make the program successful.

Guest: Ross Tierney was the guest for this in-person taped interview conducted here in Cocoa Beach on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008. This was a very hard-hitting interview with Ross about Direct 2, its technology, its likelihood of being adopted by NASA as an alternative to Ares 1, and more. I asked Ross why we should have confidence in Direct 2 when it was basically a PowerPoint presentation given that it has not yet undergone any metal bending, any development or testing. I asked why there would not be design problems with it as there are with Ares and the NASA selected hardware.