LCROSS

Guest: Dr. Doug Plata. Topics: Lunar Cots & cislunar space development, policy, Mars, & much more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use.

Guest: Dr. Paul Spudis. Topics: Space policy, cislunar development, The Moon, Clementine & more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use.

Guest: Dr. Doug Plata. Topics: Taking action on one's space advocacy ideas. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use.

Guest: Dr. Paul Spudis. Topics: Cislunar economic development, an historical overview of Mars as an HSF destination, plus more. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming.

Guest: Dr. Jeff Bell. Topics: Augustine Commission, NASA budget, human spaceflight. Dr. Jeff Bell returned for this two hour program in three segments. During our first segment, Dr. Bell started a discussion about how the internet and blogs have impacted the space cadet community, both for the good and the bad. Don't miss this interesting discussion. Dr. Bell then began addressing the Augustine Commission findings and talked about budget issues given he pointed out NASA budget problems as early as 2007 in a Spacedaily.com article.

Guest: Open Lines. Topics: why human spaceflight, NASA, Fox News, making the case for space, different paths to space development. In the first segment of this Open Lines program, I talked about making the compelling case for human spaceflight. I mentioned a blog article on this subject on www.outofthecradle.net where blogger Ken said that the case was being made all the time. I talked about my responses and those of a few others commenting on Ken's article saying it was not so.

Guest: Robert Zimmerman. Topics: Lunar water, Augustine Commission, space policy, climate change and sunspots. Robert Zimmerman returned to The Space Show as our guest for this program. We started the first segment with questions for Robert regarding the recently announced lunar water, Indian Space Agency (ISRO) and MIP reports of lunar water, the IndiaDaily.com article and how all this might impact U.S. space policy in light of the Augustine Commission report.

Guest: Al Reisz. Topics: space exploration, ECR space propulsion engine, space policy, Augustine, LCROSS. Al Reisz was the guest for today's Space Show program. The first segment started with a look back at some of Al's earlier work with the Saturn V and the J-2 engine. We spent some time discussing testing and the need to learn by failing in order to have success. Mr. Reisz had much to say that was important on this subject, don't miss it. We then discussed the work he is doing on his ECR, the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Space Engine.

Guest: Dr. Bernard Foing. Topics: ESA, SMART-1, lunar development, lunar science, European space community and interest. Dr. Bernard Foing returned to The Space Show to discuss the ESA SMART-1 mission which he was the father of. In the first segment, Dr. Foing shared with us the history leading up to SMART-1, the mission design, and the science it conducted around and on the Moon. He talked about the need drive SMART-1 to the Moon given its ion engines, the 18 month trip to the Moon, and the records that SMART-1 established.

Guest: Andrew Chaikin. Topics: 40th anniversary of Apollo, return to the Moon, lunar astronaut comments and interviews. Andy Chaikin returned to The Space Show to discuss his two new books and the 40th anniversary of Apollo. His books that we discussed on the show were "Mission Control, This is Apollo" which is a children's book but the pictures and drawings are unbelievable. Much of the book's artwork consists of paintings by lunar astronaut and artist Alan Bean and they are incredible. When you see these paintings in the book, you will know that this is a must have book.