Shuttle retirement

Guest: Dr. Claude Piantadosi. Topics": We discussed Dr. Piantodosi's book, "Mankind Beyond Earth," human spaceflight, Mars missions, radiation, microgravity. 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: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: U.S. Space Policy, Indian space program, DOD and NASA, Spanish balloon space tourism project. This was a two hour Open Lines program divided in two segments with many listeners using the toll free line! Thank you listeners! In our fist segment, our first caller John from Atlanta led off with his views on the administrations space policy proposals. We talked about the need to have targets, goals, and a defined program.

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: Brian Mosdell, followed by Bill Dowdell and Jon Cowart. Brian Mosdell is the Director of Florida Launch Operations for SpaceX. We started this discussion with a brief overview and history of SpaceX, its objectives, launch vehicles, and their launch services/market that they will likely provide. We also talked about the upcoming Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launches scheduled for this year. In response to my question having visited Space X in California, Mr.