Columbia is on the launchpad and we've got a whole bunch of life science to get through. And just when you thought it was safe to drop the word "otolith" from your vocabulary.
We've got a packed flight with an advanced communciation satellite, a new kick stage, the return of SPAS, an EVA and a sassy air traffic controller.
In this episode, rather than hearing me talk about STS-51, we talk to someone who worked on its primary payload: astronaut Dan Tani! We also chat a bit about some government job he had down in Houston.
Space Shuttle Endeavour is here with STS-57, which brings us a little piece of much of what the shuttle program has to offer. Satellite captures, EVAs, technology demonstrations, commercial space stuff, mysterious loud booming noises.. wait, mysterious loud booming noises?
Germany is back together and back in orbit with their second shuttle flight, the D-2 Spacelab mission. I wonder what sort of science they have in store for us? We also wonder who's squeezing the bag under the middeck.
ATLAS is back in the payload bay for round two of the ongoing series of Earth observation missions. And TAGS gets some competition!
TDRS-F needs a ride to orbit, NASA needs more EVA experience, and we all need to figure out what's up with soft x-rays. Good thing Endeavour's on the pad for its third flight!
STS-53 is here and with it we've got a secret satellite, a fictional hot tub, and a space shuttle full of dogs. I promise that sentence will make sense at the end of the episode.
Space Shuttle Columbia has a disco ball, a container full of helium, and some cool glowing lights outside. Are we sure this isn't a party?
What do you get when you mix four frogs, one hundred and eighty hornets, two carp, and a crew of seven astronauts? STS-47, the 50th Space Shuttle mission!
Space Shuttle Atlantis has 20 kilometers of tether in the backseat.. but does it know how to use it?
Columbia is hauling the US Microgravity Laboratory for almost two weeks, and Commander Richards wishes his wife left her cell phone on.
Space Shuttle Endeavour flies for the first time. But if we're going to capture this satellite, we're going to need all hands on deck. Or on payload bay.
Before diving into the next mission, we take a quick detour to introduce a bunch of spacefarers, including one who will fly twenty-five times. We'll also learn a bit about why the next mission was necessary in the first place.
Atlantis is getting ready to fire photon torpedoes at Planet Earth! Well.. sort of.
Space Shuttle Discovery is packed with so much science it's practically bursting at the seams, but don't forget to take some time to look out the window!
For a simple IUS-based deploy mission, I sure found a lot to say about this mission! We've got nuclear bombs, caterpillar men, pranks, and multiple near-collisions in the air and in space.
Discovery has the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite in the payload bay, and it's ready to learn all about the stratosphere and mesosphere! This episode was originally going to have a story about the mission commander trying to ski in space but I ran out of time!
TDRS-E needs a ride to space, John Blaha is in command, and the middeck is full of science experiments.
It seems like this human spaceflight thing might be here to stay, so we better do some life sciences experiments and learn more about the impact of microgravity on the human body. Also, Space Shuttle Columbia carries more jellyfish into space than it ever has before.
Discovery has a payload bay full of multi-spectral instruments and is ready to perform an orbital ballet.
Atlantis has one heavy satellite to deploy, and the EVA crew has to evaluate some strange exercise devices in the payload bay. Sort of.
Columbia has a tricky time getting off the launchpad, but once it does, it performs some fancy astronomy that can only be done in space!
STS-38 seems to be a run of the mill classified mission at first.. until someone discovers something flashing in GEO.
Ulysses has a long journey ahead of it, and it all starts on Space Shuttle Discovery and STS-41!