Hosted by Jason Snell and Stephen Hackett.
Liftoff is a fortnightly podcast about space, the universe, and everything. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand the latest developments as explained by enthusiastic space fans Stephen Hackett and Jason Snell.
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#144: Elon Being Elon and the Early Days of SpaceX, with Eric Berger
February 23rd, 2021 · 52 minutes
Jason and Stephen are joined by Eric Berger to discuss his new book Liftoff, which covers the origins of SpaceX. Eric is the Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and the book comes out on March 2. The guys also discussed the landing of Perseverance, the Starship test flights and who may be the next NASA Administrator.
#143: The Perseverance Landing and "For All Mankind" with Ron Moore
February 19th, 2021 · 52 minutes
On this bonus episode, Jason and Stephen speak with Ron Moore, co-creator, writer and producer of For All Mankind. Topics covered include the challenges writing for a parallel timeline and a bit about episode 1 of the new season after a spoiler warning is given.
#142: Not To Sound Like a Parent, But...
February 11th, 2021 · 55 minutes
Jason and Stephen are getting back to the news, and talk about Alan Shepard's golf balls, the state of NASA's programs under the Biden administration and what NASA would do if the SLS program were ended. Lastly, they discuss the upcoming Inspiration4 mission.
#141: Apollo 14
January 26th, 2021 · 60 minutes
Less than a year after the disastrous Apollo 13 mission, the program returned to flight when Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell landed on the moon in February, 1971.
#140: The End of the Year Means Next Year
January 12th, 2021 · 48 minutes
Jason and Stephen start 2021 by picking some things they are looking forward to in what promises to be a very busy year in space.
#139: Space Omelets
December 15th, 2020 · 50 minutes
You get a sample return; you get a sample return; you get a sample return!
In other news: SN8 had a rough landing, SpaceIL is getting back on the horse and NASA has unveiled more Artemis plans.
#138: A Great Acronym, but it's in Russian
December 1st, 2020 · 33 minutes
The world is mourning the uncontrolled collapse of the Arecibo observatory, even as China's Chang’e-5 mission is underway to return lunar samples to Earth, which would be a first since the final Apollo mission. Also: an update on the SLS and Orion and a look at what's going on at Roscosmos.
#137: Delicate Dance of Docking
November 17th, 2020 · 40 minutes
Commercial Crew has gotten official with the launch of Crew-1 over the weekend, the start of a six-month expedition on the International Space Station. That and the possibilities of Jim Bridenstine's future. Oh, and kilonovas!
#136: Don’t Tell the Boss
November 3rd, 2020 · 59 minutes
Zac Hall from Space Explored and 9to5Mac joins Jason to discuss the post-election future of NASA (and administrator Jim Bridenstine), the 20th anniversary of the permanent habitation of the International Space Station, a bunch of news about the moon, and OSIRIS-REx taking a bite out of Bennu.
#135: Space is Full of Rocks
October 20th, 2020 · 36 minutes
Stephen comes with good news about InSight's Mole, and Jason says there probably aren't aliens on Venus. Also: OSIRIS-REx is due for a big day and the space industry in China is heating up.