Space Exploration & Missions Podcasts

13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II published an episode for each day of the mission. Space scientist Maggie Aderin co-presents with Tim, who has lived on the International Space Station, and space journalist Kristen Fisher joins them. In Artemis II: 12. Please return to your seats, the explanation of re-entry covers the capsule's roll manoeuvres and the crew's option to take manual control, as on Soyuz. The alternative, a ballistic re-entry, is "just coming back, not generating lift, falling like a brick." The episode then makes a sobering point: during the communications blackout, the crew decide alone.

NASA's Curious Universe is an official NASA podcast, so you hear the mission from inside the agency. In Update: Artemis II Crew Flies Around the Moon, Victor Glover's sign-off before the loss of signal is "We'll see you on the other side." Today In Space offers company more than distance. In NASA's Ignition Plan PT1 | My REACTIONS to the Update to Artemis & the Moon Base, host Alex G. Orphanos tells listeners, "I have literal goosebumps."

Are We There Yet?, from Central Florida Public Media and host Brendan Byrne, puts the celebration and the bill in the same episode. Artemis II flies by the moon and a look at NASA’s budget proposal moves from planetary scientists on the flyby to Casey Dreyer of the Planetary Society on a proposed 23 percent cut. Before discussing the cut, Dreyer recalls drawing the Apollo capsule as a small child.

Main Engine Cut Off is Anthony Colangelo's opinion and analysis. In T+316: New Glenn’s Second Launch, First Landing, and Upgrade Roadmap, he repeats his case about SLS and Orion: "We're not going to politic our way out of it." In T+328, Pam Melroy explains that NASA's stated needs and the president's published budget can differ.

Dreyer also hosts a monthly policy strand on Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science. Space Policy Edition: Is there really a space race between the US and China? argues that too much race framing unlocks resources but risks making investment hard to sustain once the race is won. The Space Show by Dr. David Livingston offers long call-in arguments. Its 95-minute episode with Robert Zubrin has him calling Artemis II less ambitious than Apollo 8, because Apollo 8 orbited the Moon. That is one guest's case, and it is pressed hard.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps, from NASA's engineering academy, keeps glamour at a distance. In Dragonfly: Mission to Titan (21 min), the principal investigator explains that the lander could overheat on a calm day on frigid Titan. The mission is slated to launch in 2028 and arrive in December 2034. For the moon itself, try the Planetary Science & Astrobiology page.

The Orbital Mechanics Podcast records with live listeners who help "make correction burns on the fly." In Episode 510: Leakspin, the hosts work through a Starship test in which, by one host's recollection, about a hundred heat tiles were left off on purpose.

Terranauts reconstructs Gemini one flight at a time. After Eight follows Armstrong and Scott after Gemini 8, and the host weighs the crew's response and recalls his own days in mission control. The Habitat follows six volunteers spending a year in an imitation Mars base in Hawaii. In Episode 4: She Likes to Camp Alone in the Finnish Winter, commander Carmel's weary recordings sit alongside armpit-noise jokes, which shows that a Mars rehearsal is also a test of morale.