Are We Alone for 06/29/09 - Humans in Space... ace... ace

Are We Alone - Humans in Space... ace... ace
ENCORE When the economy’s down, will humans still be going up – into space, that is? We investigate the future of human spaceflight at the International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland and find out whether sending Homo sapiens to the Moon and Mars is still a good idea. Also, the chief of Virgin Galactic is happy to send you into space on a private flight – but it may max out your credit card.

Plus, an Apollo astronaut’s view from orbit… dining with South Korea’s first astronaut… and one of Britain’s great science fiction authors on how space science fuels the imagination.

Guests:

• Rusty Schweickart – Former NASA astronaut and Chairman of the Board of the B612 Foundation
• John Mankins – 25-year NASA veteran who managed the Agency’s exploration technology activities
• Sanjoy Som – Planetary scientist at the University of Washington, Seattle
• Will Whitehorn – President of Virgin Galactic
• Yi So-yeon – Biomechanical engineer and South Korean astronaut
• Stephen Baxter – Science fiction author, most recently of Weaver: Time’s Tapestry, Book Four

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.