Big Picture Science for January 22, 2018 - DIY Spaceflight

Big Picture Science - DIY Spaceflight

ENCORE  For a half-century, space has been the playground of large, government agencies.  While everyone could dream of becoming an astronaut, few could actually do so.

Things have changed.  We hear how a geeky son of immigrant parents incentivized the ground-breaking launch of SpaceShipOne, and spawned the commercial rocket industry.

And while you’re waiting for a ticket to ride, why not build your own satellite to keep tabs on the kids or just check out the back forty?  A CubeSat could be your next basement project.

And the hitherto untold story of how black women mathematicians a half-century ago helped get a man into orbit, and astronauts to the moon.

Guests:

• Margot Lee Shetterly – Author of Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race.
• Simon “Pete” Worden – Chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation and former Center Director of NASA Ames Research Center
• Julian Guthrie – Journalist and author of How to Make a Spaceship: A Band of Renegades, an Epic Race, and the Birth of Private Spaceflight
• Eddie Allison – Head of Aviation Services, Orbital Access
• Sean League – Cofounder and Spacecraft Engineering Director, SpaceFab.US
• John Gruener – Planetary Scientist, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston
• Takanori Shibata – Chief Senior Research Scientist and Professor, National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

This encore podcast was first released on 01/30/2017

Download podcast at - http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/diy-spaceflight

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.