Last Thursday on 27 January, 2022 NASA marked its Day of Remembrance. A time that is set aside to remember those astronauts who died in the line of duty. On this episode of the podcast I talk with Helene and Chris Hadfield about the Day of Remembrance, about their memories of some of the crew who did not make it home from space. We also talk about what remembering means to them and about how we do and should pay appropriate tribute to the crew that have lost their lives and to their families who...
Feb 03, 2022•43 min•Season 3Ep. 8
In today's episode we are going to pick up the story of project Gemini as it makes the transition from an engineering study to a full up space project. In order to understand what that means, and what that meant we will have to talk a bit about how space projects get managed - and why contrary to many myths - that wasn't any easier back in 1962 than it is today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jan 20, 2022•30 min•Season 3Ep. 7
In the last episode of Terranauts we talked about the origin of the Gemini Project. It basically started because some Project Mercury engineers wanted to improve the Mercury capsule and make it easier to build, test and fly. But that on its own was not enough to convince NASA to actually build a new spacecraft. In this episode of Terranauts, we talk about the Technological Imperatives that DID convince NASA that it needed a new spacecraft and a new project to learn some things it was really goin...
Jan 06, 2022•27 min•Season 3Ep. 6
In this episode of Terranauts we return to the historical narrative of humanity's journey off the planet. We are going to wind the clock back to September, 1962 when John F. Kennedy made his famous "we choose to go to the moon" speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas. It was an important moment in the history of the human spaceflight and marked the beginning of a new - and much more intense period in the race to get to and stay in space. We'll take a look at the spaceflight landscape at that...
Dec 09, 2021•30 min•Season 3Ep. 5
In this episode I continue my conversation with three Terranauts who have all worked in Mission Control of the International Space Station as callsign ROBO - responsible for the operation of the International space Station's robotic arm. They have been witness too, and participants in some amazing events and some truly significant changes in the way mission control is done. This is part 2 of the interview, if you haven't listened to part 1, I would suggest you do that before listening to this ep...
Nov 25, 2021•32 min•Season 3Ep. 4
In this episode we continue our series on the evolution of Mission Control. Last time, I talked about my experience walking into Mission Control in the middle of the Space Shuttle program and at the end of the era of the Apollo control centre as it was about to make a transition to the Space Station era. Today we talk to three Terranauts who have been around for that transition and who continue to work on the International Space Station in various ways. They have all worked in Mission Control an...
Nov 11, 2021•28 min•Season 3Ep. 3
In this episode of Terranauts we explore the world of NASA's Mission Control Centre as it was in 1995. At that time, Mission Control was still being performed out of the same building and the same control room as it had been since 1964 when control of manned spaceflight missions had moved from Cape Canaveral to the Manned Space Center in Houston. This was the building from which NASA had gone to the moon. Over the course of 30 years many of the details had changed, but a lot had also stayed the ...
Oct 28, 2021•33 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Welcome back to season 3 of Terranauts. Today's episode is the first in a series of episodes looking at how the advent of the International Space Station changed how we go to space. The series will culminate in a conversation with some Terranauts who have been working as ISS flight controllers for the past 20 years. They have seen and lived this transformation up close. But before we get to that conversation we need some context. So today we actually go back to the early days of aircraft flight ...
Oct 14, 2021•28 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Season 3 is almost here ... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 30, 2021•1 min
Season 2 has come to close and until Season 3 starts in September were playing some of our most popular episodes from the past year. Meet Terranaut Sarah Gallagher, Science Advisor to the President of the Canadian Space Agency, professor at Western University in London, Ontario, and supermassive black holes and galaxy researcher. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 20, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 23
Season 2 has come to close and until Season 3 starts in September were playing some of our most popular episodes from the past year. First up is Chris Hadfield and Iain Christie on NASA's Day Of Remembrance. On January 28, 2021, NASA marked its Day Of Remembrance. It was a day set aside to honour the sacrifices of all astronauts who have died in the pursuit of the human exploration of space. In this episode of Terranauts, host Iain Christie sits down with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield to tal...
Jul 23, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Season 2 of Terranauts is a wrap! In this, the 40th episode, we take a quick look back at our second season and look forward to Season 3. While we won't be releasing new episodes over the summer, we will be keeping the feed active with some highlights of the past two seasons. We will also be busy with some other projects including starting a Terranauts facebook page. Search for us @TerranautsPodcast on Facebook. Thanks so much for listening this season... and we'll talk to you again soon. Hosted...
Jul 08, 2021•9 min•Season 2Ep. 21
In part 2 of "The Flag Is A One" we pick up the story of the Communications Technology Satellite just as a perplexing and potentially mission ending failure is occurring. Mac Evans will take us through a few days of high drama in the Mission Operations Centre as the team tries to use a tiny little bit of data to diagnose the problem, and fix it. It's a classic Terranaut story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 24, 2021•28 min•Season 2Ep. 20
In this episode of Terranauts we talk about a little known moment of high drama in the Canadian space program surrounding the crucial Communications Technology Satellite mission. In 1976, Canada and the world were in the midst of a telecommunications revolution. Determined to use satellite communications, John Chapman led a bold effort to build and test a satellite that would become the prototype of what we now think of as a telecommunications satellite. But the Communications Technology Satelli...
Jun 10, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 19
There are times in the development of technology and society when things change only slowly. And then there are times when things change rapidly indeed. The 1960's were certainly one of those times, for a lot of reasons. In this episode of Terranauts however, we are going to talk specifically about how simultaneous revolutions in telecommunications and satellite technology came together to change the way we talk to one another forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 27, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Dr. Cameron Ower is the Chief Technology Officer at McDonald Dettwiler and Associates where he has been working for much of the last 35 years. When he started at MDA (then known as Spar Aerospace) he worked with and for the engineers who had designed and built the very first space robot, the original Space Shuttle Canadarm. His job, at the time, was to design the next generation of space robot - the space station arm and its special purpose dexterous manipulator known as DEXTRE. This would becom...
May 13, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 17
In this episode of Terranauts we talk about the beginnings of the other great endeavour in space. Instead of talking about leaving the planet to explore space, we're going to talk about the early efforts to work from space to understand the Earth and improve life here. Specifically, we are going to talk about the early efforts to literally connect the world, by sending satellites to space. Along the way we're going to introduce another first Terranaut. In this case, it's John H Chapman, Canada's...
Apr 29, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Today on Terranauts the second part of my conversation with the Quintessential Terranaut Dave Kendall. We talk about Dave's career managing increasingly larger and more international programs until he ended up as the chair of one of the United Nation's largest and most active committees. Not bad for a lad from Twickenham. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 15, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 15
This week on Terranauts we're taking a break from our regular run of the Terranauts Guide to Leaving the Planet to bring you a fascinating interview with David Kendall who could be described as the quintessential Terranaut. On Terranauts we often talk about the fact that no gets to space alone. We are fond of saying that space is a team sport, not only for individuals but for countries as well. Over the course of the past season and a half we have certainly talked to our share of Terrantauts wit...
Apr 01, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Having completed a "textbook" mission with Wally Schirra's flight, it was now time to go for a full day on orbit with the flight of Mercury-Atlas 9 and Gordon Cooper. But this would be the final act of Project Mercury. The project had been a complete success, but its day was done as NASA and the world moved beyond simply wondering if a human could leave the planet - and started wondering what humans - and their inventions - would do when they were there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...
Mar 18, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 13
If you can do something three times, doing it three more times doesn't sound like it should be that hard. Unless, of course, you're talking about orbiting the planet. In this episode we take a look at the third Project Mercury manned orbital flight - which doubled the number of orbits from 3 to 6 and we talk about why that was a lot more work for the Project Mercury Terranauts than you might have expected. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 04, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 12
In this episode we return to the story of Project Mercury. Having managed to achieve its original object of getting and American into orbit, Project Mercury, life was now changing as NASA's manned space activities expanded to include the new Gemini and Apollo programs. And, now that NASA had discovered it knew how to get a humans into orbit, they needed to start thinking about what they were going to do there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Feb 18, 2021•23 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Last week, on 28 January, NASA marked its Day Of Remembrance. It was a day set aside to honour the sacrifices of all astronauts who have died in the pursuit of the human exploration of space. In this episode of Terranauts, host Iain Christie sits down with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield to talk about those we have lost and what their sacrifices have meant. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 04, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 10
The need to do big things is a basic human urge. The need to do them together is an even more basic one. Going to space satisfies both those urges in fundamental and sometimes profound ways. But human beings have been captive to the Collective Power of The Big Idea for a long time. In this episode, Terranauts host Iain Christie muses on how the theme of working together to accomplish big things can be seen as far back as ancient Athens and how it expresses itself today. Hosted on Acast. See acas...
Jan 21, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 9
When we left Project Mercury they had finally managed to have a successful orbital flight. All of the technologies, techniques and procedures had been tested. The global tracking network was in place. There was only one thing left to do. Put an astronaut in the capsule and get him into orbit... and bring him home, of course. In this episode of a Terranauts Guide To Leaving The Planet, NASA finally makes it to the big leagues - getting to orbit and setting a course for the moon. Hosted on Acast. ...
Jan 07, 2021•28 min•Season 2Ep. 8
This week's installment of The Terranauts Guide to Leaving the Planet is called "Project Mercury Gets Around." When we left the Mercury Flight Control team they were just about to make their first attempt to get an American into space. Once they cleared that hurdle though, the game would change again, as they confronted all of the things they would need to learn in order not just to get to space, but to stay there for at least one orbit around the earth. Oh yes, and did we mention, the President...
Dec 10, 2020•27 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In this episode of a Terranauts Guide to Leaving The Planet, we return to the story of First Terranaut Gene Kranz and the early days of NASA's Mercury Project which was supposed to get the first American into space. As we found out last time, though, Project Mercury was having trouble getting more than a few inches off the launch pad. In addition to that, they had some pretty big challenges to overcome. Most of which had nothing to do with getting to space, and everything to do with connecting p...
Nov 26, 2020•32 min•Season 2Ep. 6
If you were going to spend some time on board a drilling rig in the North Atlantic, in the foggiest place on the planet where icebergs are common, you would probably want Des Power looking over your shoulder from space. Des and the team at C-CORE have been solving the problem of tracking icebergs from space for more than 20 years. Des didn't start out wanting to go to space, but that's where he spends a lot of his time these days and there are a lot of people who are glad he does. Hosted on Acas...
Nov 12, 2020•36 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Today we have another instalment of the Terranauts Guide to Leaving the Planet. The guide is our exploration of spaceflight, the challenges that have been overcome in getting there, and the people who overcame them. Today's focus, a young engineer named Gene Kranz who would later become the NASA Apollo Flight Director, and who famously said of the rescue of Apollo 13, "failure is not an option." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 29, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Meet Terranaut Sarah Gallagher, Science Advisor to the President of the Canadian Space Agency, professor at Western University in London, Ontario, and supermassive black holes and galaxy researcher. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 15, 2020•30 min•Season 2Ep. 3
