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The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

Exploration

Every week we cover the latest spaceflight news, discuss past, current and future exploration efforts, and take a look at upcoming events. Tune in to hear about how humans get to space, how they stay in space and how unmanned craft reach farther and farther into the universe around us.

Location:

United States

Description:

Every week we cover the latest spaceflight news, discuss past, current and future exploration efforts, and take a look at upcoming events. Tune in to hear about how humans get to space, how they stay in space and how unmanned craft reach farther and farther into the universe around us.

Language:

English


Episodes
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Episode 492: Lotta Scoopin'

1/7/2025
Spaceflight News — Starship TF-7 (spacenews.com) (ringwatchers.com) (spacex.com) (twitter.com) Short & Sweet — India launches space docking demo mission (nasaspaceflight.com) (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (isro.gov.in) — Launches gaining frequency (spacenews.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — 10 Jan, 1968: Surveyor 7 lands on the moon (nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) — Next week (1/14 - 1/20) in 2005: Was that the Aurora Australis?

Duration:00:55:09

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Episode 491: Everest Space

12/31/2024
Spaceflight News — K2 Space wins contract (spaceinsider.tech) (spacenews.com) (addtheegg.com) Short & Sweet — Contracts awarded for NASA’s Near Space Network (spacenews.com) — Record breaking spacewalk set by Shenzhou-19 crew (spacenews.com) — Crew-10 delayed (spacenews.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — 2 Jan, 1959. Launch of Luna 1, first spacecraft to reach the Moon (en.wikipedia.org) (smithsonianmag.com) (mentallandscape.com) (smithsonianmag.com) — Next week (1/7 - 1/13) in 1968: Highlander - there can be only one (of seven)

Duration:00:42:41

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Episode 490: PhageX

12/17/2024
Spaceflight News — Orion’s heat shield (americaspace.com) (nasa.gov) Short & Sweet — Tests of Russian Orbital Station core module announced (interfax.com) — Ingenuity’s Crash Investigation (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — Joel Rogers via email: Young and Crippen didn’t fly on Enterprise. This Week in Spaceflight History — December 17, 2012: Grasshopper makes its first real hop (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org) — Next week (1/1 - 1/6) in 1959: To the moon! Uh... to the Sun!

Duration:00:38:19

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Episode 489: Swirl Domination

12/10/2024
Spaceflight News — Swirl-dominated chambers (payloadspace.com) (https://www.sierraspace.com) (Pic, from researchgate.net) (PDF: nasa.gov) Short & Sweet — So long Sutherland Spaceport (satellitetoday.com) Further delays to Artemis program announced (spacenews.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — 12 Dec, 1970. Launch of Uhuru (nasa.gov) (PDF: jhuapl.edu) — Next week (12/17 - 12/23) in 2012: Ride ‘em, cowboy

Duration:00:42:00

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Episode 488: Chonky Copter

12/3/2024
Spaceflight News — Epsilon can’t stop exploding (space.com) (youtu.be) (PDF: jaxa.jp) — A Dragonfly on a Falcon Heavy (satellitetoday.com) Short & Sweet — Old spaceport, newish rocket (europeanspaceflight.com) — New rocket, new spaceport (spacenews.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — From the intro: New Glenn on the pad (space.com) (blueorigin.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — 3 Dec, 2003: Shuttle Training Aircraft loses part of an engine (iasa.com.au VIA web.archive.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (simpleflying.com) — Next week (12/10 - 12/16) in 1970: Equatorial eyes

Duration:00:44:07

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Episode 487: What's that smell?

11/26/2024
Spaceflight News — Global grasshoppers — Russia’s hopper (arstechnica.com) — EU’s hopper (europeanspaceflight.com) Short & Sweet — Omani spaceport looks to launch next month (www.thenationalnews.com) — China tests inflatable spacecraft on orbit (news.cgtn.com) (space.com) (spacenews.com) — Starship Test Flight Six (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — From the intro: Progress contamination (russianspaceweb.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — November 28, 1983: Launch of STS-9, Columbia (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (americaspace.com) — Next week (12/3 - 12/9) in 2003: You’ve heard of the space banana, but what about the Banana River dunk?

Duration:00:40:57

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Episode 486: 300mm of Mercury

11/19/2024
Spaceflight News — Zvezda leak disagreement (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) Short & Sweet — NGR is in the building! (spacenews.com) — Bye bye ABL (from launch anyway) (arstechnica.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — 24 Nov, 1970. Launch of Kosmos 379 (astronautix.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com) — Next week (11/26 - 12/2) in 1983: And then there were six

Duration:00:54:21

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Episode 485: Shuttle Sandwich

11/12/2024
Spaceflight News — CRS-2 extended (spacenews.com) (sam.gov) Short & Sweet — Gilmour ups and Bowen downs (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) — LignoSat to be deployed from ISS (popsci.com) (nanosats.eu) — Long March 9: Starship (arstechnica) Questions, Comments, Corrections — From the intro: LEO safety study (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) This Week in Spaceflight History — 12 Nov, 1981: The launch of STS-2 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov) — Next week (11/19 - 11/25) in 1970: LELO: Low-Earth “Lunar” Orbit

Duration:00:45:57

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Episode 484: Runaway Ramp

11/5/2024
Spaceflight News — Shenzhou-19 reaches Tiangong (spaceflightnow.com) — Mirror platform for Tiangong (news.cgtn.com) (youtube.com) — Low-cost Tiangong cargo S/C (spacenews.com) — “Kinetica-2 [selected] as top launcher choice” (twitter.com/cas_space) — Crewed moon rover (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/YuqiiQian) Short & Sweet — Artemis heat shield chunks (spacenews.com) — Liquid water on Mars (nature.com VIA nasaspaceflight.com) (news.berkeley.edu) — California startup develops ABEP system (spacenews.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — November 8, 2004: First launch of a Soyuz 2 carrier rocket (en.wikipedia.org) (v2rockethistory.com) — Next week (11/12 - 11/18) in 1981: 40% of the mission, 90% of the objectives.

Duration:00:37:00

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Episode 483: 100 Abort Criteria

10/29/2024
Spaceflight News — Starship Flight 5 Review “Leaked” (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (spacenews.com) (HT DennisO: x.com/StarshipGazer) Short & Sweet — Crew-8 post-landing medical issue (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov) — Companies to bring commercial launch to Ireland (europeanspaceflight.com) — ACS-3’s a little crooked (space.com) (blogs.nasa.gov) — Mars Sample Revision (spacenews.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — From the intro: Aerojet 260 solid rocket test (en.wikipedia.org) This Week in Spaceflight History — 3 Nov, 1994. Launch of STS-66 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nss.org) (youtu.be) — Next week (11/5 - 11/11) in 2004: A blind bowling ball

Duration:00:45:17

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Episode 482: Geostationary Explosive Orbit

10/22/2024
Thanks to Dennis O for naming this week’s episode! Spaceflight News — Intelsat 33e loses power and blows up (spacenews.com) (x.com/S4S_SDA) (reddit.com) Short & Sweet — Sirius Space hot fire (europeanspaceflight.com) — A Firefly to launch a Jackal (satellitetoday.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — Ross Peterson: Super Heavy’s reentry heating — Taylor S Marks: ISS graveyard orbit (discord.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — 27 Oct, 1992. Launch of the Znamya 2 solar power antenna (en.wikipedia.org) (thespacereview.com) (qsl.net) (skypub.com VIA web.archive.org) — Next week (10/29 - 11/4) in 1994: holding the weight of LEO on your shoulders

Duration:00:54:30

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Episode 481: Deorbit Strategies

10/15/2024
Spaceflight News — Worries about ISS making a splash (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (space.com) Short & Sweet — X-37B to perform aerobraking maneuver (defenseone.com) — Rocket Lab wins Mars Sample Return concept award (spacenews.com) — Vast unveils details on Haven-1 (payloadspace.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — From the intro: Starship Flight Test 5 (youtu.be) (nasaspaceflight.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — October 17, 1974: Founding of OTRAG (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (youtube.com) (bernd-leitenberger.de) — Next week (10/22 - 10/28) in 1992: To shreds, you say!

Duration:00:30:01

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Episode 480: Phenolic Burnthrough

10/8/2024
Spaceflight News -- Vulcan anomaly (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/dwisecinema) (spacenews.com) Short & Sweet -- Voyager 2 turns off science instrument (inverse.com) -- Super bright Qianfan satellites (spacenews.com) -- NASA reduces rate of ISS leak (spacenews.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections -- Unc’ Willy: Crossfield’s employer (discord.com) This Week in Spaceflight History -- 8 Oct, 2012: The launch of CRS-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasaspaceflight.com) -- Next week (10/15 - 10/21) in 1974: The original SpaceX

Duration:00:55:07

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Episode 479: VIPER Sting

10/1/2024
Spaceflight News -- VIPER opinions (spacenews.com) (sam.gov) Short & Sweet -- Chinese lunar spacesuit revealed (cgtn.com) (space.com) -- Upper stage anomaly grounds Falcon 9 (space.com) (spacenews.com) -- MaiaSpace moves in (spacenews) This Week in Spaceflight History -- 2 Oct, 1921. Birth of Scott Crossfield (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: govinfo.gov) (magazine.washington.edu) -- Next week (10/8 - 10/14) in 2012: A boxy box delivery

Duration:00:43:05

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Episode 478: ISRO Audit

9/24/2024
Spaceflight News -- ISRO rising (spacenews.com) Short & Sweet -- Iran successfully launches research satellite (almayadeen.net) -- Ariane 6 software fix (spacenews.com) -- Yutu 2 turns six (space.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections -- From the intro: Sirius Space will launch from Australia (europeanspaceflight.com) This Week in Spaceflight History -- Launch of Shenzhou 7 (神舟七号) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nescacademy.nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (youtube.com) -- Next week (10/1 - 10/7) in 1921: Flying with Michael Burnham

Duration:00:35:37

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Episode 477: Land Ahoy

9/17/2024
Spaceflight News -- Landspace lands (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) Short & Sweet -- New Glenn to attempt landing (HT Chris Radcliff: https://twitter.com/davill) -- Chang’e-6 extended mission (spacenews.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections -- From the intro: Polaris Dawn spacewalk (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) This Week in Spaceflight History -- 22 Sep, 2006. Launch of Hinode (日の出) (nasa.gov) (eoportal.org) (esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org) -- Next week (9/24 - 9/30) in 2008: And then there were three

Duration:00:29:54

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Episode 476: Qrbital MeQaniQs

9/10/2024
Spaceflight News -- BepiColombo insertion delayed (europeanspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (esa.int) Short & Sweet -- EscaPADE DelAYED (spacenews.com) -- Starliner Returned (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) -- Vega’s final launch (satellitetoday.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections -- From the intro: Blue Origin’s new drone ship (HT DennisO: https://x.com/_mgde_) (space.com) -- Haragopal: Europa Clipper’s flying on Falcon Heavy, not New Glenn (discord.com) This Week in Spaceflight History -- 10 Sept, 2009: The launch of HTV-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (humans-in-space.jaxa.jp) (PDF: nasa.gov) -- Next week (9/17 - 9/23) in 2006: Flying to where the Sun never rises

Duration:00:46:12

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Episode 475: Falcon Crunch

9/3/2024
Spaceflight News -- B1062 lost (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com) (HT ArcadeEngineer: twitter.com) Short & Sweet -- Intuitive Machines selected for lunar South Pole mission (spacenews.com) -- Stoke Space wins contract to prototype cargo delivery (satellitetoday.com) (stokespace.com) -- Starliner wob wob (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov) Questions, Comments, Corrections -- From the intro: Europa Clipper (planetary.org) This Week in Spaceflight History -- 6 Sept, 1988: The troublesome landing of Soyuz TM-5 (russianspaceweb.com) (en.wikipedia.org) -- Next week (9/10 - 9/16) in 2009: Stork with a smile

Duration:00:31:41

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Episode 474: Another Six Months

8/27/2024
Spaceflight News -- Starliner crew to return on Dragon (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) Short & Sweet -- EscaPADE arrives in Florida (spacenews.com) -- SLS gets bumped up a block (spacenews) -- RFA first stage lost in test-firing anomaly (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (europeanspaceflight.com) (youtu.be) This Week in Spaceflight History -- 27 Aug, 1985. Launch of STS-51-I (PDF: nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (forum.nasaspaceflight.com) (historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (wikiarchives.space) (en.wikipedia.org) -- Next week (9/3 - 9/9) in 1988: Shouldn’t have had that last cup of coffee

Duration:00:52:38

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Episode 473: DOWNLINK--Rocket Lab's EscaPADE Team

8/20/2024
Spaceflight News -- First polar-orbiting crewed mission announced (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) Short & Sweet -- New solid rocket game in town (breakingdefense.com) (spacenews.com) -- Spaceport Rundown (flyingmag.com) (europeanspaceflight.com) (cnbc.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections -- From Espen Urkedal via email: Raptor 3 is not as incomplete as it looks (twitter.com/gwynne_shotwell) Interview -- Rocket Lab’s Cristophe Mandy and Sarah Blyde -- There’s also a brief appearance by Lane Cook, Senior Program Manager -- Thank you so much to the Rocket Lab team for making their time and facility available to us! -- rocketlabusa.com This Week in Spaceflight History -- 24 Aug, 1958: The failed launch of Explorer 5 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) -- Next week (8/27 - 9/2) in 1985: Big Astronaut, Little Astronaut

Duration:01:14:13