The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

Spaceflight News— Lunar buggy selection (spacenews.com) (PDF: sam.gov VIA sam.gov) (twitter.com/DubnHG1) (nikkei.com)Short & Sweet— Dragonfly mission officially confirmed (nasa.gov)— Mars Sample Revamp (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Unc Willy: Cape launch complexes (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 26 Apr, 2007. First flight of SOFIA (en.wikipedia.org) (747sp.com) (HT Colin: youtube.com)— Next week (4/30 - 5/6) in 1999: Taped too tightly

Spaceflight News— Last Delta IV heavy (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: ulalaunch.com) (arstechnica.com)Short & Sweet— Relativity Space wins contract (spacenews)— Japan secures a moon landing (spacenews)— Max Space Modules (spacenews)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Csaba via Discord: SOIR means "evening" in French, pretty clever pun (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 19 Apr, 1975. Launch of Aryabhata satellite (lowyinstitute.org) (ursc.gov.in) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (4/23 - 4/29) in 2007: Looking at stars through a wall

Spaceflight News— Broken records and Starship’s near future (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— New Shepard Plans Crewed Flight (spacenews.com)— Lunar Rover Mk 2 (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History—  April 11, 2006: Arrival of Venus Express at Venus (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci.esa.int VIA sci.esa.int)— Next week (4/16 - 4/22) in 1975: Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000

Spaceflight News— Orbital Reef Rundown (nature.com) (PDF: star.spaceops.org VIA star.spaceops.org) (genesisesi.com)— Artemis 3 now has 3 experiments (nasa.gov) (hou.usra.edu)Short & Sweet— A Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine flies for first time (HT Andrew Z: autoevolution.com)— A Nascent Solution For Voyager 1 (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 6 Apr, 1965: Launch of Intelsat I, the first commercial satellite in GEO (en.wikipedia.org) (boeing.com) (space.skyrocket.de) (astronautix.com VIA web.archive.org)— Next week (4/9 - 4/15) in 2006: The mission that went to hell in 5 months

Spaceflight News— Starship IFT-3 (spacenews.com) (twitter.com) (youtu.be)Short & Sweet— Euclid spacecraft addresses ice-buildup on optics (asdnews.com)— Ariane 6 coming together (esa.int)— Soyuz aborts at the pad (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: launch escape slide (youtube.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 17 Mar, 2002. Launch of GRACE spacecraft (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (esa.int) (skyrocket.de) (nasa.gov)— Next week (4/2 - 4/8) in 1965: Catching GEO worms

Interview — Professor Dante Lauretta— The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System (hachettebookgroup.com)— facebook.com/AZAstrobiology— threads.net/@azastrobiology— instagram.com/azastrobiology— Thanks to Grand Central Publishing (twitter.com/GrandCentralPub) (instagram.com/grandcentralpub)

Spaceflight News— Stoke Space focusing on first stage (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtu.be)Short & Sweet— Tianhe’s solar arrays patched (space.com)— Stratolaunch tests Talon (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)— Starship Flight 3 on its way (spacenews.com) (space.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 16 Mar, 1966. Recovery of Veterok and Ugolyok, who to this day hold the record for longest canine spaceflight (Kosmos 110) (en.wikipedia.org) (ru.wikipedia.org) (veterok-ugolyok.gmik.ru) (astronaut.ru)— Next week (3/19 - 3/25) in 2017: Dry, wet, and lumpy

Spaceflight News— Last big IM-1 update (arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/jeff_foust)Short & Sweet— Orion has hatch problems (spacenews.com)— ISRO plans for Mars helicopter (indiatoday.in)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Varda landing footage (youtube.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 8 Mar, 2001. Launch of STS-102 (nss.org) (aiaa.org)— Next week (3/12 - 3/18) in 1966: A 154 day mission, but only for the passengers

Spaceflight News— IM-1 landing follow-up (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)Short & Sweet— ISRO completes human-rating of engine (isro.gov.in)— Software error responsible for Firefly’s off-nominal payload delivery (fireflyspace.com) (space.com)— Varda’s capsule returns (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Espen via email: IM-1’s fuel loading This Week in Spaceflight History— 2 March 1965: Atlas Centaur AC-5 explosion (en.wikipedia.org) (science.nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com)— Next week (3/5 - 3/11) in 2001: The first ten-person spaceflight

Spaceflight News— IM-1 launch (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: intuitivemachines.com)Short & Sweet— H3 completes first successful launch (spacenews.com)— Voyager 1 still struggles to communicate (space.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— February 21 2008, Interception and destruction of USA-193 (thespacereview.com) (PDF: unoosa.org) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (2/27 - 3/4) in 1965: Technically, that was highly elliptical

Spaceflight News— Dream Chaser readies for first flight (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— Viasat-3 pushes forward (spacenews.com)— Lessons from Artemis 1 (spacenews.com)— X-37B’s orbit speculation (arstechnica.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— 2002 VE68 was officially named Zoozve! (alex-foster.com) (radiolab.org) (radiolab.org)This Week in Spaceflight History— 15 February, 1996: Failed launch of Intelsat 708 (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (thespacereview.com) (thespacereview.com) (smithsonianmag.com) (HT Dennis O: web.archive.org)— Next week (2/20 - 2/26) in 2008: And it’s picked off at the 380,000 yard line!

Spaceflight News— CLPS’ second try (spacenews.com)— Collins completes Crew Capability Assessment (prnewswire.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (youtube.com)Short & Sweet— Queqiao-2 readies for launch (cgtn.com)— First metal 3D printer in space reaches ISS (europeanspaceflight.com)— Orbit raising raising questions (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 9 Feb, 2000. First launch of a Fregat upper stage (russianspaceweb.com) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (2/13 - 2/19) in 1996: First failure

Spaceflight News— Ingenuity Down (HT deltaV: twitter.com/AndySaunders_1) (spacenews.com) (mars.nasa.gov)— Slim Upside-Down (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)(global.jaxa.jp)Short & Sweet— Redwire to provide elements of Blue Origin’s space tug (spacenews.com)— Two companies test reusable booster prototypes (space.com) (HT: Sam twitter.com/CNSpaceflight)— ESA astronaut operates Earth-bound robots while on orbit (europeanspaceflight.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Shuttle’s hatch lock (HT: deltaV, arstechnica.com) (spaceref.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— Feb 3, 1994: First launch of the H-II rocket (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (2/6 - 2/12) in 2000: First kleptoparasite in space

Spaceflight News— SLIM landing attempt (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (PDF: global.jaxa.jp)Short & Sweet— EUS heads to qualification (nasaspaceflight.com)— Ingenuity contact lost during flight 72, regained (mars.nasa.gov) (npr.org)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Peregrine Reentry (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 24 Jan, 1986. Voyager 2’s closest approach to Uranus (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (PDF: sci-hub.se)— Next week (1/30 - 2/5) in 1994: What comes between 1 and A?

Spaceflight News— Peregrine Failure (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/astrobotic)Short & Sweet— Lay-offs at JPL (spacenews)— Starship’s second flight failure explained (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Early demo of a starship game, complete with engineering section (starshipsimulator.co.uk)— Espen via email: F9 landing legs in episode 440This Week in Spaceflight History— 19 Jan, 1965. Launch of Gemini-Titan 2 (en.wikipedia.org) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov)— Next week (1/23 - 1/29) in 1986: Cheaper by the almost dozen

Spaceflight News— NIAC 2024 Phase One (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)Short & Sweet— India launches X-ray space observatory (spaceflightnow.com)— Space station stories (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 12 January, 1997: Launch of Atlantis on STS-81 (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (youtube.com) (freshairarchive.org)— Next week (1/16 - 1/22) in 1965: The there of “there and back again”

Spaceflight News— B1058 lost at sea (spaceflightnow.com) (twitter.com/johnkrausphotos) (youtube.com) (ventusky.com) (twitter.com/edwards345) (spaceexplored.com)— Firefly malfunction (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— China completes launch pad at first commercial spaceport (cgtn.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 3 Jan, 1999: The launch of Deep Space 2 (gsfc.nasa.gov) (wiley.com) (jpl.nasa.gov)— Next week (1/9 - 1/15) in 1997: Merry belated Christmas. I got you a fan.

Spaceflight News— China launches spaceplane for third time (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) (youtube.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— Refractory Starship (nasaspaceflight.com)— iSpace hops again (spacenews.com)— Voyager 1 suffers communication anomaly (space.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 19 Dec, 1976. The launch of the first KH-11 Kennen/Keyhole satellite (en.wikipedia.org) (space.skyrocket.de) (npr.org)— Two weeks from now (1/2 - 1/8) in 1999: Secondary failures

Spaceflight News— Vega propellant tank mishap  (arstechnica.com) (europeanspaceflight.com) (eoportal.org) (PDF: arianespace.com) — AVUM 4th stage (“upper stage”) (Pic: eoportal.org)— Transporter-9 satellite deployment malfunction (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Iran successfully launches bio-capsule (payloadspace.com)— Chinese methalox rocket progress continues (cgtn.com)— Stratolaunch tests hypersonic vehicle (thedrive.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 12 Dec, 2012: NIAC releases Space Debris Elimination (SpaDE) Phase 1 report (nasa.gov)— Next week (12/19 - 12/25) in 1976. Achievement unlocked

Spaceflight News— Starship Shtuff (payloadspace.com) (americaspace.com) (twitter.com/ThePrimalDino)Short & Sweet— JAXA cyber attacked (payloadspace.com)— U.S. watchdog agency finds Artemis III in 2025 unlikely (gao.gov) (spacenews.com)— Gyroscope glitch halts Hubble operations (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History—  Dec 7, 1966: Launch of ATS-1, the first experimental geostationary satellite (en.wikipedia.org) (youtu.be) (science.nasa.gov VIA web.archive.org)— Next week (12/12 - 12/18) in 2012: Digging up debris