This Week in Space (Audio)

TWiS 189: Privatizing Orbit - The Pioneering Work of Jeffrey ManberThis week, we talk with our favorite Newspace Buccaneer, Jeffrey Manber. When so many people were touting their private spaceflight dreams in the 1980s, Manber took the next enormous stride and actually made it happen. He formed the Office of Space Commerce within the US Department of Commerce at the invitation of the Reagan administration, forged the first commercial relations with the then-Soviet Union, bridged that into the post-USSR period, and was responsible for the first commercial spaceflight to the then-mothballed Soviet-era Mir space station with a crew that stayed there for 70 days. He then went on to develop a variety of commercial space enterprises, from the first commercial platform to release smallsats from the ISS to initiating the Bishop airlock that became part of the space station. He also started Nanoracks, the first privately developed and standardized satellite deployment mechanism to fly. Finally, he initiated Starlab, the private space station currently under development by Voyager Technologies and a consortium of aerospace companies. Join us for this very special episode with one of the key founders of NewSpace! Headlines: • SpaceX Plans 2026 IPO and Possible $1.5 Trillion Valuation • NASA Loses Contact with Mars Maven Orbiter • Discussion of Star Trek's New Starfleet Academy Series Trailer Main Topic: Privatizing Orbit and the Roots of Commercial Space • Jeffrey Manber Details His Early US-Russian Commercial Space Collaborations • His Space Journalism Origins and Shaping Commercial Space Policies • Inside the Launch of Commercial Space Fund and the Office of Space Commerce • First US Commercial Contracts with the Soviet Union and Mir Space Station • Navigating Washington Policy and Export Licenses for Soviet Deals • Attempt to Privatize Mir: Mirkorp, Leasing the Space Station, and Commercial Astronaut Crews • The Rise of Nanoracks and Commercial Payloads on the ISS • Building Starlab: Partnerships, Scale, Launch Plans, and Commercial Design • Comparing Starlab's Ambitions to Vast, Axiom, and China's Tiangong • Evaluating SpaceX's Public Offering and Its Impact on Elon Musk's Strategy • Jeffrey Manber's Other Projects: Writing About Newspace and President Lincoln • Thoughts on America's Future in Commercial Orbit and Personal Memoir Plans Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik Guest: Jeffrey Manber Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

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TWiS 185: Gutting Goddard - Dismantling a NASA CenterAs you may or may not know, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is in the administration's crosshairs. With cuts to their budget and staffing beginning under Elon Musk's DOGE, it has taken a different form with the government shutdown. Employees furloughed or retired from critical programs, laboratories shuttered, and entire facilities gutted--all without the approval of Congress. By the time the shutdown is over, NASA's primary research center--and the one most responsible for what many are now calling "the C-word," climate science--will be a shell of its former self. Josh Dinner, who recently completed a months-long investigative report, joins us. Also: Jared Isaacman is back in the running as NASA chief, the 25th anniversary of the ISS, and China now working with the US on orbital dangers. Headlines: • Trump Renominates Jared Isaacman as NASA Chief, Sparking Political Drama • 25 Years of Continuous Astronaut Presence on the International Space Station • China Initiates Rare Satellite Collision Avoidance With NASA • Apollo-Era Radio Telescope That Spied on Soviet Satellites Up for Sale • Mars ESCAPADE Missions Twin Probes Prepare for Launch on New Glenn Rocket Main Topic: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Crisis • Goddard Hit by Accelerated Building Closures and Funding Cuts • NASA Employees and Lawmakers Accuse Agency Leadership of Breaking the Law • Climate Science and Political Motives at the Core of Goddard's Struggles • Union Power Stripped After NASA's Reclassification as National Security Agency • High-Profile Missions Like Hubble, the Nancy Roman Space Telescope, and LISA Facing Uncertainty • Loss of Talent and Institutional Knowledge Threatens Future Space Projects • Congress and the Public Urged to Support, But Outlook Remains Grim • Could New Leadership Reverse the Changes Brought to Goddard, or Reinforce Goddard's Decline? Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik Guest: Josh Dinner Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

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