The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

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 440 This 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

Spaceflight News — Starliner Crewed Flight Test stays on schedule (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (blogs.nasa.gov) Short & Sweet — Looking Towards the End of ISS (planetary.org) (spacenews.com) — Orion still on track (spacenews.com) — Ariane 6 hot firing test (europeanspaceflight.com) Questions, Comments, Corrections — Danielle Rose has some neat space art (drose.studio) (spacey.space) — Jared Owen covers ISS construction (HT Lee youtu.be VIA discord.com) This Week in Spaceflight History — 3 Dec, 2015. Launch of LISA Pathfinder (esa.int) (youtu.be) (nasa.gov) (spaceflight101.com) (PDF: esmats.eu) — Next week (12/5 - 12/11) in 1966: It helped make Our World possible