Main Engine Cut Off

A special preview of MECO Headlines, covering Starship Flight 6, ABL’s pivot to missile defense, and much more. Subscribe today to get Headlines regularly!

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is broug…

Donald Trump has been reelected President of the United States, and the main character of spaceflight, Elon Musk, is one of his top advisors. Some thoughts on where things may go from here, and a bit…

Jared Isaacman of the Polaris Program joins me to talk about the Polaris Dawn mission, his EVA experience, the Hubble Space Telescope situation, how the Polaris Program and SpaceX approach tech devel…

SpaceX is entering a new era for Starship after the epic Flight 5, with its pinpoint ship reentry and staggeringly beautiful booster catch.

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SpaceX and the FAA have been going a few rounds back and forth in public over fines and delays. It’s weird and inscrutable but maybe helpful in the long run in a few ways.

This episode of Main Engine …

Andy Lapsa, Co-Founder and CEO of Stoke Space, joins me to talk about the company, their vision for the future, their approach to launch, the larger trends that are shaping the market, and how that a…

Jeff Foust of Space News joins me to talk about Starliner, Fram2, VIPER, Blue Moon, and everything else going on in space.

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Mark Albrecht joins me to talk about the state and future of space policy in a very dynamic Presidential election year. He shares some stories from the past, talks about his experience in presidentia…

Andrew Rush returns to the show to talk about his new venture, Star Catcher. They are working to build an energy grid in space, beaming energy directly to existing solar panels on satellites in LEO.

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NASA announced their intent to cancel VIPER, the rover that was due to go to the Moon on Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, after severe schedule and cost growth. SpaceX had a rare failure of Falcon 9 that…

A few weeks ago, we talked about Redwire’s SabreSat spacecraft, and today we’re talking about their Europe-based Phantom spacecraft. We talk about the spacecraft platform itself, how the different pa…

Firefly added launch sites in Virginia and Sweden for its Alpha vehicle. NASA has selected SpaceX to build the ISS US Deorbit Vehicle, closed out their task orders to Collins for ISS spacesuits, and …

Redwire announced today that it has been awarded a contract from DARPA to serve as the prime mission integrator for its Otter program. For the program, and for the industry beyond that, they’ll be de…

NASA selected the organizations who will be carrying out mission design studies for the Mars Sample Return rethink, and the US Space Force selected the first 3 bidders for the National Security Space…

Starliner flew its first crew, Starship flew its fourth flight, Chang’e-6 collected its first samples, and Agnikul Cosmos flew its first mission.

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United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan debut went smoothly, but sluggish hardware integration raises doubts about meeting commitments, while Orion faces heat shield issues, potentially shaking up the Artemi…

NASA is heading back to the drawing board for a Mars Sample Return architecture, and is accepting proposals for mission studies by May. I talk about a few takeaways from the communication of that pla…

NASA selected 3 teams to work on unpressurized rovers for Artemis, while Japan signed on officially to provide a pressurized rover in exchange for seats on Artemis landers. Elsewhere, Mitsubishi took…

Andrew Jones returns to the show to catch up on the Chinese space industry—Tiangong, reusable launchers, constellations, and the Moon.

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Neel Kunjur, Co-Founder and CTO of K2 Space, joins me to talk about their vision for the future of satellites and the wider space industry, what they’ve been up to lately, and what their roadmap to t…