This Week In Space podcast: Episode 59 —The battle for SpaceX’s Starship (Image Credit: Space.com)
On Episode 59 of This Week In Space (opens in new tab), Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik reflect on Tariq’s Starship launch experience and the massive blowback against SpaceX and Elon Musk after the test flight.
There’s no middle ground on SpaceX’s Starship, it seems. You love it, or you hate it; you’re an Elon Musk fanboy or a grizzled Old Space curmudgeon.
The battle rages over the outcomes from the truncated Starship launch test last week, and we’re going to jump right in, punch through the noise, unwind the arguments, and shine the light.
Or not. You decide. If nothing else, we’ll kick the bear called Starship!
Also, this week: A private Japanese moon lander fails, Voyager 2 just keeps going and Europe’s JUICE probe has a stuck ice antenna!
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Space news of the week
- Hakuto Lunar Landing Attempt (opens in new tab)
- UAE Mars Orbiter Images Deimos (opens in new tab)
- Voyager 2 Just Keeps Going (opens in new tab)
- JUICE Mission — Stuck Antenna (opens in new tab)
- Recap — Starship Launch Test (opens in new tab)
- Launch Pad Damage (opens in new tab)
Space books!
Looking for a telescope to see planets and comets? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 (opens in new tab) as the top pick in our best beginner’s telescope guide.
- National GeographicOur Universe: Picture Atlas of Our Universe (opens in new tab)
- A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (opens in new tab)
- The Mars Project (opens in new tab)
- Comm Check…: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia (opens in new tab)
- Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys (opens in new tab)
- Return to Earth (opens in new tab)
- Missions To The Moon (opens in new tab)
- Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her (opens in new tab)
- The Martian Chronicles (opens in new tab)
- Deepsix (opens in new tab)
- Lady Astronaut (3 book series) (opens in new tab)
- We All Died At Breakaway Station (opens in new tab)
- INHERIT THE STARS (opens in new tab)
Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes’ stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout (opens in new tab), courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.
About This Week In Space
This Week in Space (opens in new tab) covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What’s happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?
Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com (opens in new tab) as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.
Rod Pyle (opens in new tab) is an author, journalist, television producer and Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine (opens in new tab). He has written 18 books (opens in new tab) on space history, exploration, and development, including Space 2.0, Innovation the NASA Way, Interplanetary Robots, Blueprint for a Battlestar, Amazing Stories of the Space Age, First On the Moon, and Destination Mars
In a previous life, Rod produced numerous documentaries and short films for The History Channel, Discovery Communications, and Disney. He also worked in visual effects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Battlestar Galactica reboot, as well as various sci-fi TV pilots. His most recent TV credit was with the NatGeo documentary on Tom Wolfe’s iconic book The Right Stuff.
Responsible for Space.com’s editorial vision, Tariq Malik has been the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com since 2019 and has covered space news and science for 18 years. He joined the Space.com team in 2001, first as an intern and soon after as a full-time spaceflight reporter covering human spaceflight, exploration, astronomy and the night sky. He became Space.com’s managing editor in 2009. As on-air talent has presented space stories on CNN, Fox News, NPR and others.
Tariq is an Eagle Scout (yes, he earned the Space Exploration merit badge), a Space Camp veteran (4 times as a kid, once as an adult), and has taken the ultimate “vomit comet” ride while reporting on zero-gravity fires. Before joining Space.com, he served as a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering city and education beats. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University.
