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April 27, 2024
Episode 1606: Delta 4 Heavy Recap; Coping with Mars Sample Return Budget
We have a new Talking Space team member, Heather Smith; an update of the Mars Sample Return mission status from NASA as a response to the IRB; and the latest on the final Delta 4 Heavy flight.
Welcome to another episode of Talking Space, where today we bring you the latest updates on the Mars Sample Return mission. In this episode, we're all very excited to introduce our new team member, Heather Smith, who brings her passion for space to our discussions. Welcome, Heather!
Artemis Accords
The episode kicks off with news about Slovenia signing the Artemis Accords. These accords outline best practices for sustainable space exploration and Slovenia is the third European country to sign them in less than a week, closely following Switzerland and Sweden.
Mars Sample Return
Next, we delve into the Mars Sample Return Mission. This ambitious mission aims to bring back samples from Mars to Earth. However, escalating costs and potential impacts on other missions have presented challenges. What will the mission team do to cope with a much lower budget and still retrieve the samples? The answer lies within this episode.
We also bring you:
- Updates on the upcoming crewed flight test of the Boeing Starliner. The spacecraft, aptly named Calypso, has already participated in the first two orbital flight tests. We eagerly look forward to its launch, planned for May 6th. Talking Space plans to be there!
- A bit more of a goodbye to Delta 4 Heavy and the NROL-70 mission.
- Wrapping up the episode, we present an enlightening interview with Rosa Banuelos, a Boeing Senior Communications Specialist for the Starliner program, and Steven Siceloff, NASA's Commercial Crew Program and ISS Program Lead Public Affairs Officer at Kennedy Space Center. Steven and Mark also provide interesting insights into the Atlas V rocket, the vehicle that will carry Starliner to space.
Please be sure to let us know your thoughts on the topics we discuss. You can always reach us at mailbag@TalkingSpaceOnline.com. You now have a way to easily send us a voice recording that we may use on the show: just click on the blue microphone icon at the bottom right of any page at TalkingSpaceOnline.com.
Show recorded 04-21-2024.
Host: Larry Herrin
Panelist(s): Mark Ratterman, Heather Smith (Gene Mikulka, Dr. Kat Robison and Sawyer Rosenstein will return)
Podcast Editor: Larry Herrin
Delta 4 Heavy NROL-70 poster – website photo credit: NRO