After DOGE cuts, mass staff departures, and a blink-and-you-missed-it pivot to Mars, how much did NASA actually change in 2025? Space Policy Online founder Marcia Smith returns to assess a turbulent year.
Why do we explore space? In this Space Policy Edition rerun, Casey Dreier speaks with philosopher Dr. J. S. Johnson-Schwartz about why space science is a moral obligation, beyond economics or prestige.
In 1996, a controversial claim of fossilized life in a Martian meteorite ignited a golden age of Mars exploration. Nearly 30 years later, a potential biosignature detected by the Perseverance rover at Jezero Crater has sparked… no major policy changes. Why? Lou Friedman joins the show to present his view.
If the United States is indeed in a space race with China, why are we abandoning space science programs across the Solar System? This question, posed by guest Maxwell Zhu in a recent op-ed co-authored by The Planetary Society’s chief of space policy, reveals the current myopia around human spaceflight and the missing focus on a growing and ambitious new entrant into space science in the 21st century.
Atlantic writer Franklin Foer joins the show to discuss how NASA enabled the rise of Elon Musk, and, in doing so, sowed the seeds of its own decline.
Dr. Bhavya Lal argues that the 2020s are a decisive decade for in-space nuclear power. Without nuclear, humans may never be more than visitors on Mars or the Moon.
Our guest, Mary Guenther, argues that the Democratic Party is ceding leadership in space policy, and how linking space to jobs, supply chains, and climate could help refocus the party’s relationship with the Cosmos.
Alicia Brown from the Commercial Space Federation and Brittany Webster from the American Geophysical Union join the show to discuss NASA’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal.
Former NASA chief economist Akhil Rao explains why NASA needs economic expertise to navigate the complex — and often misunderstood — market forces that will determine the success or failure of its private partnerships.
No one person knows how to build a spaceship. What happens to NASA’s collective knowledge when thousands of employees lose their jobs?
The space sector is data-rich but insight-poor. Jack Kuhr of Payload talks about how he turns raw numbers into real narratives.
Can classical liberalism provide fresh insights to guide humanity’s activities in space? Philosopher Rebecca Lowe explains how it can.
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck outlines a $4B fixed-price plan for Mars Sample Return — and reveals new Venus mission details — before VP Richard French explains how a single, integrated team cuts costs and ensures success.
Marcia Smith, founder of Space Policy Online, joins the show to discuss the motivations and risks of pursuing change at NASA - and how much change can ultimately happen with Congress holding the purse strings.
We revisit a classic book on the limits of presidential power in setting the nation’s space agenda and explore how the increasingly powerful executive branch might be rewriting those expectations.
Norm Augustine, the distinguished aerospace industry veteran behind numerous influential studies, joins the show to discuss NASA at a Crossroads, the new report that raises alarm bells for NASA’s workforce, infrastructure, and technology capabilities.
Space expert Lori Garver joins the show to explore Kamala Harris’ space policy priorities, the major issues facing NASA in the next four years, and Garver’s thoughts on the evolution of Elon Musk and NASA’s increasing reliance on the commercial space industry.
Dr. Greg Autry, who served on Trump’s NASA transition team in 2016 and was nominated for the position of NASA CFO in 2020, joins the show to discuss the space policy issues facing a potential second Trump administration in 2025.
Policy expert G. Ryan Faith argues for importance of communal engagement with our values and goals in space exploration. While easy answers may elude us, a careful and considered approach to this effort can help avoid common pitfalls and dead ends and ensure that future generations continue to explore space.
Every major NASA center built after the agency’s inception is located in the American South. Why? Dr. Brian Odom, NASA’s chief historian, joins the show to discuss the cultural, political, and historical implications of NASA’s expansion into the South.
Holy texts and salvation ideology. Saints and martyrs. True believers and apostates. This isn’t a religion — this is human spaceflight, argues Roger Launius, the former Chief Historian of NASA.
Should policymakers spend more time looking - really looking - at the Moon? Chris Cokinos thinks so. He’s the author of a new book, Still As Bright, which explores the evolving role of the Moon in our culture, our history, and our dreams of spaceflight.
Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin discusses his claim that there is a tension between the so-called Real reasons that motivate spaceflight and the prosaic, Acceptable reasons used to justify space exploration within the public sphere.
Science historian Dr. Matt Shindell joins the show to discuss the unique era of commercial lunar exploration, and how planetary exploration has evolved and can continue to evolve on and around the Moon.
Space policy expert Laura Delgado López joins the show to break down the new paper, “Clearing the Fog: The Grey Zones of Space Governance” by Jessica West and Jordan Miller.
UK-based space writer Gurbir Singh, author of the book The Indian Space Programme: India’s Incredible Journey from the Third World towards the First, joins the show to help us understand India’s growing ambitions and capabilities in space.
Though the Space Shuttle program lasted 30 years and built the ISS, it fell short of NASA's goals for cost, reusability, and reliability. Can a program be both a worldly success and a policy failure? In this Space Policy Edition, we dissect a classic space policy paper and debate its relevance today.
NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is both a top priority and seriously troubled. Independent review board chair Orlando Figueroa joins us to talk about the challenges and what must be done.
Scott Pace, the prior executive secretary of the National Space Council, discusses why Artemis is of strategic value to U.S. national interests — and why the Moon is unique as a destination to drive global space exploration.
We check in on the congressional budget process for NASA, Mars Sample Return’s spiraling cost growth, and the impending end of the regulatory holiday for human commercial space launch companies.
