Space Race 2.0

It’s goodnight moon from President Obama, as he calls for canceling the program that would return astronauts to the moon by 2020. We’ll hear from the private sector, which might win in this deal, and consider whether we should really replace human explorers with robots.

Plus, if we can’t fly you to the moon, would you settle for a few acres and a deed? Meet the man who claims to have property on the moon – but will it hold up in court?

Wernher von Braun was one of America’s premier rocket engineers and, a new book contends, an enthusiastic supporter of the Nazi party. Find out what the U.S. space program was willing to ignore for the prize of beating the Russians to the moon.

Listen to individual segments here:
Part 1 - Phil Chapman
Part 2 - Burt Rutan
Part 3 - Steven Weinberg
Part 4 - Steven Durst
Part 5 - Frans von der Dunk
Part 6 - Wayne Biddle

Space Race 2.0 - Burt Rutan

Part 2 of Space Race 2.0 featuring Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, founder of Scaled Composites and designer of SpaecShipOne and SpaceShipTwo.

Boldly Going Nowhere - Seth writes for the NYT

This week, Seth expanded on an earlier article for an op-ed piece in the New York Times. In it, Seth describes the near future of space 'travel' being conducted visually and robotically. After all, it would take as long as homo sapiens have walked the earth to get to the nearest star and back. And it may not be worth the wait. Better yet, Seth suggests, we should be sending unmanned craft, like the Mars rovers, to survey and capture data that we can analyze from the safety of our living rooms. You can read the whole editorial HERE.