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 Artemis manifest.This episode of Main Engine Cut Of

T+273: Mars Sample Return

Apr 18th, 2024 24m 10s

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 plan, and ponder whether or not SpaceX is going

T+272: Moon Rovers, Space Stations, and Starships

Apr 12th, 2024 30m 4s

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 a stake in Starlab, and I still needed to ca

T+271: Checking in on the Chinese Space Industry (with Andrew Jones)

Mar 19th, 2024 44m 28s

Andrew Jones returns to the show to catch up on the Chinese space industry—Tiangong, reusable launchers, constellations, and the Moon.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Tyler, Jan, Will and Lars from

T+270: K2 Space (with Neel Kunjur, Co-Founder and CTO)

Mar 14th, 2024 37m 43s

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 the launch pad looks like from here.This episo

T+269: IM-1 and Beyond (with Tim Crain, Co-Founder and CTO of Intuitive Machines)

Mar 7th, 2024 1h 3m

Tim Crain, Co-Founder and CTO of Intuitive Machines, joins me to talk about their recent IM-1 mission to land Odysseus on the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS program.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 36 executive producers—Ru

T+268: IM-1, CLPS, NASA Budget (with Eric Berger)

Mar 1st, 2024 43m 45s

Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins me to talk about Intuitive Machine’s successful landing despite so many issues on the mission, the future of CLPS, and the tough questions facing NASA and its budget.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is broug

T+267: Vulcan, New Glenn, Peregrine, Artemis

Jan 26th, 2024 36m 23s

I catch up with a round up of stories from January: ULA’s first Vulcan launch, Blue Origin’s success with its BE-4 engines and what it means for their year, Astrobotic’s Peregrine mission, JAXA’s SLIM mission, and NASA’s announcement of Artemis

T+266: Alex Fielding, CEO and Chairman, Privateer

Dec 15th, 2023 1h 13m

Alex Fielding, CEO and Chairman of Privateer, joins me to talk about what they’re working on and what drives them as an organization.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 36 executive producers—Joel, The Astrogators at SEE, C

T+265: Headlines, featuring Starship IFT-2, Dragonfly, and Ariane 6

Dec 1st, 2023 17m 10s

A special (free!) airing of this week’s episode of MECO Headlines. Starship IFT-2, Dragonfly, Ariane 6, ISS happenings, launches, and more.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Donald, Pat from KC, Davi

T+264: ESA’s Interest in Space Stations, Virgin Galactic Bails on VSS Unity

Nov 13th, 2023 23m 12s

ESA is looking to start a commercial cargo program while looking further ahead to commercial space stations by signing an agreement with Airbus and Voyager. Virgin Galactic is laying off 20% of its staff and ending VSS Unity flights in just a f

T+263: Space Policy Roundup (with Marcia Smith)

Oct 31st, 2023 33m 14s

Marcia Smith of SpacePolicyOnline.com joins me for a roundup of space policy topics—the House Speaker mayhem, the outlook for budgets over the next year, what to do about the ISS and its related expenses, and a lot more.This episode of Main Eng

T+262: Printing a Meniscus in the BioFabrication Facility (with Dr. Molly Mulligan and Dr. Ken Savin of Redwire)

Oct 27th, 2023 43m 19s

Dr. Molly Mulligan and Dr. Ken Savin of Redwire join me to talk about successfully 3D bioprinting the first human knee meniscus on the International Space Station in their BioFabrication Facility, how this work fits into the near and far future

T+261: Agile Space (with CEO Chris Pearson and Chief Engineer Lars Osborne)

Oct 23rd, 2023 51m 55s

Chris Pearson (CEO) and Lars Osborne (Chief Engineer) of Agile Space join me to talk about what they’re working on, how the company has gotten to where it is today, and what’s in store for the future.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is broug

T+260: Northrop Grumman Changes Plans, Starlab, Orbital Reef, and Leadership Changes

Oct 19th, 2023 23m 10s

Northrop Grumman has changed plans—they’ve ended their own space station project, and will contribute to Starlab. At the same time, Blue Origin and Sierra Space are reconsidering their Orbital Reef plans, amidst changing leadership and raising

T+259: Tom Marotta, The Spaceport Company

Sep 12th, 2023 56m 38s

Tom Marotta of The Spaceport Company joins me to talk about what they’re working on, their vision for the future of spaceflight, spaceport operations, the demonstration they did in May, the FAA and its interaction with private companies, reentr

T+258: The Six, by Loren Grush (Off-Nominal 123 - An Exciting Time)

Sep 8th, 2023 1h 5m

Jake and Anthony are joined by Loren Grush of Bloomberg to talk about her new book, The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Frank, Chris, Joel

T+257: Chandrayaan-3, Luna-25, and the Deep Space Network (with Scott Tilley)

Aug 31st, 2023 54m 24s

Scott Tilley joins me to talk about ISRO’s success with Chandrayaan-3, Roscosmos’ Luna-25 mission and the mystery behind it, and the state of the Deep Space Network.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers

T+256: The Kuiper Logjam

Aug 25th, 2023 32m 3s

Amazon moved their Project Kuiper prototypes from Vulcan to Atlas V. Between that and some recent conversations I’ve had, I thought it would be a good time to check in on Kuiper and to see how they’re progressing towards deployment. I do some m

T+255: NSSL Phase 3 Addendum

Jul 20th, 2023 27m 29s

After the most recent show, I found a few nuggets of information in the NSSL Phase 3 documents, plus some more updates came out in a call that the Space Force had with some reporters.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 e

T+254: Mars Sample Return, Vulcan, NSSL Phase 3 (with Eric Berger)

Jul 18th, 2023 47m 36s

Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins me to talk about the budgetary threat facing Mars Sample Return, the latest issue with ULA’s Vulcan vehicle, and the ongoing tweaks to the National Security Space Launch Program’s Phase 3 architecture.This epis

T+253: The German and European Launch Industry (with Adrian Beil)

Jun 14th, 2023 36m 12s

Adrian Beil of NASASpaceFlight.com (and a long-time beloved member of the Off-Nominal Discord) joins me to talk about the state of German and European launch, with new entrants Rocket Factory Augsburgand Isar Aerospace getting close to the laun

T+252: NASA Selects Blue Moon for a Second Lunar Lander, But is Facing a Grim Budget Reality

May 31st, 2023 26m 21s

NASA selected Blue Moon as the second human lunar lander for Artemis—which is awesome!—yet the budget outlook for the next few years is…not good. I think through what NASA can, should, and might do in the face of a grim budget reality.This epis

T+251: Finance and Business Strategy (Live from Space Symposium 2023)

May 4th, 2023 46m 2s

Live from the Redwire booth at Space Symposium 2023! I discuss the business and finance side of spaceflight, with Caleb Henry (Quilty Space), Peter Beck (Rocket Lab), and Jonathan Baliff (CFO, Redwire).This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is bro

T+250: LEO and Lunar Commercialization (Live from Space Symposium 2023)

May 2nd, 2023 47m 34s

Live from the Redwire booth at Space Symposium 2023! I discuss the commercialization effort of LEO and the Moon with Angela T. Hart (Manager, Commercial Low Earth Orbit Program Office, NASA), Dr. Molly Mulligan (Business Development, Redwire),