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Episode 87 – Apollo Era recollections of a Brit working in NASA

Dr David Baker has been involved with the USA since childhood. First attending a US school in England and then studying in the US under a scholarship program sponsored by Senator Clinton P Anderson. He returned to the USA and worked for NASA on various programs from Gemini to the SpaceShuttle. After leaving NASA, he set up one of the earliest private space sector companies in London.

Today he is the editor of the British Interplanetary Society’s monthly journal – Spaceflight and a prolific author of space books. Some of the topics we spoke about include

Early interest in space and astronomy stimulated by milestones such as breaking of the sound barrier, Sputnik and Gagarin’s flight.
Completed his PhD in Earth and Planetary physics.
Worked for Nasa between 1965 and 1984. Mainly in the mission
Setup a consultancy in 1984 to bring US launch and satellites services to the wider international community.
Setup a consultancy in 1984 to bring US launch and satellites services to the wider international community
Delayed the launch of STS-41B in February 1984 carrying payloads for Indonesia and Western Union but problems with the payload Assist Modules did not meet the insurance certification requirements.
Was involved in the purchase by India its 4 INSAT satellites (INSAT 1A-1D) from Ford Aerospace in the USA.
Published over 110 books and more in the pipeline to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

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Episode 84: NASA after the Shuttle. SLS and The Gateway

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Dr David Baker has been involved with the USA since childhood. First attending a US school in England and then studying in the US under a scholarship program sponsored by Senator Clinton P Anderson. He returned to the USA and worked for NASA on various programs from Gemini to the SpaceShuttle. He was present in mission control in 1970 and witnessed the drama of Apollo 13 first hand.

He joined the British Interplanetary Society in 1965, published his first article in the society’s journal Spaceflight in 1969 and since 2011 has been the editor of that very journal -Spaceflight. To date, he has published a remarkable 110 books by the close of 2018 with a few more in the pipeline for 2019 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 11.

In this episode, we talk about the current status of the space programme in the US and the changing role of NASA.

The USA has not been able to launch US astronauts from the USA since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011. NASA found itself in a similar position between 1975 (Apollo Soyuz Test programme) and the first Space Shuttle in 1981.
Why NASA dropped the Ares programme and why its replacement, the Space Launch System (SLS) schedule remains unclear. The first SLS mission, uncrewed – Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) by 2020 and the second crewed mission, Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) by 2023.
The successor to the ISS, the “Gateway” is an international project for a space station in lunar orbit. Only about a third of the size of the ISS and it will have fewer international partners.
The gateway is seen by Russia as an American lead programme. Will Russia participate with the gateway or consider a joint Russia/China human spaceflight programme?
China/USA cooperation in space has been prohibited ny US law. What prospects that this will change?

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Episode 74: Space Debris and Sustainable use of Space

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Space, as the author Douglas Adams said “is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is”. After 6 decades of launching spacecraft, some orbits are now congested with space debris from collisions and poor end-of-life mission management. This has now become a serious hazard and even a danger to operational spacecraft. With plans to launch thousands of additional satellites, the Mega Constellations, in the coming decade, the need for some sort form of “traffic management” in orbit has never been greater.

The Secure World Foundation was established in 2002 by philanthropists Marcell Arsenault and his wife Cynda Collins Arsenault. It’s vision of “sustainable and peaceful uses of outer space contributing to global stability and benefits on Earth” is timely. In the last decade, the urgency to address the profound impact of climate change on Earth has finally been (almost) heeded, the next decade will focus on space. The SWF is informing and leading this debate.

Dr Brian Weeden is the Director of Program Planning for Secure World Foundation. In the past, his responsibilities included intercontinental ballistic missile(IBM) operations, worked at Cheyenne Mountain and Vandenberg Airforce Base and specialised in Space Situational Awareness in the US Air Force and Strategic Command’s Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC). In this episode, he talks about the key issues of space debris, preventing, militarisation of space, raising awareness of cyber threats to spacecraft, developing resources for the many nations that are now developing a space programme, fostering standards and policies for commercial uses of space.

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The SWF produces some very interesting and readable resources. A selection below

PDF – Weapons and Conflict in Space: History, Reality, and The Future. A really good primary from Brian Weeden and others

PDF – Handbook for new actors in space

PDF – Global Counterspace Capabilities: An Open Source Assessment

PDF – Tomorrow’s Battlefield: Emerging Areas of Military Competition – Space,

PDF – Weapons and Conflict in Space: History, Reality, and The Future

MP3 – Big Data, Big Space, Big Risk: Addressing Cyber Security Threats

PDF – Preparing For a “Normalized” Space Domain – Secure World Foundation

Episode 72: Satish Dhawan Space Centre

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ep72 — From left to right. V. Seshagiri Rao Associate director, Dr M.Y.S. Prasad SDSC director, Dr S.V. Subba Rao Deputy Director

Located about 80km from Chennai on India’s east coast, Satish Dhawan Space centre is used by ISRO to launch all of its satellites including those to the Moon and Mars. Also known as Sriharikota, it was established during the late 1960s but today it has a vehicle assembly building, two launch pads and a state of the art mission control centre.

In this episode, Dr MYS Prasad, the director at Satish Dhawan Space Centre describes the key services and activities that take place at India’s 21st century rocket launch complex. This interview was recorded in January 2014 and Dr Prasad stood down as director on 31st May 2015.

Episode 87 – Apollo Era recollections of a Brit working in NASA

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Episode 84: NASA after the Shuttle. SLS and The Gateway

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Episode 74: Space Debris and Sustainable use of Space

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Episode 72: Satish Dhawan Space Centre

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