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
Episode 69 Mars Orbiter Mission
Interview recorded at ISRO’s satellite Centre in Bangalore with Mars Orbiter Mission program director Dr Mylswamy Annadurai. This interview was recorded on 26th March 2014 after MOM was launched but before it arrived at Mars.
Episode 67 : Technik Museum Speyer
This episode is a preview of some of the space related exhibits in Europe’s largest aerospace museum – Speyer Technik Museum, in Germany. If you ever go and the following may entice you to do so, four space exhibits to look out for include the following: Soyuz TM19 – The landing capsule Soyuz TM-19 was […]
Episode 66: Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
November 21st 2013 was the 50th anniversary of a rocket launched from India in to space. The launch itself was an all Indian affair but with lots of international support. The rocket was American, carried a French Sodium Vapour payload with assisted by a computer and a helicopter from the Soviet Union. From this meagre […]
India and Space
November 21st 2013 marks 50 years of the Indian space program. From humble beginnings devoid of infrastructure, experience or trained engineers, India today has an established track record of designing, building and launching satellites for its own national needs and commercially for others. The next few podcast offer a glimpse of the people and achievements […]
Episode 61: Reg Turnill on Wernher von Braun
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Like so many in the “space community” I was saddened to hear of the passing of Reg Turnill. He was the BBC’s aerospace correspondent but is best known for covering the American Space program throughout the 60s and 70s that he documents so well in his book Moonlandings: An eye witness account. He was the […]
Episode 54: 23 July 2012 – Manchester Interplanetary Society and Stanley Davis
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The August 2012 edition of Spaceflight, the monthly magazine from the British Interplanetary Society carried an article where I discuss the Northwest of England’s contribution in Rocketry during the 1930s. An extended version of that article is available for free download on Astrotalkuk.org – here. So on to today’ episode. In 1937, two teenagers Harry […]
Episode 53: 28th June 2012 – The Chinese Space program
Brian Harvey is a Dublin based writer, author, broadcaster and probably the most informed specialist on Chinese and Soviet/Russian space program in Ireland today. This conversation recorded during the Shenzhou-9 / Tiangong-1 mission orbiting the Earth with the three crew including the first Chinese female astronaut on-board. At the end of the interview Brian Harvey talks about the Space Cooperation Memorandum signed last week.
A public event to commemorate Manchester’s first rocket pioneers
Manchester has a world renowned international airport, and if had a group of rocket engineers had had their way, could Manchester have had a spaceport to launch rockets, too? A group of rocket engineers lead by Eric Burgess formed the Manchester Interplanetary Society in 1936. Working closely with the Sci Fi community, their headquarters were […]
National Astronomy Meeting 2012
A cram packed week – so much going on and the weather for the first half of this week is particularly cooperative for visitors to Manchester and observing the night sky. The weather can’t possibly last. I chose to miss out a couple of the evening events and do some observing. I was not able […]
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