NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who launched to the International Space Station on April 9, 2021, shares his experiences from his first flight to the orbiting laboratory and what he looks forward to for his second flight. HWHAP Episode 190.
Archives
Revitalize
After an exhausting year for everyone, how can we bring what’s been dormant back to life? This hour, TED speakers explore ways to revitalize our minds, bodies, buildings–and even populations. Guests include psychologist Guy Winch, visual artist Amanda Williams, biophysicist Andrew Pelling, and writer Wajahat Ali.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
Special: “Why Now” for Digital Health (with Levels founder Josh Clemente)
We dive into the fast-changing world of direct-to-consumer digital health, with perhaps the best person in the world: Levels founder Josh Clemente. (Shoutout to Ben Grynol and Michael Mizrahi from our LP community for introducing us!) Levels is on a mission to make consumers everywhere aware of their metabolic health by enabling anyone to track blood glucose levels with a continuous glucose monitor. Josh has had an incredible career, working as an early engineer at SpaceX and later at Hyperloop One before founding Levels out of a very real personal need. Join our conversation as we cover everything from Josh’s time at SpaceX to why the market has changed for consumer digital health, and what the future holds for Levels.
Sponsors:
- Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
- Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
- ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26
- Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26
More Acquired!
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC
The Levels / Digital Health Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/special-why-now-for-digital-health-with-levels-founder-josh-clemente
Links:
- Levels: https://www.levelshealth.com
Benefits for Humanity, Science for All
Expert scientists and researchers from NASA’s Johnson Space Center gather to highlight the scientific breakthroughs aboard the International Space Station during a recent panel discussion celebrating 20 years of continuous human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory. HWHAP Episode 189.
Listen Again: The Life Cycles Of Cities
Original broadcast date: November 13, 2020. Cities are never static; they can transform in months, years, or centuries. This hour, TED speakers explore how today’s cities are informed by the past, and how they’ll need to evolve for the future. Guests include archaeologist Alyssa Loorya, architects Marwa Al-Sabouni and Rahul Mehrotra, and landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
Artificial Gravity
Bill Paloski, former director of the Human Research Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, explores the idea of artificial gravity within a spacecraft for long-duration missions and explains how it may affect the human body from what we have learned through Earth-based studies. HWHAP Episode 188.
Listen Again – Baratunde Thurston: How To Citizen
Original broadcast date: December 4, 2020. Last year’s election saw historic voter turnout. But in a divided democracy, how else can we commit to our civic duties? This hour, Baratunde Thurston joins Manoush with ideas on how to citizen.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
Rec Room Part II (with CEO Nick Fajt)
Last Acquired left the plucky Rec Room crew in our 2018 “Part I” episode, they were a seed stage startup making a VR game that users loved but grew slowly and barely monetized. Fast forward to today, and they’re now a multi-platform social “place” with millions of active users, 500%+ YoY growth and hosting a robust creator economy that’s rivaled only by their oft-compared metaverse cousin Roblox in dynamics and efficiency. And oh yeah, they’re now a $1B+ company after a new $100m fundraise from existing investors Sequoia and Index, which they’re announcing today. We figured it was high time to revisit Nick & crew for a Part II…
Sponsors:
- Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
- Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
- ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26
- Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26
More Acquired!
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC
The Rec Room Playbook is available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/rec-room-part-ii-with-ceo-nick-fajt
Links:
- Our “Part I” episode with Nick on Rec Room’s seed round: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/season-2-episode-2raising-a-seed-round-with-against-gravity-ceo-nick-fajt
- Rec Room! https://recroom.com
Carve Outs:
- Invent and Wander: https://www.amazon.com/Invent-Wander-Collected-Writings-Introduction-ebook/dp/B08BCCT6MW/
- Resonant Arc on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFzWAEPDGiY34bGpwM_DWmA
- How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHe0bXAIuk0
The View From Mission Control
Experts of NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston recount what it has taken to support 20 years of continuous presence on the International Space Station. HWHAP Episode 187.
The Next One-Year Missions
Cherie Oubre, Steve Platts, and Nikki Schwanbeck, expert human researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, discuss CIPHER, a complement of research protocols that investigates multiple aspects of the human body over varied durations of human space missions. HWHAP Episode 186.