NASA SUITS activity manager Brandon Hargis and technical lead Paromita Mitra talk about the opportunity for students and teachers to design and create spacesuit information displays in augmented reality environments. HWHAP Episode 173.
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Virgin Galactic
Live from the 2020 ASCEND Space Conference, Acquired covers the full story behind the most “out there” technology story of the past few years: Virgin Galactic. How did this space tourism company grow out of the winning X Prize team, and catch the eyes and fancy of billionaires like Paul Allen, Sir Richard Branson, and, most recently, company chairman Chamath Palihapitiya who took it public via the first “modern” technology SPAC transaction in history? Tune in to find out!!
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© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC
Playbook Themes from this episode are available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/virgin-galactic
Links:
- Virgin Galactic’s “One Small Step” reservation program: https://www.virgingalactic.com/smallstep/
- The November 2020 launch delay: https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/virgin-galactic-adjusts-test-flight-schedule-in-response-to-new-state-government-covid-19-restrictions/
Plants in Space
Botany experts Gioia Massa and Anna-Lisa Paul discuss how plants in space and the research being conducted on the International Space Station are key to the future of sustainable human space exploration. HWHAP Episode 172.
Orion Today
Howard Hu, Orion deputy program manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, gives an update on Orion, the spacecraft that will take the next generation of space explorers to the Moon and beyond. HWHAP Episode 171.
Special: Superhuman Part II – Designing Software to Feel like a Game (with Rahul Vohra)
Superstar past guest and Superhuman CEO Rahul Vorha joins us for a deep dive on how Superhuman applies concepts from game design to building productivity software. We’re not talking points and badges — we mean hardcore, Unreal Engine-style technical innovations and Fortnite-level understanding of fun and mastery. It’s a topic where Rahul has serious cred: before Superhuman and Rapportive, he worked as a game designer on RuneScape, the pioneering browser-based MMORPG. This is a topic every founder, engineer, product and even sales person should listen to. Tune in!
You can listen to Part I of our Superhuman story with Rahul here: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/superhuman
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
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- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC
Playbook Themes from this Episode available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/special-superhuman-part-ii-designing-software-to-feel-like-a-game-with-rahul-vohra )
Live Like a Martian
Sharmila Watkins, Jennifer Fogarty, and Serena Aunon-Chancellor, scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, share what it takes for humans to live on a multi-year journey to, on, and from Mars on this seventh episode of our Mars Monthly series. HWHAP Episode 170.
20 Continuous Years
Joel Montalbano, the International Space Station program manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, commemorates 20 years of continuous human presence on the orbiting laboratory, highlighting the program’s milestones, its assembly, and the ground-breaking research. HWHAP Episode 169.
Expedition 1
Bill Shepherd, former NASA astronaut and commander of Expedition 1, recounts the historic mission that started the International Space Station’s unbroken streak of continuous human presence in space. HWHAP Episode 168.
Twitter (with Dick Costolo)
A week before the 2020 US Presidential election, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo joins us to tell the story of a company that has impacted all of our lives (political and otherwise) like none other. While it’s easy to forget now, a very viable alternate history exists where it’s Twitter, not Facebook, who owns Instagram, and Vine, not TikTok, that’s the global platform for mobile video. We dive into it all on this episode — and of course while we had Dick, we also had to discuss his controversial recent deleted tweet.
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
New! We’re codifying our own Playbook notes and takeaways from each episode, and posting them on our website. You can read them at: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/twitter-with-dick-costolo
Links:
- Ashish Goel at Stanford: https://web.stanford.edu/~ashishg/twitter.html
- Dick and Adam’s new firm, 01 Advisors: https://01a.com/
Carve Outs:
- Vote! https://www.vote.org
Crew-1: The Mission
Anthony Vareha, the lead flight director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission, details the first crew rotation flight on a U.S. commercial spacecraft. HWHAP Episode 167.