Jerry Ross, former NASA astronaut, talks about the first mission to assemble the International Space Station and his experience conducting the mission’s three spacewalks. The milestone shuttle mission STS-88 brought the Unity module to join Zarya, the first element of the space station. HWHAP Episode 73.
We complete our two-part Netflix special with the company’s bold transition to streaming, including of course the most (in)famous spin-out in business history. Rising from the ashes of Qwikster, we chronicle Netflix’s rebirth as a media company and long journey back to the top of the FAANG mountaintop!
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Doug Drewry, former FGB Program Manager, discusses leading the joint U.S and Russian teams during the development and launch of Zarya, the first element of the International Space Station, for its 20th anniversary in space. HWHAP Episode 72.
John Gruener and Dr. Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, planetary scientist and historian, respectively, team up to discuss both the science and history of the Apollo program, the Moon, and the Johnson Space Center. HWHAP Episode 71.
In a world ravaged by late fees and lack of rewinding, one man two men from a sleepy California beach town make a stand against tyranny, daringly dethrone an evil empire and… oh who are we kidding, they just copied Amazon’s business plan for books and applied it to movie rentals. But as always there is much more to the story than that! We dive into the fascinating, true, and oft-untold history of Netflix in our first two-part special on Acquired. Part 1 covers Netflix’s original DVD rental business from founding to 2009, and next time on Part 2 we’ll cover the (rocky) transition to streaming from 2010 to present. Buckle up for a wild ride!
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Dr. Lucie Low, Scientific Program Manager at the National Institutes of Health, talks about tiny devices the size of the thumb drive that replicate the structure and function of human organs. Low discusses the importance of testing these devices in space. HWHAP Episode 70.
Dr. Greg Holt, Navigation Lead for the Orion spacecraft, discusses how the vehicle finds its way through deep space and communicates with Earth along the way. HWHAP Episode 69.
Ben & David are joined by special guest and Venmo cofounder Andrew Kortina for our first-ever SF live show! In front of a packed house we chronicle the journey of how two freshman-year roommates from Penn turned a healthy obsession with Craigslist and a fake podcast into an app that facilitated $17B of payments last quarter alone, producing not one but two landmark acquisitions along the way!
Note: the audio quality is a little rough due to some A/V issues at the live show. We apologize!
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Bob Jacobs, Bert Ulrich, and Bill Barry share stories of NASA working closely with filmmakers on features and documentaries. The cast and crew of “First Man” and family members of the real astronauts portrayed in the film also share their perspective on human spaceflight. HWHAP Episode 68.
For NASA’s 60th Anniversary, Houston We Have a Podcast took to the stage with science fiction writers Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and publishing agent DongWon Song, as well as NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren to discuss how real science and science fiction have influenced each other. HWHAP Episode 67.