Archives

5,000°F

Ronny Baccus, Orion structures and thermal protection system functional area manager, discusses how Orion deals with temperatures around 5,000°F when screaming back into Earth’s atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour. HWHAP Episode 66.

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and his wife, Lt. Col. Catie Hague, talk about Nick’s journey to becoming an astronaut, his education, and his time in the U.S Air Force. The couple discusses how their family is prepared for the journey ahead. HWHAP Episode 65.

Season 3, Episode 6: Behance (with Scott Belsky)

Ben and David are joined by Adobe’s Chief Product Officer, Behance founder, Benchmark partner, author, and product luminary, Scott Belsky, to tell the story of Adobe Systems’ 2012 acquisition of Behance. We dive into the role it played in of one of the greatest (and least well-known) pivots of all time: Adobe’s transition from packaged software to services, which over the past 6 years has generated an astounding $100B+ in market cap and nearly 10x growth in Adobe’s share price!

Sponsors:

More Acquired!

© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC

Links:

Space Weather

Dr. Steve Johnson, Senior Scientist of the Space Radiation Analysis Group, discusses what’s being done right now to document radiation exposure, not only to ensure our astronauts stay healthy, but to understand weather in space. HWHAP Episode 64.

Season 3, Episode 5: Alibaba

We continue our China Tech series with perhaps the most incredible entrepreneurial journey in history: Alibaba and its indefatigable founder, Jack Ma. How did an unknown 30 year-old English teacher from a second tier Chinese city build the world’s 7th largest company by market cap (and the largest in China) in just 20 short years? This is one story you don’t want to miss.

Sponsors:

More Acquired!

© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC

Links:

Carve Outs:

Reach New Heights and Reveal the Unknown

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Johnson Space Center Director Mark Geyer describe the mission and direction of America’s space agency after a visit from Vice President Mike Pence. The two agency leaders discuss commercialization, human missions to the Moon, and the difference between NASA and Space Force. HWHAP Episode 63.

Escaping A Speeding Rocket

Jon Olansen and Jenny Devolites, leads for the Orion Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) crew module and AA-2 launch abort vehicle test mission, discuss the critical test of the abort system if a failure were to happen while the Space Launch System rocket was ascending. HWHAP Episode 62.

Season 3, Episode 4: Recode (with Kara Swisher)

In this special episode Ben & David head to Recode’s SF office and sit down in the red chair with the one & only Kara Swisher! Kara tells the story of Recode, from the beginnings of her partnership with Walt Mossberg in the late 90’s at WSJ to the launch of the D Conference and the All Things D blog, to starting Recode and ultimately being acquired by Vox Media in 2015. Kara is someone we’ve long looked up to at Acquired, and it was really special to have her join us on the show. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did!

Sponsors:

More Acquired!

© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC

Links:

Hazard 5: Environments

Dr. Brian Crucian, a biological studies and immunology expert, discusses the hazard of hostile and closed environments in space. Crucian serves as the principal investigator for a NASA functional immune study. This is part five of the five-part series on the hazards of human spaceflight. HWHAP Episode 61.

Hazard 4: Gravity

Dr. Peter Norsk, Senior Research Director and Element Scientist at Baylor College of Medicine based here at NASA, describes the hazard of altered gravity fields and its effects on the human body. This is part four of a five-part series on the hazards of human spaceflight. HWHAP Episode 60.