Holy texts and salvation ideology. Saints and martyrs. True believers and apostates. This isn’t a religion — this is human spaceflight. So says Roger Launius, NASA’s former Chief Historian, in his 2013 paper Escaping Earth: Human Spaceflight as Religion. For the start of our ninth year of the Space Policy Edition, Dr. Launius joins the show to discuss the ways in which human spaceflight exhibits characteristics commonly seen in modern religions, how his thesis has evolved in the past decade with the rise of Elon Musk and his view of Mars as humanity’s salvation, and how exploring secular activities through a religious lens can be instructive in understanding their adherents and support.


Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/spe-human-spaceflight-as-religion

Holy texts and salvation ideology. Saints and martyrs. True believers and apostates. This isn’t a religion — this is human spaceflight. So says Roger Launius, NASA’s former Chief Historian, in his 2013 paper Escaping Earth: Human Spaceflight as Religion. For the start of our ninth year of the Space Policy Edition, Dr. Launius joins the show to discuss the ways in which human spaceflight exhibits characteristics commonly seen in modern religions, how his thesis has evolved in the past decade with the rise of Elon Musk and his view of Mars as humanity’s salvation, and how exploring secular activities through a religious lens can be instructive in understanding their adherents and support.
 Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/spe-human-spaceflight-as-religion">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/spe-human-spaceflight-as-religion</a>

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our Solar System and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts who are taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye the Science Guy and Bruce Betts as they dive deep into space science and exploration. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway where the future of the US space program hangs in the balance. Visit planetary.org/radio for an episode guide and much more.

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our Solar System and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts who are taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye the Science Guy and Bruce Betts as they dive deep into space science and exploration. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway where the future of the US space program hangs in the balance. Visit planetary.org/radio for an episode guide and much more.

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and Bruce Betts, chief scientist for The Planetary Society, as they dive deep into the latest space news. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway with Casey Dreier and Jack Kiraly to discuss the politics of space exploration in the US and advocacy actions you can take to support the missions that matter. Visit planetary.org/radio for the space trivia contest, an episode guide, and much more.

Planetary Radio brings you the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. We visit each week with the scientists, engineers, leaders, advocates, and astronauts taking us across the final frontier. Regular features raise your space IQ while they put a smile on your face. Join host Sarah Al-Ahmed and Planetary Society colleagues including Bill Nye, the Science Guy, and Bruce Betts, chief scientist for The Planetary Society, as they dive deep into the latest space news. The monthly Space Policy Edition takes you inside the DC beltway with Casey Dreier and Jack Kiraly to discuss the politics of space exploration in the US and advocacy actions you can take to support the missions that matter. Visit planetary.org/radio for the space trivia contest, an episode guide, and much more.

Holy texts and salvation ideology. Saints and martyrs. True believers and apostates. This isn’t a religion — this is human spaceflight, argues Roger Launius, the former Chief Historian of NASA.

Space Policy Edition: Is Human Spaceflight a Religion?

“Baby's Guide to the Night Sky” introduces the youngest kids — down to newborns — to constellations and the wonders of the Cosmos. It comes from two people who've spent their lives chasing that same wonder in very different ways.

This week, we are joined by authors Sian Proctor and John Read. Sian Proctor is a geoscientist, artist, poet, and commercial space astronaut who served as pilot of Inspiration4 in 2021, becoming the first Black woman to serve as a mission pilot in space. John Read is an astronomer and science communicator who left a career in corporate finance after a single look through a telescope changed his life. He now hosts the YouTube channel LearnToStargaze and has authored several astronomy books, including “A Kid's Guide to the Night Sky.” We'll talk about how the two of them met, how they turned a lifetime of expertise into something a baby can enjoy, and why it's never too early to start looking up. 

Stick around after the interview for What’s Up with Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, to review the book and walk through some of the night sky objects it features. 

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-babys-guide-to-the-night-sky

&ldquo;Baby's Guide to the Night Sky&rdquo; introduces the youngest kids &mdash; down to newborns &mdash; to constellations and the wonders of the Cosmos. It comes from two people who've spent their lives chasing that same wonder in very different ways.
This week, we are joined by authors Sian Proctor and John Read. Sian Proctor is a geoscientist, artist, poet, and commercial space astronaut who served as pilot of Inspiration4 in 2021, becoming the first Black woman to serve as a mission pilot in space. John Read is an astronomer and science communicator who left a career in corporate finance after a single look through a telescope changed his life. He now hosts the YouTube channel LearnToStargaze and has authored several astronomy books, including &ldquo;A Kid's Guide to the Night Sky.&rdquo; We'll talk about how the two of them met, how they turned a lifetime of expertise into something a baby can enjoy, and why it's never too early to start looking up.&nbsp;
Stick around after the interview for What&rsquo;s Up with Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, to review the book and walk through some of the night sky objects it features.&nbsp;
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-babys-guide-to-the-night-sky">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-babys-guide-to-the-night-sky</a>

Commercial space astronaut Sian Proctor and astronomer John Read join Planetary Radio to discuss “Baby's Guide to the Night Sky,” their new book introducing the youngest children to constellations and the wonders of the Cosmos.

Sian Proctor and John Read on teaching babies to love the Cosmos

Green Bank, West Virginia is home to the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. It's also the only town in the U.S. where cell phones and Wi-Fi are banned, so the telescope can listen for faint signals from across the Universe undisturbed. This week, we bring you a special conversation recorded after The Planetary Society's virtual screening of Small Town Universe, the documentary that follows the people whose lives are shaped by that place. Mat Kaplan, Planetary Society senior communications advisor, talks with filmmaker Katie Dellamaggiore and physicist Ellie White about making the film, the beauty and stakes of life at Green Bank, and the ongoing fight to keep the observatory funded.

Before that, Kate Howells, public communications specialist, previews the total solar eclipse crossing parts of the Northern Hemisphere on August 12th, the first visible from Western Europe since 1999. And Bruce Betts, chief scientist, joins for What's Up, breaking down Hayabusa2's July 5th flyby of asteroid Torifune.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-small-town-universe

Green Bank, West Virginia is home to the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. It's also the only town in the U.S. where cell phones and Wi-Fi are banned, so the telescope can listen for faint signals from across the Universe undisturbed. This week, we bring you a special conversation recorded after The Planetary Society's virtual screening of Small Town Universe, the documentary that follows the people whose lives are shaped by that place. Mat Kaplan, Planetary Society senior communications advisor, talks with filmmaker Katie Dellamaggiore and physicist Ellie White about making the film, the beauty and stakes of life at Green Bank, and the ongoing fight to keep the observatory funded.
Before that, Kate Howells, public communications specialist, previews the total solar eclipse crossing parts of the Northern Hemisphere on August 12th, the first visible from Western Europe since 1999. And Bruce Betts, chief scientist, joins for What's Up, breaking down Hayabusa2's July 5th flyby of asteroid Torifune.
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-small-town-universe">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2026-small-town-universe</a>

Green Bank, West Virginia bans cell phones and Wi-Fi so its giant radio telescope can listen undisturbed. This week, Senior Communications Advisor Mat Kaplan talks with director Katie Dellamaggiore and physicist Ellie White about the documentary Small Town Universe, and Public Education Specialist Kate Howells previews August's total solar eclipse.

Small Town Universe: Inside Green Bank's Radio Quiet Zone

NASA's plan for what comes after the International Space Station (ISS) has been anything but stable. Since 2019, the agency's commercial space station strategy has shifted from free-flying vendor-operated stations to a government-owned module attached to the ISS, and back again, all while the clock ticks toward the ISS's expected retirement around 2030. 

Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joins Planetary Society Chief of Space Policy Casey Dreier to unpack this saga and weigh whether NASA can realistically select and fund a commercial successor to the ISS in time.

Discover more at: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/commercial-space-stations

NASA's plan for what comes after the International Space Station (ISS) has been anything but stable. Since 2019, the agency's commercial space station strategy has shifted from free-flying vendor-operated stations to a government-owned module attached to the ISS, and back again, all while the clock ticks toward the ISS's expected retirement around 2030.&nbsp;
Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joins Planetary Society Chief of Space Policy Casey Dreier to unpack this saga and weigh whether NASA can realistically select and fund a commercial successor to the ISS in time.
Discover more at: <a href="https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/commercial-space-stations-after-iss">https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/commercial-space-stations</a>

Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project and senior fellow at CSIS, joins the show to break down NASA's rocky path toward a commercial replacement for the International Space Station. 

Space Policy Edition: Is Human Spaceflight a Religion?

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