Blue Origin explosion hits NASA timeline + Artemis III crew

When Blue Origin’s New Glenn spacecraft exploded in an enormous fireball during a ground test a couple weeks ago, it sent shockwaves not only through the air, but through NASA’s timeline for the upcoming Artemis missions.

It also came at an especially bad time for Jeff Bezos’ rocket company—just days after it was awarded a slew of NASA contracts to deliver equipment to the moon. Blue Origin had also been expected to play a major role in the upcoming Artemis III and IV missions, but that’s now more up in the air depending on how soon the company can rebuild its only launchpad.

And with NASA’s Artemis III crew announcement this week, Guest Host Jane Lindholm sits down with space reporters Ken Chang and Brendan Byrne to break it all down and what’s next for the space program.

Guests:

Ken Chang is a science reporter at the New York Times, where he covers NASA and the solar system.

Brendan Byrne is a space reporter for Central Florida Public Media and host of the podcast “Are We There Yet.”

Other episodes you may enjoy:

• Planning your photo ops for a trip around the moon
• The new frontier of cancer research is in space

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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