logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2021
25m 48s

The Next Astronauts Part IV: Risk

AXIOS
About this episode

Axios space reporter Miriam Kramer learns how the Inspiration4 crew is grappling with risk, something every company in the space industry and all astronauts must confront.

  • Kramer speaks with the crew, the parent of a crew member, and a former NASA safety expert about how memories of the Challenger explosion have shaped the way the space industry prepares astronauts for risk.
  • In conversations with crew members Jared Isaacman and Chris Sembroski and with their spouses, Kramer explores how uniquely challenging it is for the parents of young children to prepare their families for a mission to space.
  • Kramer travels to Bozeman, Montana to watch the Inspiration4 crew fly in fighter jets over the course of a festive weekend, intended to bring the crew's families together, where they all celebrated the upcoming launch and confronted the reality of its approach.


Credits: The Next Astronauts is reported and produced by Miriam Kramer, Amy Pedulla, Naomi Shavin, and Alice Wilder. Dan Bobkoff is Executive Producer. Mixing, sound design, and music supervision by Alex Sugiura. Theme music and original score by Michael Hanf. Fact-checking and research by Jacob Knutson. Alison Snyder is a managing editor at Axios and Sara Kehaulani Goo is executive editor. Special thanks to Axios co-founders Mike Allen, Jim VandeHei and Roy Schwartz.

Up next
Jan 2023
Elon Musk vs. Twitter Part V: Cracks in the Empire
How It Happened: Elon Musk vs. Twitter Part V: Cracks in the Empire explores whether Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter has made his cross-industry empire too big for one billionaire to run. Host Erica Pandey examines Musk's first months as CEO of Twitter and the simultaneous cha ... Show More
32m 9s
Oct 2022
Elon Musk vs. Twitter Part IV: Musk's Must-Do List
How It Happened: Elon Musk vs. Twitter Part IV: Musk's Must-Do List features reporting from Axios media reporter Sara Fischer about the challenges at Twitter that Musk could inherit — and what he might do about them. Fischer takes listeners inside Twitter to understand how the pl ... Show More
34m 23s
Oct 2022
Elon Musk vs. Twitter Part III: Musk Offers To Buy Twitter (Again)
Just days before a trial to determine if Elon Musk would be forced to buy Twitter was scheduled to begin, Musk sent a letter offering once again to buy Twitter for the same price he'd originally offered in April. Musk has a unique tolerance for risk at his companies, but the surp ... Show More
17m 12s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2022
Manifest Space Episode #3: The Path to Polaris with Jared Isaacman
Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman made history last year as the mission commander of SpaceX’s Inspiration4, the first all-civilian space mission to orbit. Now he’s preparing to go to space again with the Polaris Program: a series of three human spaceflight missions aiming t ... Show More
28m 18s
Jul 2021
July 11, 2021 |On GPS: A special hour as billionaire Richard Branson blasts off to space
Fareed sits down with the renowned astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson to discuss the science behind the billionaire race to space and contextualizes this moment in the history of human space exploration. Then, CNN’s space and defense correspondent, Kristin Fisher, whos ... Show More
58m 7s
Sep 2023
The Infinite Monkey’s Guide To... Space Travel
Astronauts and explorers including Brian Blessed, Sir Patrick Stewart, Nicole Stott and Charlie Duke reveal the wonders, and challenges, of traveling into space.Brian Cox and Robin Ince have delved into the Monkey Cage back catalogue to hear from astronauts and some very well kno ... Show More
20m 40s
Apr 2022
What is the future of space co-operation?
As space enthusiasts celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 16, we examine how space has been used throughout history as an arena for international co-operation. Andrew Mueller speaks to Nasa’s former chief historian Bill Barry, astronaut manager Christina Korp and veteran Nasa ... Show More
30m 7s
Feb 2024
The Space Race: Honoring the first African-American space explorers
This week on Planetary Radio, we take a peek behind the scenes at National Geographic's new documentary, “The Space Race,” which celebrates the triumphs and struggles of the first African-American space pioneers and astronauts. Co-directors Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Lisa Corté ... Show More
1h 3m
Dec 2023
Hidden No More: A Conversation with Space Suit Technician Sharon McDougle
Who dresses the astronauts for flight? Why are the suits orange? And how are they cared for? Sharon Caples McDougle joins us to talk about her work as a modern day hidden figure, a space suit technician responsible for processing the orange launch and re-entry pressure suit assem ... Show More
46m 53s
Apr 2021
A NASA astronaut’s lessons on fear, confidence and preparing for spaceflight | Megan McArthur
How does an astronaut prepare physically and mentally to launch into space? NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, who will take part in the SpaceX Crew-2 mission later this month,  shares stellar life lessons on how to cultivate the resolve to do incredible things through preparation -- ... Show More
11m 7s
Jan 2021
The 'strike' in space
The three astronauts on the Skylab 4 space research mission in 1973 got behind schedule when one of them vomited before they'd even got onto the space station. They felt they were being micromanaged by ground control, and that their workload was unreasonable - and one day, all th ... Show More
9m 43s