Soft Skills for Tough Missions

The “test like you fly” approach is an engineering philosophy that means testing hardware, software, and flight operations as close to reality as possible. Erika Alvarez, deputy director of NASA's Space Systems Department, explains. 

NASA pilots play a critical role in launch and recovery operations. Shannon Gregory, chief of flight operations at Kennedy Space Center, shares how his team supports crewed launches from the air, capturing real-time imagery, and staying ready for the unexpected. 

Studying planets in other solar systems isn’t easy, especially when their host stars keep stealing the spotlight. NASA’s Pandora mission will cut through the noise, revealing what the atmospheres of these distant worlds are really made of. 

NASA astronaut Don Pettit discusses his life and career ahead of his fourth flight to the International Space Station. HWHAP Episode 350. 

Mike Massimino, serving as a NASA astronaut until 2014, has a slew of accomplishments: the first human to tweet from space, the last astronaut to work inside the Hubble Telescope and the speculated inspiration for George Clooney’s role in “Gravity.” He’s now out with a book, titl ... Show More

Robin Ince and Brian Cox are joined by comedian Helen Keen ("It is Rocket Science") and space medicine expert Dr Kevin Fong, to discuss the future of human space travel. As NASA's space shuttle program comes to a close, what does the future hold in terms of humans bid to leave th ... Show More

NASA has a long history of bringing together science, engineering and art. Space exploration is a human endeavor—one that requires creativity. In this special live episode, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick and comedian and musician Reggie Watts talk flow states, aircraft ejector s ... Show More

<p>NASA's science missions have transformed our understanding of the Universe, from breathtaking images of deep space to robotic explorers on Mars. But now, a reported 50% cut to NASA's science budget threatens to shut down missions, halt discoveries, and devastate the future of ... Show More

NASA is an exploration agency, and one of our missions is to know our home. In the 1960s, NASA astronauts orbiting the Moon captured a revelatory view of Earth. Today, NASA explores our home planet with a fleet of dozens of spacecraft. In this episode–the first in a miniseries al ... Show More

To prepare for the day when humans travel to Mars, NASA is conducting a one-year experiment in a Mars simulation environment. So what’s it like to spend a year in CHAPEA, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog? In this season finale episode, travel through the airlock ... Show More