Dare to Explore
36 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 14 ratingsDare to Explore is a podcast from the Space Camp Explorers Club featuring interviews with friends of the Rocket Center, Space Camp Alumni, engineers, scientists, and explorers of all types.
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Episodes
Episode 29: Ed Stewart
February 29, 2024 21:00 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MBEd Stewart graduated from West Virginia Weslayan College with a bachelor of arts in theatrical direction and design. Ed served the US Space and Rocket Center as the Director of Exhibits and Curation for almost nine years before becoming the full time Curator in May of 2023.
Summer of Skylab: Ron Paulus
December 06, 2023 19:00 - 20 minutes - 18.8 MBMay of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, celebrated with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features Ron Paulus, a retired NASA project engineer who worked on Apollo, Skylab, and Shuttle missions.
Summer of Skylab: Lowell Zoller
November 02, 2023 21:00 - 21 minutes - 19.5 MBMay of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, celebrated with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features retired Marshall Space Flight Center Lowell Zoller. Zoller served as chief of the projects office in the materials laboratory at Marshall Space Flight Center during the creation of Skylab.
Episode 28: Beth Mund
September 28, 2023 18:00 - 56 minutes - 51.7 MBBeth Mund was a NASA public affairs officer for the Johnson Space Center and a communication officer for the International Space Station. She is a passionate advocate for the people and their stories of science and space exploration, now sharing their stories on stage, in workshops, and on her podcast, "Casual Space." She serves on the Space Camp Alumni Board and as a Space Drinks board member, and is an Analog Astronaut.
Summer of Skylab: Jack Stokes
September 06, 2023 18:00 - 43 minutes - 39.4 MBMay of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, celebrated with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features retired NASA Human Factors Engineer Jack Stokes. Efficient, safe, and comfortable interactions between the machinery and the human astronauts on board SkyLab was made possible through the research and designs...
Summer of Skylab: Richard Hoover
August 16, 2023 03:00 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBMay of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is celebrating with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features retired NASA physicist Richard Hoover. Hoover worked on the ATM Experiment S-056 grazing incidence X-ray telescope that captured more than 25,000 solar Xray images from Skylab. Skylab.
Summer of Skylab: Kenny Mitchell
July 05, 2023 19:00 - 35 minutes - 32.7 MBMay of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, celebrated with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features retired NASA engineer Kenny Mitchell. Mitchell worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center on the development of the Saturn V rocket and developed Environmental Control and Life Support Systems for Skylab.
Episode 27: Josh Whitfield
May 15, 2023 17:00 - 35 minutes - 32.2 MBJosh Whitfield is a United States Army veteran awarded the purple heart for his service in Iraq. Today, he is a political consultant and works as the District Director to California State Assemblymember Heath Flora. Josh attended Aviation Challenge 13 times in his youth and is a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame.
Episode 26: Kirby Runyon
April 27, 2023 18:00 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBDr. Kirby Runyon is a Space Camp alumni and planetary geologist at the Planetary Science Institute. He has flown 16 parabolic flights, accumulating more than an hour of time spent in weightlessness. He owns a technical and space tourism consulting company, guiding clients through parabolic flights and teaching future astronauts about the geology they will see from space.
Episode 25: Gretchen Green
March 23, 2023 18:00 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBDr. Gretchen Green is a Brown, Yale, and Harvard educated radiologist practicing in North Carolina. She attended Space Camp four times, and served as a crew trainer. Dr. Green served on the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation's Board of Directors as the alumni representative, and is currently the active chairman of the Space Camp Alumni Association Board. She now serves as the active secretary to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation's Board of Directors as well.
Episode 24: Danny Jaques
March 15, 2023 17:00 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBDanny Jaques is a retired school teacher from Colorado. In his three decades of teaching, Danny helped with fundraising and chaperoned more than 500 students to Space Camp. He is a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame, and owns Danny's Rocket Ranch, selling dehydrated space salsa and donating a portion of the profits to continue funding Space Camp Scholarships.
Episode 23: Director Harry Winer
January 30, 2023 19:00 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MBHarry Winer is a director, producer, and writer in the film and television industry. His television work includes Alias, Veronica Mars, Felicity, Hart to Hart, and many others. Harry is president of Smash Media and has written, directed, or produced over 25 films, including Space Camp in 1986. He is a professor at NYU and is a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame.
Episode 22: Lt. Col. Burke Hare
November 22, 2022 18:00 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBLt. Col. Burke Hare was a U.S. Air Force space and missile operator whose career has included overseeing the maintenance and operations of ICBMs and improvements made to the GPS satellite system. He is a Space Camp Hall of Fame member and is currently Program Manager Space Operations with the Space Development Agency at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville Alabama.
Episode 21: Chris Vrenna
October 28, 2022 19:00 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MBChris Vrenna is a musician, producer, engineer, programmer, and songwriter best known as the drummer for Nine Inch Nails. He’s played with Marilyn Manson, Guns and Roses, Smashing Pumpkins, and more, and he’s composed music for video games in the Quake, Doom, Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Call of Duty game series. Today, he teaches music technology and is on the board of directors for the US Space and Rocket Center Foundation.
Episode 20: Penny Pettigrew
September 26, 2022 19:00 - 30 minutes - 28 MBPenny Pettigrew is a payload communications manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, communicating with astronauts conducting scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station. She is a Space Camp alumni and a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame.
Episode 19: Robert Pearlman
September 09, 2022 18:00 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBRobert Pearlman is a space historian and the founder and editor of the website collectSPACE. He was the director of communications and the marketing director for Space Adventures, the first space tourism company to send private individuals to the ISS. Robert is a Space Camp Hall of Fame member and a contributing writer to Space.com.
Episode 18: Katie Berryhill
July 20, 2022 15:00 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MBKatie Berryhill is former intelligence officer for the United States Air Force. Today, she is an astronomy professor at multiple colleges and the CEO of Berryhill Computer Forensics, Incorporated. She is a Space Camp alumni, a science education researcher, and a NASA Solar System Ambassador.
Episode 17: Andrea Hanson
May 23, 2022 18:00 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MBDr. Andrea Hanson is a bioastronautics and microgravity science aerospace engineer. She is currently working at NASA Johnson Space Center on Crew Health and Performance for the Human Landing System (HLS). She is a Space Camp alumni, Space Camp Hall of Fame member, and serves on the Space Camp Alumni Advancement Board.
Episode 16: David Hitt
April 19, 2022 18:00 - 39 minutes - 36.6 MBDavid Hitt is a contractor Communications Strategist with Marshall Space Flight Center's Office of Strategic Analysis and Communication. He began his career as a small town newspaper editor before joining NASA's Space Launch System as Communication Strategist. David is also the author of Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story and Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years.
Episode 15: Marcia Lindstrom
March 24, 2022 17:00 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBMarcia Lindstrom leads the Strategic Communications Team for NASA's Space Launch System, the rocket that will take humans to the Moon and eventually to Mars. In the past, she has served as manager for the External Relations Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and as Director of Operations for Space Camp.
Episode 14: Episode 14: Jim Allan
February 16, 2022 18:00 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MBJim Allan is the accessibility coordinator for the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. He served as their webmaster and as an assistive technology specialist. He has been coordinating and bringing Texas students to SCIVIS (Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students) for more than twenty years, and serves as a technical expert for the program. Jim's expertise supported Space Camp's development of mission software usable by blind and visibly impaired students.
Episode 14: Jim Allan
February 16, 2022 18:00 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MBJim Allan is the accessibility coordinator for the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. He served as their webmaster and as an assistive technology specialist. He has been coordinating and bringing Texas students to SCIVIS (Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students) for more than twenty years, and serves as a technical expert for the program. Jim's expertise supported Space Camp's development of mission software usable by blind and visibly impaired students.
Episode 13: Peter Marquez
January 18, 2022 18:00 - 32 minutes - 30 MBPeter Marquez is the Head of Space Policy at Amazon Web Services. He has consulted on television shows like "Space Force" as a space consultant, Director of Space Policy on the National Security Council, and served at Planetary Resources, Inc. as the Vice President for Global Engagement. His unique view of the space industry comes from a career of space policy and understanding the interconnected issues that come with advancing exploration.
Episode 12: Keri Bean
December 17, 2021 20:00 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MBKeri Bean is a systems engineer for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She is a deputy lead Rover Planner on the Curiosity rover. She is also a Helicopter Integration Engineer for the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter currently on Mars.
Episode 11: Margrit von Braun
November 15, 2021 16:00 - 38 minutes - 35.3 MBMargrit von Braun is an environmental engineer specializing in hazardous waste management and risk assessment. Her father was Dr. Wernher von Braun, the first director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and led the development of the Saturn V rocket that sent the Apollo astronauts to the moon. Margrit was one of the first women to join the University of Idaho College of Engineering faculty in 1980, and served as their Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. She founded an environmental engi...
Episode 10: Derek Hodgins
October 15, 2021 20:00 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBDerek Hodgins is an aerospace engineer and member of the Strategy and Business Development team for Lockheed Martin's Lunar Exploration Campaigns. He has served as the Director of Business Development for Human Exploration at Northrop Grumman, as a Spaceflight and Technology Lead at NASA, and was a Flight Controller for Space Shuttle Mission Control.
Episode 9: Dan Oates
September 17, 2021 21:00 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MBDan Oates is a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame and a retired teacher from the West Virginia School for the Blind. For thirty years, Dan has been helping thousands of visually impaired and blind students and teachers experience Space Camp through a program called SCIVIS - Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students. In the past, he has served as Education Program Manager for Space Camp, and is currently the group coordinator for SCIVIS.
Episode 8: Episode 8: Mandy Vaughn
August 20, 2021 14:00 - 32 minutes - 30 MBMandy Vaughn is the founder and past president and CEO of VOX Space, a subsidiary of Virgin Orbit providing satellite launch services to the US government and allied nations. She is an Air Force veteran who served as Chair of the Workforce Development efforts for the National Security Space Association and is currently a member of NASA's National Space Council User's Advisory Group.
Episode 8: Mandy Vaughn
August 20, 2021 14:00 - 32 minutes - 30 MBMandy Vaughn is the founder and past president and CEO of VOX Space, a subsidiary of Virgin Orbit providing satellite launch services to the US government and allied nations. She is an Air Force veteran who served as Chair of the Workforce Development efforts for the National Security Space Association and is currently a member of NASA's National Space Council User's Advisory Group.
Episode 7: Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger
July 16, 2021 20:00 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MBDorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger is a retired high school earth science and astronomy teacher. In 2004, she was selected as an Educator Mission Specialist by NASA, and flew on STS 131 Discovery to resupply the International Space Station. She is the first Space Camp alumni to go to space.
Episode 6: Michael and Denise Okuda
June 16, 2021 17:00 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBHusband and wife duo Michael and Denise Okuda have worked in science fiction television for more than three decades as graphic designers, artists and technical consultants. Together, they have worked on six Star Trek films, as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, even writing the Star Trek Encyclopedia. Michael has designed several NASA mission patches, and are currently consultants for the Netflix series Space Force and the Apple TV series For All ...
Episode 5: Susie Martínez
May 17, 2021 16:00 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBSusie Martínez is an additive manufacturing engineer for NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. She received her Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky in 2019. Calling herself a "STEMinist," Susie has more than 64,000 followers on Instagram, where she uses her platform to encourage and mentor women in pursuing science and engineering careers.
Episode 4: Suzanne Saltz
April 16, 2021 19:00 - 33 minutes - 30.5 MBSuzanne Saltz is a First Assistant Director and Director on the hit television program NCIS Los Angeles. She’s worked on shows like Six Feet Under, Bones and Pushing Daisies. Though she ended up in Hollywood, Suzanne began her journey dreaming of space, having attended Space Camp as a teenager. Today, she’s also on the Space Camp Alumni board of directors.
Episode 3: Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides
March 16, 2021 14:00 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBLoretta Hidalgo Whitesides is an alumni of Space Camp and author of The New Right Stuff: Using Space to Bring Out the Best in You. Co-founder of global space party Yuri’s Night, Whitesides is a Founder Astronaut with Virgin Galactic and creator of SpaceKind leadership training.
Episode 2: Kenny Mitchell
March 16, 2021 13:45 - 28 minutes - 26.4 MBKenny Mitchell is a retired NASA engineer of 40 years. Mitchell worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center on the development of the Saturn V rocket that took man to the moon in 1969 and developed Environmental Control and Life Support Systems for Skylab and the International Space Station.
Episode 1: Homer Hickam
March 16, 2021 01:00 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MBHomer Hickam is a former NASA aerospace engineer, Vietnam veteran, and acclaimed author of 19 books. The 1999 film October Sky was based on his memoir, Rocket Boys. Hickam was responsible for training astronauts for Spacelab and the Hubble Space Telescope launch and repair, as well as serving as payload training manager for the International Space Station.