Illustration of IXPE in space with various colors on black background and a section of Earth on the bottom left corner. Credit: NASA

EPISODE 117: NASA TRADE AND TECHNICAL PROFESSIONALS, PART 3

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Engineering Technicians John Hood, Amy Meekham, and Mark Sloan discuss details of their work on the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer.

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Small Steps, Giant Leaps

Tap into the experiences of NASA’s technical workforce as they develop missions to explore distant worlds—from the Moon to Mars, from Titan to Psyche. Learn how they advance technology to make aviation on Earth faster, quieter and more fuel efficient. Each biweekly episode celebrates program and project managers, engineers, scientists and thought leaders working on multiple fronts to advance aeronautics and space exploration in a bold new era of discovery. New episodes are released bi-weekly on Wednesdays.

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Inside the clean-room "tent" of Building 1555 at North Vandenberg Air Force Base, technicians in bunny suits prepare for the solar array deployment on the AIM spacecraft. Photo Credit: NASA

EPISODE 116: NASA TRADE AND TECHNICAL PROFESSIONALS, PART 2

Sep 06, 2023 | Transcript | 59:19

NASA Technicians Scott Bartram, Eric Bentley, Maria Salinas, and Phil Steele discuss their hands-on work on a variety of projects and technologies. Read More

A worker at the sheet metal shop. Photo Credit: NASA/Tom Tschida

EPISODE 115: NASA TRADE AND TECHNICAL PROFESSIONALS, PART 1

Aug 23, 2023 | Transcript | 32:37

NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Engineering Technicians Jason Nelson, Kyle Whitfield, and Alex Zamora discuss their essential contributions to NASA missions. Read More

LaRC Aircraft in front of Hangar, Building 1244 in 1994. Photo Credit: NASA Langley Research Center

EPISODE 114: LAST STOP BEFORE RETIREMENT

Aug 09, 2023 | Transcript | 28:52

NASA Langley Research Center Retired Chief Scientist Dennis Bushnell discusses highlights of his 60-year NASA career and the future of the agency. Read More

Captured on Oct. 20, 2020 during the OSIRIS-REx mission’s Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event, this image shows the SamCam imager’s field of view as the NASA spacecraft approaches and touches down on asteroid Bennu’s surface. Photo Credit: NASA

EPISODE 113: OSIRIS-REX SAMPLE RETURN PREPARATION

Jul 26, 2023 | Transcript | 17:21

OSIRIS-REx Mission Systems Engineer Ron Mink discusses preparation for the return of the United States' first asteroid sample from space to Earth. Read More

A high-resolution free-air gravity map based on GRAIL data, overlaid on terrain based on LRO altimeter (LOLA) and camera (LROC) data. The view is south-up, with the south pole near the horizon in the upper left and the crescent Earth in the distance. The terminator crosses the eastern rim of the Schrödinger basin. Gravity is painted onto the areas that are in or near the night side. Red corresponds to mass excesses and blue to mass deficits. Credit: NASA

EPISODE 112: TECHLEAP NIGHTTIME PRECISION LANDING CHALLENGE

Jul 12, 2023 | Transcript | 16:35

NASA TechLeap Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge Manager Greg Peters discusses the lunar landing challenge. Read More

An image of Raven Zero Pressure Balloon being inflated.The Exo-Atmospheric Aerobrake was tested during the August 2019 flight campaign. Photo Credit: NASA

EPISODE 111: FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

Jun 28, 2023 | Transcript | 21:38

NASA Flight Opportunities Program Manager Danielle McCulloch discusses rapid demonstration of technologies and capabilities for NASA missions and commercial spaceflight. Read More

Test of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) technical capability Level 2 (TCL2) at Reno-Stead Airport, Nevada. During the test, five drones simultaneously crossed paths, separated by altitude. Two drones flew beyond visual line-of-sight and three flew within line-of-sight of their operators. Engineers Priya Venkatesan and Joey Mercer review flight paths using the UAS traffic management research platform at flight operations mission control at NASA’s UTM TCL2 test. Credit: NASA

EPISODE 110: APPEL KNOWLEDGE SERVICES

Jun 14, 2023 | Transcript | 27:04

NASA Chief Knowledge Officer and APPEL Knowledge Services Director Tiffany Smith discusses knowledge sharing and learning and development. Read More

EPISODE 109: NASA ENGINEERING AND SAFETY CENTER

May 31, 2023 | Transcript | 18:21

NASA Engineering and Safety Center Director Tim Wilson discusses the NESC's contributions to NASA mission success. Read More

Jim Sarafin is diving with an astronaut. The astronaut is in their spacesuit. Credit: NASA

EPISODE 108: UNDERWATER TRAINING FOR ASTRONAUTS

May 17, 2023 | Transcript | 18:12

NASA Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory Critical Systems Engineer Jim Sarafin discusses training astronauts for spacewalks. Read More

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