Space Shuttle Talk with a veteran of the Shuttle program Jerry Goodson - Today In Space
A big thank you to all the Steemians who gave us such a warm welcome with our first post! I (Alex) wanted to share one of my favorite interviews so far that's centered around one of my favorite spacecraft of all time.
In this episode, I was joined by Jerry Goodson for some Space Shuttle Talk. Jerry Goodson worked on the Space Shuttle Program for over 35 years and started working as a technician in the aft section of the spacecraft and made it to Launch Test Conductor.
The Space Shuttle was the spacecraft I fell in love with growing up and the idea that I could someday have a hand in helping it bring humans into Space and return safely was all I needed to go for an Aerospace Engineering degree. When I was still in college studying and they retired the Shuttle in 2011, I was worried that I wouldn't have a job. But luckily, around that time a new reusable option came on the scene with the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon Capsule from SpaceX. Still no job working on them, but now I can share it's story and legacy with Steemians like you!
Reusability is in my opinion the next wave of innovation for the space industry. The simple concept of wanting to reuse spacecraft and rocket systems brings down the cost of going to space and allows more research and human adventure to happen! The first true reusable spacecraft was the Space Shuttle and there are so many things for us to learn from it's amazing legacy. I was honored to have Jerry on to share his love and expertise of the iconic American human rated spacecraft.
As you can see in the cover for this episode, there is a model of the Space Shuttle launching that was 3D printed by us thanks to a CAD model made available to download for free on Thingiverse.com by Jason3030. That model can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2327580
This episode is a great starting point for anyone who wants to learn about the Space Shuttle! We have all the segments of this episode cut up for easy viewing. The full episode is located at the bottom of this post on our Youtube page, which you can find and subscribe to here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg_ruADG1Lz1bfWIl8sJdXA
We covered the three major stages of the Space Shuttle - development, orbital missions, and building of the International Space Station. The idea of Triple Redundency was discussed, as it's the only way the Shuttle team could ensure enough safety precautions to send humans into space in the first place.
Jerry gave a breakdown of the Columbia and Challenger disasters, explaining what happened in the best recap I've ever heard. We discuss what went wrong in both incidents and what could have been done to prevent these disasters from occurring in the first place. Unfortunately, [OPINION] when national pressure and an impatient media push NASA to launch prematurely or return to Earth prematurely against technical advise, bad things happen.
We discussed the expectations vs. realities of reusability with Space Shuttle. The first try at reusability showed us that actually creating a safe, cost effective, and efficient reusable spacecraft is NOT EASY. There are so many things that could go wrong, and so many things you didn't expect to happen. The program did develop over time to adapt, but the road to true reusability is filled with difficult challenges.
Also, we spoke about the impact that retiring the Space Shuttle had on the average American's perception of NASA today, as well as why space is now a Billionare's game to Mars and the Moon:
We also dive into discussions about where the Space program goes now without the Space Shuttle, as well as the difficulties of running a Space program. Plus, we talk about the very important idea that going to space is hard. This topic has circled around many times in my 4 years of podcasting about space.
It happened with the Apollo program when we went to the Moon and after we had done it a few times. People simply thought it was routine. But as the Space shuttle program taught us, even routine flights are never routine and preparing for every scenario is crucial towards a safe human spaceflight program.
If you'd like to watch the whole episode, it's available on our youtube page here:
It's also available on iTunes in the full audio version:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tis-126-space-shuttle-talk-with-jerry-goodson/id943279351?i=1000399404958&mt=2
We hope you enjoy the podcast and learn something new! Please feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them (I can also ask Jerry anything you'd like - just ask away!)
As always, spread love and spread science!
Alex G. Orphanos
Host of the Today in Space podcast