Episode 2: Some Like it Hot

The Rocket Ranch welcomes Dana Hutcherson, deputy manager for the Commercial Crew program. She'll talk about the mission ahead, reflect on the program's 10-year anniversary and share her personal journey with NASA. 

The spotlights came on in the predawn hours of April 12th 1981, illuminating a spacecraft like no other, the space shuttle. Just before liftoff, Columbia's crew climbed inside for the very first test flight into space. 

In this week's SYSK Select episode, amateur astrophysicists Josh and Chuck break out the stats and attempt to explain the complex, boiling ball of gas that we call the sun.

For the first time, a NASA spacecraft is flying through the Sun's atmosphere. Nour Raouafi, project scientist for Parker Solar Probe, explains why the Sun's corona is the source of one of the biggest mysteries in all of space science. So, what does it take to build a probe that c ...  Show more

Some solar mysteries, like the origin of the fast solar wind, can only be solved by getting up close and personal with the Sun. James Drake from the University of Maryland joins Planetary Radio this week to talk about the latest results from NASA's Parker Solar Probe as it soa ...