Space4U Space Foundation

In this episode:
We meet Danny Jaques creator of Danny’s Rocket Ranch Space Salsa. Born and raised on a ranch (the company’s namesake) near Ignacio, Colorado, Jaques realized that rather than becoming a rancher, he wanted to pursue a career in space. He initially dreamt of being an astronaut, but after graduating from Fort Lewis College he embarked upon a junior high teaching career, during which he escorted hundreds of his students to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2010, Jaques was inducted into the Space Camp Hall of Fame.
 
After years of friends and family raving about his homemade salsa recipe, he had the idea to utilize dehydration techniques developed by NASA to formulate a salsa that could be consumed in and withstand the rigors of space, while still being delicious to consume on Earth. Danny has since retired from his teaching career, but he continues to help students attend Space Camp, with a portion of company profits donated to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation for Space Camp scholarships. Jaques’ Space Salsa has also earned Space Certification through Space Foundation.
 
In our conversation, Danny discusses his overarching love of space, how that played into his teaching career, his experiences taking students to Space Camp, what prompted him to start a salsa business, how he integrated his love of space into his company’s products, and how he perfected the process of making his dehydrated salsa as delicious as fresh salsas on the market.
 
Describing comments he’s received on his salsa, Jaques says, "Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, she’s a Shuttle astronaut and a former Ft. Collins high school teacher, and I [asked], ‘Dottie, do you think the folks on the International Space Station would like my salsa?’ And she looked over at me, and her eyes wide, and she said, ‘Danny, they’d love your salsa!’”
 
Learn more about Danny, his “forever bride” Laura, and Danny’s Rocket Ranch Space Salsa by visitinghttps://www.dannysrocketranch.com
 
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom © Copyright 2015, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:
We meet Kevin Rice who spent 40 years in the aerospace industry, roughly split between Lockheed Martin’s legendary Skunk Works and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). At Skunk Works Kevin served as Director of Business Management, where his responsibilities included management of several hundred employees in the execution of budgeting, scheduling, proposal development, cost estimating and pricing, contracts, and risk management. His work supported tactical aircraft projects including the F-117, F-22, and F-35, as well as reconnaissance projects such as the U-2, SR-71, various C-130 projects, and the sub-scale X-33 reusable launch vehicle.
 
Following that, and until his retirement in 2019, Kevin worked for NASA JPL, as a Division Manager and Director of Project Business Management for NASA’s research and development centers. Kevin developed, implemented and maintained JPL’s project controls processes, and created JPL’s business policies and practices manual (the “Dark Green Book”), which served as a model for business throughout NASA. He also developed the independent assessment model adopted by NASA to assess project performance. From 1992 to the present, Kevin has served as adjunct professor of Corporate Finance, International Business, and Global Financial Management at the University of Redlands.
 
In our conversation, Kevin discusses how he budgeted costs and set timelines for massive aerospace projects, established risk evaluation and management controls, what it was like maintaining constant discretion on classified projects, details on Skunk Works’ X-33 reusable launch vehicle program with NASA, and his experiences riding the annual Federal appropriations rollercoaster.
 
Discussing his own personal commandments for business management, Kevin says, “It’s about understanding the trends — what are the facts, what is the relationship between facts — that’s analysis. Assessment is, ‘What do I do with that information?’” You know, what is the risk attendant to that? How reasonable is it? What are some of the alternatives that we can apply to some of that?”
 
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom © Copyright 2015, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:
We meet Laurie Orth, educator, musician, and creator of the Rocket Recorder musical curriculum. Laurie has taught music in several different settings, and in 2012, she began her own business teaching general music classes to home schoolers. Noticing her students lacked motivation to participate, she had an out-of-the-box idea that by creating music and teaching it under a space theme might grab their attention.
 
In our conversation, Orth discusses what led her to careers in music and education, what gave her the idea to merge those different disciplines into Rocket Recorder, and the response she got the first time she introduced her Rocket Recorder songs in the classroom.
 
In describing the results of Rocket Recorder, Orth says, “It was a great outcome, because I wanted my kids to learn how to read music and not just memorize little nursery rhymes — and they did! They really would read the music and they learned how to count (time), so I felt like it was a success all around. And they learned a lot about space exploration.”
 
Learn more about Laurie and Rocket Recorder, visit www.laurieorth.com
 
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom © Copyright 2015, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:
We meet Dr. Steven Hawley, Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kansas, and former NASA astronaut who’s flown on five Space Shuttle missions. In those missions, Hawley had major roles in the deployment and later upkeep of the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
 
In our conversation, Dr. Hawley discusses the first telescope he owned, the 1991 Hubble Space Telescope deployment mission, his role in its deployment, why it initially didn’t operate as intended, what it’s told us about our universe, his later role in the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and his thoughts on the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
 
In describing his first space mission deploying the bus-sized Hubble in 1991, Hawley says, “My job was to operate the arm to grasp the telescope, lift it out of the payload bay, and release it. Well, that sounds simple enough on the surface. It actually was quite complicated, and there were a lot of ‘what-ifs’ that we had to think about.”
 
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom © Copyright 2015, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:
We meet Dr. Dorit Donoviel, director of the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH). She is also director of the Biomedical Innovation Laboratory and associate professor of Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Donoviel’s work revolves around performing research and developing strategies aimed at reducing health and safety risks to astronauts in long-duration space missions. She has received numerous awards for her work, including NASA’s Group Achievement Award for work as a member of the Executive Steering Committee for “The Impact of Sex and Gender on Adaptation to Space,” a collection of six scientific articles published in The Journal of Women's Health.
In our conversation Donoviel discusses how her career in the space ecosystem began, what inspired her to do the research she does, changes that occur in the human body in space, how space health includes both physical and behavioral health, the TRISH-sponsored research conducted by the civilian crew on the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission, and her thoughts on the importance of mentorship.
Explaining the importance of racial and gender diversity in tracking the health of humans in space, Donoviel says, “You go back to the Sixties; we’ve been in space for 60 years… Roughly 530-something-odd people have been to space. That’s like 10 a year. And as a biologist — as a person who studies particularly humans — you need more than that! You need a lot more people. And you need diversity in your sample.”
To learn more about TRISH, visit https://www.bcm.edu/academic-centers/space-medicine/translational-research-institute
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom © Copyright 2015, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged

In this episode:
We meet Will Henry, award-winning filmmaker, producer and writer of the documentary film The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O'Neill, released on September 15th of this year. Will is the Creative Director and Senior Producer at Multiverse Media, a media company focusing on space exploration and science and technology. He is also currently producing an eight-part television series in association with NASA, and is the writer and producer of The Legendary Podcast, a monthly podcast dedicated to sharing stories of perseverance and glory from the world’s top athletes.
 
In our conversation, Will discusses how he ended up working on the film, how long it took to take it from concept to release, how difficult it was to encapsulate a 30-year period of O’Neill’s eventful life into documentary film length, how they were able to round up Gerry’s family and associates to participate, and how much O’Neill’s work then has inspired today’s commercial space travel efforts.
 
Discussing O’Neill’s inventiveness, Will says, “He was a prolific inventor. He invented the particle accelerator; he invented the chambers that made that work. He also invented the precursor to GPS, and he predicted a lot of what we use today, you know — things like the Kindle to self-driving cars. And it’s just incredible how way ahead of his time he was.”
 
To learn more about the documentary, visit thehighfrontiermovie.com. To learn more about Will and his projects, visit willhenryfilm.com or catch him on Twitter @WillTHenry.
 
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom © Copyright 2015, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged