MECO is opinion and analysis of spaceflight, exploration, policy, and strategy, by Anthony Colangelo.
290 episodes transcribedJonathan McDowell—astrophysicist at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the namesake of the McDowell Line at 80 kilometers—joins me to tal...
Blue Origin flew New Glenn successfully for the first time, and SpaceX flew Starship for the seventh time. Both featured failures at different points...
Axiom Space announced changes to their station build out plan, bringing free-flying capability forward in their timeline and switching to a berthing p...
Jared Isaacman, the man with a private space program, has been nominated NASA Administrator, to run the nation’s space program.This episode of Main En...
Donald Trump has been reelected President of the United States, and the main character of spaceflight, Elon Musk, is one of his top advisors. Some tho...
Jared Isaacman of the Polaris Program joins me to talk about the Polaris Dawn mission, his EVA experience, the Hubble Space Telescope situation, how t...
SpaceX is entering a new era for Starship after the epic Flight 5, with its pinpoint ship reentry and staggeringly beautiful booster catch.This episod...
SpaceX and the FAA have been going a few rounds back and forth in public over fines and delays. It’s weird and inscrutable but maybe helpful in the lo...
Andy Lapsa, Co-Founder and CEO of Stoke Space, joins me to talk about the company, their vision for the future, their approach to launch, the larger t...
Jeff Foust of Space News joins me to talk about Starliner, Fram2, VIPER, Blue Moon, and everything else going on in space.This episode of Main Engine...
Mark Albrecht joins me to talk about the state and future of space policy in a very dynamic Presidential election year. He shares some stories from th...
Andrew Rush returns to the show to talk about his new venture, Star Catcher. They are working to build an energy grid in space, beaming energy directl...
NASA announced their intent to cancel VIPER, the rover that was due to go to the Moon on Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, after severe schedule and cost g...
A few weeks ago, we talked about Redwire’s SabreSat spacecraft, and today we’re talking about their Europe-based Phantom spacecraft. We talk about the...
Firefly added launch sites in Virginia and Sweden for its Alpha vehicle. NASA has selected SpaceX to build the ISS US Deorbit Vehicle, closed out thei...
Redwire announced today that it has been awarded a contract from DARPA to serve as the prime mission integrator for its Otter program. For the program...
NASA selected the organizations who will be carrying out mission design studies for the Mars Sample Return rethink, and the US Space Force selected th...
Starliner flew its first crew, Starship flew its fourth flight, Chang’e-6 collected its first samples, and Agnikul Cosmos flew its first mission.This...
United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan debut went smoothly, but sluggish hardware integration raises doubts about meeting commitments, while Orion faces heat...
NASA is heading back to the drawing board for a Mars Sample Return architecture, and is accepting proposals for mission studies by May. I talk about a...
