The Space Madness Podcast

In this episode we have a college buddy of mine, now Dr. Loren Chang, Professor and Chair of the Department of Space Science and Engineering at the National Central University in Taiwan. We discuss his fascinating journey growing up traveling back and forth to Taiwan throughout his education. That period happened to overlap with Taiwan's growth from post-martial law scenario to global dominance in technology - specifically semiconductors - and it's recent embrace of space and drone technologies.
 
* this episode has been edited much more extensively than previous ones, due to slight lags and delays when recording between my studio in Atlanta and our guest's location in Taiwan.

In today's episode we have director of the film Advanced Chemistry Etana Jacobson. Etana has an extensive career in film, television and video games bringing science to audiences in an engaging and personal way. Today we discuss those efforts and new ones in the modern digital environment. 

Today we "talk" with Eric Shear, a remarkable Ph.D. student with the unique distinction of being the first deaf person to experience microgravity since the Galludet 11, a group of deaf men who were instrumental in developing the Apollo program. View his writing here.
Note: this episode has periods of silence as Eric signs to Justin. I have left them in to maintain the integrity of the experience of interviewing a deaf person.

Today we have a special guest with a deep connection to history. Peter Laitin joins me to talk about his father, Joe Laitin, a war correspondent turned trusted member of several administrations in the 1960s and 1970s. Notably, he and his wife Christine Laitin wrote the speech read by Apollo 8 astronauts on Christmas Eve, 1968 from Earth orbit after being the first human beings to see the whole Earth at once from space. See this short CNN clip from the 90s. https://youtu.be/VFzZ2yHHq9c?si=GLszGyvrsn7kAu9h

Justin Kugler shares his story of finding a pathway from a Texas neighborhood to the surface of the moon. Coincidentally also with the CIA in his background like Tim Chrisman of episode 2, Justin followed a winding path from a chance high school opportunity. He and I also share the challenge of building personally meaningful space careers while our wives built their own medical careers. We end the episode with a fascinating new perspective on human space exploration that I had not previously considered. 

In episode 2, Investor and former CIA laser expert Tim Chrisman and I discuss the changes in capital markets since WW2 and the resulting impact on everything from war to planetary exploration. 

In our inaugural episode I talk with Daniel Leeb of the Icelandic Space Agency. We explore the lesser known relationship between Iceland and every human and nearly planetary surface space mission and think about what the near future of global space leadership looks like in a dynamic era.