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PODCAST

Main Engine Cut Off

Anthony Colangelo

MECO is opinion and analysis of spaceflight, exploration, policy, and strategy, by Anthony Colangelo.

science natural sciences

All Episodes

00:40:44

T+322: SpaceX Acquires xAI as it Prepares for IPO,...

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2026/02/06

Loren Grush, of Bloomberg, joins me to talk about SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI, its preparation for a potential IPO, Blue Origin’s cancellation of New Shepard and their recent momentum, and the delay to Artemis II following its first wet dress rehearsal.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—David, Natasha Tsakos, Stealth Julian, Warren, Joakim, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Miles O’Brien, Pat, Better Every Day Studios, Will and Lars from Agile, The

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00:31:04

T+321: Artemis II, New Glenn’s First Reflight, Blue...

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2026/01/23

Artemis II is on the pad, and I can’t stop thinking about it. So I guess listen to me think in the open? Also, a ton of Blue Origin news—the next flight of New Glenn will feature a flown booster, they’ve announced constellation plans under the name TeraWave, and Tory Bruno has left ULA to join the team at Blue.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Matt, Fred, Will and Lars from Agile, Kris, Lee, Jan, Frank, Miles O’Brien, Josh from Impulse, Theo and Violet,

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00:32:17

T+320: NASA’s FY2026 Budget, the Isaacman Era, and...

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2026/01/22

Casey Dreier of The Planetary Society joins me to talk about the NASA FY2026 budget, the early days of the Administrator Isaacman era, and how we feel going into Artemis II.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Matt, Fred, Will and Lars from Agile, Kris, Lee, Jan, Frank, Miles O’Brien, Josh from Impulse, Theo and Violet, Ryan, Joakim, Stealth Julian, Heiko, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Better Every Day Studios, Joel, Steve, Joonas, The Astrogators at

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00:49:07

T+319: Headlines, December 22, 2025

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2025/12/23

A holiday special! Enjoy this week’s episode of Headlines free. It’s an absolute monster episode—way longer than usual Headlines episodes, I promise—but it’s a great example of what you get when you support the show over at mainenginecutoff.com/support.NASA finally—and we really do mean it this time—has a full-time leader - Ars TechnicaAgencywide Town Hall with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025 - YouTubeTrump commits to Moon landing by 2028, followed by a lunar outpost two

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00:49:05

T+318: General Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space...

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2025/12/17

Yesterday, I had the chance to visit the Pentagon and sit down with General Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations—the head of the United States Space Force. We talk about the service 6 years into its existence, the state of acquisitions, the threats and space environment today, and what the future may hold for the Space Force when it comes to human spaceflight.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Russell, Natasha Tsakos, Will and Lars from Agile, Theo

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00:59:59

T+317: Isaacman Renomination Hearing, Starliner...

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2025/12/08

Stephen Clark of Ars Technica joins me to talk about a ton of stories in the news—Jared Isaacman was back in front of Congress, a few Starliner flights have been cut from the ISS manifest, Starship received environmental approval to proceed at SLC-37, Zhuque-3 almost stuck its first landing attempt, the Soyuz launch pad fell apart at Baikonur, and the Space Force has a new mission naming scheme.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Matt, Fred, Kris, Natasha

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00:30:12

T+316: New Glenn’s Second Launch, First Landing, and...

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2025/11/26

Blue Origin is fresh off an incredible few weeks—a successful second launch and first landing of New Glenn, followed by an exciting unveil of upgrades to the vehicle, including an enormous new version, New Glenn 9x4.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Lee, Natasha Tsakos, Fred, Will and Lars from Agile, Ryan, Stealth Julian, Pat, Heiko, Kris, Jan, Better Every Day Studios, Theo and Violet, Matt, Josh from Impulse, Russell, Joel, Warren, Joonas, Joakim, Tim

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01:03:06

T+315: Autonomy in Space (with Simone D’Amico, DJ...

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2025/11/11

Simone D’Amico of Stanford and EraDrive, DJ Bush of NVIDIA, and Al Tadros of Redwire join me to talk about autonomy in space, to get into the specific details of what they’re working on and how it comes together, and what it may do for the industry in the next few years.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Joonas, Russell, Donald, Stealth Julian, Pat, Fred, David, Lee, Frank, Josh from Impulse, Steve, Joel, Joakim, Matt, Natasha Tsakos, Tim Dodd (the

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00:34:59

T+314: Jockeying for the Artemis 3 Lander, and the...

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2025/10/31

Thinking through the chaos that has ensued over the NASA Administrator role, the Artemis 3 lander acceleration movement, the SpaceX Starship HLS update, and a bit on how we actually got here.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Donald, Stealth Julian, Jan, Theo and Violet, The Astrogators at SEE, Joakim, Steve, Matt, Fred, Lee, Joel, Kris, Ryan, David, Josh from Impulse, Warren, Heiko, Pat, Russell, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Joonas, Better Every

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00:33:04

T+313: Starlink, Kuiper, Project Bromo, and More...

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2025/10/30

Caleb Henry, Director of Research at Quilty Space, joins me (in studio!) to talk about Starlink V3, Starlink satellite relay, Kuiper’s rollout, the Airbus-Thales-Leonardo merger, and the future of Iridium.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Heiko, Joonas, Joel, The Astrogators at SEE, Russell, Joakim, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Natasha Tsakos, David, Steve, Josh from Impulse, Will and Lars from Agile, Better Every Day Studios, Jan, Fred, Warren,

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00:44:18

T+312: Starship Flight 11, Space Policy, and...

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2025/10/17

Miles O’Brien, science correspondent for PBS News and CNN space analyst, joins me to talk about Starship Flight 11, the current space policy landscape including the ongoing government shutdown, the possible return of Jared Isaacman, and what to do about all the competing budget priorities at NASA.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Joakim, David, Heiko, Ryan, Jan, Kris, Frank, Josh from Impulse, Steve, Russell, Joonas, Joel, Matt, Will and Lars from Agile,

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00:42:37

T+311: Phil McAlister on Commercial LEO and NASA’s...

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2025/10/10

Phil McAlister, former Director of NASA’s Commercial Space Division, joins me to talk about the Commercial LEO Destinations program, the budgetary issues facing NASA and its human spaceflight programs, and to share his perspective on the last (and next) few years in these areas.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Joel, Pat, Will and Lars from Agile, Joakim, Jan, Warren, David, Fred, Better Every Day Studios, Josh from Impulse, Ryan, Natasha Tsakos, Theo

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00:19:48

T+310: NASA’s “Prove It” Era

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2025/09/26

NASA selected Blue Origin to (maybe) deliver the once-cancelled VIPER rover, modified Sierra Space’s ISS resupply contract which likely puts the nail in the coffin of Dream Chaser, and released the draft of its new commercial space station strategy. All different stories with one message: prove it. But maybe not in a good way.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Jan, Kris, Lee, Will and Lars from Agile, Theo and Violet, Better Every Day Studios, Josh from

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00:43:01

T+309: EchoStar’s Spectrum Sale, Starlink’s...

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2025/09/11

Caleb Henry, Director of Research at Quilty Space, joins me to talk about EchoStar’s spectrum sales and constellation cancellation, SpaceX’s spectrum purchase, and the financials of Starlink.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Bob, Heiko, Creative Taxi, Josh from Impulse, Russell, Donald, Will and Lars from Agile, Matt, Steve, Lee, Joel, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Natasha Tsakos (pronounced Tszakos), The Astrogators at SEE, Better Every Day

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00:36:09

T+308: Chatting with Casey Handmer

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2025/08/27

Casey Handmer, Founder of Terraform Industries, joins me to talk about the state of NASA in 2025, talent acquisition and retention, productivity, and so much more.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Kris, Joakim (Jo-Kim), Creative Taxi, Heiko, Joel, Frank, Josh from Impulse, The Astrogators at SEE, David, Jan, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Theo and Violet, Joonas, Stealth Julian, Donald, Warren, Matt, Pat, Steve, Fred, Bob, Lee, Natasha Tsakos

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00:30:47

T+307: Executive Order on Regulatory Reform (with Tom...

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2025/08/15

Tom Marotta of The Spaceport Company joins me to talk about the executive order this week focused on commercial space regulatory reform, what problems it seeks to solve, his experience on both sides of those issues, and how we should understand the positioning of the order.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Frank, David, Jan, Josh from Impulse, Steve, Ryan, Joakim (Jo-Kim), Lee, Creative Taxi, Theo and Violet, Fred, Pat, Donald, Better Every Day Studios,

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00:41:56

T+306: Lunar Outpost (with Michael Moreno, VP of...

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2025/08/07

Michael Moreno, VP of Strategy at Lunar Outpost, joins me to talk about what they’ve been up to at the company, the NASA Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract, the idea of services as a business on the Moon, and more.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Lee, Russell, Fred, The Astrogators at SEE, David, Matt, Theo and Violet, Warren, Josh from Impulse, Frank, Pat from KC, Steve, Pat, Creative Taxi, Jan, Stealth Julian, Better Every Day Studios, Kris,

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01:06:14

T+305: The Starship 36 Explosion, and ESA Policy...

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2025/06/27

A special simulcast of this week’s Off-Nominal—the other show I do, if you somehow haven’t heard of it!—because it’s exactly the topic list with exactly the guest I had up next on my list. I’m joined by Adrian Beil of NASASpaceflight to talk about the recent mayhem at Starbase, and to kick around European space policy topics in the run up to the ESA Ministerial later this year.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Creative Taxi, David, Donald, Matt, Frank,

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00:49:36

T+304: The Musk/Trump Breakup, Jared Isaacman’s...

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2025/06/07

Lori Garver, former NASA Deputy Administrator, joins me to talk about the chaos of the last week: the withdraw of Jared Isaacman’s nomination for NASA Administrator, Starship Flight 9, and of course, the wild public breakup of Elon Musk and President Trump.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—David, Donald, Matt, Frank, Better Every Day Studios, Warren, Bob, Russell, Pat from KC, Pat, Lee, Joel, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Ryan, Josh from Impulse,

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00:53:42

T+303: The Trump 2024 Transition (with Mark Albrecht)

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2025/05/07

Mark Albrecht joins me to talk about his time on the Trump 2024 Transition Team, the thinking behind some of the policy decisions we’re starting to see in the space and national security spheres, and more.This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Joonas, The Astrogators at SEE, Will and Lars from Agile, Theo and Violet, Frank, Russell, Kris, Bob, Lee, Pat, Ryan, Fred, Matt, Heiko, Pat from KC, Joakim (Jo-Kim), Donald, Josh from Impulse, Stealth Julian, Jan,

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323 results

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