Dare to Explore

Episode 27: Josh Whitfield

May 15th, 2023  |  35 mins 7 secs

Josh Whitfield is a United States Army veteran awarded the purple heart for his service in Iraq. Today, he is a political consultant and works as the District Director to California State Assemblymember Heath Flora. Josh attended Aviation Challenge 13 times in his youth and is a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame.

Episode 26: Kirby Runyon

April 27th, 2023  |  35 mins 34 secs

Dr. Kirby Runyon is a Space Camp alumni and planetary geologist at the Planetary Science Institute. He has flown 16 parabolic flights, accumulating more than an hour of time spent in weightlessness. He owns a technical and space tourism consulting company, guiding clients through parabolic flights and teaching future astronauts about the geology they will see from space.

Episode 25: Gretchen Green

March 23rd, 2023  |  29 mins 38 secs

space

Dr. Gretchen Green is a Brown, Yale, and Harvard educated radiologist practicing in North Carolina. She attended Space Camp four times, and served as a crew trainer. Dr. Green served on the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation's Board of Directors as the alumni representative, and is currently the active chairman of the Space Camp Alumni Association Board. She now serves as the active secretary to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation's Board of Directors as well.

Episode 24: Danny Jaques

March 15th, 2023  |  24 mins 44 secs

Danny Jaques is a retired school teacher from Colorado. In his three decades of teaching, Danny helped with fundraising and chaperoned more than 500 students to Space Camp. He is a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame, and owns Danny's Rocket Ranch, selling dehydrated space salsa and donating a portion of the profits to continue funding Space Camp Scholarships.

Episode 23: Director Harry Winer

January 30th, 2023  |  34 mins 31 secs

education, film, nasa, rocket, rockets, science, science-fiction, space, space camp, spacex, stem

Harry Winer is a director, producer, and writer in the film and television industry. His television work includes Alias, Veronica Mars, Felicity, Hart to Hart, and many others. Harry is president of Smash Media and has written, directed, or produced over 25 films, including Space Camp in 1986. He is a professor at NYU and is a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame.

Episode 22: Lt. Col. Burke Hare

November 22nd, 2022  |  41 mins 20 secs

deep space nine, engineering, enterprise, for all mankind, graphic design, nasa, rockets, science, space, space force, spacex, star, star trek, stem, trekkie, voyager

Lt. Col. Burke Hare was a U.S. Air Force space and missile operator whose career has included overseeing the maintenance and operations of ICBMs and improvements made to the GPS satellite system. He is a Space Camp Hall of Fame member and is currently Program Manager Space Operations with the Space Development Agency at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville Alabama.

Episode 21: Chris Vrenna

October 28th, 2022  |  41 mins 5 secs

deep space nine, engineering, enterprise, for all mankind, graphic design, nasa, rockets, science, space, space force, spacex, star, star trek, stem, trekkie, voyager

Chris Vrenna is a musician, producer, engineer, programmer, and songwriter best known as the drummer for Nine Inch Nails. He’s played with Marilyn Manson, Guns and Roses, Smashing Pumpkins, and more, and he’s composed music for video games in the Quake, Doom, Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Call of Duty game series. Today, he teaches music technology and is on the board of directors for the US Space and Rocket Center Foundation.

Episode 20: Penny Pettigrew

September 26th, 2022  |  30 mins 32 secs

deep space nine, engineering, enterprise, for all mankind, graphic design, nasa, rockets, science, space, space force, spacex, star, star trek, stem, trekkie, voyager

Penny Pettigrew
is a payload communications manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, communicating with astronauts conducting scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station. She is a Space Camp alumni and a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame.

Episode 19: Robert Pearlman

September 9th, 2022  |  34 mins 27 secs

deep space nine, engineering, enterprise, for all mankind, graphic design, nasa, rockets, science, space, space force, spacex, star, star trek, stem, trekkie, voyager

Robert Pearlman is a space historian and the founder and editor of the website collectSPACE. He was the director of communications and the marketing director for Space Adventures, the first space tourism company to send private individuals to the ISS. Robert is a Space Camp Hall of Fame member and a contributing writer to Space.com.

Episode 18: Katie Berryhill

July 20th, 2022  |  32 mins 8 secs

Katie Berryhill is former intelligence officer for the United States Air Force. Today, she is an astronomy professor at multiple colleges and the CEO of Berryhill Computer Forensics, Incorporated. She is a Space Camp alumni, a science education researcher, and a NASA Solar System Ambassador.

Episode 17: Andrea Hanson

May 23rd, 2022  |  37 mins 3 secs

exploration, explore, kids science, nasa, science, science for kids, space, stem

Dr. Andrea Hanson is a bioastronautics and microgravity science aerospace engineer. She is currently working at NASA Johnson Space Center on Crew Health and Performance for the Human Landing System (HLS). She is a Space Camp alumni, Space Camp Hall of Fame member, and serves on the Space Camp Alumni Advancement Board.

Episode 16: David Hitt

April 19th, 2022  |  39 mins 58 secs

alabama, engineering, explore, explorers, florida, huntsville, launch, math, nasa, rocket, rocketry, science, scientist, sls, space, space camp, space exploration, space force, space shuttle, star trek, star wars, stem, technology

David Hitt is a contractor Communications Strategist with Marshall Space Flight Center's Office of Strategic Analysis and Communication. He began his career as a small town newspaper editor before joining NASA's Space Launch System as Communication Strategist. David is also the author of Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story and Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years.

Episode 15: Marcia Lindstrom

March 24th, 2022  |  33 mins 33 secs

deep space nine, engineering, enterprise, for all mankind, graphic design, nasa, rockets, science, space, space force, spacex, star, star trek, stem, trekkie, voyager

Marcia Lindstrom leads the Strategic Communications Team for NASA's Space Launch System, the rocket that will take humans to the Moon and eventually to Mars. In the past, she has served as manager for the External Relations Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and as Director of Operations for Space Camp.

Episode 14: Jim Allan

February 16th, 2022  |  27 mins 41 secs

deep space nine, engineering, enterprise, for all mankind, graphic design, nasa, rockets, science, space, space force, spacex, star, star trek, stem, trekkie, voyager

Jim Allan is the accessibility coordinator for the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. He served as their webmaster and as an assistive technology specialist. He has been coordinating and bringing Texas students to SCIVIS (Space Camp for Interested Visually Impaired Students) for more than twenty years, and serves as a technical expert for the program. Jim's expertise supported Space Camp's development of mission software usable by blind and visibly impaired students.

Episode 13: Peter Marquez

January 18th, 2022  |  32 mins 43 secs

deep space nine, engineering, enterprise, for all mankind, graphic design, nasa, rockets, science, space, space force, spacex, star, star trek, stem, trekkie, voyager

Peter Marquez is the Head of Space Policy at Amazon Web Services. He has consulted on television shows like "Space Force" as a space consultant, Director of Space Policy on the National Security Council, and served at Planetary Resources, Inc. as the Vice President for Global Engagement. His unique view of the space industry comes from a career of space policy and understanding the interconnected issues that come with advancing exploration.

Episode 12: Keri Bean

December 17th, 2021  |  29 mins 20 secs

deep space nine, engineering, enterprise, for all mankind, graphic design, nasa, rockets, science, space, space force, spacex, star, star trek, stem, trekkie, voyager

Keri Bean is a systems engineer for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She is a deputy lead Rover Planner on the Curiosity rover. She is also a Helicopter Integration Engineer for the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter currently on Mars.