This Week In Space podcast: Episode 173 — The Return of the Malik

The Return of the Malik - The Wild Proposals on NASA's Table - YouTube

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On Episode 173 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and and Tariq Malik look back at the week in space news.

We look at the passing of Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell, potential re-tasking of NASA's Juno probe from Jupiter to the interstellar interloper, 3I/Atlas — Avi Loeb wants it, of course — the third launch of ULA's Vulcan rocket, Artemis 2 lunar flyby updates, Virgin Galactic's new spaceplane (can they ever make a profit?), a proposed Pluto orbiter — with a planned mission of 50 years — and much more, on This Week in Space!

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Space news of the week

• James Lovell, the steady astronaut who brought Apollo 13 home safely, has died
• Vulcan Centaur rocket launches experimental military satellite on its 1st-ever US Space Force mission
• NASA told to chase potential alien probe before it's gone forever
• New Pluto mission could uncover dwarf planet's hidden ocean — if the 'queen of the underworld' gets to fly
• Virgin Galactic's new Delta class space plane could fly as soon as fall 2026
• NASA's Perseverance rover spies mysterious 'helmet' on Mars
• NASA's Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft fuels up and moves closer to launch

Model Falcon 9!

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About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

Host of This Week In Space on TWiT

Host of This Week In Space on TWiT

Rod Pyle

Rod Pyle is an author, journalist, television producer and Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine. He has written 18 books on space history, exploration, and development, including Space 2.0, Innovation the NASA Way, Interplanetary Robots, Blueprint for a Battlestar, Amazing Stories of the Space Age, First On the Moon, and Destination Mars

In a previous life, Rod produced numerous documentaries and short films for The History Channel, Discovery Communications, and Disney. He also worked in visual effects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Battlestar Galactica reboot, as well as various sci-fi TV pilots. His most recent TV credit was with the NatGeo documentary on Tom Wolfe's iconic book The Right Stuff.

This Week In Space co-host

This Week In Space co-host

Tariq Malik

Responsible for Space.com's editorial vision, Tariq Malik has been the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com since 2019 and has covered space news and science for 18 years. He joined the Space.com team in 2001, first as an intern and soon after as a full-time spaceflight reporter covering human spaceflight, exploration, astronomy and the night sky. He became Space.com's managing editor in 2009. As on-air talent has presented space stories on CNN, Fox News, NPR and others.

Tariq is an Eagle Scout (yes, he earned the Space Exploration merit badge), a Space Camp veteran (4 times as a kid, once as an adult), and has taken the ultimate "vomit comet" ride while reporting on zero-gravity fires. Before joining Space.com, he served as a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering city and education beats. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University.