This Week In Space podcast: Episode 140 — University Rocketeers

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On Episode 140 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with Dr. Dan Erwin and student Ryan Kraemer about amateur rocketry.

Many of us flew model rockets as young people, but USC Rocket Propulsion Lab takes amateur rocketry to a whole new level--in this case, 470,000 feet! Meet Erwin and Kraemer, who, along with a very talented team of other undergrads, built and flew Aftershock II, a 14-foot, 330-pound "amateur" rocket that flew out of the Nevada desert and into the record books.

It's a fun episode that will leave you wishing that your university had a club that was half this cool!

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Space news of the week

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.

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.