Failure To Launch

The ISS is the greatest product of international space cooperation ever achieved. It is also a product of happening at exactly the right time to actually be possible. Today, we’re talking to space policy expert Nik Proxima about the history of the ISS. We cover its conception as a post-Cold War recycling program, why it continued to operate even as member nations became adversaries, and how space cooperation today is very different from 20 years ago. 
Check out Nik’s work here: Space Scout and Proxima: A Human Exploration of Mars
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, support Failure To Launch on Patreon at any tier.
A formative game from our childhoods, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, has a very controversial moment that some have argued could negatively influence young minds. We are of course talking about the mission where you destroy the ISS with a hijacked nuclear missile. And to better explore the topic of space law and nuclear EMPs, we brought on space policy wonk Nik Proxima to talk about it!
Check out Nik’s work here: Space Scout and Proxima: A Human Exploration of Mars
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

In 1947, Georg Rickhey, General Director of Mittelwerk, was charged with war crimes. He was acquitted for lack of evidence.Today, Quinn and Chris are talking about Operation Paperclip and the deliberate efforts made by its staff to protect post-war Nazis from justice and war crimes trials (conducted by other US military officers).  
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SOURCES:
- Secret Agenda: The United States Government, Nazi Scientists, and Project Paperclip, 1945–1990, Linda Hunt
- The Rocket and the Reich, Michael Neufeld
- A History of the Dora Camp, Andre Sellier
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, support Failure To Launch on Patreon at any tier.
I do not much like the Federation of Central Usea (FCU). They’ve done some bad things. 
This week, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris cover Ulysses from discovery to impact to the decades of fallout we still live with today. How humanity faced a possible extinction event, how we came together to defend ourselves, and how every Shield against Ulysses was turned into a Sword for war. 
[This is an in-character episode covering the Ulysses Impact Event from the video game series Ace Combat. A big thank you to all the fans who contributed to the Journey Home singalong and Kilian Croghan for the episode art!]
SOURCES:
- Encyclopedia Strangereal
- Last Christmas, Gaze Magazine (Jan 1, 1999)
- Asteroid On Collision Course With Earth, Usea Today (Apr 21, 1996)
- Titan Guns, Our Science (Sept 20, 1998)
- The Twelve Colors of the Sky, Kei Nagase
- Lines in the Sand: A Memoir, L. Foulke
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

What with all the history talk, we haven't really yet tackled the space elephant in the room: that the space industry is increasingly run by billionaires and open fascists. So today, we're chatting with Ziggy, a post-graduate student studying fascist movements and their ties to scifi, on how reactionary movements in the past and present have co-opted space for their political ends.
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Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy