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A communications satellite is a bundle of computers (all made by different people) the size of a minivan. Coordinating all these systems to work together, send info to Earth, and accept new commands is nightmarish. This week, we're joined by Jake, a software engineer at the German Space Operations Center (GSOC) to learn a little bit about spacecraft operations.

Follow along with Jake's slides

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Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

Expedition Packing List. Food: 200 lb / Sledge: 150 lb / Science Equipment: 50 lb / Bear Meat: 12,000 lb. Today, Quinn and Chris are joined by Joe Kassabian, host of the Lions Led By Donkeys podcast to talk about a Victorian aerospace disaster: S A Andrée's attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon.

Follow Joe here!

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Sources:

- The Ice Balloon: S. A. Andrée and the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration, Alec Wilkinson

Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest, join our Patreon at any tier!

This is an unlocked patreon bonus episode. If you want to hear more content like this, consider supporting FTL on Patreon.

This month, we're mixing things up and achieving a first for this show by reviewing an actually good space movie, Tarkovsky's 1972 classic Solaris, itself based off Stanislaw Lem's novel of the same name.
A big thanks to returning guest Nicholas Slayton for bringing his Tarkovsky expertise to the episode! And for informing us of all the crappy Solaris movies (1968 & 2002) we can inflict on you at a later date.

If you were a cosmonaut and you knew you were about to die, why wouldn't you announce your last words in a comedy Italian accent? Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris are joined by Jake Rockatansky (@RealRockatansky) of the QAA podcast to talk about the Lost Cosmonaut conspiracy theory, how it has evolved over the decades, and the Italian brothers most responsible for inventing it.

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Sources:

• Phantoms of Space, James Oberg

• http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/Torre/TorreB.html

Related viewing: the dumb conspiracy short film I made everyone watch

Music by DJ Danarchy

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest, join our Patreon at any tier!

Big thanks to Kelly for coming on! Check out his stuff at:
https://linktr.ee/bornunderpunchs
https://patreon.com/bornunderpunchs

The first Romanian in space never set out to be a cosmonaut. He just loved to fly. Today, we're talking about Dumitru Prunariu, his unlikely path to space, and how he ran afoul of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, Romania's dictator duo.

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Sources:

• Interkosmos: The Eastern Bloc's Early Space Program, Bert Vis & Colin Burgess

Music by DJ Danarchy