Failure To Launch

A lot of people know that the Soviets canceled their manned lunar program after losing the Moon Race to Apollo. What most don’t know is how that program ended: in a backroom, cloak-and-dagger palace coup that made one man the unquestioned King of Soviet Space. This week, we’re joined by Joe Kassabian to talk about The Coup of OKB-1 by 𝓜𝓞𝓜. 
Listen to Lions Led By Donkeys here and check out Joe’s upcoming book!
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SOURCES:
- Challenge to Apollo, Asif Siddiqi
- Rockets & People 4, Boris Chertok
- Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration, Brian Harvey
- RussianSpaceWeb, Anatoly Zak
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

In April 2026, while the crew of Artemis 2 was still travelling around the Moon, the Trump administration put forward a budget proposal to gut NASA. This week, we’re joined by space policy analyst and host of the Talking Space podcast, Gene Mikulka, to go over the threats to space science and the grassroots resistance to the cuts. 
Check out the Talking Space podcast here and follow Gene on Bluesky!Astronauts for America interview
Find our merch store here!Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

Alternate title: Railing Rockets. We're joined by Gareth Dennis, host of the RailNatter podcast, to talk about the intersections of rockets and trains. Gareth came prepared with a wonderful story of horses' arses and the NASA Railroad. Quinn, meanwhile, got sidetracked and wrote about how Soviet OKB head Sergei Korolev accidentally bankrupted a city.
Check out RailNatter and Gareth's other videos here!

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Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!
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, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a motorcycle. We're back for part 2 of our series on Viktor Ilyin and the story leading up to the attempted assassination of Leonid Brezhnev in 1969.
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Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!
SOURCES:
- Into the Cosmos, Asif Siddiqi and James Andrews
- The First Cosmonaut Team, Colin Burgess and Rex Hall
- Soyuz-4 and -5 crews perform docking, spacewalk between ships, Anatoly Zak
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy