Failure To Launch

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.
In the months before the Bombs Fell, the American space program was preparing for its greatest challenge yet: reaching the Red Planet. But the program wasn't as innocent as it seemed. This week, Scribe Quintus is taking Chris and Other Chris through the history of the USSA's Mars Shot Project and the XMB Booster developed by ArcJet Systems.  
A big thanks to Alex the OK, Nicholas Slayton, Angry Scooter, and Kelly of CIAS for contributing audiologs to this episode.
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

Capsule: check. Monkey: check. Downers: check.
To celebrate our 5th anniversary as a show, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris are going back to the well to talk about our first ever topic: Project Albert. Or “that time the US Government launched a half dozen doped-up monkeys on captured Nazi V-2s”. 
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Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community
SOURCES:
- Animals in Space, Colin Burgess and Chris Dubbs
- Packing for Mars, Mary Roach
- A Brief History of Animals in Space, NASA
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

In the summer of 1966, work at China’s top-secret space program ground to a halt as every worker spent every day putting up posters, making denunciations, and murdering each other. This week, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris are joined by November Kelly to talk about Project 714, China’s secret crewed space program and the incredibly dumb reason it died. 
Check out November's work here (TF), and here (WTYP), and here (KJB), and here (BGDC), and here (NGNM)!

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Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community
SOURCES:
- Thread of the Silkworm, Iris Chang
- China in Space, Brian Harvey
- China’s Space Program, S. Chandrashekar
FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

The first space food was made by veterinarians instead of dieticians and was so bad that many astronauts chose to fast through their missions. And it could've been *so* much worse. This week, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris are talking to Dr Kaveh Hoda, gastroenterologist and host of the House of Pod podcast about the wonderful, disgusting world of astronaut kibble. 
Check out Kaveh's work here!
Tragically, Backstroke of the West appears to have been taken down
Find our merch store here
Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community
SOURCES:
- Packing For Mars, Mary Roach
- Conference on Nutrition in Space and Related Waste Problems
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.

Count the moons, duster! Today, Quinn (Belter), Chris (Martian), and Other Chris (Earther) are talking about the largest ship ever built by humans, the LDSS Nauvoo aka the OPAS Behemoth aka Medina Station. We cover its transformation from an ark for the faithful to a missile against the alien to a battleship for the Belt and to a crossroads between stars.