Episodes
Wednesday Jul 22, 2020
Danielle Dallas Roosa – Back to Space
Wednesday Jul 22, 2020
Wednesday Jul 22, 2020
In this episode:
We meet Danielle Dallas Roosa, Co-Founder & Chief Communications Officer of Back to Space, a transmedia organization aiming to inspire more interest in space, science, and technology among young people. The granddaughter of Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa and daughter of F-16 fighter pilot Jack Roosa, Danielle graduated from UMass Amherst, interning at NASA headquarters, MTV, and Premier PR in London. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting and producing aspirations, and in the last several years she has written and produced several films that have won awards at film festivals nationwide. Danielle created the Back to Space concept to bridge her passions for space and the entertainment industry, and she is currently pitching a Back to Space TV show to major networks.
In this conversation, Danielle talks about how her family history inspired her and influenced her outlook, her internship at NASA working with the Mars Curiosity rover team, her strong belief that there is a place for people of all backgrounds and strengths in the future of space exploration, and also how the idea for Back to Space was born and has evolved since.
Discussing the speeches that Apollo astronauts have given as part of the Back to Space program, Danielle says, “I think that, the Apollo astronauts, when they talk it is an emotional thing. Looking at the Earth from space and looking back, it transforms you. And too, a lot of astronauts talk about how they don’t understand the internal conflict we, as humans, have — because when you’re out there looking back, we’re all humans — that’s all that matters.”
To learn more about Back to Space, visit backtospace.com.
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Jill Johnson and Allen Platek — Tempur-Pedic
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
In this episode:
We meet Jill Johnson, Vice President of Brand Management for Tempur-Pedic and Allen Platek, who leads the New Product Development team at Tempur Sealy — companies that apply a NASA-developed technology to their sleep products, and that are Space-Certified through the Space Foundation.
Jill serves as a senior leader on the company’s marketing team, drawing on her tech and business backgrounds to oversee brand and product strategy across Tempur-Pedic’s premium range of mattresses, adjustable bases, pillows, and toppers. Jill began her tenure at Tempur Sealy as a New Products Program Manager, and over the past decade has served in a range of brand and marketing management positions, helping to bring new sleep solutions to life across the company’s portfolio of brands.
Allen leads the New Product Development team at Tempur Sealy with a focus on bringing innovation to each product development cycle across all brands for the company. In his current role, Allen not only runs the New Product Development group, but also the Innovation Office, Analytical Labs, Prototype Labs, and Product Test Labs, overseeing all major product development efforts from product concept phase through commercialization.
In this conversation, Jill and Allen discuss the backstory on the space technology that the company adapted to improve sleep, some of the science behind how Tempur-Pedic foam works, how the technology has evolved over the years, the broad range of products they now produce using the technology, and the award the company recently received from Popular Science.
In discussing Tempur Sealy’s approach to their sleep technology Allen says, “Climate research — in much the same way that space exploration is approached — we do it through scientific method and through experimentation. We don’t leave it to chance. And, I believe we’re the only people in the industry that are approaching sleep science this way.”
To learn more about Tempur-Pedic, visit tempurpedic.com.
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged
Wednesday Jul 01, 2020
Paul Lockhart – Former NASA Astronaut
Wednesday Jul 01, 2020
Wednesday Jul 01, 2020
In this episode:
We meet Paul Lockhart, U.S. Air Force Colonel (retired) and former NASA astronaut. Spanning his career, Lockhart has served numerous duty assignments worldwide, has logged 5,000-plus flying hours piloting more than 30 aircraft, and has also piloted two space shuttle missions to the International Space Station — STS-111 and STS-113 — both in 2002, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavor. More recently, Paul has written a book called Virtus Adventures and runs a website and blog to promote it. He also does public speaking engagements with school children to inspire an early interest in STEM subjects and space exploration.
In this conversation, Paul discusses how he first became interested in space as a child during the dawn of the space age, the skills he had — and the skills he wished he had — when he first became an astronaut, how mentors helped him to achieve his goals, the realities about being an astronaut that most people don’t know about, and how important a person’s character is in achieving their goals.
Explaining his thoughts on what he wants people to take away from his public speaking engagements, Paul says, “I want every young person, and even adult that I speak to in the U.S. to understand that we, the United States, sit at a unique position in that we should feel very proud that we have a space program that is respected and revered around the world.”
To learn more about Paul’s Virtus Adventures, visit virtusadventures.com.
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged