Launch into Radio Cade’s Space Pod and step inside the future of humanity’s journey into deep space. Our first episode features Mark Sirangelo, who was involved with more than 350 space missions at Sierra Nevada and is the visionary NASA tapped to lead its Moon to Mars Mission Directorate. Mark discusses not just the how of the space exploration renaissance, but the why. Although we need the excitement of discovery to motivate us, much of the current work on space will improve life on earth soon.

TRANSCRIPT:

Intro: 0:01

Inventors and their inventions. Welcome to Radio Cade, a podcast from the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, Florida. The museum is named after James Robert Cade, who invented Gatorade in 1965. My name is Richard Miles. We'll introduce you to inventors and the things that motivate them, we'll learn about their personal stories, how their inventions work, and how their ideas get from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Richard Miles: 0:39

Astronauts landed on the moon 50 years ago, and we have never stopped looking toward the stars, imagining what the future holds far beyond earth. Launching the Radio Cade's Space Pod, and step inside the future of humanity's journey to deep space, meet the innovators and visionaries who are charting a bold new course to the moon, then to Mars and beyond. Discover the revolutionary technology that will get us there and see how it's already transformed life here on earth. Today. I'm speaking with Mark Sirangelo, who is involved with more than 350 space missions at Sierra Nevada, and is the visionary NASA tapped to lead its moon to Mars mission directorate. Hear Mark on this first episode of our Radio Cade Space Pod, because we're headed back to the moon and this time we plan to stay. Mark , welcome to Radio Cade.

Mark Sirangelo: 1:25

Hi Richard, Good to be here. I'm glad to be able to speak with you on the topic of space and its feature .

Richard Miles: 1:30

So Mark, as you know, this is part of a bigger series that we're doing on space exploration in which we're going to talk, not just about the how of getting on the moon and beyond, but the why . And perhaps few people are better positioned to talk about both the how and the why than you. So to give listeners an idea of what you bring to the table, why don't you start with a brief summary of your career, including the non-space parts, which I found fascinating. So what made Mark Sirangelo?

Mark Sirangelo: 1:56

Thanks Richard, I'm happy to give a little background. I think one of the things I like to talk about when I speak to groups or students is the fact that I didn't have a traditional path to space. I didn't grow up as a space engineers, spend 30 years doing it and wound up coming out the back end. Many of the people today are looking at their lives and careers and deciding what they want to do. My background, although I have a long history in flying, I was flying as a teenager and an active pilot ever since. And the love of space and aviation came from many generations of my family who've been involved with that. I didn't actually start in the space industry. I started as a nature photographer. I'd spend time traveling the world as a mediocre photographer, but when that was good enough to get a lot of work and I think I got more work than most people because I could fly myself around and that was making me cheaper than most other photographers, but I saw a lot of imaging and I also got to see a lot of different cultures and people. And that really started me off on a understanding of the world, understanding of the world we live in and