Episode 9: It Actually is Rocket Science

We analyse the failed launches and the difficult financial straits the company went through in discussion with Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX. In addition to analysing why building and launching rockets is so hard, we trace the implications the war in Ukraine has already had for the West's cooperation with Russia on the International Space Station. Will Russia be the world's first former space power?

Space is becoming increasingly congested, contested and competed over. It has never been so easy – or so cheap – to launch a satellite into orbit. With space activity proliferating, its impact on national security has grown too: space assets are becoming vulnerable and space debris is becoming increasingly dangerous. War in Space is a series of interviews with experts in space and defence that will analyse the intersection of space and national security, unravelling the technical jargon that so often accompanies these discussions and explaining why space matters for our everyday lives and security.