Space Connect Podcast

Franco-American space transportation company Hstar Space is building a heavy-class rocket to blast off global infrastructure into orbit. Its upcoming launch vehicle is designed to carry up to 60 tonnes of payload.  Once complete, they hope to blast it off from spaceports around the world, including locally at the upcoming Space Centre Australia in far north Queensland.  In this special episode, the CEO of Hstar, Nick Orenstein, and the founder of Space Centre Australia, James Palmer, discuss their upcoming plans. 

This week, the Space Connect Podcast features a returning guest: Paul Hawkins, the founder of Crazy Might Work. His company is a leadership and innovation academy that brings lessons from frontiers like space to the workplace. More simply put, Hawkins and his team work with leaders and their teams to create and mobilise high-performing teams. Their re-imagination of NASA's successful 4-D program won the Australian Space Awards 2025 for Workplace Initiative of the Year. Host Adam Thorn and Hawkins discuss this and what exactly makes great leadership and high-performing teams.

Last month, Space Connect held its Australian Space Summit and Exhibition, or AusSpace, in Sydney.  The highlight of the event though was a panel where schoolchildren were given the chance to interview three astronauts. We've got the audio so you can listen in. The panel included Paul Scully-Power, Australia's first-ever astronaut, who went to space in 1984; Eric Philips, who only blasted off to space on a private SpaceX mission in April; and Katherine Bennell-Pegg, the first astronaut to formally qualify under the Australian flag. 

The Australian Space Summit & Exhibition was the biggest event of the year for our local industry. In this special episode recorded at the event, Space Connect editor Adam Thorn and Defence Connect analyst Steve Kuper discuss the main takeaways. The pair discuss the importance of AUKUS to space, the impact of government cuts to the industry and why the sector is so integral to our national defence.

Last week, Space Centre Australia revealed it was set to work with NASA on an audacious proposal to launch satellites via military aircraft. The plan – similar to that pioneered by Virgin Orbit – has already begun testing at the US space agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia using a modified C-130J Super Hercules. In this episode of the Space Connect podcast, SCA's chief executive, James Palmer, discusses how his team plans to do it and if it could lead to a closer collaboration with the US space agency.