In a desperate bid to one-up the American Apollo missions, the Soviets built nuclear Moon tanks. We?re joined by auto journalist and podcaster Victoria Scott for a series on the Soviet Lunokhod rovers. In Part 1, we talk about the three-pronged Soviet lunar program, how they built the first space tank, and how you can stay warm in winter with a kilo of Polonium-210. 

Check out Victoria?s work here and listen to Tran Girlismo!

Find our merch store here

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community

SOURCES:

- Unmanned Missions toward the Moon, Anatoly Zak

- Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration, Brian Harvey

- Tank on the Moon, 2007

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

On July 9th, 1962, the US Navy lit space on fire from Hawaii to New Zealand and fried a quarter of all active satellites in orbit. This week, we?re joined by engineer and friend of the show Ian to talk about Starfish Prime, the largest nuclear test ever conducted in space, and all the satellites that test killed.

Find our merch store here

Support FTL on Patreon to get bonus content and join our Discord community

SOURCES:

- Burning the Sky, Mark Wolverton

- Dark Sun: Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, Richard Rhodes

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.

For June?s bonus, we?re joined by Ani Mejlumyan of the Lions Led By Donkeys podcast to talk all about The Lesson, a strange Soviet-Armenian animated short about environmentalism. Or possibly John Lennon. Or being so relentlessly horny that you short-circuit a Soviet censor?s brain. 

The earliest manned spaceflights were universally cramped, uncomfortable, and dangerous. What if your job was to do that multiple times a year underwater? This week, we're joined by Dr. Alan Jamieson, an accomplished marine biologist, veteran of many deep sea dives, and a host of the Deep Sea Podcast to compare our respective environments and see how they line up.

Check out the Deep Sea Podcast here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

More Ace Combat announcements are coming out and we're very excited about that, so we're unlocking our bonus episode from earlier this year on the Gleipnir flying stealthing aircraftlasermissilebattlecarrier.

The final boss of superweapon development. A weapon worth double digits of the GDP of Laesath. The universe's most powerful Blue Angel. This time, we're tackling a fan request topic: Diego Gaspar Navarro's Folly, the Gleipnir.

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

A lot of people know that the Soviets canceled their manned lunar program after losing the Moon Race to Apollo. What most don?t know is how that program ended: in a backroom, cloak-and-dagger palace coup that made one man the unquestioned King of Soviet Space. This week, we?re joined by Joe Kassabian to talk about The Coup of OKB-1 by ???. 

Listen to Lions Led By Donkeys here and check out Joe?s upcoming book!

Find our merch store here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

SOURCES:

- Challenge to Apollo, Asif Siddiqi

- Rockets & People 4, Boris Chertok

- Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration, Brian Harvey

- RussianSpaceWeb, Anatoly Zak

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

In April 2026, while the crew of Artemis 2 was still travelling around the Moon, the Trump administration put forward a budget proposal to gut NASA. This week, we?re joined by space policy analyst and host of the Talking Space podcast, Gene Mikulka, to go over the threats to space science and the grassroots resistance to the cuts. 

Check out the Talking Space podcast here and follow Gene on Bluesky!Astronauts for America interview

Find our merch store here!Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

Alternate title: Railing Rockets. We're joined by Gareth Dennis, host of the RailNatter podcast, to talk about the intersections of rockets and trains. Gareth came prepared with a wonderful story of horses' arses and the NASA Railroad. Quinn, meanwhile, got sidetracked and wrote about how Soviet OKB head Sergei Korolev accidentally bankrupted a city.

Check out RailNatter and Gareth's other videos here!

Find our new merch store here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

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, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a motorcycle. We're back for part 2 of our series on Viktor Ilyin and the story leading up to the attempted assassination of Leonid Brezhnev in 1969.

Find our merch store here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

SOURCES:

- Into the Cosmos, Asif Siddiqi and James Andrews
- The First Cosmonaut Team, Colin Burgess and Rex Hall
- Soyuz-4 and -5 crews perform docking, spacewalk between ships, Anatoly Zak

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

What would alien life look like? Would it look shockingly like an Ho-229 jet fighter? Would it be best researched by an AI with the mind of a preschooler? This week, we're joined by comic artist and speculative biology enthusiast Jay Eaton to talk about potential alien life and a really weird 2005 Discovery documentary, Alien Planet.

Check out Jay's webcomic, Runaway to the Stars, here and sign up for the Kickstarter of their book!

Find our new merch store here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

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, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

Cosmonaut Boris Volynov almost died twice in one week in January 1969. The first was when his Soyuz-5 capsule nearly burned up on reentry. The second was when a Soviet Army defector ambushed the motorcade carrying him, seven other cosmonauts, and Premier Leonid Brezhnev with akimbo Makarovs.

This is Part 1 of our series into the weird story of an attempted assassination of the leader of the Soviet Union.

Find our new merch store here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

SOURCES:
- Into the Cosmos, Asif Siddiqi and James Andrews
- The First Cosmonaut Team, Colin Burgess and Rex Hall
- Soyuz-4 and 5 crews perform docking, spacewalk between ships, Anatoly Zak

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

???? D? Y?? ????

On audience request, this time we're reviewing 2007's Sunshine. It's got a great cast, a legendary soundtrack, good reviews, financial failure, and it made Cillian Murphy an atheist.

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

No, a trio of astronauts on NASA's Skylab station did not stage a mutiny over poor working conditions. Yes, they would've been justified if they had staged a real mutiny. Today, we're tackling Skylab-4 and the legend of the First Strike in Space.

Find our new merch store here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

SOURCES:

- Skylab: The Human Side of a Scientific Mission

- https://nss.org/space-myths-busted-no-there-wasnt-a-mutiny-on-skylab/

- https://nss.org/i-finally-read-a-house-in-space-and-it-is-a-big-ol-mess/

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

In the late 70s, OKB-52 head Vladimir Chelomey decided to try and compete with the new Buran space shuttle project. He did it in secret, with stolen funds, and against express orders from the Kremlin. Today, we're talking with space history youtuber Alexander The OK about how it all somehow went wrong.

Watch Alex's content here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

SOURCES:

- Ahead of his Time, Ivan Evteev

- The Proton Launcher, Christian Lardier and Stefan Berensky

- Energiya-Buran, Bart Hendrickz

- Raketoplan, RussianSpaceWeb

- LKS, RussianSpaceWeb

- Vladimir Chelomei, False Steps

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

Like most stuntmen, Michael Hughes had a very confusing life and an overwhelming need to become famous at any cost. In this episode, we cover how that need drove him into conspiracy mania and got him killed flying a glorified pressure cooker.

Sources:
- DIY Rockets, Daredevils, and the Tragedy of Mad Mike Hughes [WIRED]
- "Mad Mike" Hughes Rejected Science and Chased Fame. It Killed Him. [Popular Mechanics]
- https://madmikehughes.com/

- Rocketman [2019]

CONTENT WARNING
Only 21 people were ever convicted for crimes at Mittelwerk. Only 1 was executed. This week, we're finalizing our series on the slave factory that produced Hitler's vengeance weapons. Joining us is genocide historian Joe Kassabian to lend his insight on how Mittelbau fit into the larger German camp network and slave labour scheme.

Listen to Joe talk more history on Lions Led By Donkeys

SOURCES:

Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 Rockets
Jean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died
Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era
Benny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death Camps
T D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

CONTENT WARNING

This week we're back into our series delving into Mittelwerk, the underground rocket factory / concentration camp that produced Hitler's "Vengeance Weapons". In Part 5, we look at the official establishment of the Mittelbau complex and the constellation of subcamps that sprung up around it.

SOURCES:

Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 Rockets
Jean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died
Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era
Benny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death Camps
T D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

The White Bird. The Bridge to Peace. Osea's greatest superweapon. Today, we're talking about the High-Altitude Mobile Spacecraft (HAMS) or as it's more commonly known: The Arkbird. We cover everything from its conception in the paranoid heyday of the Cold War, how it was created as a symbol of peace and cooperation, and its use as a weapon of war.

Sources:
- Arkbird Declaration (2008 G7 Meeting, LEO), Gaze Magazine
- Arkbird, Encyclopedia Strangereal
- The Circum-Pacific War, Encyclopedia Strangereal
- Scinfaxi-Class, Covert Shores
Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

CONTENT WARNING

This week we're back into our series delving into Mittelwerk, the underground rocket factory / concentration camp that produced Hitler's "Vengeance Weapons". In Part 4, we take a look at the wider events in Nazi politics and the war in 1944 and how they all filter back to the tunnels under Nordhausen.

SOURCES:

Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 Rockets
Jean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died
Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era
Benny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death Camps
T D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

Welcome to the first Failure To Launch Questions & Answers episode! Pulling together questions asked on Patreon and our Discord, this is our chance to let the audience see the real Us.

CONTENT WARNING

We are back and continuing our series on Mittelwerk-Dora, the rocket factory concentration camp that churned out Hitler's Vengeance weapons. In Part 3, we cover the foundation of the factory itself, its first months of operation, and the conditions faced by slave labourers from all around Europe in the tunnels under Nordhausen.

SOURCES:

Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 Rockets
Jean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died
Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era
Benny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death Camps
T D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

We're back and joined by host of The Socialist Shelf podcast Jacob Dallas to talk about 2025's Mickey 17. We go through the plot, the philosophy and ethics of cloning, and how this movie's attitudes toward class issues and dystopia compare to director Bong Joon Ho's earlier works, say, Snowpiercer. The tardigrade teddy bears were an A+ addition, though.

The Soviet Everyman. The Mayor of Star City. The Crusader Against Hipsters. This week, we're joined by podcast host and comedian Milo Edwards to talk about Yuri Gagarin's colourful post-flight career: becoming a manosphere influencer and the divine role model for all Russian children.

Find Milo's work and comedy tour dates here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and Discord access

Sources:

1. The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling, Andrew Jenks

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

CONTENT WARNING
Continuing our exploration into the history of Mittelwerk, the death factory that produced Wernher Von Braun's V2 missiles, we cover the successes of the A4 missile bringing unwanted attention, the use of concentration camp labour at the Peenemunde missile facility, and Operation Hydra, the British plan to bomb that facility flat.
SOURCES:
Jean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died
Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era
Benny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death Camps
T D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile
Annie Jacobsen, Operation Paperclip

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

This week, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris are joined by Josh Boerman and AJ Ditty of the Worst of All Possible Worlds podcast to talk about the famous 2000 flop of Titan AE - a showing so bad it killed Fox Animation Studios! We cover the movie itself, the time and atmosphere it was made in, and Roger Joseph Ebert's very horny (positive) review.

HUGE CONTENT WARNING FOR THIS SERIES
To start our retelling of the story of the Mittelwerk death factory, we cover the early history of the Nazi military rocket program. The VfR amateur rocket club, Walter Dornberger, and the internal politics and squabbling that created the infamous Peenemunde rocket test site.

SOURCES:
Jean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died
Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era
Benny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death Camps
T D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile
Annie Jacobsen, Operation Paperclip

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

Since 1963, it has been illegal under international law to place nuclear weapons in orbit. But the Soviets were brave enough to ask: "What is orbit, really?". This week, we're talking to Joe Kassabian (@JoeKassabian), host of the Lions Led By Donkeys Podcast, about OGCh or FOBS, the Soviet superweapon attempt to beat America's missile shield. And a whole lot of OKB politics.

Follow Lions Led By Donkeys here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and Discord access

Sources:

1. The Soviet Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, Asif Siddiqi

2. http://www.astronautix.com/o/ogch.html

3. https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/ogch.htm

Theme song by DJ Danarchy

As part of our ongoing series on space conspiracy theories, we brought in expert help to tackle one of the most virulent conspiracy theorists of our day. This week, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris are joined by Dan Friesen of the Knowledge Fight podcast to talk about all the dumb things Alex Jones believes about space. What has happened in space, what will happen in space, and whether Alex will get his own planet.

Follow Knowledge Fight here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and Discord access!

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, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

In early 1961, NASA was actually very well positioned to launch an American into space before the Soviets. Then they messed it up. This week, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris take a look into what was happening at NASA in the months before Vostok 1 flew. We cover the infamous Four Inch Flight, the first chimp in space, and the debate over how safe a rocket should really be before strapping Alan Shepard into it.

Support FTL on Patreon and unlock bonus content and Discord access!

Sources:

Beyond, Stephen Walker

Redstone: The Missile That Launched America Into Space, Drew LePage

Giving Mercury Its Wings, Drew LePage

Theme song by DJ Danarchy

This is an unlocked patreon bonus episode. If you want to hear more content like this, consider supporting FTL on Patreon.

For this bonus, we've got Chris, Other Chris, and returning guest Nicholas Slayton getting Tarkovsky-pilled again and talking about the 1979 classic Stalker.

In 1962, President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt (or the UAR) showed the world his newest toys: a set of tiny, dinky missiles that could carry 60 kilos of explosives apiece. Needless to say, the head of the Israeli Mossad flipped out and ordered a campaign of assassinations on the German scientists who'd built them. This week, we're talking to Devon from the Kill James Bond podcast about Operation Damocles: a story of dumb rockets and dumber spies.

Listen to Devon's work on: Kill James Bond, Well There's Your Problem, and 10K Posts!

Support FTL on Patreon and unlock bonus content!

Sources:

- Reflections on Egypt, the Middle East, and History, Khaled Fahmy

- Nasser and the Missile Age in the Middle East, Owen Sirrs

Theme song by DJ Danarchy

???'? ?????

This week, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris subject themselves to Moon landing hoaxer Bart Sibrel's second "documentary", Astronauts Gone Wild. Spoiler: there's precious little astronauts going wild and it's bad even as conspiracy propaganda.

Support FTL on Patreon and unlock bonus episodes!

Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

Sometimes it's better not to go to space. This week, we're talking to guest and space industry engineer Robin about the story of Soyuz T-10A or "that time the LES flung a Soviet crew to safety 3 seconds before their rocket detonated".

Support FTL on Patreon and unlock bonus content!

Sources:

- Soyuz T-10A: The First Crewed On-Pad Abort, Drew LePage

- Russianspaceweb, Anatoly Zak

Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

CONTENT WARNING

This week, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris are covering the 1980 Plesetsk Cosmodrome explosion, probably the 2nd most lethal accident in space history.

Sources:

- RussianSpaceWeb, Anatoly Zak

Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

Ever since satellites have existed, people have wanted to find ways to kill them. This week, Quinn, Chris, and Other Chris are taking a look at the 2007 Chinese Anti-Satellite Test - the largest debris-creating event in space history - and the larger trend of nations trying to turn Low Earth Orbit into the zero-g Somme.

Support FTL on Patreon and unlock bonus content!

Sources:

- Characteristics and Consequences of the Break-up of the Fengyun-1C Spacecraft, NASA

- Analysis of the 2007 Chinese ASAT Test and the Impact of its Debris on the Space Environment, T.S. Kelso

Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

Heartbreak can be a terrible thing and people work through it in all kinds of ways. Some people drink. Some people attempt to summon an incarnation of Babalon to be their new girlfriend. We're back and we're talking with rocket test engineer Guest Chris about Jack Parsons. In this episode we cover the downfall of Jack Parsons and his ostracization from both the scientific and magical communities.

Support FTL on Patreon and unlock bonus content!

Sources:

- Strange Angel, George Pendel

Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

Jack. 210. ??????? ???????? ????????? ?????? ???????. John Whiteside Parsons went by many appellations. In part 2 of our series, we talk to rocket test engineer Chris about how Jack got into Thelema and how he pioneered a frightening amount of modern rocket fuels while chainsmoking.

Sources:
- Strange Angel, George Pendel

Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

In a field of weirdos and freaks, Jack Parsons is broadly considered the weirdest freak of all. This week, we're joined by guest and space engineer Chris for our series on the life, accomplishments, and sex life of John Whiteside Parsons.

Support FTL on Patreon and unlock bonus content!

Sign up to the FTL Patreon at any tier and get access to our new Discord community.

Sources:

- Strange Angel, George Pendel

- Jack Parsons, Famous Bi People

Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

In the late 80s, the Soviet Union attempted to dominate the commercial launch market. Their principal success was launching the most miserable salaryman into orbit. Today, we're joined by Josh from The Worst of All Possible Worlds podcast to talk about Glavkosmos, the Soviet private space program.

Find Josh and Worst Of All Possible Worlds here

Support FTL on Patreon and unlock bonus content!

Source:

- Soyuz TM-11, Spacefacts.de

- Soviet Efforts To Enter the Launch-Services Market, CIA

- Akiyama Toyohiro: The Japanese Astronaut Who Hated Space, Unseen Japan

Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy.