Podcast: A Look at NASA's Future Through an Astronaut's Eyes

By Nancy Atkinson - August 05, 2011 03:27 PM UTC | Space Exploration

[/caption]

While at the 2011 Lunar Forum last month, which was sponsored by the

NASA Lunar Science Institute

, I had the chance to talk with NASA astronaut

Dr. Yvonne Cagle

. I asked her how she sees NASA's future without the space shuttle as well as her view of commercial space companies providing access to the ISS. We also talked about the challenges of doing medical procedures in zero-g and more.

You can listen to the podcast on today's episode on the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. Here's the

link to the website

where you can listen, or you can download the episode here.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com