Failure To Launch

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

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 ZakFTL 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.

ЩΉΛƬ DӨ YӨЦ ƧΣΣ?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.

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/

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 StepsFTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

CONTENT WARNINGOnly 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 DonkeysSOURCES:Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 RocketsJean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners DiedMichael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile EraBenny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death CampsT D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

CONTENT WARNINGThis 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 RocketsJean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners DiedMichael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile EraBenny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death CampsT D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

CONTENT WARNINGThis 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 RocketsJean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners DiedMichael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile EraBenny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death CampsT D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

CONTENT WARNINGWe 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 RocketsJean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners DiedMichael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile EraBenny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death CampsT D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

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 accessSources:1. The Cosmonaut Who Couldn't Stop Smiling, Andrew JenksFTL 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.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.

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.