4 Years of ‘Houston, We Have a Podcast’
Houston, we have four years of podcasts! It has been such a privilege to bring 203 podcasts to share with the NASA Johnson Space Center community and with the world. In just a few short years, we’ve brought scientists, engineers, and astronauts (both in space and on the ground) to share their expertise. We’ve had authors, historians, program leaders, military leaders, artists, and filmmakers. We’ve hosted panels, chatted live on stage, broadcast live on TV, and participated in conferences. And, most of all, in each of these cases, we’ve been able to sit down with some of the coolest people and dive deep into unique and interesting topics.
Podcast host Gary Jordan with Dan Huot, public affairs officer, for the live recording of the 200th episode of “Houston, We Have a Podcast.” Credits: NASA
NASA has had a podcast presence for a long time, but it had evolved drastically since the start of our podcast. Before “Houston, We Have a Podcast” went live with its first episode, there was only one true audio-format show from NASA: NASA in Silicon Valley. There were a lot of other shows, but they were all repurposed audio content from videos. Some actually remained in their video format and went out as “vodcasts,” which were drastically dwindling in popularity with the rise of video platforms like YouTube and Facebook. But the podcast landscape was growing, and NASA needed to be a part of it.
I thought about the idea of a Johnson podcast when I moved inside the loop and my commute went up to 45 minutes each way. I needed something to fill the time and got introduced to the wonderful (and free!) world of podcasts. Naturally, the first podcasts I looked for were related to space. I couldn’t find anything good from NASA and thought, “Huh, we should start our own show.” Thus, “Houston, We Have a Podcast” was born. Props to Kelly Humphries for coming up with the best name and to James Hartsfield for supporting the endeavor.
After designing the show format, I asked my colleague Dan Huot to record a test episode about the International Space Station. We played with the idea of riffing for the first few minutes, like a lot of popular podcasts do, to see if we could bring a little humor and light-heartedness to the show. Turns out we were not that funny … so we scrapped the first few minutes of our recording. But, the rest of the recording sounded wonderful — and that test became our very first episode. (Dan came back later for a special live recording of our 200th episode.)
Before we could go live with our first episode, we needed a bank of episodes to effectively prepare for a weekly cadence of content. So some of our first guests were wonderful folks at Johnson who agreed to participate in a new and unproven platform. Folks like Bill Foster, John Charles, Anne Roemer, Takiyah Sirmons, and Randy “Komrade” Bresnik were gracious enough to help us out in the beginning, and now boast the highest listenership of all of our episodes.
I have a lot of favorite moments as I look back over the past four years. I remember chatting with Jack “2fish” Fischer while he was in space as part of a live downlink that turned into a podcast episode. I learned about Orion, meteorites, Mars, nutrition, and the hazards of spaceflight from all areas of Johnson. I got to sit down and chat with Apollo veterans and learn directly from them about what it took to get American footprints on the Moon. And, I got to explore topics like mission patches, the Texas economy, scheduling astronauts, and photographers that aren’t often told.
From left to right: Zach Myers, Eric Bass, Brent Smith, and Barry Kerch from the band Shinedown chat with Gary Jordan, Mark Vande Hei, and Dr. Jim Picano about mental health. Credits: NASA
We’re measuring our metrics and working with centers across the agency to unify the audio strategy. So much has changed in NASA’s podcast landscape with new shows and tactics. The best metric I have, though, is when interns start here at Johnson, find me in the global directory, and send an email to thank the team that puts the show together for inspiring them to pursue a career at NASA. No other metric is as meaningful.
I wanted to thank the Johnson Space Center community for supporting this podcast throughout the years. What makes this show possible is the people that participate and share their expertise and insights. I’ve worked with a number of organizations, including the International Space Station program, Orion program, Human Research Program, Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, and Exploration Integration and Science Directorate, which all contributed ideas for topics, guests, and shows. I welcome ideas and topics any time! Feel free to email me.
And, of course, a huge thanks to Alex Perryman, Pat Ryan, Norah Moran, Belinda Pulido, and Jennifer Hernandez, the podcast team who is essential to making this show happen every week.
Keep listening,
Gary
P.S. We now have merch! If you love the show, ShopNASA has T-shirts, polos, sweatshirts, hats, and stickers available for purchase.
