The Flight Deck
Episodes
The Pop Culture of Space with Dr. Margaret Weitekamp
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The idea of living and working in space has acted as inspiration for stories for thousands of years. Dr. Margaret Weitekamp is a curator and chair of ...
Space Law & Order with Dr. Saadia Pekkanen
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If someone’s murdered on the International Space Station, what happens? Dr. Saadia Pekkanen is the founding director of the Space Law, Data, and Pol...
Are Space Stations Maybe a Bad Idea? with Kelly Weinersmith
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Yeah, dreaming of a thriving community in space is all fine and dandy. But have we really thought this through? Kelly Weinersmith is a biologist and p...
The Science of Mass Effect with Mac Walters
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Mass Effect series set a new standard for science fiction storytelling. Part of its appeal was a grounding in real science. Mac Walters is the CEO...
Your Home in Space with Sana Sharma
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Space is trying to kill you. How can you make it feel like home? Sana Sharma is a co-founder and the Chief Design Officer for the Aurelia Institute, w...
Space Food! with Vickie Kloeris
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sandwiches hit different at zero gravity. While at NASA, Vickie Kloeris managed the food systems for the Space Shuttle and later the International Spa...
Ad Astra With Wendy Lawrence
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Wendy Lawrence is a retired NASA astronaut and pilot for the United States Navy. She joined host Sean Mobley for a frank and honest conversation about...
10 LGBTQ+ People In Aerospace You Should Know
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
LGBTQ+ people have been part of aviation and space science for centuries. Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from our normal format. Special gu...
Beyond Labels | Season 3
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Museums are places where history is presented and interpreted, and presenting and interpreting the stories of LGBTQ+ people in aerospace brings with i...
Cosmic Storytellers | Season 3
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna are Black, queer Pittsburgh-based multidisciplinary artists who weave indigenous African cosmic stories into their ...
Greg Sumner: Airline Pilot | Season 3
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Greg Sumner grew up fascinated by airplanes and managed to parlay that love of aviation into a career as a pilot, flying some of the most iconic aircr...
The Gay History of Male Flight Attendants | Season 3
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The history of the gay men who still make up an unusually large percentage of the flight attendant labor force is not well known. Associate Professor ...
Joalda Morancy: The Path to Space | Season 3
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Author, astrophysicist and science communicator Joalda Morancy wrote their young readers book “Aliens: Join the Scientists Searching Space for Extra...
Doctor Mom Chung | Season 3
29 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s little about Dr. Margaret “Mom” Chung’s story that you can call ordinary. From her status as the first known Chinese American woman do...
Michelle Evans - The Story of a Transgender Air Force Veteran | Season 3
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Season 3 of The Flight Deck! This season’s theme is LGBTQ+ aerospace history. We’ll be investigating the ways that LGBTQ+ people have b...
Behind the Scenes at the National Museum of the United States Air Force | Season 2
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What a century! We recently visited the National Museum of the Untied States Air Force to get a close-up look at the Century Series aircraft on displa...
Life Flight | Season 2
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you live in a rural area and don’t have access to a hospital, what do you do in a medical emergency? That’s where Life Flight comes in. Life Fl...
Tiny Space Objects | Season 2
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thousands of satellites are zooming over your head right now, orbiting Earth and beaming down research data, images, phone calls and even Internet acc...
Flying With the Blue Angels | Season 2
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Each year, Seafair brings a spectacular air show to the skies above Seattle. The jewel of the show is the annual performance by the Blue Angels, the U...
Fire on the Airfield! | Season 2
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Season 2 of The Flight Deck! From now on we’ll be presenting podcast episodes in themed seasons, letting us explore stories from aerospac...
085 The Missing Million Part Two
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the conclusion to a two-part series about the mysterious DB Cooper, this episode picks up the story from its cliffhanger ending in Part I, with Mus...
The Missing Million: Part One
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode comes out on the brink of a major anniversary here in Seattle. 50 years ago tomorrow, November 24, on the eve of Thanksgiving, a man know...
Stories From A Stewardess
02 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve shopped in the Museum’s store, Lynda Eck may have helped you with your purchase. Before she started working here at the Museum, however,...
Alone Among The Stars
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What’s it like to drift from planet to planet, exploring the universe? In today’s episode of The Flight Deck, you get to do just that. Host Sean M...
The World's Smallest Spaceship
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How does studying a giraffe help make a better space suit? Dr. Dava Newman is the current Director of the MIT Media Lab and served as a Deputy Admin...
How To Build A Rocket Engine
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do you build a rocket engine without blowing your factory up? Vern Estes took on this assignment as one of his first tasks in the family business ...
Birth Of The Balloon
07 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Before the Wright Brothers and airplanes, hot air balloons dominated the skies. Today we’re going to explore the origin of the hot air balloon, and ...
Astronaut Wendy Lawrence
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Former NASA Astronaut Wendy Lawrence is a veteran both of the Untied States Navy and four NASA Space Shuttle missions – including the Return to Flig...
Curios of the Collection
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Flying fish from the Civil War era. Jetpacks with dolls. Planes in a bottle. As with any museum, only a fraction of The Museum of Flight’s collectio...
Stranger Than Fiction - Stories From A Flight Surgeon Part II
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Picture this: You’re a doctor on an aircraft carrier. You’re awoken and told of an emergency on the lowest decks of the ship. You rush down stairc...
Stranger Than Fiction - Stories From A Flight Surgeon Part I
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’re celebrating the opening of our new temporary exhibit Stranger Than Fiction: The Incredible Story of Aerospace Medicine by chatting with Hank D...
Night Witches
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to turn real-life war stories into a game? Jason Morningstar, Creative Director of Bully Pulpit Games, released the tabletop rolepla...
The Politics Of The Moon Landings Part II
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Teasel Muir-Harmony, Curator of the Apollo program at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, once again joins host Sean Mobley in this conclus...
The Politics Of The Moon Landings Part I
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Returning guest Teasel Muir-Harmony, Curator of the Apollo program at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, joins host Sean Mobley for a Q&A ...
Squiggles in the Sky
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode takes a break from talking aviation and space history to have a conversation with someone making history right now. Bryné Hadnott, a sci...
The Flying Boat
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Evoking images of glamorous air travel and high society, the Boeing 314 Clipper is one of the most romanticized aircraft in history. These massive fly...
The Unfinished Letter
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Naval Dentist Tom Davidson yearned to score a spot in the back seat of one of the fighter planes of the flight group he was assigned to. After patient...
A Smile A Day...
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Unbridled wonder. The sort of joy that just seems to radiate out at you. That is the subject of today’s podcast episode, where Museum of Flight Pres...
A Century-Old Conspiracy
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An aviation conspiracy dating back 100 years continues to capture the imaginations of New Zealanders. What’s the truth behind this story, involving ...
Canadian Identified Flying Objects
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You may know Alexander Graham Bell for his telephone, but did you know he had a hand in some of the most bizarre, strange-looking experimental aviatio...
Phil Stamper And The Gravity Of Us
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this final episode of 2020, we welcome author Phil Stamper onto the show for a discussion of adapting space history into fiction for a modern young...
Before There Were Stars Part II
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What happens at the end of the world? Today’s episode is the finale of the playthrough of “Before There Were Stars,” a storytelling game about c...
Before There Were Stars - Part I
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join a team of storytellers as they look up at the stars to create myths and legends based on what they see. Today’s episode is Part I of a playthro...
A Family Story
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We think of history in terms of grand, sweeping events and often forget that actual humans are at the center of it. Today’s episode reminds us that ...
Another Space Toilet Episode
06 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s common to hear a visitor to The Museum of Flight wonder how astronauts go to the bathroom in space. Today is the continuation of a conversation...
The Space Toilet Episode
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space?” This is a question we hear often at the Museum, asked by people young and old from all around the...
A Tale Of Two Aviators: The Face Of The Enemy
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Wilson, a Vietnam Veteran and Museum of Flight Docent, features in this episode of The Flight Deck, sharing his story of bailing out of his crash...
A Tale Of Two Aviators: Oyster 1 Bravo
18 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Museum of Flight Docent Jerry Coy returns to The Flight Deck to share a story of survival behind enemy lines. When Captain Roger Locher’s McDonnell ...
Oldest
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Wrapping up the Collections miniseries, today we’re looking at the oldest artifact in our archives. To find it, we need to go back behind-the-scenes...
Youngest
30 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Located in the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery, an exhibit space dedicated to modern space exploration, you’ll find the youngest artifact in our colle...
Riding Rockets
02 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Mullane grew up a child of the space race and realized his dream of space flight as an astronaut for the Space Shuttle program. In today’s inte...
Biggest
05 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Host Sean Mobley brings the second part of this behind-the-scenes mini-series featuring the “extremes” of the Museum of Flight’s collection. Tod...
Smallest
07 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Host Sean Mobley brings us part one of an all-new mini-series featuring The Museum of Flight’s most extreme artifacts. In this series you will uncov...
Hidden
24 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week we are honored to speak with Museum of Flight docent and Holocaust survivor, Pete Metzelaar. Listen as he describes his first-hand account o...
Paperclip Family
10 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s episode of the Flight Deck Podcast is the first in a series associated with the Museum wide initiative to feature untold stories in hono...
A Woman in a Combat Zone
25 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We dive into part two of our interview with Museum docent and Air Force Colonel Peggy Phillips. Peggy remembers her time in the military flying C-141 ...
Peggy Phillips and the WASPs
11 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Peggy Phillips and the WASPs by The Museum of Flight
A Needle At The Bottom Of The Sea
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Undoubtedly one of the greatest achievements of man has been stepping foot on the Moon. In 1969, the famous Apollo 11 mission fulfilled this dream. Fa...
The Curator
14 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Burchette joined The Museum of Flight in late 2019 as our Senior Curator, launching a new stage in a career spanning several decades of suppor...
Building An Exhibit
02 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On the eve of a New Year, join host Sean Mobley on a trip behind-the-scenes on the making of an exhibit at The Museum of Flight. Two unassuming displa...
The Astronaut Image
21 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Apollo 12 Astronaut Pete Conrad has a lot to live up to. NASA’s idea of the astronaut image meant that the astronauts needed to conform to specific ...
How to Debunk a Conspiracy Theory
31 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Conspiracy theories are unavoidable when your Museum deals with topics in science, but this week’s guest, Tony Gondola, outreach coordinator for the...
Back to Earth: The Apollo 11 Astronauts Tour After the Moon Landing
28 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After the Apollo 11 astronauts landed on the Moon, they embarked on an equally fascinating journey: a global goodwill press tour in Air Force One. Dr....
Soyeon Yi Part IV: To Space and Back
06 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
First Korean astronaut SoYeon Yi shares her memories of going to space and the harrowing return to Earth after 11 days in the International Space Stat...
An Interview With Buzz Aldrin
20 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Buzz Aldrin, the second human to set foot on the Moon, recalls the Apollo 11 mission and how one felt tip pen helped the astronauts successfully retur...
Failure is Not an Option: Jerrie Cobb and the First Women Astronaut Trainees, Part 2
10 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jerrie Cobb and the women behind the Women in Space program unsuccessfully lobbied Congress in 1962 to include women in astronaut training, but they s...
Failure is Not An Option: The Story of Jerrie Cobb and the First Women Astronaut Trainees, Part 1
25 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When the United States was lagging behind the Soviet Union in the race to space, the Soviet space agency announced plans to send women into space, whi...
Failure is Not an Option: Interview with NASA Astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger
11 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our interview with NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, part of our series titled Failure is Not an Option, asks crowd sourced questions to rev...
Your Aerospace Summer Reading List
28 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Librarians for the King County Library System share their picks for the best aviation, space, and flight-related stories to read this summer. Check ou...
The Moon Landing Musical
14 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Museum is hosting its own performance of the Moon Landing musical to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, and our very own Natalie Copelan...
Air Traffic Control Part II
30 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Air traffic control has come a long way since the early days of aviation in the 1930s, and our very own Helen Parker Wall takes us back to the technol...
SoYeon Yi Part III - From Backup to Primary Astronaut
16 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
First Korean astronaut SoYeon Yi tells that story of determination that took her from backup astronaut to primary, securing her place in aerospace his...
World War I - Lighter Than Air
02 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Airships are lighter than air craft whose history goes back to mid-nineteenth century France and comes to a screeching halt after World War Two. Learn...
The Life Of Bessie Coleman
19 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Bessie Coleman is the world’s first black woman pilot, and her great-niece Gigi Coleman carries on the pilot’s legacy by performing her life story...
Saving The Green Beret
05 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
: Jerry Coy, who was featured in our episode about the 747, isn’t just an experienced commercial airline pilot—he’s also a military veteran, and...
Rodeo In The Sky - Early Air Traffic Control
19 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Air Traffic Control towers loom over airports, bringing order and safety to a huge network of airplanes crossing the globe. But what was it lik...
Flying The 747
05 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
*NOTE: During this episode, you may hear the interviewer and interviewee refer to “the 400” or “dash 100.” These numbers refer to variants of ...
How We Got the MiG 21
22 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes the story of how we acquired an artifact is just as interesting as the artifact itself. Such is the case with the Soviet-built MiG-21 that s...
Jimmy Stewart
08 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What do you get when a WWII American Fighter Ace has the same name as a Hollywood icon and doesn’t get rid of anything? The Lt. Col. James C Stewart...
Holiday Special: The Apollo 8 Mission and Our Place in the Universe
25 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The clock was ticking in 1968, and the race to the Moon was on. The Apollo 8 mission, which came about by accident as NASA was finalizing tests on wei...
When Pearl Harbor Was Attacked
10 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Please Note: During his retelling, American fighter ace Besby F. Holmes uses an ethnic slur to describe his attackers. This oral history is presented ...
Ask A Pilot
27 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Commercial pilot Kevin Gordon returns in this episode to answer listener questions about all things aviation: what it takes to become a pilot, the dif...
The Stewardess' Tale
13 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Before there were flight attendants, there were stewardesses, and in this AMA episode we talk to Mary Hoy, who served as a stewardess aboard United Ai...
War Of The Worlds 80 Years Later
30 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Eighty years ago today, Orson Welles’ 1938 broadcast ‘War of the Worlds’ used cutting-edge audio technology to convince listeners that planet Ea...
Soyeon Yi - When A Wedding Singer Becomes An Astronaut
16 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sometime between her third and fourth year of her PhD program, Yi’s research ground to a halt. Her experiments were failing, she wasn’t acquiring ...
An Interview with a WASP
02 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
96-year-old Betty Dybbro was fortunate enough to spend one year as a WASP (Women Air Force Service Pilot) during World War Two, and in order to tell h...
Soyeon Yi - The First Korean Astronaut
18 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Did you have trouble figuring out your major when you were in college? If so, you already have one thing in common with the world’s first Korean ast...
Orbis Flying Eye Hospital
04 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that 80% of the world’s blindness can be cured, and 90% of those cases occur in low to middle income countries? The Orbis Flying Eye Ho...
Preserving The Future History Of Space
16 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As SpaceX and Blue Origin continue to make history by building rockets that will take future space vacationers to the Moon or Mars, the Museum is thin...
Fighter Aces - In Their Words
07 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The American Fighter Aces Association preserves the memories of pilots who have sacrificed bravely for their country, and the Museum is home to its co...
Meet An R2-D2 Builder
24 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 13: Meet and R2-D2 Builder Bob Jacobson, R2-D2 builder extraordinaire, claims that he wasn’t always into engineering, but the process of bu...
She Opened Up the Skies
10 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 12: She Opened Up the Skies A faceless mannequin wearing a 1920s’ style dress is posed next to our Boeing model 40B, but it’s not just t...
The Man Behind the Hubble
25 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 1977, when Bob Alexander was just a young engineer, he was chosen to work on a challenging new project: the Hubble space telescope. During his...
Do Airplanes Have Keys
12 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 10: Do Airplanes Have Keys? This week we talk to Kevin Gordon, first officer for Alaska Airlines, who graciously answers questions that our l...
Surviving The Final Frontier
29 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 9: Surviving the Final Frontier Did you know that for every month you spend in space, you lose about 2% BMI? Neither did we until we talked t...
The Angel Bird
15 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 8: The Angel Bird Hustling in and out of a Huey helicopter is one of the most vivid memories of Platoon leader David Waggoner and crew chief ...
Remembering Apollo Astronaut Dick Gordon
01 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 7: Remembering Apollo Astronaut Dick Gordon Dick Gordon passed away in November 2017, and author and volunteer Jake Schultz had the honor of ...
Shouting At Hitler
17 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 6: The Personal Courage Series: Shouting at Hitler Show Notes: In this second installment of our Personal Courage series, B-17 pilot Dick Nel...
When We Chose To Go To The Moon
03 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 5: When We Chose to Go to the Moon How did a bunch of Houston high school students help President Kennedy drive the United States towards put...
A Brief History Of Legroom
09 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 4: A Brief History of Legroom Has your airplane seat felt a little tight lately? It’s not just you—it’s the evolution of legroom on pas...