This is just a bit of brain spew I wanted to share with all 12 of you readers. No I’m just kidding. I’m very pleased that this channel has a healthy growth rate and I thank you deeply for your attention. As I reach out to parents, students and young professionals first here in LA County and beyond, I want to give you easy access to well-curated content. Making STEAM sustainable takes all of us, not just the people actually working, but the society who keeps abreast of what is important in this field. My job is to try things out so you don’t waste time, and to enable you and your networks. I’m no AI, and I don’t hallucinate.
Anyway here are my rocket watchers. I guarantee that you can learn something from these folks at various levels of expertise. In no particular order…
Marcus House
Marcus is a pleasant Aussie who has access to some of the best camera footage around for what goes on at Starbase in South TX. Every week he gives up to the minute updates for what’s going on with new launches. What I especially like about the close-up footage at SpaceX is that you can see a lot of metalwork, a lot of crane work and specialized construction going on. You don’t have to be an engineering genius to be a critical part of the space enterprise. Watching Marcus shows all of the different kinds of work that goes into seemingly simple things like moving rockets from point A to point B. Marcus pointed me to this brand new source of high quality video from SkyshowTV.
Paul Shillito - Curious Droid
Paul is a general purpose science guy and a classic STEAMer so it’s no surprise that he also composes music. I think he has done a genius thing with his crazy print shirts. It’s interesting that his fan base are arguing against his AI sponsor for his latest. So if you, like me, are skeptical of AI taking over our jobs - or just their crappy personalities, know that you are in good company. Paul is the kind of science teacher I would have loved to have in highschool. Well here he is, and he cooks in a lot of good history in his lessons. Get on board.
Destin Sandlin - Smarter Every Day
Destin is already hugely popular with engineers and people curious about science. I would be remiss if I didn’t include him in this list. He covers all kinds of tech, but his story on the Saturn 5 is probably one of the coolest ever.
Tim Dodd - Everyday Astronaut
Tim is indeed a rocket scientist and is the best technical explainer and most excitable commentator in the business. His enthusiasm is engaging, and he has done a bang-up job of covering rocketry. If I only had one source for rockets and space, it would be Tim. He’s got a great library for explaining the basics, and he is the guy closest to the man himself, Elon Musk. He has even given Musk ideas about what tech to incorporate into Starship which SpaceX eventually did implement. Even though he’s got a lot of merch, he’s the genuine article.
Scott Manley
For some reason I unsubscribed to Scott’s channel. I guess I was not getting enough space stuff, or was getting tired of it and dropped him. It’s a good idea to go through all of your subscriptions to make sure you don’t overload. Nevertheless, Scott is a great guide to all things space and rocket related. He’s just the kind of guy who tells great stories like this one.
Enjoy.
By the way, this is the best Space Shuttle story ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb4prVsXkZU