{"id":63227,"date":"2026-07-25T15:11:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T15:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/?guid=610a59365f7c0edd03e7b485d208039a"},"modified":"2026-07-25T15:11:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T15:11:27","slug":"this-week-in-space-podcast-episode-220-first-on-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/2026\/07\/25\/this-week-in-space-podcast-episode-220-first-on-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week In Space podcast: Episode 220 \u2014 First on Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n                            \n                            <article>\n                                <div class=\"youtube-video\" data-nosnippet ><div class=\"video-aspect-box\"><iframe data-lazy-priority=\"high\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/NfX60OoWmus\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/twit.tv\/shows\/this-week-in-space\/episodes\/220?autostart=false\"  rel=\"nofollow\">Episode 220 of This Week In Space<\/a>, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Dr. Pascal Lee and astrobiologist Dr. Penny Boston to mark the 50th anniversary of Viking 1's landing on Mars.<\/p><p>This week, we cover how Starship Flight 13 finally prepares to launch  amid a legal battle over SpaceX's proposed land swap at Starbase, plus a  Chinese Long March 3B rocket gets struck by lightning during liftoff,  yet still delivers its satellite safely.<\/p><p>Then, we revisit the Viking 1 mission's groundbreaking life-detection experiments and the decades-long controversy over what they actually found. The conversation traces Mars exploration from the earliest Mariner flybys through Viking's ambiguous, still-debated results \u2014 later explained by  perchlorates in the Martian soil \u2014 and the fierce scientific rivalry the findings sparked. Join us!<\/p><p><strong>Download or subscribe<\/strong> to this show at:<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twit.tv\/shows\/this-week-in-space\" >https:\/\/twit.tv\/shows\/this-week-in-space<\/a>.<br><br>Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at <a href=\"https:\/\/twit.tv\/clubtwit\" >https:\/\/twit.tv\/clubtwit<\/a> <\/p><h2 id=\"space-news-of-the-week\">Space news of the week<\/h2><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/spacex-starship-flight-13-starlink-v3-satellites\">SpaceX will now try to launch critical Starship Flight 13 test today after delays. Here's what to expect.<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/the-court-has-to-intervene-now-indigenous-groups-and-conservationists-condemn-spacexs-south-texas-land-swap#mrfhud=true\">'The court has to intervene now': Indigenous groups and conservationists condemn SpaceX's South Texas land swap<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/launches-spacecraft\/epic-photo-captures-lightning-striking-a-chinese-rocket-during-liftoff\">Lightning strike on Chinese rocket captured in epic launch photo<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mars\/triumph-of-mariner-4\/\"  rel=\"nofollow\">\u2018Triumph of Mariner 4\u2019<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/images\/slice-of-history-50-years-of-mariner-9-in-orbit\/\"  rel=\"nofollow\">Slice of History - 50 Years of Mariner 9 in Orbit<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/airandspace.si.edu\/collection-objects\/lander-mars-viking-proof-test-article\/nasm_A19790215000\"  rel=\"nofollow\">Viking Lander<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rarenewspapers.com\/newspaper\/632908-life-on-mars-detected-viking-1\"  rel=\"nofollow\">Life on Mars detected ?... Viking 1...<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Viking_lander_biological_experiments#\/media\/File:Viking_Biological_package.I.png\"  rel=\"nofollow\">Viking lander biological experiments<\/a><\/li><\/ul><h2 id=\"model-falcon-9\">Model Falcon 9!<\/h2><div  class=\"fancy-box\"><div class=\"fancy_box-title\">TOP TELESCOPE PICK:<\/div><div class=\"fancy_box_body\"><figure class=\"van-image-figure \"  ><div class='image-full-width-wrapper'><div class='image-widthsetter' ><p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"><img id=\"cbAPCR7Y6HkbgamUsCtVj5\" name=\"celestron top telescope.jpg\" caption=\"\" alt=\"A Celestron telescope on a white background\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/cbAPCR7Y6HkbgamUsCtVj5.jpg\" mos=\"\" link=\"\" align=\"\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"\" height=\"\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"pinterest-pin-exclude\"><\/p><\/div><\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\"\"><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Celestron)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><p class=\"fancy-box__body-text\">Looking for a telescope to see planets and comets? We recommend the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/target.georiot.com\/Proxy.ashx?tsid=72128&GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Famazon.com%2Fdp%2FB01L0EQLTI%3Ftag%3Dhawk-future-20%26ascsubtag%3Dspace-us-4730590304221485000-20\"  rel=\"nofollow\">Celestron Astro Fi 102<\/a> as the top pick in our <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/31229-best-beginner-telescopes.html\">best beginner's telescope guide<\/a>.<\/p><\/div><\/div><p>Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/spacex-falcon-9-estes-model-rocket\">stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket<\/a> that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/estesrockets.com\/product\/002161-spacex-falcon-9\/\" >save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout<\/a>, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.<\/p><h2 id=\"about-this-week-in-space\">About This Week In Space<\/h2><p><a href=\"https:\/\/twit.tv\/shows\/this-week-in-space\" >This Week in Space<\/a> covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars? <\/p><p>Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/\" >Space.com<\/a> as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.<\/p>\n                                                            <\/article>\n                            \n                        ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Episode 220 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Dr. Pascal Lee and astrobiologist Dr. Penny Boston to mark the 50th anniversary of Viking 1&#8217;s landing on Mars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":594,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2800,2805],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","category-space-movies-amp-shows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/594"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63227"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63232,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63227\/revisions\/63232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/fugic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}