Episode 26: Kirby Runyon

Lieutenant Colonel John Lassiter is a retired Air Force Aerospace Engineer who has worked on a variety of aircraft in his long career, including the F-15 fighter and the C-130 aircraft. Lassiter worked for nearly 30 years at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center in the Test Laboratory, where he supported numerous programs such as the Space Shuttle and Space Launch System, conducting structural dynamic and fluid dynamic testing. Today, he is a docent at the Space and Rocket Center, and joins Dare to Explore to talk about the A-12 Oxcart on display in the museum.

Ed Stewart graduated from West Virginia Weslayan College with a bachelor of arts in theatrical direction and design. Ed served the US Space and Rocket Center as the Director of Exhibits and Curation for almost nine years before becoming the full time Curator in May of 2023.

May of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, celebrated with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features Ron Paulus, a retired NASA project engineer who worked on Apollo, Skylab, and Shuttle missions.

May of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, celebrated with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features retired Marshall Space Flight Center Lowell Zoller. Zoller served as chief of the projects office in the materials laboratory at Marshall Space Flight Center during the creation of Skylab.

Beth Mund was a NASA public affairs officer for the Johnson Space Center and a communication officer for the International Space Station. She is a passionate advocate for the people and their stories of science and space exploration, now sharing their stories on stage, in workshops, and on her podcast, "Casual Space." She serves on the Space Camp Alumni Board and as a Space Drinks board member, and is an Analog Astronaut.

May of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, celebrated with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features retired NASA Human Factors Engineer Jack Stokes. Efficient, safe, and comfortable interactions between the machinery and the human astronauts on board SkyLab was made possible through the research and designs of the Human Factors Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center.

May of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is celebrating with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features retired NASA physicist Richard Hoover. Hoover worked on the ATM Experiment S-056 grazing incidence X-ray telescope that captured more than 25,000 solar Xray images from Skylab. Skylab.

May of 2023 was the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of Skylab. The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, celebrated with the Summer of Skylab – a series of presentations, educational panels, and celebrity events taking place through November. This special episode features retired NASA engineer Kenny Mitchell. Mitchell worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center on the development of the Saturn V rocket and developed Environmental Control and Life Support Systems for Skylab.

Josh Whitfield is a United States Army veteran awarded the purple heart for his service in Iraq. Today, he is a political consultant and works as the District Director to California State Assemblymember Heath Flora. Josh attended Aviation Challenge 13 times in his youth and is a member of the Space Camp Hall of Fame.

Dr. Kirby Runyon is a Space Camp alumni and planetary geologist at the Planetary Science Institute. He has flown 16 parabolic flights, accumulating more than an hour of time spent in weightlessness. He owns a technical and space tourism consulting company, guiding clients through parabolic flights and teaching future astronauts about the geology they will see from space.