After Things Podcast

The episode opens with discussion of Virgin Galactic's first paying passenger flight and broadens into a comparison with OceanGate's Titan disaster. The hosts emphasize the difference between a new but real spaceflight capability and a submersible tragedy that, in their view, ignored known engineering limits, especially around carbon fiber fatigue and other structural risks. They also explain what suborbital flight means in practice, including that these vehicles go roughly straight up, cross the Karman line, and land near where they launched. The conversation then turns to the economics and future of commercial space tourism, including whether Virgin Galactic can remain viable as SpaceX and Blue Origin push different models. After that, the episode shifts into a long film-and-franchise discussion about sequels, Indiana Jones, and Marvel crossover fatigue, ending with several clear picks: Asteroid City, Satya Pram Ki Katha, a Sunday Times podcast on COVID origins, and a Doom mod video essay. Key topics Virgin