© 2026 Central Florida Public Media. All Rights Reserved.
90.7 FM Orlando • 89.5 FM Ocala
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

No Donation Required - see contest rules

are-we-there-yet-logo-2019-final-200x200-2
Are We There Yet?
New episodes every Tuesday
Hosted by Brendan Byrne

A podcast about humanity’s next giant leap into space.
There’s a lot going on up there—and 'Are We There Yet?' is your guide to it all. Hosted by space reporter Brendan Byrne, this weekly podcast takes you inside the latest developments in space exploration, from NASA missions to commercial spaceflight.

What You’ll Hear

  • Deep Space Missions – NASA’s efforts to return to the Moon and journey toward Mars.
  • Solar System Science – Probes and rovers uncovering the secrets of planets, moons, and beyond.
  • Space Industry Insights – How private companies are reshaping the future of exploration.
  • Human Stories – Interviews with astronauts, engineers, and visionaries pushing boundaries.

Why Listen?
Are We There Yet? connects you to the people and ideas behind humanity’s boldest adventure. Whether you’re fascinated by rocket launches, curious about space science, or inspired by the dream of becoming an interplanetary species, this podcast brings the universe a little closer to home.

Ways To Subscribe
Stay Connected
Latest Episodes
  • Metal-rich asteroids, like Psyche depicted in the illustration, are potential targets for future asteroid mining missions.
    Space
    Asteroid mining and space hospitality
    Orion Boone, Marian Summerall and Brendan Byrne
    From metals to rare elements, there are a lot of materials that can come from mining objects in space.
  • Curiosity at a sample site on Mars.
    Could there be life on other worlds? Scientists look to Mars and the asteroid Bennu for that answer
    Marian Summerall Orion Boone & Brendan Byrne
    The Curiosity rover on Mars has found possible signs of life on the red planet. Plus, a closer look at samples from the asteroid Bennu surprises scientists.
  • NASA’s Artemis II crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, shared brief remarks with friends, family, and colleagues after they landed at Ellington Airport near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday, April 11, 2026, after a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth
    Space
    Artemis Two is back on Earth and a new moonshot is underway
    Orion Boone, Brendan Byrne and Marian Summerall
    Now that Artemis II is back on Earth, we'll take a look at how educators are inspiring the next generation of space enthusiasts. Plus, we'll speak with Veteran NASA astronaut Winston Scott about the mission and take a look at what's ahead for Artemis III.
  • The Moon, seen here backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse on April 6, 2026, is photographed by one of the cameras on the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings. Orion is visible in the foreground on the left. Earth is reflecting sunlight at the left edge of the Moon, which is slightly brighter than the rest of the disk. The bright spot visible just below the Moon’s bottom right edge is Saturn. Beyond that, the bright spot at the right edge of the image is Mars.
    Space
    Artemis II flies by the moon and a look at NASA’s budget proposal
    Brendan Byrne, Marian Summerall & Orion Boone
    Artemis II successfully flew around our moon, taking thousands of pictures and making observations about our moon for the future of lunar exploration. Plus, we'll take a look at a proposed budget for NASA for the next fiscal year.
  • The Artemis II crew. NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA’s Jeremey Hansen stand in front of the capsule that will take them to the moon and back.
    Space
    Artemis II is a go for launch plus, how NASA is helping tortoises
    Marian Summerall Orion Boone & Brendan Byrne
    Artemis II is set to launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center this week, sending a crew of four on a flyby around the moon. Plus, how NASA satellite data is helping bring tortoises back to one of the Galapagos islands.
  • UCF's Addie Dove and Kerri Donaldson Hannah speak with Brendan Byrne at the first Space on Tap event at the Judson's Live in Orlando.
    Space
    Moon science and Curious Space
    Brendan Byrne, Marian Summerall & Orion Boone
    This is the first event as part of Central Florida Public Medias special Space on Tap event series. We'll speak with UCF scientists about the moon and what's ahead for some lunar missions. Then, Veteran NASA astronaut Winston Scott will answer questions from curious kids and audience members.
  • Moon dust or Lunar regolith made at the Florida Space Institute’s Regolith Lab in Orlando.
    Space
    Scientists at UCF are making moon dirt for lunar chickpeas
    Marian Summerall, Orion Boone & Brendan Byrne
    Humans are getting closer to landing on the moon once again, and understanding the environment is crucial as humanity prepares to spend time on the lunar surface. That's why technicians are making artificial moon dirt and why scientists are using that synthetic lunar soil to grow plants.
  • The curblike ridge in this view is part of a series of crisscrossing features that form what's called a boxwork pattern. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured the image with its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on May 16, 2025, the 4,541st Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This panorama was stitched together from 15 individual images. The color in these images has been adjusted to match the lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth. When viewed from space, the boxwork patterns look a bit like spiderwebs. They have fascinated scientists since before Curiosity's 2012 landing on the Red Planet and are believed to have formed from groundwater trickling through rock cracks billions of years ago. Minerals left behind by the water hardened like cement within the rock; after eons of sandblasting by wind, the rock was carved away, revealing networks of resistant ridges within.
    Space
    Martian robots and a new space weather project
    Brendan Byrne, Marian Summerall & Orion Boone
    The Perseverance and Curiosity Rovers are exploring Mars, looking at things like boxwork formations and using new technology to navigate around the planet. Plus, a new project aims to look at how gravity waves are impacting things like GPS, radio, satellites and more.
  • This artist's concept depicts NASA's Lunar Trailblazer in lunar orbit about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the surface of the Moon. The spacecraft weighs only 440 pounds (200 kilograms) and measures 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) wide when its solar panels are fully deployed. Lunar Trailblazer is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and its science investigation and mission operations are led by Caltech with the mission operations center at IPAC. Managed for NASA by Caltech, JPL also provides system engineering, mission assurance, the HVM3 instrument, as well as mission design and navigation. Lockheed Martin Space provides the spacecraft, integrates the flight system, and supports operations under contract with Caltech.
    Space
    A lost lunar mission and space travel impacts on reproduction
    Brendan Byrne, Marian Summerall & Orion Boone
    NASA has released the anomaly report for the Lunar Trailblazer mission, highlighting what went wrong. Plus, we will look at how scientists are learning about reproduction health from mice.
  • Engineers and technicians at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California assemble components of the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission instrument in December 2021. The upper portion consists of EMIT's optical subsystem, including a telescope and imaging spectrometer, while the baseplate below holds electronics. EMIT will collect measurements of 10 important surface minerals – hematite, goethite, illite, vermiculite, calcite, dolomite, montmorillonite, kaolinite, chlorite, and gypsum – in arid regions between 50-degree south and north latitudes in Africa, Asia, North and South America, and Australia. The data EMIT collects will help scientists better understand the role of airborne dust particles in heating and cooling Earth's atmosphere on global and regional scales.
    Space
    Detecting plastics from space and how rovers can think for themselves
    Orion Boone, Brendan Byrne & Marian Summerall
    NASA's EMIT mission uses a spectrometer to detect dusts and minerals from space, and it now can detect plastics from land. Plus, the Mars rovers can move around the red planet and do science, without human help.
  • The Moon is seen shining over the SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher on January 29, 2026. The rocket is currently at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as teams are preparing for a wet dress rehearsal to practice timelines and procedures for the launch of Artemis II.
    The science of Artemis II and a lunar latrine
    Brendan Byrne, Orion Boone & Marian Summerall
    The science the Artemis crew II will participate in on their flyby around the moon, and the new toilet joining the mission.
  • This artist's concept depicts NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter. Scientists believe Jupiter's icy moon Europa harbors a vast internal ocean that may have conditions suitable for supporting life. While orbiting Jupiter, the spacecraft will fly by the moon about 50 times, allowing its science instruments to gather data on Europa's atmosphere, surface, and interior – information that will help scientists learn more about the ocean, the ice crust, and potential plumes that may be venting subsurface water into space. Europa Clipper's three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon's icy shell and its interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission's detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.
    Space
    Moon science, a deeper look at one of Jupiter’s moons and our own
    Orion Boone, Marian Summerall & Brendan Byrne
    Europa, one of Jupiter’s icy moons could harbor life, but maybe not in the same way that Earth has life. Plus, we will take a look at radiation on our own moon, and why studying its impacts is important for future missions.