SpaceVidCast – Inspiring Humanity to Look up: North America Tour 2 Continues

Hey Chasers!

I mentioned briefly at the end of the previous post that our interview with Gravity’s Science Advisor Kevin Grazier was shot at the studios of HD Video Podcast SpaceVidCast.

SpaceVidCast is hosted by husband and wife team, Benjamin and Cariann Higginbotham. The show’s mission is to “get all of planet Earth excited about space flight and living amongst the stars.”

Ben and Cariann are in incredible force for space outreach and we were privileged to be able to interview them. We were completely blown away by what they have accomplished with the show. Ben and Cariann eat, sleep and breathe space. They produce, edit, and host the show in addition to working within the space industry itself. They have incredible insight into the space technology currently in development and the political and economic arena of our current space exploration efforts.

SpaceVidCast Logo

Ben and Cariann are true examples of the show’s tagline “For the space geek in all of us.” They were the first interviewees we met whose variety of geeky T-shirts rivaled our own. Ben greeted us in the parking lot for their apartment building wearing a set of pair of Google Glass(es) where we were introduced to the team’s studio which they designed themselves. From there the team introduces the show’s viewers, through 45 minute monthly programs, and 5 minute “SpacePods”, to a range of topics from launch coverage and updates to the feasibility of initiatives like Mars ONE, promoting cool space-based Kickstarters like Planetary Resources’ ARKYD Telescope or upcoming video game Lacuna Passage, and debates on Science Fiction vs Science Fact. The team also posts videos from out-of-studio adventures to space craft launches as well as from space-related conferences and events.

Furthermore, SpaceVidCast doesn’t shy away from controversial issues such as private vs public space funding and invites insightful guests to the show who can speak to some of these topics. One of the more recent interviews with R.D. Boozer, author of The Plundering of NASA: an Expose, explores the author’s belief that NASA should only rely on private industry to recreate existing rocket technology while leaving itself free to explore more experimental technology to further our exploration of deep space.

Having run since 2008, SpaceVidCast is starting to evolve to it’s next form. The team is moving out of their current studio space to work with YouTube Space Los Angeles. The show will be receiving a massive upgrade as it moves into YouTube’s production studios. Ben explains this evolution of the show in a recent SpacePod

If you’re not already watching SpaceVidCast, you should be. Ben and Cariann make a dynamic team with awesome content, great insight, and no-punches-pulled-opinions on the future of space, all wrapped within sleek visuals. And as Cariann says of the show during a recent episode, “When you are passionate, part of that passion is sharing it with somebody else.”

From Left to Right: Paul Muzzin, Cariann Higginbotham, Benjamin Higginbotham, Matthew Cimone

Check out the video below for some segments from our interview with Ben and Cariann. Also, please subscribe to SpaceVidCast’s YouTube Channels at SpaceVidCast and Space Conferences, and support their growth signing up for their EPIC program (Enhanced Productions, Interviews and Content); content that is available only to subscribers of the site. We have! Finally, the team, in partnership with artist Ron Guyatt, is making some awesome space posters intended to have a travel-tourism style. Check them out here. I just ordered one (The Olympus Mons Poster). It’s going up in my office at Simon Fraser University!

Keep Chasing!

Matthew