Communicating the Highs and Lows of space

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Space Marketing Podcast, where we look at marketing principles, strategies, and tactics through the lens of space. Hi, I am your host, Izzy House. Today, we'll meet Audra Mitchell, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at Astrobotic, to discuss the good days and the bad days and how to talk about them both. So, let's lift off in 3, 2, 1.

[00:00:39] Welcome to the Space Marketing Podcast. Information relating to our discussion today and links to the video version can be found in the episode show notes on spacemarketingpodcast.com. Please like and subscribe to the podcast. It will help more people reach beyond the atmosphere. Information in this episode is for entertainment and information only.

[00:01:06] Please consult a professional for your specific situation. I had the pleasure of meeting my next guest at the Keystone Collaborative Space Conference. Audra Mitchell is the Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications at Astrobotic. With 20 years under her belt, she supports public relations and media outreach, as well as marketing strategy and community engagement.

[00:01:32] She even does event planning for the organization and its missions. So, welcome to the podcast, Audra. Thank you so much, Izzy, for having me. I'm really excited to be here and to talk with you. Oh, I'm so excited to have you as well. It was such a great meeting in Pittsburgh at that conference. I have been looking forward to this podcast ever since. Same. I was so energized by our conversation.

[00:02:00] It's not every day that I talk to somebody who understands the opportunities, the challenges in marketing in this industry. You know, I talk to a lot of people who have a lot of knowledge about the space industry, but that doesn't always mean the marketing and communication side. And a lot of people don't even understand what I do. And the minute we started talking, I knew we were kindred spirits. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:02:26] It is a little bit of a challenge because the business model for decades has been basically getting a grant from the government and not having to worry about that aspect or that facet of their business. And now with commercial space, getting more powerful every day, it is something that needs to be talked about. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:02:52] It's incumbent on us, the folks in the space industry, commercial space especially, to tell the story of why going to space and why this type of exploration is important, not just for scientific initiatives, but also to be able to bring back technology here to use on Earth. So I think that, you know, it's really up to us to be able to tell that story.

[00:03:19] And, you know, everybody's doing that kind of a different way. But I'm really proud of the way we do it here at Astrobotic. I'm very excited about how you do it, too. So before we get too far along, I always like to have people kind of meet you. And so tell us a little bit about your story and how you became interested in space. So my road to working in the space industry is it's there's bumps and twists and turns.

[00:03:45] You know, it was not probably the most typical route that people might think about. But I think going way, way back, I remember in kindergarten learning about the planets and learning the names of the planets. And until that point, I can't really recall ever even thinking about there being something else than Earth. I don't think it had ever crossed my little mind.

[00:04:12] And I was hooked. I thought, I can't believe that there's all of these worlds and they're all so different. And, you know, just, you know, for an imaginative and creative child, the idea of space is it just opens so many avenues. So I've always been, you know, a quote unquote space nerd from probably kindergarten on. But I also, you know, didn't see a real place for me in the industry as I was growing up.

[00:04:42] I thought that you had to be an engineer. You had to be a Ph.D. physicist. You had to have that type of background. And that really wasn't who I was. That wasn't my skill set. I was always a communicator. I was, you know, always wanting to do the creative endeavors and things like that. And which people who are engineers and Ph.D. physicists are also creative, too. But I didn't know that at the time.

[00:05:08] And I think, you know, my my road sort of started in advertising. I worked in advertising and marketing communications for a variety of different industries for about 20 years before I came here to Astrobotic. So everything from corporate to retail to food to industrial really ran the gamut of the types of clients that I worked with.

[00:05:34] And that really set me up with a good foundation to be able to bring those skills to Astrobotic. And I'm so glad I did. I joined Astrobotic in 2023 when everyone when we were really staffing up for the Peregrine mission that happened in early 2024. And it was trial by fire.

[00:05:53] You know, I had just probably about six months to get up to speed on everything I could know about, you know, commercial space, lunar landers and everything that goes into the development of that technology. So it was definitely a trial by fire. But we have a great team here and it's it's been a lot of fun. I want to kind of go back to something you said that you thought that space wasn't for you.

[00:06:22] And I really want to stress out there to those that are listening, especially the marketing people, that it is so important to have some type of outreach program to tell those young budding minds that they can do this, that it is for them. And I would also like to segue as well in saying our jobs didn't exist back then. Right, right, right. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:06:51] This new commercial, you know, I say new, but, you know, it's newer commercial paradigm for space has really opened up the industry for people who don't have those traditional STEM backgrounds to really be a part of the industry and make a big impact. You know, we talk to students a lot and, you know, you might not be interested in engineering, but you like accounting. Well, we have accountants that work here. You know, we have procurement professionals.

[00:07:21] We have facilities and real estate folks who work on our team. We have business development. You know, really, if you have an interest or you have a skill, the space industry needs you and wants people with skills to bring into the industry to make it more robust.

[00:07:39] And coming in from outside the industry, you are able to bring in those different experiences that you've had that maybe were not within the bubble, I call it, the bubble of, you know, the ping pong of the employees that go from one to another to another and are encapsulated in the space industry. You bring some experience from the outside that gives new vision to whatever it is that you're working on.

[00:08:08] So it is very important to bring it from the outside. I agree, Izzy. You know, there are so many wonderfully talented people who have worked in the space industry for longer than I've been alive in some cases. But sometimes you do need people with an outside perspective. You need people who have had, you know, different experiences to really come up with ideas that make you think outside the box or question, oh, but this is how we always do it.

[00:08:38] Well, why? What if we tried something new? And I think especially, again, with the rise of commercial space, people who sort of were not part of the space industry before are now getting those opportunities to bring fresh, exciting ideas to the industry. I think it's really an exciting time. It is. It is. Commercial space really has been about 10 years is all it has been.

[00:09:05] Back in 2015 is when they did the Space Act that kind of opened up commercial space. So this is really a nascent opportunity. Absolutely. Let's talk about Astrobotic. You have some exciting things going on. You've done exciting things and are having exciting things. So tell us a little bit about that. Yeah.

[00:09:26] So just to the elevator pitch for Astrobotic, we were founded in 2007 as a startup out of Carnegie Mellon University here in Pittsburgh. For those in the know, Carnegie Mellon is the world-renowned university, especially for robotics. Really cutting-edge education and robotics are happening in that university. So we're very fortunate here in Pittsburgh to have that resource.

[00:09:51] Spun out as a startup and then kind of transitioned more into our current corporate structure. So we've been around since 2007. Started out with just a handful of people. And today we employ 275 employees both here in Pittsburgh and at our propulsion and test facility in Mojave, California. We kind of have three pillars of our business.

[00:10:16] One, the first, which is what most people probably know Astrobotic for, is our lunar delivery program, which includes our Peregrine and Griffin Landers. We also have lunar power programs. And the sort of capstone of that is our Lunagrid system, which collects solar energy to transmit power across the lunar surface. And that is currently in development with a variety of NASA contracts.

[00:10:46] And then we also have our propulsion and test team out in Mojave. We acquired Mastin Space Systems in, I believe it's 2023, 2022. Don't quote me. We were so fortunate to acquire that great group of propulsion and test engineers. We do VTVL, vertical takeoff, vertical landing rockets there.

[00:11:10] Most notably our Zodiac rocket that is currently flying, I think in 2024, 28 flight campaigns. And we also are in production and in development for bigger, better, faster version of that called Zogdoor. So that's a really exciting opportunity coming out of our propulsion and test team. Awesome. Astrobotic has been in the news and you are the supplier of news releases.

[00:11:40] This is part of your skill set. So we're going to begin our conversation with what is a news release and why is it important? Absolutely. So a news release is almost a templated way that organizations, not just in the space industry, but across all industries, can share their information with media outlets, local, regional, national, international media outlets.

[00:12:08] And it's really our way to sort of tell our story, to let people know who we are, why our technology is important, what our goals are, what the future is going to bring in a way that we can take the very, you know, sometimes lofty or difficult to understand concepts behind the space industry and behind the technology that we develop

[00:12:31] and really hone that down into a way that the general public can understand and get them excited about what's happening and keep them informed. So it's really a way for us to sort of tell the world who we are, what we're doing, and keep everybody up to speed with all the amazing things that we're doing here at Astrobotic and in the space industry in general.

[00:12:52] So let's talk about why this is important, because when you have news or even if you don't have news, if you are letting the media fill in the storyline of your company, they probably will not get every fact correct. And they may put a little bit of a narrative in it that you will have to clean up.

[00:13:22] And that may not put you in the correct light. I'm not going to say good light, but the correct light. And so it's a tool that you can do to educate the people that are writing about you, as well as making it to where you control somewhat of the message. You can't control all of it, but you can control somewhat.

[00:13:47] And that translation piece is also something you can think about in advance while you're doing these. So go ahead and let's go unpack that a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, the journalists that we work with and that I've worked with throughout my career, they are talented and in most cases responsible with what they're reporting.

[00:14:13] However, you know, even as, you know, some of the best science and technology reporters in the country aren't experts in either the space industry, the moon, lunar landers, what it takes to develop, you know, this type of technology. So it's really incumbent on us to educate the media because, of course, they can't know everything. You know, we know the most about what we're doing.

[00:14:39] And so it's really part of, you know, it's incumbent on us to educate the media and in turn the general public about what we're doing, why it's important, really to craft that story. You know, if you don't provide that information and you don't provide that insight, you know, media needs to write stories and they need to, people are asking for updates.

[00:15:03] And if you don't provide those, they can get incorrect information or they can think that the source that they're getting that information from is credible, but it's not. And so something runs that with, there was no negative intention, but it's really up to us to make sure that the story is correct and that we're giving the right information. If we sort of assume they're just going to do all the digging and research on their own,

[00:15:28] there's a, because we're in such a highly technical industry with, with just no one who, no one is going to be an expert that, you know, they can't be an expert on everything. So we have to, because we're the experts, make sure that we're giving them the information so that they can build their story and, and not have to do guesswork or chat GPT or a Google search of what does this mean? We need to tell them what it means and why it's important.

[00:15:54] And let's go a little bit into chat GPT because when you do a press release and you have it on your website and you have the correct information, when chat GPT goes looking for you, what are they going to find? They're going to find the right stuff. And that is, is, is very important too in this modern day. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:16:17] You know, making sure that you're putting out timely and concise and correct information in the space industry is so important, but every industry. And, you know, the, we see so many organizations really, you know, doing a great job with this, but there's always room for improvement. There's always room for, you know, the space industry as a whole to be, you know, providing that information. And you're right.

[00:16:45] If we want, if we want AI to, to have the information, we've got to put it out there. Yeah. It's not going to pick it up any other way. Right. Right. And if you don't have it there, then it's picking up things that could be incorrect. You know, if you're not putting that information out there into the sphere, you know, they're going to pull information from somewhere and it may not be a credible source. So we need to be that credible source. Hold on to your boosters.

[00:17:14] We will be right back with Audra Mitchell, assistant director of marketing and communications at Astrobotic. After the briefest message from our sponsors, please like, please like, and subscribe to the space marketing podcast. So you don't miss a thing. And be sure to check out Steve Clark, vice president for space programs of Astrobotic at Spacecom, January 28th through the 30th in Orlando. Orlando.

[00:17:43] I'll be there. And that's if it finds you. And they're right.

[00:18:12] And they're looking for you to begin with. If you do not have those press releases out there or news releases, and you don't have that information out there, people may not even know you exist. So it's very important that you have that content available for SEO to find you, for AI to find you, for media to find you. Absolutely. And really, you know,

[00:18:41] we like many organizations, like most organizations, you know, we have our news page. And so you can really watch the trajectory of our company. If you go all the way back to the beginning of the archives, you know, that was one of the fun things I did, you know, first coming on board is just going from day one into our, into our news archives on the website and just really seeing the growth and the change in the organization.

[00:19:10] That was a really fun trip down memory lane for me. And I think that's a really good way to get to understand and get to know a company, especially in the space industry. Not everyone's connected to it, but, you know, hopping on the news page of, you know, on the news site of any, you know, space company that you're interested in, or you want to learn more. NASA is a really great resource source as well. Their website has so much information, maybe a little information overload. So maybe start smaller with somebody like us, Astropotic,

[00:19:40] but you can really learn a lot just by sort of doing a deep dive on the news page of, you know, any of your favorite space companies, websites. And let's talk a little bit about the media and how we start to build this, this news release, because it used to be where there was a lot of reporters out there and they, they would dig into a story and they'd find all the juicy bits. But now you have all these reporters that have lost their jobs.

[00:20:10] There's the newspapers have closed down and the magazines have closed down. There's not as many people on staff to do that. The reporters themselves need content. That's ready to go. They don't need that boring article or that just the facts. They need something they can work with and maybe copy and paste into their publication. Absolutely.

[00:20:36] The media landscape in my 20 plus years of being in this, in this field has completely changed. When I first started in marketing and communications, you know, you had a reporter who was, you know, if you think about just maybe on a local scale, cause it's a little bit easier. So if you think about your, you know, local Pittsburgh reporters, you had a variety of newspapers.

[00:21:01] Each newspaper had a reporter that specialized in a certain segment and they didn't really cross over that much. Maybe someone would cover something for the other one if they needed, but really you would have, you know, so many reporters who each had their own area of expertise. So they could really do, as you mentioned, and as you said, dig into the facts. And they had such a robust knowledge because that was their sole beat. That is what they covered.

[00:21:30] And with the shrinking of especially print media and, and a lot of especially local smaller papers closing and consolidating, you now have a lot of papers that simply pick up all of their articles from the Associated Press, AFP, Reuters. And so, you know, there's not somebody actually doing the work of a journalist necessarily at every level in a paper. So your, you know, your local paper,

[00:22:00] you've been reading for 20 years, the way they procure that news has completely changed. And so we, as communicators, as marketers, as public relations folks, we have to ensure that we are telling the public what's happening. We are telling a story, not just the facts, that we can kind of grab the imagination of, of people to make them read and make them want to know more. You know, and the,

[00:22:29] and the news release is really the first step. Yes, of course, there are some publications that will sort of pick that up and print it as is. But usually what we find is the news releases of start of a conversation. So we put out a news release and then that's when the reporters who we work with, you know, space industry reporters, national news reporters, that's when they reach out to us and say, okay, now I want to dig, dig into this deeper. Let's schedule an interview. Let's talk some more so that they can,

[00:22:59] they can do their work. So it's really incumbent on us to be putting out those, that timely updates, timely information, and then starting a conversation. It's not just throwing a news release out into the void. We really need, we, what we do then is that open those doors and make sure that we're, you know, having a conversation with those reporters. And I think that's sort of the way that, that, that media is going to work for, you know, the foreseeable future. You know, it puts a little more,

[00:23:28] a little bit more of the responsibility on the company than I think there had been in the past. And I think, you know, the, the folks in the space industry that I work with take that responsibility really seriously. And news releases are powerful tools, not just with the media, but with your employees, with your company, with your public, with your community. Let's talk a little bit about what's in a news release. For example,

[00:23:57] it can be a celebration. It can be a milestone. It can be just a feel good story about an employee that's done something great in the community, the community. So why don't we expand on what kind of things that you have in your news release? We take a, an approach of, you know, sort of a few different pillars that we try to cover. Of course, you know,

[00:24:23] one of the main pillars is reporting on new contracts, new technology, technology development. That's probably our biggest pillar of the information that we put out into the public sphere. And then we have a kind of a pillar that is a little more localized, you know, we're here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not typically thought of as a, as a space hub. We're working to change that, but we then sort of have that local interest.

[00:24:52] So getting the local community to understand what we're doing here and why it's important and highlighting our community service initiatives, employees, things like that. And then we sort of have, you know, what people might think of as fluff. And that's usually, you know, that, that would sort of be where it's more of like a, a, you know, a fun piece of information, not something that's necessarily going to get picked up by news organizations.

[00:25:19] And that's where we sort of utilize our blog and our social media. So a lot of the more, the more fun information goes there. So we sort of separated into those pillars. You know, our big focus is on sort of the national and international news, which falls into sort of our technology development pillar. And the information that goes in there, you know, it's that typical, what the journalists want to know is the who, what, when, where, why, you know,

[00:25:47] if anyone took a journalism class in high school or college, or was on the school newspaper, you know, that those are the, those are the questions who, what, when, where, why, and how. And that is the most important thing to be answering in the news release. You know, it, I think there is a, I've seen this across my career, this idea that, you know, we want to just keep putting out information and news, even if it's not newsworthy, we just want to keep our name out there. And, you know,

[00:26:14] what I've seen from that is that journalists think they, they, think, oh, they're just sending me, they're just sending me something every week. So putting out a news release when it's actually news, I think is important. And answering those who, what, when, where, and why. That's when news is, is great. And everything's positive and the sun is shining and, you know, the world is good.

[00:26:41] So what is the importance when maybe things aren't going so good? Why would you do a news release then? You know, I think a lot of companies, a lot of corporations across, you know, every sector are a little fearful of reporting, basically reporting bad news about themselves, whether it's, you know, a program that's not going well, or, you know, there, there could be a variety of things.

[00:27:09] And I understand that impulse completely, but I think in the space industry, we're a little bit, we're a little bit different and we should be held to a higher standard. Because we need the general public to be educated on the positives and also the challenges of the space industry. You know, there's, you look at the numbers and the amount of money that gets invested in the space industry. And if you're just, you know,

[00:27:39] patting yourself on the back and saying, what a great job we've done. And it comes across as out of touch and, and people go, why are we doing this? Why, why should we care about this? And I think bringing people along for the, the pluses and minuses and the challenges and the hard days, it helps build that story of why, why space is the next frontier and why it's important for us to continue, you know,

[00:28:07] our just human desire for exploration. And I think that by sharing the good, the bad, and sometimes the ugly, it develops a level of trust with the public that they then can understand. They can, they, they look a little deeper and they listen a little longer and, you know, come around and go, yeah, I think this, the space industry is real and it's important. And I think if you just are always patting yourself on the back and telling everybody how great you are,

[00:28:37] it comes, it falls flat. And we're not going to, you know, change the public perception or grow public sentiment for this industry. If we're always just telling everybody how great we are. I'd like to, to really point out that if they're aware that something bad has happened and they're not hearing anything from you, then they're going to create their own narrative.

[00:29:04] And I would say the majority of the time that is not going to benefit your brand. Absolutely. You know, think about, you know, your own self. If you, you know, send a text to a friend and it's just left on read, you think, oh my gosh, what you, you think the worst that they're, they don't want to talk to you anymore or they're mad at you, all these things. So when, when there's a indication that something might be amiss, and then there's no communication about what that thing,

[00:29:33] you, it's just human nature to think the worst or to create your own narrative. And once those narratives are embedded in someone's head, it's really hard to change their perception. So that's why, you know, we want to tell, of course, we want to tell our good news, but when we have a hard day, we, we want to tell that as well because we, we want people to be with us on the good days and the bad. You want to talk about one of the hard days that you had? Yeah,

[00:30:03] I bet we're talking about Peregrine. So last January, January 8th, 2024 at 2 18 AM, our Peregrine lunar lander launched from Cape Canaveral on ULA's inaugural flight of their Vulcan Centaur rocket. It was one of the most exciting nights of my life. I think I was operating on 30 minutes of sleep, but it was, it was great. It was,

[00:30:31] it was a wonderful launch, perfect lunar injection. ULA did an amazing job and they were such a great partner for the entire lead up to launch. And we knew there was a window of time where we would establish communications. If we could have set, you know, these are all ifs because this is the first time, this was the first U S commercial lunar lander launch in history. So there's always what ifs. And we,

[00:31:00] we found out we, we got power and communications right at the beginning of the window when that was possible. So we were really at the highest of highs. We were, you know, it was a big celebration. And then pretty shortly after, as we were doing all of our, you know, sort of turning on all of the systems, it was pretty evident pretty quickly that there was an anomaly in our propulsion system. And, um, at the time we didn't know what that was.

[00:31:29] And we really thought that this is the end of the mission. So we went from highest of highs to really crashing pretty quickly. But the great thing about our team is they, they are mission control here in Pittsburgh. They weren't going to take that, uh, as an answer. And we were just a few minutes outside of a planned communications blackout, with the lander.

[00:31:56] When one of our team members was able to write new code and send it up to the lander, and the team was able to get the lander to stop spinning uncontrollably and move the, the solar panels into a position that they were, the batteries were charging. We were, we didn't know until the communication blackout ended if everything worked. So there was, there were a few hours where everyone just held their breath, uh, figuratively,

[00:32:25] but maybe literally wondering, you know, is, is Peregrine going to get turned back on? And when we came out of that communications blackout, there was Peregrine. So our team was able to fly Peregrine 10 and a half days in space, um, operated as a spacecraft. Our payload team transitioned, uh, you know, all the payloads were planned to be activated once the lander landed on the lunar surface,

[00:32:51] but our payload teams reached out to all of our payload customers. So, um, you know, NASA Carnegie Mellon had their Iris rover, the Mexican space agency. So all of our payload customers and came up with a plan to be able to activate those payloads while we were operating in sislunar space. All of our active payloads had power and communications and collected data. And that was really a big win for our team.

[00:33:21] When we were planning this mission and we were putting together our crisis communications plan, we knew that there, you know, space is hard and we knew that there were a variety of ways that this could go wrong. And so we spent a lot of time preparing for that possibility. And from the get go, the communications team and also our leadership, we're very clear that regardless of what happens,

[00:33:52] uh, good or bad, we are going to tell the story and let people know what's happening. You know, our mission statement is to make space accessible to the world. And that's, we don't just put that on our website and on our, on our merch. We live by that philosophy. And to live by that philosophy, philosophy means we need to show people the, the, the hard times and the challenges as well as the good times. And that was,

[00:34:21] that was clear from, from, you know, the moment we started working on this plan. Now it's a whole different story when you're actually in the middle of it, because you do question yourself. You say, oh my gosh, you know, is this the right move? But we, we knew it was, we knew it was. And so from the moment that the propulsion anomaly happened, we were doing updates to, you know, two, sometimes three times a day talking about where we were in the mission, what was happening, you know,

[00:34:51] and what, what was kind of unexpected because sometimes you're so in your, you know, in it was how many people all over the world jumped on board to be a part of the mission that we were getting, you know, social media comments from people all over the world saying, we love Peregrine go, Peregrine go, you know, schools locally were, you know, at, you know,

[00:35:19] science teachers were wanting information so they could share it with their students. It really felt like there was a groundswell of support and people were really excited and, and, and felt so engaged. It felt like people were really engaging with our mission. And at the end of the day, that's that, that is from a marketing communication standpoint, the most important thing is we were creating engaging storytelling to educate the public. Educate the public about our, our, our, our mission,

[00:35:48] the thing that we, we love and have worked for, for decades to do. And we were so thrilled at how much support that garnered us. I don't think had we gone dark, people would have just forgotten about Astrobotic and forgotten about Peregrine until the next time we were in the news. But we, we were really proud. We were really proud of our mission. And even though it didn't end with a, you know, successful landing on the lunar surface,

[00:36:17] there's a lot to be proud about. Um, with that mission, there were challenges that our team worked together to overcome. And I think that's relatable to people. I don't think most people, when they try something, get it right the first time or everything goes according to plan and is perfect. And so I think us saying, yeah, we didn't get it perfect either, but we're going to keep, we're going to take you along for the ride. I think it was relatable to people. They, they, they understood that. And, you know, it's,

[00:36:47] I'm proud of our team for, um, you know, for deciding to do that and executing it that way. And I would really like to stress one of your points that you took people with you. You weren't talking at them. You were bringing them on board and making them a part of what was going on. And that is a huge,

[00:37:10] huge difference that a lot of people miss when they're doing the news release and they're thinking about the public. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. that's why the inspiration for was a success where maybe some of the other launches that were happening at the time weren't is because the public went with them. Yes.

[00:38:02] And I think that's what's going to be a part of the space is that you can take people to, to a whole, they don't have to leave their living rooms or they don't have to leave earth, but we can take them on this journey and people can open up their imaginations as to what's possible, you know, in space, anything's possible. And sometimes what the things that are possible are challenges or valve failure and things like that. But it's what you do next. It's what you take, what you make of those challenges.

[00:38:29] And I think that's what made our mission really compelling to, to, to people is that we didn't give up. We took a bad day and we turned it around into what we, what we are really proud, a mission we're really proud of. And it just sets us up for success the next time around. It's, it's a great lesson. And back to the Apollo program too, is that education was a big part of that particular program.

[00:38:58] They went around and they let people touch it. They taught people about it. There was some secrets at that time, but we, you don't have to give away the secrets. You just have to teach them about what a rocket is. You don't have to, to do something complicated. And the Apollo program, the people you're talking about did that. One of my favorite books that really launched me into this sector of my career was marketing the moon.

[00:39:25] And it really talked about how that, that took place and the, and the people and the team that did that. It's an incredible resource if you're going into that. Absolutely. That's a great call out. I think that's a great book. And I think it, you know, even if you're not somebody who is interested in marketing communications, it's a great story. It is. And they made it in, well, sort of in a movie.

[00:39:52] There's a lot of little bits that were in the, you know, fly me to the moon movie about that particular thing. So speaking of education, you are very, education is a very big deal for you. And do you want to tell us a little bit about what you have attached to your facility real quick? So when we opened our facility here in Pittsburgh, our current facility, leadership was really interested in that education piece,

[00:40:22] especially, you know, again, going back to that mission statement, making space accessible to the world. We didn't want it just to be on our t-shirts. We wanted it to be real. Astrobrotic created a 501c3 called moonshot museum that operates museum in our headquarters. And the great thing about this museum is it is dedicated to space career readiness for the 21st century. So, you know, whereas,

[00:40:49] whereas a lot of space museums look back to the past and that's great. There's nothing, nothing wrong with that. We have to look back to the past to know where to go in the future. This is all about today's space industry and the space industry within the next 60 years. So the students who come to visit the moonshot museum get to see things that are happening in space and are going to happen in space during their careers. So it's very forward looking. It's very, what's on the cutting edge,

[00:41:19] what's next. And because they're attached to our building, I think one of the, the, the big exciting things that get a lot of the oohs and aahs, not just from the kids, but those who are kids at heart. We have a large Florida ceiling window that you can view our largest clean room where Peregrine was built. And now Griffin is being built. So you can come into the museum as a guest, you know, interact with these great interactive exhibits.

[00:41:46] And then you also can come and watch a real life lunar lander being built in real time. And that's been, I think for our staff and for, for folks here has been a real joy. I think sometimes when you work, you know, whatever your work is, you might be, you might, you know, other people might think it's the coolest job in the world, but when you're doing it, it's what you do every day. And so even engineers who are working on these amazing spacecraft and this great technology,

[00:42:15] it's kind of what you do every day. But when, when you see field trips of students coming into the museum and the, oh my, wow, like the, the, the, they think you're a rock star. It makes you remember why you got into the space industry to begin with, because it is that excitement. And it's really, it's, it's really motivational for our staff,

[00:42:40] for who we call Astro bots to be able to participate in Q and A's with students. You know, my favorite is kind of that like 10 to 12 before they're too cool for school. And they just come up with questions that you've never even thought of because they're coming from a totally different perspective. And it's really fun. And it's been a, it is such a great resource for our community.

[00:43:06] Over 30,000 students have done programming with moonshot museum in the two years since it's opened. And that's coming to the museum and doing field trips. That's, we do virtual programs all over the world. And we also have an assembly program where we go to school, where our, where the moonshot staff goes to schools. So it's a great opportunity for our staff to be able to, you know, step out from, you know, their, from their desks and, you know, interact with students in the museum,

[00:43:34] the museum benefits from having access to Astrobotic. So it's really great. It's, it's when I was considering kind of, you know, coming from advertising, you know, working in advertising agencies for 20 years to then come into an emerging space company. It was, you know, there were some questions of whether I, you know, I wanted to do that. And when I walked into the moonshot museum, I said, I'm sold. Wait, I don't have to do anything. You know, you don't have to, you don't have to pitch me anymore. I'm, I'm working here.

[00:44:04] Well, so you're looking at the workforce of the future, but you're also, impacting the workforce of your company, because when people are proud, they don't look for some other place to go to, even if they're paying more, even if, you know, they got cooler toys. If you make your employees feel important every day, it makes it to where they don't leave you.

[00:44:33] Absolutely. All of the employees who, all the Astrobots who, volunteer with a museum, which there's a ton of us that do because it's just so fun. It's all smiles. And it's so exciting to just see that engagement in the, in the, in the questions. And for students, especially here in Pittsburgh, the space industry was net, was not really a career path that you would see modeled here locally. Until recently. And so, you know, they don't,

[00:45:03] they don't have engineers working in the space industry and their families. Students don't, you know, their neighbor isn't, you know, an aerospace engineer because we just don't, we haven't traditionally had that industry here. So I think showing students and, and showing, you know, young people that they can have a place in space and they can do that here, you know, where they live, where their family is, I think is opening up an industry to students that they may not ever have, have thought of.

[00:45:33] And, and, and it's really exciting. And it changes how they go to school. If you are excited and you see where, Hey, I want to build a lander one day, then math is going to be different for you. Science is going to be different for you. And you're not going to try to skip. You're not going to try to skate in it. You're going to really, really apply yourself because you want to see that you can see it. Absolutely. When I,

[00:46:01] when I first come on board at Astrobotic, I sat in on a, it was a, you know, a girls in STEM field trip. And, you know, at the beginning they said, Oh, how many of you are interested in working in the space industry? One or two had their hand raised their hands after they did a, you know, a tour of our facility and did all the activities at the moonshot museum. At the end, they said, okay, now who's all anyone else interested in me?

[00:46:30] And half the hands shot up. And it was, it was really exciting because before they walked in to our doors that day, the space industry wasn't really on their radar. And then, you know, at the end of, you know, a two hour field trip there, I'm, I'm going to be an engineer. I'm going to be an Astro, you know, it just, it, it, it, it's exciting to see. And it's, it's, it's fun every day when you, when the, when the students come in, it's great.

[00:46:59] And it's great for our staff and it's great for morale. So I have one final question for you is what final thoughts do you have for our audience today? And what do you want them to mull around and think about as they go through their day to day? I think it's, it would probably be that consider space and consider that you may have a place in space, that you may have a place in the space industry.

[00:47:28] I think that, you know, there is a perception that, that you've, you've got to look a certain way, be from a certain economic background, because those are the people in the past that, that, that we've seen. Those were the figureheads of the people that were on the news, but the people who work day in and day out in the space industry are from every country on the planet. They come from every town and city, small town, big city.

[00:47:57] And everywhere on the gender spectrum, you will find somebody just like you working in space because it crosses so many boundaries and barriers. When you're looking at the universe and you're looking at how big and how massive it is, it really makes the little issue that like the, the things that separate us seem a lot smaller. And I think that if you've ever had an interest in the space industry,

[00:48:27] maybe you're not working in it currently, but if you, if you have that interest, there is a place for you, for whatever your skillset. We need people with, with varied skill sets from varied backgrounds to come in to the space industry and energize us, come up with new ideas, you know, do things differently, put, you know, shake things up. Um, and so I would really encourage from my own personal experience,

[00:48:56] I would really encourage people who, you know, even have that little bug in their ear, that little interest to really explore that. And you can really bring your skills and, and what you have to make a really big difference in, in the world. A special thanks to Audra Mitchell, assistant director of marketing and communications at Astrobotic for sharing her journey to space. Be sure to check out her information listed in today's show notes. Please like,

[00:49:25] and subscribe to the space marketing podcast to help us get the word out about this incredible industry of space. And be sure to check out Steve Clark, Astrobotics vice president for space programs at Spacecom, January 28th through the 30th in Orlando. I hope that you have found this podcast useful for your journey as you reach for the stars.

[00:50:13] This podcast is heard along the marketing podcast network for more great marketing podcasts, visit marketing podcasts.net.