Discover 5 Smaller Rocket Science YouTube Channels

Where can you learn more about space engineering and rocket science on YouTube?

You’re probably already familiar with big names like NASA and SpaceX and the fact these places have their own official YouTube channels but YouTube offers a number of independent space engineering commentators giving unbiased reviews of the news and action in this sector.

In this article we’ll be going over five smaller YouTube channels covering space technology and rocket science specifically, but you may be interested in our upcoming articles covering astronomy and physics channels if you were looking for more general space content.

What About It

Felix Schlang’s channel What About It breaks-down the past couple weeks worth of news and footage coming out of the spaceflight industry. While he is heavily focused on the Boca Chica SpaceX facility he will frequently cover other news such as his recent coverage of early tests from the new company Relativity Space.

His coverage features analysis of raw footage, such as his detailed review of the Falcon 2 rocket images taken during a public relations exhibition SpaceX made as part of their participation in a local Boca Chica parade. He specifically points out the changes visible from the known Falcon 1 design and discusses potential reasoning. For example, the notable decrease in external ducting he suggests is due to the Falcon 2 needing less sensor equipment now that stable working designs have been established.

Check out his Channel Galaxy page to find more similar channels or go to his YouTube page

LabPadre

A few years ago this South Padre based video channel was putting up videos of party-goers on Spring Break. Now it is perhaps the foremost source of raw Boca Chica Starbase footage on YouTube. While writing this article there were no less than nine live-streaming cameras covering various parts of the facility available on the LabPadre channel.

In addition to the numerous live streams there are time-lapse highlights of the live stream footage, full raw stream archives, and occasional aerial footage of the site, all offered in the raw with minimal commentary.

You never know what their cameras will catch. This video of a minor truck accident being handled safely is definitely something you won’t find publicized by SpaceX despite how good it makes their response teams look:

Find their related channels on our Channel Galaxy page or check out their livestreams on YouTube.

Everyday Astronaut

Tim Dodd is the Everyday Astronaut. Without formal training in aerospace engineering he has used his curiosity and passion to make one of the best independent spaceflight channels on YouTube. He frequently publishes video of site tours and long interviews with industry heavyweights like Firefly’s CEO Tom Markusic or Elon Musk, both of whom were interviewed by Tim on tours of their respective facilities.

But Everyday Astronaut’s explanations of the technology of spaceflight are possibly even more interesting. After hearing Tim explain in this video how cryogenic refrigeration systems are vital for modern rockets I feel like I’ve become a little bit of a rocket scientist myself:

Watch his long form interviews on his channel or check out his related channels here on Channel Galaxy:

Angry Astronaut

You won’t find more opinionated and informed content on space anywhere other than the Angry Astronaut channel. Jordan Wright gives his unvarnished contrarian opinions of the policy and business decisions made by the big players in the spaceflight industry.

Each episode is a deep dive into some aspect of the multiple billions of dollars budgeted to space programs and how much of that funding could be better and more efficiently spent were it not for the concerns of political influence and bureaucracy.

In one recent video he clearly outlines the negative impacts the ending of Russian-Western cooperation will have in space. Specifically, the International Space Station has maneuvering components completely controlled by Russia and which could be rendered inoperable with hostile action.

He goes on to comment that current US ships like those made by SpaceX are unequipped to stabilize the orbit of the ISS. It is an interesting perspective which many of the larger players in the industry may not want to have heard.

Be sure to check out his latest controversial opinions on YouTube or see how he connects to other channels on Channel Galaxy here:

Rocket Lab

While much of the spaceflight coverage on YouTube focuses on NASA and SpaceX facilities in the US, Rocket Lab is one of the smaller private companies competing in the new private spaceflight industry.

Operating dual bases in New Zealand and the US gives this company a unique ability to conduct Southern Hemisphere satellite launches and gives their YouTube audience a new beautiful South Pacific island venue to watch.

Their channel features tours of their facilities and of course frequent launches of satellites on their developing Electron launch vehicles. This mission entitled “A Data with Destiny” is a good example of the pun they have with their mission names (yes, that was a pun..)

Check out their page on Channel Galaxy or visit them on YouTube to continue to follow their launch systems’ development:

And while you’re here make sure you click around on the Channel Galaxy recommendations for these channels. We couldn’t get to every rocket science related channel in our database of over 30,000 YouTube channels, so you’ll want to explore the Channel Galaxy to find loads more!

Or maybe you’ll branch off into your other related interests. We’ve already mentioned our upcoming guides to astronomy and physics channels, but we know from our recommendations that spaceflight fans are also likely to be interested in deep sea exploration. The EVNautilus channel featured in our Deep Sea Exploration guide directly links to the What About It channel featured in this guide. So be sure to check out our guides on those topics as well.