🎧 Unhurried conversations with people whose ideas stay with me.
On Who’s On My Mind, I dive deep into the lives of people who intrigue me—no script, no agenda, just meaningful conversations about their journeys, ideas, and experiences.
The Space Lawyer Fighting to Protect Neil Armstrong’s Bootprints | Michelle Hanlon
Who owns the Moon? Under a treaty written in 1967, no one. But the U.S. and China are both headed to the Moon's south pole, and the rules for what happens when they get there are still mostly unwritten.
Michelle Hanlon is a space lawyer, executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, and co-founder of For All Moonkind, an organization working to protect human heritage on the Moon, including Neil Armstrong's first bootprints. After about 25 years as a mergers and acquisitions attorney, she went back to school at 50 to study space law, sparked by a question from her son about mining asteroids.
We talk about what the Outer Space Treaty actually says in plain English, why space law affects you every time you tap your credit card, the race between NASA's Artemis program and China to the lunar south pole, where you'd go to court if something went wrong in space, and what happens when Mars one day wants to govern itself.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MICHELLE
For All Moonkind: https://www.forallmoonkind.org
Center for Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi: https://olemiss.edu/airandspacelaw/
CHAPTERS
0:00 Nothing protects Neil and Buzz's bootprints
0:41 Introduction
2:33 Are 1960s space laws ready for the Moon and Mars?
4:44 Eisenhower, Sputnik and the birth of the Outer Space Treaty
7:46 The question from her son that started it all
9:42 Star Trek and a childhood dream of space
12:40 Starting a new career at 50
14:01 The Outer Space Treaty in plain English
18:55 Why space law matters even if you never leave Earth
21:55 The race to the Moon's south pole
24:34 What lunar bases from the U.S. and China could look like
30:13 Protecting Neil Armstrong's bootprints: For All Moonkind
35:59 Where is space court?
40:11 How law changes on Mars
43:06 Will Mars one day break away from Earth?
46:55 Why we still need humans in space
50:45 The space law she wishes existed
53:15 Retiring the International Space Station
55:33 Why everyone should pay attention to space
57:28 Closing
WHO'S ON MY MIND
Website: https://www.WhosOnMyMind.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhosOnMyMindPodcast
Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/WhosOnMyMindPodcast
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whos-on-my-mind/id1783427441
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whosonmymindpodcast/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@whos_on_my_mind_podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhosOnMyMind/
X: https://x.com/Whos_On_My_Mind
#SpaceLaw #OuterSpaceTreaty #Moon
19 Oct 2026
The Hardest Part of Going to Mars Isn't Mars | Dr. Nathan Jones
🪐 What happens to a person who spends a year sealed inside NASA's simulated Mars habitat? Dr. Nathan Jones lived it for 378 days as medical officer on NASA's CHAPEA mission at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
We talk about how NASA picks a crew, the love notes he hid around his house, missing a year of his kids' lives, and why having the option to leave can be its own kind of hard.
ABOUT DR. NATHAN JONES:
Dr. Nathan Jones is an emergency medicine physician who served as medical officer on NASA's CHAPEA Mission 1, a year-long simulated Mars mission (2023–2024). He has also flown helicopter EMS and worked as a SWAT tactical medic.
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more: https://www.WhosOnMyMind.com
Learn more about CHAPEA: https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/chapea/
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – Open and introduction
02:38 – June 25, 2023: the door closes and the mission begins
05:45 – How NASA picks a crew (and why it chose an ER doctor)
10:44 – Night shifts, sleep, and never drinking caffeine
17:00 – The family decision, and applying to NASA without telling his wife
20:57 – His biggest worry going in
22:33 – Living in 1,700 square feet: did it feel small?
24:35 – Mars walks and why we send humans, not just robots
26:35 – A typical day and Earth–Mars communication delays
34:28 – Boredom, no internet, and NASA's daily news brief
37:57 – Space food: low salt, 3,000 calories a day
46:16 – Did it ever feel like Mars? Imposter syndrome
49:48 – "That speck is Earth"
51:31 – Why having the option to leave is its own kind of hard
57:33 – Hidden love notes and Valentine's flowers ordered a year early
59:26 – The hardest part: missing a year of his kids' lives
1:04:02 – How four people in tight quarters avoid turning on each other
1:08:21 – How NASA tests astronauts under pressure
1:11:58 – His identical twin brother
1:12:49 – The biggest surprise of the mission
1:16:03 – His favorite part: the people
1:18:21 – Walking back into the world: phones, AI, sunlight
1:21:54 – Did the mission change him?
1:25:45 – Would he spend a year on the Moon? "We do hard things"
1:31:14 – Closing thoughts
🎧 PODCAST LINKS:
Website: https://www.WhosOnMyMind.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhosOnMyMindPodcast
Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/WhosOnMyMindPodcast
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whos-on-my-mind/id1783427441
SOCIAL LINKS:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhosOnMyMind/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whosonmymindpodcast/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@whos_on_my_mind_podcast
X: https://x.com/Whos_On_My_Mind
#NASA #Mars #SpaceExploration #Astronaut #Podcast
21 Sept 2026
Adoption, Secrecy, and the Baby Scoop Era | Patricia Knight Meyer
Patricia Knight Meyer grew up knowing she was adopted — but not that her adoptive parents never received her birth certificate, never saw adoption papers, and never legally adopted her at all.
In this episode, Patricia — a writer, adoptee-rights advocate, and board member of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents — shares her story of growing up in a "black market adoption" during the Baby Scoop Era, discovering as an adult that no adoption had ever been filed, and later reuniting with both of her birth parents. We talk about adoption trauma, identity, the grief no one names, and what she wishes every adoptive parent knew.
Patricia is the author of the new memoir *Wonderland: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption*.
CONNECT WITH PATRICIA KNIGHT MEYER:
🌐 Website: https://myadoptedlife.com
Father & Daughter reunion video: https://myadoptedlife.com/meeting-my-birth-father-our-reunion-video/
ABOUT PATRICIA KNIGHT MEYER:
Patricia Knight Meyer is a writer, speaker, and adoptee-rights advocate whose own adoption is a window into the "Baby Scoop Era" — the decades of informal, unregulated adoption placements common from the 1940s through the early 1970s. She sits on the board of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents and has spent years helping other adoptees navigate identity, reunion, and grief. Her debut memoir is *Wonderland: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption*.
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 – Introduction: ten toes and a van with no papers signed
02:14 – Finding out at 12 she never had a birth certificate
03:54 – What that moment felt like
05:39 – How the adoption actually happened
12:07 – Where the adoption took place (Houston/Galveston, TX)
13:15 – What was the "Baby Scoop Era"?
17:20 – Why the Baby Scoop Era ended
19:06 – The hardest part of growing up adopted
22:09 – Carrying unnamed fear as a child
24:08 – Heritage camps and helping young adoptees today
28:41 – "Weren't we good enough?" — when adoptive parents feel hurt
35:44 – Finding community and starting to heal
42:04 – Where to start: books, groups, and resources
45:46 – Searching for and meeting her birth mother
59:22 – Meeting her birth father for the first time
1:11:02 – The insight her birth father gave her
1:13:02 – Why knowing your origin story matters
1:14:39 – The grief nobody acknowledges
1:15:14 – Advice for young adoptees
1:18:52 – Advice for adoptive parents
1:22:07 – Becoming a mother herself at 18
1:28:24 – Patricia's new memoir and book launch event
1:30:12 – Closing thoughts
🎧 PODCAST LINKS:
Website: https://www.WhosOnMyMind.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhosOnMyMindPodcast
Spotify: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/WhosOnMyMindPodcast
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whos-on-my-mind/id1783427441
SOCIAL LINKS:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhosOnMyMind/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whosonmymindpodcast/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@whos_on_my_mind_podcast
X: https://x.com/Whos_On_My_Mind
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhosOnMyMindPodcast
#Adoption #AdopteeStory #BirthParents #FamilyReunion #AdoptionTrauma #Podcast
Who has been a guest on Who's On My Mind
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Martin Bodek
Jim Paulk
Ken Kunken
Erden Eruc
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