Software for Space, with Epsilon3's Laura Crabtree

About Epsilon3: The startup has developed an operating system (OS) for space missions. The streamlined software tool helps space companies keep tabs on complex engineering, testing, and operational procedures. Epsilon3’s customers include Inversion, Orbit Fab, Virgin Galactic, Firefly, Stoke, Stratolaunch, and Privateer, among other companies.And more about our guest : Laura began her space career at Northrop Grumman, before moving on to SpaceX, where she helped put the US back in the human spaceflight biz. She worked on the Dragon ops team and was on the console for the spacecraft’s first flight, its first mission to the ISS, and subsequent commercial crew programs. She also worked on the F9 and Dragon Recovery teams.*CHAPTERS* 0:00 — Intro 3:06 — Putting the US back in the human spaceflight business 5:12 — Other highlights from Laura's time as a SpaceX'er 7:43 — The state of play in space mission management 10:07 — Why are space missions managed and tracked on pen, paper, Word, and Excel? 15:23 — Quantifying Epsilon3's effectiveness 19:16 — Building industry tools that everybody needs 21:53 — The beauty of elegant software tools 25:13 — When you got started, was it a non-obvious or counterintuitive bet to think the space industry was big enough to support its own software startup? 28:28 — A discussion of Epsilon3's customer base 31:36 — Meme cameo 35:12 — Going through Y Combinator 38:43 — Growing with current users and acquiring new customers 49:15 — Where the Epsilon3 name cames from*SHOW NOTES*Epsilon3’s Website: https://www.epsilon3.io/Laura's Twitter: https://twitter.com/llcrabbieEpsilon3’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/epsilon3inc/Ryan's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ryandoofy*ABOUT US*Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand, and while we have designs on becoming the biggest space content company in the galaxy, for now, we publish: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, every Monday to Friday morning 2) Pathfinder, this podcast, on Tuesday mornings 3) ...and 💫Parallax!💫 on Thursday afternoons.Parallax is our brand-spanking new weekly science newsletter for the space industry. Subscribe now so you can say you were early by signing up at parallax.beehiiv.comSubscribe to our daily newsletter and find out more about Payload at www.payloadspace.com