Starman: Looking back on a life exploring the Solar System

Gentry Lee spent nearly five decades at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and in that time he helped shape some of the most ambitious missions in the history of space exploration. A new documentary, "Starman," chronicles his career and the big question that runs through it: is there life beyond Earth? Lee worked on every NASA mission to land on Mars, helped Carl Sagan bring the Universe to living rooms around the world with "Cosmos," and oversaw dozens of active missions as Chief Engineer for the Solar System Exploration Directorate at JPL. Few people have had a front-row seat to the Space Age quite like him. In this episode, host Sarah Al-Ahmed sits down with Gentry at Planetary Society headquarters just one day after his retirement from JPL. He reflects on the colleagues who shaped him, the missions that changed our understanding of the Solar System, and why the search for life beyond Earth remains the most profound endeavor humanity has ever undertaken. Discover more at:

You can listen to Starman: Looking back on a life exploring the Solar System online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Starman: Looking back on a life exploring the Solar System is an episode from Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science by The Planetary Society.

This episode is 61:41 long.

This episode was published on Mar 11, 2026.

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