Interview by Zach Moeller. Photos by Mike Miller. Video filmed by Sebastian Lopez, Justin Marko, Dan Raschko, and Marcus Lopez.
The Space Program crew recently headed east and spent some time in NYC and Philly, managing to film a full edit and shoot some photos. Owner Sebastian Lopez shared some insight into the trip and the brand.
Faith Dudna heelflip
What’s up with The Space Program? How long have you guys been around and what can you tell me about your crew?
The company started in 2016 in Spokane, Washington state. At the time, I wanted to bring something that could highlight our local talent and get people stoked on a scene in an area that often gets overlooked. Being a group of unknown skaters is a lot of work when it comes down to growing a skateboard brand and building awareness, but we’re excited about what we have going on. The crew is really tight, they all get along and are super motivated to work on projects.
Nathan Vitale noseslide
What inspired the trip out east and how was skating out here different out here than in the northwest?
We decided to make the trip over to the east coast, bring the whole team and film to gather footage for our upcoming full length video we are working towards. But after seeing the amount of footage we had and the great time we were all having during the trip, we decided that we had something cool in our hands and that it needed to be its own thing. We love visiting the east coast, being able to skate everywhere and experience the city in a very different way there. We connected with some great people during this trip too. Shoutout Nocturnal! They helped us out a bunch during our time in Philly.
Elijah Curd fs feeble
Had everyone in the squad been to the east coast to skate yet? If not what were some first impressions?
A few of us traveled to New York back in 2017 but the team was much smaller at the time and not everyone could go. This time around we split the trip into two cities and wanted to spend a good amount of time in Philly. Feels like everyone travels to New York for skate trips during the summer, but Philly has a great vibe. We might have gone a little crazy eating cheesesteaks.
Jordan Rosales fs flip
How long did you stay in each city?
Not very long. We packed the skate trip into eight days.
Alex Alaniz sw flip
What was the crew’s favorite spot in NYC? What about Philly?
The Reggaeton basketball ledge spot and the curved flat bar rails were quite popular with the crew in NY. In Philly we all definitely spent some time at Muni. Skating there felt surreal just because of its history. That place is incredible, much respect to the locals who continue to push skateboarding there.
Jordan Rosales bs smith 
Brian Lupcho noseslide
Did you find time to see the sights or was it always mission mode?
Honestly, I think everyone just wanted to skate and if we happened to see cool stuff along the way, that was a bonus. Usually our trips are pretty packed with a lot of skating. We did a little bit in New York. We all went to Times Square, and watched a group of street performers hustle a crowd for about $700 dollars in 30 minutes. They had it so dialed.
Austin Visintainer wallie
Both cities have a reputation for being a bit unpredictable at times. Any interesting situations you all found yourselves in?
Ohh definitely. The east coast delivered unpredictability! The crate challenge hype was going on during our time there, so we watched plenty of people get smoked doing it. We watched this dude who had no business doing it get to the very top, do the splits and then rib-cage a bunch of crates and crack his head open unconscious. Philly was also wild. Elijah almost got arrested just for doing a standing kickflip in front of the Love park sign. The cop was having none of it.
Austin Visintainer bs tailslide
What’s next for The Space Program?
We’d love to do a team trip to Europe next year. But for now we’re finishing products for winter, spring and continue to stack footage for the next project which will hopefully be a full length.
Faith Doudna varial heelflip
