1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: History books love to discuss space exploration in nationalistic terms. 7 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 1: This is an unsurprising tendency. After all, the space race 8 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: is one of the most famous chapters in the history 9 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: of the Cold War. In nineteen sixty two, President John F. 10 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: Kennedy famously declared that America would put a man on 11 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: the Moon. It was, in his speech, a way of 12 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: bringing the pioneer spirit of America into the future. The speech, 13 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: of course, came over a year after the Soviet Union 14 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: had successfully sent the first man into space, and later 15 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: one of the more iconic images associated with the space 16 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: race would be the American flag planted on the Moon. However, 17 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: we can't forget that the realm of space exploration is 18 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: now one of global collaboration. The most famous spacecraft is 19 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,119 Speaker 1: still the International Space Station, which is maintained by five 20 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: separate space agencies, each belonging to a different country. The 21 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: hostile environment of space is not as easily divided as 22 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 1: an island or a land mass here on Earth. Like 23 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 1: the ships that set sails centuries ago, spacecraft are cobbled 24 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: together from different pieces. Only, instead of a mast and 25 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: sales that are constructed at different ports, we have entire 26 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: engineering systems that require rigorous testing to perfect. In the 27 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: early nineteen seventies, NASA was in the early stages of 28 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: their Shuttle program. Its purpose was to create a spacecraft 29 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: that could be reused in multiple trips out of the atmosphere, 30 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: a space truck which could ferry cargo. The eventual design 31 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: of the Shuttle would include a large cargo hold that 32 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,080 Speaker 1: opened outward. It was an efficient system, allowing NASA to 33 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: make the most of the shuttle's interior. However, a cargo 34 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: hole that opens outward into space requires someone or something 35 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: on the outside to receive it. They needed some sort 36 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: of robotic arm to unload and deposit supplies and gear. 37 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: The eventual solution to this need would be developed by 38 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: a team of engineers working for the Canadian Space Agency. 39 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,920 Speaker 1: NASA's technical requirements were very specific. The thing needed to 40 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: function in microgravity and operate with a fraction of the 41 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: Space Shuttle's electrical supply. It had to be resistant to 42 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: the extreme heat of the sun and the extreme cold 43 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: of night in space. The Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMs, 44 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: would be deployed for the first time in nineteen eighty 45 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: one aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, emblazon with the Canadian flag. 46 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:58,840 Speaker 1: It was a resounding success. It could lift up the 47 00:02:58,880 --> 00:03:02,639 Speaker 1: two hundred and sixty six kilograms of weight in zero gravity, 48 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:06,079 Speaker 1: all while using no more electricity than a tea kettle. 49 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,680 Speaker 1: The SRMs would remain in use for over thirty years, 50 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: and its function was not only limited to hauling cargo. 51 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 1: It could lift and deposit astronauts themselves onto different parts 52 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: of the Shuttle, deploy satellites, and once they even put 53 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:21,960 Speaker 1: a pair of Imax cameras on the end of it 54 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: to capture the astronauts at work. July of twenty eleven 55 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: was the last time this particular SRMs was used in space, 56 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: although iterations of the design have been employed since. Its 57 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: two successors were designed specifically to interface with the International 58 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: Space Station and Lunar Gateway, which means that original team 59 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: of Canadian scientists invented one of the most enduring pieces 60 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: of space technology, and the device itself would earn an 61 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: official name that more properly recognized its origin. Shuttle Remote 62 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: Manipulator System is a practical name, but it's a mouthful 63 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: for most of us. To the public at large, the 64 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: SRMs is known simply as the Canada arm. Its successors 65 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: would be Canada ARM two, developed in two thousand and one, 66 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: and Canada ARM three, developed in twenty twenty four. So 67 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: if the thought of the space race fills you with 68 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: national pride, you're not the only one. The final frontier 69 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: is one of many flags, many nations, and a whole 70 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,280 Speaker 1: lot of empty space. When you travel beyond the bounds 71 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: of our little blue planet, it's best not to go 72 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,799 Speaker 1: there alone. Give us salute to Canada for making greater 73 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: flexibility in space possible, and thanks to those engineers and 74 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 1: their robotic arm our, spacecraft are a little more handy. 75 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 1: In his groundbreaking pop science book Pale Blue Dot, the 76 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: famed astronomer, TV personality and science communicator Carl Sagan reflected 77 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: on the Moon's constant presence in our skies. It was 78 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,280 Speaker 1: there when our ancestors first descend from the trees into 79 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 1: the savannahs, he said, when we learned to walk upright, 80 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: when we first devised stone tools, when we domesticated fire, 81 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 1: when we invented agriculture and built cities and set out 82 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,239 Speaker 1: to subdue the earth. For the past four point five 83 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: billion years, the moon has been our nightly companion, watching 84 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 1: over us from the heavens. But that doesn't guarantee that 85 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,039 Speaker 1: it will always be there or never change. In fact, 86 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: not too long ago, the US military came within a 87 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: hair trigger of blowing it up. It was the late 88 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, the height of the Cold War, and America 89 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: was embroiled in a space race with the Soviet Union. 90 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: Both countries top scientists were hell bent on one upping 91 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: the other, and the United States was losing. In nineteen 92 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: fifty eight, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite 93 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,479 Speaker 1: into orbit. Americans were desperate for a rebuttal something big, 94 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: bold and visible. More satellites would feel like old news, 95 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: and the technology to put a man on the Moon 96 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:00,800 Speaker 1: was still years away. That's when the Air Force settled 97 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: on a plan with significantly more oomph. We would nuke 98 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: the Moon as they saw detonating in nuclear warhead on 99 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: the Moon would achieve two things. First, it would demonstrate 100 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: American military might and control over space, and second, it 101 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: would create a massive explosion visible from Earth, proving US 102 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: dominance to the world and more importantly, to the Soviets. 103 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,160 Speaker 1: This proposal, internally known as Project A one nineteen, called 104 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:29,599 Speaker 1: for a nuclear warhead roughly the size of the one 105 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,679 Speaker 1: dropped on Hiroshima, to be launched at the Moon's surface. 106 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: The Air Force was particularly interested in detonating on the 107 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 1: dark side of the Moon, where the flash would be 108 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: the brightest. Ideally, the mushroom cloud could be back lit 109 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: by the sun, creating a spectacular show. It sounds like 110 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:46,919 Speaker 1: something out of a cheesy sci fi movie, but the 111 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: military was dead serious. They even hired some of the 112 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: country's top astronomers and physicists to work out the details. 113 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: Many of those scientists balked at what they'd been asked 114 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: to do, fearing that nuclear radiation would permanently contaminate the 115 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: la lunar environment, which had been untouched for billions of years. 116 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: It would never be possible to study samples of the 117 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:09,359 Speaker 1: Moon before it was bombed, and landing on the surface 118 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: would be riskier in the decades to come. There were 119 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: also fears that radioactive debris would fall back on the Earth, 120 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: or that the explosion might affect the Moon's orbit, but 121 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: the science suggested that both of these were unlikely, so 122 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: the military wasn't concerned. No, they were far more focused 123 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: on the pr angle. Specifically, they worried that the explosion 124 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: would damage the man in the moon, the faint impressions 125 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: that people have long interpreted as a human face. Ultimately, though, 126 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: the project was scrapped for an even more shallow reason. 127 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: The scientists working on the project convinced military brass that 128 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: the visual demonstration wouldn't be nearly as impressive as they'd 129 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: hoped for. The Moon doesn't have an atmosphere, so there 130 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: would be no dramatic fireball or shockwave, just a silent 131 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: burst of light followed by a lot of dust, a 132 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: far cry from the breathtaking show of might that the 133 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: US Air Force was hoping for. Soh the project was 134 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:04,720 Speaker 1: canceled and the US focused on a less violent lunar goal. 135 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: When Apollo eleven landed on the Moon in nineteen sixty nine, 136 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: America won the space race without blowing up any celestial bodies, 137 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: and no one was more relieved than the scientists who 138 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: worked on Project A one nineteen. One of those men 139 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: was a recent college grad named Carl Sagan. The young 140 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: astronomer would eventually become one of the most recognizable scientists 141 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century, hosting the show Cosmos, writing influential books, 142 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: and helping popularize space science. And we can speculate that 143 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: he may have gained his deep appreciation for our lunar 144 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:41,079 Speaker 1: partner while working on that top secret Project A one nineteen. 145 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: After all, he was one of the few people on 146 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: Earth who knew just how close we came to blowing 147 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: up the Moon. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour 148 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 149 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 150 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: dot com. This show was created by me Aaron Mankey 151 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 152 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 153 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 154 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: over at the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, 155 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:20,679 Speaker 1: stay curious.