1 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:12,319 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. He there, 2 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 4 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: are you? You know, if you spend enough time with 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: a young kid, like you know, four or five, then 6 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: you're likely to get pulled into a conversation at which 7 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,199 Speaker 1: the kid starts asking about how the world works and 8 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:40,520 Speaker 1: then just keeps ongoing and every answer you provide leads 9 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: to more questions. This can actually be funny, It can 10 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: end up being confusing, It could be frustrating. Sometimes it 11 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: can get intimidating once you start to reach the limits 12 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: of your own knowledge and understanding. You've got this inquisitive 13 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: child trying to make sense of the world around that 14 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: they're looking to you as the authority on all things everywhere, 15 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: and you are perilously close to admitting that you don't 16 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: actually know how it all works. And we're all just 17 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: really doing the best we can, and we're making up 18 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: a lot of this stuff as we go along the way. 19 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,199 Speaker 1: Maybe I'm projecting here, but my point is that kids 20 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: have this deep desire to know how stuff works and 21 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: why things are the way they are, and this same 22 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: spirit underlies the core of science. You know, we use 23 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: this process and we use documentation, and we use hypotheses 24 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,400 Speaker 1: and tests to get a better handle on what's going 25 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 1: on and why. But at the heart of it all 26 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: are these questions. And sometimes the answers we find open 27 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:52,279 Speaker 1: up a whole new array of questions, and that gets 28 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: exciting and sometimes a little exhausting and sometimes scary. Now 29 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: that is a why old preamble to this very very 30 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: goofy episode, because we're going to talk about some of 31 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: the strangest stuff we've sent. Keep in mind, sending stuff 32 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: into space is wicked expensive. Every pound of payload you 33 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: add requires a certain amount of fuel, and that fuel 34 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 1: is costly, Like it is a non trivial thing to 35 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: add to a payload that's going to be sent into 36 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: outer space. Privatized space industry has changed this a little bit, 37 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: but it's still wicked expensive, which makes it even more 38 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: interesting when you have some very weird stuff having been 39 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: sent up there. Now, some of this stuff could sound arbitrary, 40 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: or it's you know, a goof or it was some 41 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: form of promotion or maybe a symbolic gesture, and those 42 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: are often fair assessments. There will be cases, as we 43 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 1: talk about in this episode, where undeniably it was not 44 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: for some noble cause. However, we also have had some 45 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,920 Speaker 1: weird stuff we've sent up that you know, once you 46 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,239 Speaker 1: get it out into space, you realize it behaves differently. 47 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: And that was the point that we sent the stuff 48 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: up in order to see how it's affected, to understand 49 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: why it's different, how this could be useful in the future. Now, 50 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: as I said, not everything we're going to cover today 51 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: is useful. A lot of it's not. But as Little 52 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: Red Riding Hood once said, I know things now, many 53 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: valuable things that I hadn't known before. And some of 54 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: these things include the links to which companies or rich 55 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: people will go in order to promote stuff or get 56 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: a big pr splash sometimes to the moon is being literal, y'all. 57 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: So in no particular order, I'm not going chronologically or 58 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: in order of craziness. I guess here are some of 59 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: the weird things that have made the journey up to 60 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: space for one reason or another. Some of these things 61 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: returned to Earth, some of them were left up there. 62 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: And we're going to start off with one of the 63 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: strangest critters on the planet the tartar grade. Now tartar 64 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: grades are tiny. They measure less than a millimeter in length. 65 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,159 Speaker 1: Typically you're going to be using a microscope to really 66 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: observe these little critters. Now magnified. They kind of look 67 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: like puffy, eight legged creatures that you would expect to 68 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: see on an episode of Doctor Who. They have a 69 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: mouth that looks kind of like a vacuum cleaner attachment. 70 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: They're sort of cute. I think it just depends upon 71 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:49,159 Speaker 1: what you think of as cute. I think they look 72 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,480 Speaker 1: kind of cute, but other people might think they look horrifying. 73 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: And they are resilient creatures, that is putting it lightly. 74 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 1: They can survive an in readibly harsh conditions from extreme temperatures, 75 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: either extreme cold, like colder than any normal organism could survive, 76 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,279 Speaker 1: or extreme heat. They can survive beyond the temperature of boiling. 77 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: They can also survive insane amounts of pressure. They also 78 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: can survive exposure to nuclear radiation. They can survive for 79 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: long periods without any water, and they do this by 80 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: entering what's called a ton state. It's kind of like 81 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: suspended animation. They curl up, they tuck their legs in 82 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,919 Speaker 1: their head and curl up into a ball, and essentially 83 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: biological processes halt. In fact, their cells end up creating 84 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:50,280 Speaker 1: these matrices that keep all of their DNA intact, because otherwise, 85 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: if they dried out enough, things like that would deteriorate. 86 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,720 Speaker 1: But effectively they put scaffolding in place. I mean they 87 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: don't put it. It happens by natural process, but this 88 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,599 Speaker 1: sort of scaffolding forms inside their cells that holds everything 89 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: in place. While this creature goes into suspended animation and 90 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: it can stay like that for ages. Then when it 91 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: encounters water again, the water dissolved, these matrix seas from 92 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: inside the cells and the cells return to their normal state. 93 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: They come out of the ton state. They go back 94 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: to being a happy little water bear. Oh that's by 95 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: the way. Another name for tartar grades is water bears. Now, 96 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:33,840 Speaker 1: these critters can be found on every continent here on Earth, 97 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: including Antarctica. Also, they can be found in oceans, they 98 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: can be found in fresh water. They could probably be 99 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 1: found in your yard. And there are thousands of species 100 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,279 Speaker 1: of Tartar grades and they're super cool. But then there 101 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: was a question if these suckers are that resilient, and 102 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:57,720 Speaker 1: they have shown an incredible ability to survive even the 103 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: harshest of conditions. Would they survive if they were exposed 104 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 1: to the vacuum of space, Well, that was a question 105 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: that scientists wanted answers too, and so in two thousand 106 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: and seven, the European Space Agency sent up a packet 107 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: of Tarta grades as one of many experiments conducted during 108 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: a mission. And the Tartar grades were exposed to the 109 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: vacuum of space, even to cosmic radiation. This is stuff 110 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: that could really mess up a human. I mean, the 111 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: vacuum of space. If you're exposed to at for any 112 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: length of time, you're going to be messed up, to 113 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: be certain, and probably dead. Cosmic radiation could cause really 114 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: big problems down the road, which is one of the 115 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: main concerns we have about designing long term space missions 116 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 1: in a way that's safe for the people who are 117 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: aboard them. But sure enough, upon retrieval, these Tartar grades 118 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: were found to survive the process with no real ill effects. 119 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: Some folks even speculated that maybe tartar grades actually are 120 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: not terrestrial creatures, that they had arrived on Earth by 121 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: hitching rides on material that ultimately crashed into the planet. 122 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: There are a lot of theories that perhaps the seeds 123 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: of life on Earth actually came from outer space. However, 124 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: scientists have ruled that out for tarte grades. They found 125 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: that tartar grades did in fact originate here on Earth. 126 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: So while you might hypothesize that they could have survived 127 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: a trip through space until landing on a plant that 128 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,079 Speaker 1: has water, that's not what actually happened. That being said, 129 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:43,960 Speaker 1: tartar grades might play a part in experimenting with organisms 130 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: to see if they could survive on other planets in 131 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: the future. You know, a planet that might be harsh 132 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: for most organisms might actually be a suitable place for 133 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,959 Speaker 1: tartar grades. That's really far off in the future, if 134 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: it ever happens at all, but it is a possibility now. 135 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:05,560 Speaker 1: When it comes to unlikely astronauts, dinosaurs, I would say 136 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: would be way up there. I mean, for one thing, 137 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,319 Speaker 1: they've been extinct for millions of years, so it's really 138 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: hard to get one to commit to the strict training 139 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,400 Speaker 1: regiment of becoming an astronaut. Now, this has not stopped 140 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: dinosaurs from getting into space. They've actually done it a 141 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: couple of times, not on their own as it turns out, 142 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: had a lot of help from US. So the first 143 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: time was in nineteen eighty five, a physicist named Lauren 144 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 1: Acton had applied for and secured the role of payload 145 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 1: specialist for a Space Shuttle mission designated STS fifty one. 146 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:42,679 Speaker 1: F Acton's area of interest was in solar activity. He 147 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:47,079 Speaker 1: was keenly interested in studying the Sun, particularly to learn 148 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:49,679 Speaker 1: if there were ways to predict events like coronal mass 149 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:54,079 Speaker 1: ejections that could potentially impact communication systems back here on Earth. 150 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: He was also from Montana, a state that happens to 151 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 1: be rich dinosaur fossils, and that might be why he 152 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 1: brought some fossilized bone and eggshell fragments from a Miasaura peeblesaurum. 153 00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: And I have no idea if I'm saying that correctly, 154 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: but it's a dinosaur that fed their nesting young. So 155 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: they would build a nest, they would lay eggs, the 156 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 1: eggs would hatch, and the dinosaurs would continue to care 157 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,080 Speaker 1: for their young. This kind of flew in the face 158 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:28,720 Speaker 1: of preconceived ideas about dinosaurs, and a lot of folks 159 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 1: had just assumed they would lay their eggs, wait until 160 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: they hatched, and then you know you're out of the home. Kids, 161 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: go have some good luck and get out of the house. 162 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: That's not how these dinosaurs operated. It's also, by the way, 163 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: the official state fossil for Montana, so it kind of 164 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: was a representation of home and of science. So it 165 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: was a very symbolic sort of thing. I would love 166 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 1: to say that the astronauts did some crazy experiments with 167 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 1: those dinosaur fossils, but again it was more symbolic than scientific, 168 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:04,880 Speaker 1: but really cool a neat gesture. It's also not the 169 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: only time that dinosaur fossils have made the journey into orbit. 170 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety eight, the Endeavor space shuttle carried a 171 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 1: seal a physicist skull to the Mere Space Station. Again, 172 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:19,559 Speaker 1: I could be completely mispronouncing this. At the Carnegie Museum 173 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: loaned the skull to the to NASA and the astronauts 174 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 1: promise they would take very, very good care of it, 175 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: and sure enough, they returned the skull safe and sound 176 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 1: at the conclusion of the mission. As for why they 177 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: wanted to take the skull up there, I mean, I'm 178 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: guessing it was to promote science. In twenty fourteen, NASA 179 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 1: included a fossil belonging to a t Rex on a 180 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 1: test flight for the Orion spacecraft. Now as a test flight, 181 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,839 Speaker 1: there were no human crew aboard this spacecraft, but it 182 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: was the first time that the Orion spacecraft would enter orbit. 183 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 1: The mission lasted four hours. The spacecraft made two orbits 184 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: of the Earth before re entering the atmosphere. The fossil 185 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: was on loan from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, 186 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:02,960 Speaker 1: and the Orion capsule is now on display at the 187 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:05,840 Speaker 1: Kennedy Space Center of Visitor Complex. By the way, I 188 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,800 Speaker 1: highly recommend visiting the Kennedy Space Center. My partner and 189 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: I went there on a whim one year. We ended 190 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,199 Speaker 1: up becoming annual pass holders, even though we knew there 191 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: was very little chance we would be able to get 192 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: back within that year. We just were so thrilled with it. 193 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: It was so inspirational. If you are at all interested 194 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 1: in rocketry or space, you have got to go. I 195 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,559 Speaker 1: got very emotional just looking at the various spacecraft and 196 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: launch vehicles, because sometimes you have to remind yourself that 197 00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:38,480 Speaker 1: humans are capable of really incredible things when we dedicate 198 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:42,719 Speaker 1: ourselves to it. That's also not the end of dinosaurs 199 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: in space. More recently, Blue Origin, which is Jeff Bezos's 200 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: private space company, sent fossilized dinosaur bones to space as 201 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,839 Speaker 1: part of the Huntsville Science Festival and an initiative called 202 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: Dream Big Alabama. These fossils were on a suborbital flight, 203 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:00,560 Speaker 1: so they didn't get to circle the planet like the 204 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: previous cases. They were from a family of raptors, and 205 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: this was all part of an effort to promote science 206 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 1: and get people excited about stems subjects, and you know, 207 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: inspiration is a really important goal. Okay, we got more 208 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: crazy stuff that we've sent into space to talk about. 209 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: Before we get to that, let's take a quick break. 210 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: We're back and we are going to transition away from 211 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: dinosaurs to bacteria. So let's talk about salmonella. This family 212 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 1: of bacteria are perhaps best known as pathogens. You know, 213 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: you've probably heard about needing to be careful around food, 214 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,800 Speaker 1: make sure making sure that you don't end up contracting salmonella. 215 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: Salmonella can invade your cells and make you really, really sick. Typically, 216 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: humans can become infected with salmonella through food poisoning. It 217 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: gets more specific than that, but it also gets really icky. 218 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:10,239 Speaker 1: Let's just say that if the facility that is processing 219 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: your food or preparing your food isn't following good cleanliness procedures. 220 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 1: You have yourself some potential salmonella outbreaks on your hands, 221 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: and these can be really serious. They can even be 222 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: life threatening in severe cases. So salmonella is no joke, right, 223 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:31,000 Speaker 1: So why did we send it into space? Well, scientists 224 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: want to see what affects salmonella might experience in a 225 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: microgravity environment, because if we are serious about human space exploration, 226 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 1: particularly long term human space exploration, including colonization, it would 227 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: be really beneficial to understand what might happen with infectious diseases, 228 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: including stuff like salmonella. It's a pretty long way to 229 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,000 Speaker 1: the nearest minute clinic once you're out in space, after all, 230 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: So getting an understanding of this is critical to ensuring 231 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:10,680 Speaker 1: success for future missions. So in twenty twenty one, scientists 232 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: did a pair of experiments. One of them took place 233 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: here on Earth, the other took place aboard the International 234 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: Space Station. Now the Earth one was essentially the control 235 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:26,720 Speaker 1: and in both experiments, scientists took some human cells and 236 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: they infected these cells with pathogens salmonella. Scientists already knew 237 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: that organic cells undergo changes when in microgravity. We had 238 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: already made this observation. We know, you know, when people 239 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 1: go up into space and they spend a lot of 240 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: time there, they biologically change. Those changes can be on 241 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: the macro level and noticeable things like you know, muscle 242 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: loss because you're no longer supporting your weight because you're 243 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 1: in a microgravity environment, but they could be all the 244 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: way down to a cellular level. So what would happen 245 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: with human cells infected with salmonella in microgravity? Well, the 246 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: conclusions aren't quite as definitive as we would like. This 247 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: is because the experiment itself had a couple of problems 248 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:16,960 Speaker 1: along the way. So not all the samples that were 249 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: sent to space came back in good enough condition to 250 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: do a full analysis on them. So that's part of 251 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: the problem is that we don't have the full collection 252 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: of cells to look at. There's another issue because the 253 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 1: International Space Station version of the experiment had a slightly 254 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: different but potentially significant different amount of pathogen introduced to 255 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 1: the control sample so or to the human cells, as 256 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: opposed to the Earth one. So in other words, if 257 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: you haven't used exactly the same amount of pathogen in 258 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: the cells that an alone could affect the outcome of 259 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: the experiment, So there's you know, you can't have firm 260 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:05,879 Speaker 1: conclusion because you didn't have truly equal experiments on Earth 261 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: and in the space station. However, with those qualifiers in mind, 262 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,680 Speaker 1: the scientists found that salmonella appeared to be more virulent 263 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: in a microgravity environment. That's pretty concerning, right, for bacteria 264 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: to become more virulent. But in addition, the human cells 265 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 1: appeared to upregulate, So in other words, the cells were 266 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: ramping up their response to infection, primarily by upregulating genes 267 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: related to inflammation, which is a response to infection. The 268 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: findings have helped expand our understanding of how the humans 269 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:45,480 Speaker 1: would respond to infectious diseases in space. That this could 270 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: be very, very different. Therefore, we need to learn more 271 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:53,280 Speaker 1: about it to be prepared for those eventualities that would 272 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,399 Speaker 1: be awfully handy once we start sending people on longer 273 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,159 Speaker 1: missions to distant places in the future. Another question that 274 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: I think everyone has rattling around in the back of 275 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:08,199 Speaker 1: their mind, perhaps not even consciously, but I know that 276 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:12,160 Speaker 1: it has to be gnawing at everyone is how does 277 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: the environment of space affect lego minifigs. Okay, again, probably 278 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: I'm projecting here, but we have sent lego minifigs to space, 279 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:29,120 Speaker 1: specifically three minifigs, two representing the mythological figures of Jupiter 280 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 1: and Juno, Roman deities who, if you prefer the Greek versions, 281 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: are similar to Zeus and Hera. The other minifig represents 282 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 1: the not at all mythological figure and actual real world 283 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: historical figure of Galileo Galilei. So why were these lego 284 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:52,800 Speaker 1: figures sent into space? Well, these were actually loaded onto 285 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: the spacecraft Juno. Juno was sent from Earth to travel 286 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:03,919 Speaker 1: to the orbit of Jupiter. So thematically there is a 287 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 1: connection because you have the figure of Jupiter and his 288 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:12,800 Speaker 1: wife Juno. These are obviously associated with the planet Jupiter, 289 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: and then Galileo historically made some really important observations about 290 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:22,399 Speaker 1: the planet Jupiter. So these minifigs are really symbolic and 291 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: kind of a fun touch to include with this spacecraft. 292 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: The spacecraft has been in orbit around Jubiter since July fourth, 293 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen. That's not when it launched, that's when it 294 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: arrived at Jupiter. It actually took oh, I don't know, 295 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,879 Speaker 1: almost five years to get from Earth to Jupiter. It 296 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,720 Speaker 1: actually launched on August fifth, twenty eleven. So that is 297 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,680 Speaker 1: a very long space journey, right, I mean, you think 298 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: most most human endeavors in space can be measured in 299 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 1: weeks or months, A couple in a year or more, 300 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 1: but only a few examples of that. But this was 301 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,200 Speaker 1: five years of traveling through space to get to the destination. 302 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:06,439 Speaker 1: The Juno spacecraft continues to make observations around Jupiter to 303 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: this day. It's in a polar orbit around the planet. 304 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: It has continued its mission beyond the planned seven years scope. 305 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: So it's another great example of a NASA mission that 306 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:23,920 Speaker 1: manages to continue to provide US scientific data beyond the 307 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: planned mission. Currently, the long term plan here is to 308 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: keep Juno in orbit around Jupiter until late twenty twenty five, 309 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:36,680 Speaker 1: and at that point the spacecraft will be de orbited 310 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:42,199 Speaker 1: on purpose to enter Jupiter's atmosphere. The minifigs will truly 311 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: enter the realm of myth at that point. I do 312 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:49,160 Speaker 1: not expect them to survive that travel. Godspeed you tiny 313 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: plastic heroes. In fact, a lot of different toys have 314 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: been sent up to space. Santa probably goes there every Christmas, right, 315 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: I mean, that's probably how he's able to get to 316 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: all the different people Christmas. He it's orbit. But other 317 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: space missions have also brought toys along for the ride. 318 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:11,359 Speaker 1: One such toy was a Buzz Lightyear action figure, you 319 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:14,160 Speaker 1: know Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story series. In two 320 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,919 Speaker 1: thousand and eight, the action figure hitched a ride aboard 321 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle Discovery as part of an initiative to 322 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: get kids excited about space in particular, but science in general, 323 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: and Disney and NASA actually partnered together to create some 324 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:35,880 Speaker 1: interactive experiences like games and work assignment type of stuff 325 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: that involved Buzz Lightyear in an effort to trick kids 326 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:43,959 Speaker 1: into learning stuff. Buzz's journey brought him to the International 327 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: Space Station. He stayed on the ISS for fifteen months 328 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,440 Speaker 1: before returning to Earth, and again he hitched a ride 329 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,399 Speaker 1: on Space Shuttle Discovery. It's just obviously a very different 330 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 1: mission because it was a year and a half, well 331 00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:59,439 Speaker 1: not quite a year and a half later, but a 332 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,959 Speaker 1: year and some change later. The toy even got his 333 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,320 Speaker 1: own parade Walt Disney World. Upon being once more shackled 334 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: with the surly bonds of Earth. I love that I 335 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:13,240 Speaker 1: wish I had been at Disney world when that had happened, 336 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: Just to watch a parade with an action figure of 337 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 1: buzz Lightyear, I'm guessing on some sort of vehicle being 338 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: celebrated as a returning hero. I wonder if the person 339 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:27,960 Speaker 1: who was wearing the buzz Lightyear costume that day felt 340 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,400 Speaker 1: like they were being overshadowed by a figure a fraction 341 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: of their height. I guess I should also mention that 342 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:40,480 Speaker 1: the child aka Grogu aka his real name Baby Yoda, 343 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: has also made the trip to space for reels. In 344 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:49,360 Speaker 1: twenty twenty, a SpaceX Dragon capsule completed the first operational 345 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: flight of a Dragon capsule carrying a crew to the 346 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,679 Speaker 1: International Space Station and a cute plush toy, a Baby Yoda, 347 00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: was tagging along for the ride. It was both a 348 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:05,440 Speaker 1: morale booster and a quote unquote microgravity indicator, at least 349 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:08,639 Speaker 1: according to the reports I read. I guess that means 350 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 1: that when you see Baby Yoda's floating around the capsule, 351 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:16,360 Speaker 1: you're in microgravity, and when he plummets to whatever surface 352 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:21,120 Speaker 1: is down, then you're out of microgravity again. At least 353 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: I guess it's what a microgravity indicator is. Okay, I've 354 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,200 Speaker 1: got a few more weird things that we've sent up 355 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: into space that we should talk about before we jump 356 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:35,920 Speaker 1: onto these final little entries in our Goofy episode today, 357 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break. Okay, so you probably know 358 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: that astronaut food is famous for not being terribly appetizing. 359 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: I want to say that, for the longest time, the 360 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:02,200 Speaker 1: astronaut meal that was considered the best was the spicy 361 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:06,800 Speaker 1: shrimp cocktail because it had enough flavor to kind of 362 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:11,399 Speaker 1: punch through the perpetual head cold that astronauts develop when 363 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: they're out in space. Because you know, all of your 364 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:17,119 Speaker 1: tissues kind of swell a bit when you're out in space, 365 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,639 Speaker 1: and this in an intern affects your sense of smell 366 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 1: and your sense of taste, and so a lot of 367 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: food just ends up not tasting like much of anything. 368 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:28,840 Speaker 1: So you have to have stuff that has really strong 369 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,639 Speaker 1: flavors to kind of punch through it. All. Well, a 370 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: lot of astronauts are not super crazy about the foods necessarily, 371 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:38,639 Speaker 1: and you know, you also have to be really careful 372 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:42,400 Speaker 1: with it because obviously anything that would escape a container 373 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:46,119 Speaker 1: could potentially create problems for the electronics aboard spacecraft and 374 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:50,120 Speaker 1: space stations and the like. Well, astronaut John Young got 375 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: a real talking to you about his own choice of 376 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:58,400 Speaker 1: contrabrand food that he smuggled aboard the Gemini three spacecraft 377 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 1: way back in nineteen because he got settled into the 378 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:09,920 Speaker 1: Gemini three with his commander, Virgil Gus Grissom, while having 379 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:14,320 Speaker 1: a secret corned beef sandwich hidden away in one of 380 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: the pockets of his space suit, and a couple of 381 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: hours into their mission, he pulled it out and offered 382 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:25,160 Speaker 1: some to his commander, and together they took a couple 383 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:28,159 Speaker 1: of bites of the sandwich while ignoring the food that 384 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:33,400 Speaker 1: NASA had actually included for their space flight. However, very 385 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,159 Speaker 1: early on they realized that, oh, this does mean that 386 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: we're creating crumbs, and these crumbs are just free floating 387 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,720 Speaker 1: around the capsule and in a worst case scenario, they 388 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: could potentially interfere with the electronic systems we have and 389 00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: then it's crisis by corned beef sandwich. So they tucked 390 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:59,359 Speaker 1: the sandwiches away and they continue the rest of their mission. However, 391 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: ASSA was now aware of the contraband sandwich, so when 392 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: they did return to Earth safely, they later were required 393 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: to attend a very serious debriefing with a whole bunch 394 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: of people who were very very cross with them for 395 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 1: introducing corned beef to the capsule of the Gemini three spacecraft. 396 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,920 Speaker 1: They said that at the time it was very intense, 397 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: but in retrospect, with enough time having passed since it happened, 398 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:37,639 Speaker 1: it's just sort of absurdly funny and I could appreciate 399 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: that now. Other food that has been outside the norm 400 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,119 Speaker 1: that has made the trip up to space include a 401 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: pizza sent to the International Space Station back in two 402 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: thousand and one. Now, this really was just a big 403 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 1: old publicity stunt from Pizza Hunt delivering a pizza to 404 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:02,399 Speaker 1: the space station. Reportedly, Pizza Huh paid a million dollars 405 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,720 Speaker 1: to the Russian Space program in order to have one 406 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: of their pizzas specially wrapped sent up to Yuri Usachov 407 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,879 Speaker 1: on the International Space Station. They had to go with 408 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 1: Russia because NASA has a strict rule about not engaging 409 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:21,440 Speaker 1: with commercial brands. NASA does not allow endorsements. They don't 410 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,960 Speaker 1: want to do product placement, Like the toy stuff is 411 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 1: a little borderline if you're being honest, but like they 412 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: definitely don't want branded foods up there. NASA wants to 413 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: maintain objectivity and not be crass in the eyes of 414 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: the scientific community, not to lower itself to becoming a 415 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: brand placement for various companies out there. But the Russians 416 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,200 Speaker 1: were happy to take on the gig once the price 417 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 1: was right. Now, of course, we do have to mention 418 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: that one of the strange things that we sent up 419 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: to space was a Tesla Roadster, specifically Elon Musk's personal 420 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:08,439 Speaker 1: Tesla Roadster. Musk used his car as a payload for 421 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: a test flight of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. Now 422 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: it was like, you know, we're gonna put this in 423 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: place of what a normal payload would be to show 424 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,240 Speaker 1: you the capability of this heavy launch vehicle. And the 425 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:25,600 Speaker 1: car had a mannequin in a spacesuit strapped down behind 426 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: the wheel named Starman and the Roadster and Starman and 427 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: the Falcon Heavy took off in February twenty eighteen, and 428 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: the car was launched into a heliocentric orbit means an 429 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: orbit around the Sun. It's larger than the Earth's orbit 430 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,480 Speaker 1: and a little smaller than Mars' orbit. And also the 431 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,480 Speaker 1: orbital path crosses Mars's orbital path. A couple of times, 432 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: although you know, obviously not having the Roadster and Mars 433 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: at the same place at the same time, just that 434 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: their paths cross. The mannequin has two songs playing on repeat, 435 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: one in each year. One is Space Oddity and the 436 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: other there is life on Mars and David Bowie is 437 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,720 Speaker 1: far out man. I guess, of course, in space, no 438 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: one can hear David Bowie. You know, you don't have 439 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 1: any molecules to bounce around to carry the vibrations. If 440 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: it's within an oxygenated helmet, then yes, you've got a 441 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:29,280 Speaker 1: medium through which the music can move. If there's anything 442 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,760 Speaker 1: inside the helmet that allows for that, you could do that. 443 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,440 Speaker 1: But obviously if you just had it on the car speakers, 444 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 1: you wouldn't hear anything. Anyway. We don't even know if 445 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,400 Speaker 1: that music is still playing. It only plays if the 446 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 1: battery is still got some juice left in it. As 447 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 1: I record this, the roadster is nearly two hundred million 448 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: miles away from Earth, but it is getting closer to 449 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: us at the moment. It's currently moving away from Mars 450 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: at this point in its orbit, though depending on when 451 00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 1: you're listening to this episode, those conditions could be very different. 452 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,040 Speaker 1: There are websites that track the roadster's location, so you 453 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,160 Speaker 1: can actually check up on it and see where it is. Reportedly, 454 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 1: the car has a copy of Douglas Adams's science fiction 455 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:13,440 Speaker 1: comedy novel The Hitchicker's Guide to the Galaxy inside the 456 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:18,480 Speaker 1: glove box, and there's also a towel there, which is important. 457 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: You always need to know where your towel is. That's 458 00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 1: one of the jokes from Hitchecker's Guide to the Galaxy. 459 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,200 Speaker 1: There's a sign with don't panic written on it on 460 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: the dashboard, another Hitchicker's Guide reference. Really cute, honestly, and 461 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 1: again kind of a publicity stunt, but also just kind 462 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: of neat, Like I can't be mad about it. For 463 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: one thing. I mean, it's the car from a billionaire, 464 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,400 Speaker 1: a guy who, at certain points in history has been 465 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,640 Speaker 1: the richest man in the world. If he wants to 466 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: shoot his cars off into space whatever, I guess that's fine. 467 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 1: It's not like I expect him to use that money 468 00:30:55,400 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 1: to really directly benefit humans in meaningful ways. So if 469 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:02,960 Speaker 1: he wants to shoot his fleet of cards into space, 470 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: go on. Now we get into the grim part of 471 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: the episode, So let's talk about human remains in space. 472 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: One of the fringe theories that has made the round 473 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,520 Speaker 1: since the early days of the space race is that 474 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:24,320 Speaker 1: there could be corpses in orbit around Earth, specifically lost 475 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:32,040 Speaker 1: cosmonauts Soviet era astronauts who died in midmission. Now, it 476 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:34,600 Speaker 1: is true that the Soviet Union spent a lot of 477 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: time and effort concealing various accidents and disasters during their 478 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 1: space program, and some of those disasters included the death 479 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:46,080 Speaker 1: of cosmonauts, but there's no evidence that any of them 480 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:50,000 Speaker 1: were stuck in orbit. There was one case where there 481 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:55,840 Speaker 1: was a depressurization catastrophe aboard a Soyo's capsule as it 482 00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 1: decoupled from an orbiting platform, but that Saya's capsule did 483 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 1: return to Earth the terrible, terrible tragedy that happened. And 484 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 1: there was another case where a parachute failed to deploy 485 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: and the cosmonaut aboard that capsule passed away as well. 486 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,880 Speaker 1: But there's only ever been one recorded accident that occurred 487 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,240 Speaker 1: above the Carmen line. This is a boundary that's recognized 488 00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 1: by some but not all, scientific organizations, as the boundary 489 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: between space and the Earth's atmosphere. Only one accident has 490 00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 1: ever happened above that. All the other space related accidents 491 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: have happened below that line. However, this doesn't mean that 492 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 1: there have not been human remains sent to space. We 493 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: have put some there on purpose as a sort of 494 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,440 Speaker 1: space burial. The first recorded example of a space burial 495 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: kind of really or remains being brought to space, would 496 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,360 Speaker 1: have happened in nineteen ninety two. This was part of 497 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,479 Speaker 1: Space Shuttle mission STS fifty two, and it was aboard 498 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle Columbia. The crew brought along with them 499 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:06,360 Speaker 1: a small sample of the remains of Gene Roddenberry. Ron 500 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: Berry is the guy who created star Trek, and a 501 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,040 Speaker 1: lot of people who have pursued careers in the space 502 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:13,800 Speaker 1: industry credit star Trek as being one of the reasons 503 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:15,720 Speaker 1: they got interested in the subject of space in the 504 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:20,360 Speaker 1: first place. Interestingly, ron Berry would be buried in space 505 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: a second time, as another sample of his remains was 506 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,240 Speaker 1: aboard a privately funded space burial in nineteen ninety seven. 507 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:31,880 Speaker 1: Now the ninety two example, the remains went up into 508 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,240 Speaker 1: space and returned to Earth at the conclusion of the 509 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 1: Space Little mission. The ninety seven example, the remains were 510 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,800 Speaker 1: sent up to space to board a rocket and eventually 511 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: returned to Earth when the spacecraft carrying them ultimately re 512 00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:47,680 Speaker 1: entered the air's atmosphere in two thousand and two. There 513 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: are a few companies that offer space burials that will 514 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:57,480 Speaker 1: transport remains into space. Some of them will go for 515 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,000 Speaker 1: suborbital flights, so it doesn't go all the way up 516 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:04,400 Speaker 1: into orbit and it does come back down. But depending 517 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:06,840 Speaker 1: upon your view of where space begins, you can say 518 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,680 Speaker 1: the remains went to space, and very few people have 519 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: been to space in the grand scheme of things, so 520 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:14,319 Speaker 1: you can kind of see where the appeal is there. 521 00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,399 Speaker 1: But others offer services that would put remains on the 522 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:23,000 Speaker 1: Moon or into deep space. Some of the people who 523 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:26,360 Speaker 1: have had their remains sent to space include people like 524 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 1: Timothy Leary, James Dewan who played Scottie from Star Trek, 525 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:36,000 Speaker 1: Clyde Tombaugh, who's an astronomer who discovered Pluto way back 526 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty. His remains, or sample a small sample 527 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 1: of his remains are aboard the New Horizon spacecraft that 528 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,840 Speaker 1: ultimately will leave our Solar system, so he would become 529 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 1: the first person to have part of their remains go 530 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: outside of our Solar system and there are others as well. 531 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:00,040 Speaker 1: This is just a tiny group of them. And of 532 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,480 Speaker 1: course this is not a definitive list of all the 533 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: weird stuff we've sent into space. There is so much. 534 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 1: You know, We've sent a lightsaber prop that Mark Hambell 535 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:14,839 Speaker 1: used when he was playing Luke Skywalker in the Star 536 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: Wars films. The Voyager has a golden record that, among 537 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 1: other things, as a recording of Johnny be Good on it, 538 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:26,640 Speaker 1: which is pretty awesome. A piece of the Right Brothers 539 00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,960 Speaker 1: original airplane has gone up into space. Amelia Earhart's wristwatch 540 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:35,239 Speaker 1: has gone into space. There's so much more, including pictures 541 00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:40,040 Speaker 1: from Playboy magazine which were sent to the Moon. I 542 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:42,920 Speaker 1: didn't learn about that when I was taught about the 543 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,359 Speaker 1: lunar landing. But apparently this was kind of a kind 544 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,440 Speaker 1: of a prank pulled on the astronauts, like they weren't 545 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:54,279 Speaker 1: aware that it was in specific mission books that they 546 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:56,439 Speaker 1: were using once they were on the surface of the Moon. 547 00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:00,359 Speaker 1: So can you just imagine you're on the Moon. You 548 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:05,040 Speaker 1: can see the planet Earth in the sky above you. 549 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: You are further away than anyone else has ever been really, 550 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,399 Speaker 1: apart from the astronauts who had actually circled behind the 551 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 1: Moon and come back, and you're trying to complete an 552 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:22,000 Speaker 1: historic mission on the lunar surface, and you turn your 553 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:27,360 Speaker 1: mission book page and there's the centerfold from like nineteen 554 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:30,120 Speaker 1: sixty eight or something. I would have imagined that I 555 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,560 Speaker 1: had gone crazy. If that had happened to me, I 556 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,360 Speaker 1: would have sat there and thought, this is what losing 557 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,640 Speaker 1: your mind feels like. But no, it's a prank, ah, 558 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:44,480 Speaker 1: those wacky NASA folks. All right, Well, that's just again 559 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:46,879 Speaker 1: a small sample of some of the weird stuff we've 560 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: sent into space, and obviously there's a lot more. Maybe 561 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:53,120 Speaker 1: I'll do a follow up at some point and talk 562 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,759 Speaker 1: about some other examples. But I hope you enjoyed this. 563 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,480 Speaker 1: I hope you are well. If you have suggestions for 564 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: topics I should cover and tech stuff, reach out to me. 565 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 1: You can let me know on Twitter. The handle for 566 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:07,320 Speaker 1: the show is tech Stuff HSW or you can download 567 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,760 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app navigate over to the tech Stuff Heart. 568 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,520 Speaker 1: By putting that into the little search field, you'll see 569 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:15,680 Speaker 1: a little microphone icon. If you use that, you can 570 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:18,879 Speaker 1: record a voice message up to thirty seconds in link. 571 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 1: Let me know what you would like to hear in 572 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:24,360 Speaker 1: a future episode, and I'll talk to you again really soon. 573 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:35,240 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 574 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:39,280 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 575 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:40,360 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.