WEBVTT - What Pranks Have Astronauts Pulled?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Bogelbaum. Here, on any successful space mission, the cruise

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<v Speaker 1>morale is at the top of the list of priorities.

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<v Speaker 1>After all, the final frontier can be one high stress workplace,

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<v Speaker 1>so it's no wonder that NASA has seen a small

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<v Speaker 1>army of passionate pranksters over the years. We're not talking

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<v Speaker 1>about anything too wild, of course, that could get dangerous,

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<v Speaker 1>because space is absolutely willing and able to kill you. Still,

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<v Speaker 1>these serious and seriously well trained crew people need to

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<v Speaker 1>blow off steam as much as any of us, perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>even more so because not all of us have jobs

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<v Speaker 1>that involve being launched out of Earth's atmosphere at seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>five hundred miles an hour. That's twenty eight thousand kilometers

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<v Speaker 1>per hour, which is fast either way. So in no

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<v Speaker 1>particular order, today, here are a few of our favorite

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<v Speaker 1>NASA pranks. Let's start off with the tale of the

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<v Speaker 1>disappearing reappearing cockroach. Okay, back in November of nineteen sixty nine,

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<v Speaker 1>a six legged squatter caused a bit of unrest in

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<v Speaker 1>the days leading up to NASA's Apollo twelve mission following

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<v Speaker 1>a test run at the Kennedy Space Center, a cockroach

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<v Speaker 1>was seen hiding out in the command module that was

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<v Speaker 1>to function as the crew's living space. It would also

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<v Speaker 1>deliver them back to Earth after re entering the atmosphere.

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<v Speaker 1>Not wanting any insect stowaways on the vessel, the launch

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<v Speaker 1>director used all sorts of tricks to try to capture

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<v Speaker 1>the intruder, but, to the amusement of money, his quarry

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<v Speaker 1>eluded him. Apollo twelve took off on November fourteenth, with

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<v Speaker 1>three astronauts on board, including Commander Charles or Pete Conrad Junior.

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<v Speaker 1>Five days later, Conrad became the third man to ever

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<v Speaker 1>walk on the Moon. During the journey home, Conrad took

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<v Speaker 1>part in an in flight televised press conference. As the

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<v Speaker 1>broadcast wound down, he held up a strip of white cardboard.

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<v Speaker 1>On its surface stood what very much appeared to be

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<v Speaker 1>a cockroach. Oh. One of Conrad's colleagues at NASA said, Oh,

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<v Speaker 1>you found them. Huh, We sure did, replied the astronaut.

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<v Speaker 1>He was in the food locker. Is he fat? Asked

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<v Speaker 1>the colleague. He's very fat. Conrad answered, alas it was

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<v Speaker 1>a practical joke. A Conrad later admitted that the roach

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<v Speaker 1>he showed off was just a plastic toy he had

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<v Speaker 1>smuggled aboard. To this day, the real bug's fate remains unknown.

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<v Speaker 1>Speaking of unauthorized crew members, let's talk about the first

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<v Speaker 1>time that a woman transmitted a voice message from a

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<v Speaker 1>space station, A decade before the first woman astronaut even

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<v Speaker 1>went to space. In nineteen seventy three, Owen K. Garrett

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<v Speaker 1>spent just less than sixty full days orbiting Earth on

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<v Speaker 1>the Skylab space station. The flight's earth bound support crew

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<v Speaker 1>included communications specialist Bob Crippen and astronaut himself among its ranks.

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<v Speaker 1>One day, the space station sent Crippen a weird message,

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<v Speaker 1>Hello Houston, this is Skylab. Someone said, are you reading

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<v Speaker 1>me down there? The voice sounded distinctly feminine. It didn't

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<v Speaker 1>belong to any of the three men aboard the vessel.

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<v Speaker 1>When Crippen asked who was on the line, the caller

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<v Speaker 1>identified herself as Helen Garriot, Owen's wife. Naturally, Crippen asked

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<v Speaker 1>her what she was doing up there. She said, well,

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<v Speaker 1>we just came up to bring the boys a fresh meal,

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<v Speaker 1>a hot cooked meal. They haven't had one for quite

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<v Speaker 1>a while. Oh, we thought they might enjoy that. Helen

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<v Speaker 1>then nonchalantly said she had flown out to the skylab

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<v Speaker 1>and talked about how California looked from space. By now

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<v Speaker 1>a bewildered crowd had gathered around Crippen's speakers. Finally, Helen

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<v Speaker 1>signed off, saying, well, I see the boys are floating

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<v Speaker 1>in my direction. I've got to get off the line.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not supposed to be talking to you. See you later, Bob.

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<v Speaker 1>It didn't take Houston long to figure out that this

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<v Speaker 1>entire exchange must have been a practical joke, a one

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<v Speaker 1>Owen was undoubtedly in on. But how did he pull

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<v Speaker 1>it off? The answer was well, very carefully. Before the mission,

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<v Speaker 1>Owen and Helen had written and recorded a few lines

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<v Speaker 1>of dialogue, making sure to punctuate her lines with pauses

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<v Speaker 1>in the audio. This gave Crippen, who'd agreed to help out,

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<v Speaker 1>enough time to offer scripted replies to Helen's statements. This

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<v Speaker 1>was actually a mystery to NASA until Owen revealed his

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<v Speaker 1>methods in nineteen ninety nine. This next one I connect

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<v Speaker 1>with personally as a human with the last name that

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<v Speaker 1>some people find difficult. Let's talk about Pierre Thwitt, whose

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<v Speaker 1>last name is spelled for the record Tuot. Before NASA

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<v Speaker 1>recruited him in nineteen eighty five, the Connecticut native had

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<v Speaker 1>built up an impressive resume as a pilot with the

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<v Speaker 1>US Navy. He took part in three space flights during

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<v Speaker 1>his career as an astronaut, the first of which was

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<v Speaker 1>a nineteen ninety Shuttle mission known as STS thirty six.

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<v Speaker 1>As is the custom, a special patch was designed for

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<v Speaker 1>each member of the five astronaut crew. Unfortunately, Thwitt's badge

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<v Speaker 1>misspelled his name thhout. From there, some good natured ribbing ensued,

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<v Speaker 1>with Thewitt's crewmates calling him Pierre the Out in jest. Ultimately, though,

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<v Speaker 1>he got the last laugh when the mission was finally

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<v Speaker 1>set to launch on February twenty fifth of nineteen ninety,

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<v Speaker 1>Upon entering the room where their pressure suits were kept,

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<v Speaker 1>the astronauts discovered that Thwitt had gotten his revenge. At

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<v Speaker 1>some point, he had removed the name tags from all

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<v Speaker 1>of their chairs, excluding his own, and swapped them out

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<v Speaker 1>with erroneously spelled placards. In good sports, everyone seemed to

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<v Speaker 1>get a kick out of the stunt, one of the

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<v Speaker 1>earliest space pranks that we know of occurred in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>sixty five during the Gemini three mission. At the time,

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<v Speaker 1>NASA's and meal plans were carefully constructed to meet calork

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<v Speaker 1>and safety requirements, but were not lauded for their appeal.

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<v Speaker 1>Previous missions had involved limited options of foods, like a

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<v Speaker 1>puree of beef and vegetables in an aluminum tube, or

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<v Speaker 1>crushed corn flakes molded into bite sized cubes and coated

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<v Speaker 1>in gelatine to prevent crumbling, or dehydrated shrimp. The Gemini

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<v Speaker 1>foods were an improvement, but apparently they didn't particularly impress

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<v Speaker 1>Gemini three mission commander Virgil or Gus Grissom during training,

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<v Speaker 1>which is why the pilot John W. Young pulled out

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<v Speaker 1>a corn beef sandwich and offered it to Grissom after launch.

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<v Speaker 1>He had smuggled it aboard in a spacesuit pocket. Unfortunately,

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<v Speaker 1>it didn't prove very tempting. The bread immediately began crumbling

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<v Speaker 1>and the smell of the meat suffused the enclosed cabin.

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<v Speaker 1>On the official flight transcript, Young says it was a

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<v Speaker 1>thought anyway, not a very good one. Of course. In

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<v Speaker 1>our modern era of accessible video technology, astronauts have upped

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<v Speaker 1>the ante on pranks. In twenty sixteen, video emerged of

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<v Speaker 1>a gorilla chasing astronaut Tim Peak through the International Space

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<v Speaker 1>Station to the tune of yackety sacks. It was, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>not a real gorilla a but Mission Commander Scott Kelly

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<v Speaker 1>in a gorilla suit. Scott and his twin brother, Mark,

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<v Speaker 1>himself an astronaut, conspired to get the suit on board.

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<v Speaker 1>The chase video was staged, but apparently Scott did surprise

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<v Speaker 1>fellow crew members and Russian cosmonauts on the other side

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<v Speaker 1>of the station by floating around in the suit, and

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<v Speaker 1>he filmed a few science communication videos with it on

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<v Speaker 1>which almost makes me wish that this were a video podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article Ridiculous History five

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<v Speaker 1>of NASA's Greatest franks on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by

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<v Speaker 1>Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>and partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com, and is produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio visit

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