התמלול המלא של Podcasting Through Drake_s Passage_ with William Shatner_ Scott Kelly _ Neil deGrasse Tyson

37 00:02:22.300 --> 00:02:26.430 it's very deep here. which causes, with the prevailing winds 38 00:02:26.469 --> 00:02:28.810 that are generally west to east, some pretty big swells. 39 00:02:28.849 --> 00:02:32.229 And I think we're seeing about, I don't know, maybe 14, 40 00:02:32.229 --> 00:02:34.250 15 feet right now, but they can get as high 41 00:02:34.289 --> 00:02:36.509 as 50 feet in this passage. Ooh. 42 00:02:37.169 --> 00:02:44.110 So we're in a cruise ship. What would this passage 43 00:02:44.129 --> 00:02:48.469 have been like in a wooden ship 100 years ago? 44 00:02:48.669 --> 00:02:54.250 You wouldn't want to do it. LAUGHTER but risk is 45 00:02:54.349 --> 00:02:56.060 our business. Yes, I said that. 46 00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:01.080 Yeah, I think it would be pretty harrowing, you know, 47 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:03.259 in this kind of, even in this sea state, in 48 00:03:03.659 --> 00:03:06.599 a ship like that, but I can't imagine being at the, 49 00:03:06.699 --> 00:03:08.620 you know, swells of 40 and 50 feet. I was 50 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:10.039 just talking to my brother on the phone. 51 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:11.060 This is your twin brother. 52 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:11.539 Twin brother. 53 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:13.939 You know, when I last interviewed you on StarTalk, I said, 54 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:17.259 which brother are you? You said you're the good-looking brother. Yeah, 55 00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:17.990 that's still true. 56 00:03:18.930 --> 00:03:20.689 Okay. 57 00:03:20.750 --> 00:03:22.870 But anyway, he was telling me, about being in the 58 00:03:23.310 --> 00:03:25.689 North Atlantic on a cargo ship, because we were both, 59 00:03:25.810 --> 00:03:30.250 when we were younger, training to be merchant mariners in 60 00:03:30.270 --> 00:03:34.349 80-foot seas and losing 20 containers off the ship. So 61 00:03:34.370 --> 00:03:37.030 if you think this is bad, just imagine that. 62 00:03:37.389 --> 00:03:40.530 So now, Mr. Shatner. My dear. 63 00:03:41.370 --> 00:03:47.110 Your show, the original Star Trek series in the 1960s, 64 00:03:48.210 --> 00:03:55.469 was coincident with while we were priming our space program 65 00:03:56.050 --> 00:03:59.590 to go to the moon. But as far as your 66 00:03:59.849 --> 00:04:04.039 show is concerned, we were already there. Space was not 67 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:08.960 a question about whether it should happen. It had already happened. 68 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:11.780 It was a matter of learning to speak Klingon. 69 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:18.300 As many fans of the show managed to, I can't 70 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:22.920 count myself among those who are fluent in Klingon. So 71 00:04:23.790 --> 00:04:28.189 were you just an actor at the time or did 72 00:04:28.230 --> 00:04:33.930 you participate emotionally in this idea that exploration is in 73 00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:34.449 our DNA? 74 00:04:35.370 --> 00:04:39.949 Exploration doesn't necessarily mean going to Mars and colonizing Mars. 75 00:04:39.990 --> 00:04:44.050 You can explore, for example, may I spend a moment 76 00:04:44.610 --> 00:04:50.050 on exploration and Why expression? A while ago, seven years ago, 77 00:04:50.329 --> 00:04:55.230 I heard a story of a ranger in the forest 78 00:04:55.290 --> 00:04:59.779 in the Sierras occupying a cabin. And he was there, 79 00:04:59.819 --> 00:05:03.560 I guess, for fire observation. And while he was living 80 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:08.740 in the cabin alone, deer came and ate the grass around. 81 00:05:09.060 --> 00:05:13.189 And then one deer... poked its head in the window 82 00:05:13.290 --> 00:05:16.470 to see who was there and he struck up a 83 00:05:17.069 --> 00:05:20.850 conference and had a relationship with the herd of deer 84 00:05:21.149 --> 00:05:26.259 and discovered that deer had posted types of personality. There 85 00:05:26.300 --> 00:05:28.740 was the diplomat deer who poked his head in to 86 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:30.540 see what was going on. There was the guard deer. 87 00:05:30.579 --> 00:05:37.129 There was a deer. So this herd group had assigned 88 00:05:37.230 --> 00:05:43.540 roles that he discovered My goodness, that's how we organize ourselves. 89 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:49.240 When we were on the last island with the penguins. 90 00:05:49.779 --> 00:05:52.100 On this voyage, having just returned from Antarctica. 91 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:55.639 On this voyage of exploration for all of us, for 92 00:05:55.689 --> 00:06:03.269 me certainly, of discovering new worlds, new whatever the language was, 93 00:06:03.930 --> 00:06:08.089 and seeing new civilizations, which were the penguins. 94 00:06:08.170 --> 00:06:08.240 Yes. 95 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:14.139 And a penguin came up to the group that was standing, 96 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:21.250 having landed. And the penguin... What are you doing here? 97 00:06:21.269 --> 00:06:26.230 Was that what it was saying? This was the diplomat penguin. Okay. 98 00:06:26.529 --> 00:06:30.730 And I thought, of course, this whole thing is a 99 00:06:30.910 --> 00:06:34.089 circle of life, and here's a penguin acting like the 100 00:06:34.189 --> 00:06:38.699 deer and the ranger and us, and this circle. I thought, wow, 101 00:06:38.939 --> 00:06:45.680 what a discovery of we're in this arid land, That's 102 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.269 rife with life, but you can't see too much of it. 103 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:51.839 But it's there. And the penguins are a big part 104 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:54.990 of it. And it's exploration. And it was a discovery. 105 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:56.250 And I had the best time. 106 00:06:56.449 --> 00:07:00.490 Okay, so what you're saying here, implicitly and explicitly, is 107 00:07:00.529 --> 00:07:03.250 that humans aren't the only curious animals out there. 108 00:07:03.730 --> 00:07:05.829 That's right. The penguin was exploring. 109 00:07:05.870 --> 00:07:07.490 It was exploring in its own way. 110 00:07:07.509 -->

00:07:07.569 No. 111 00:07:08.009 --> 00:07:12.579 No. and it was exploring in a very explicit way. 112 00:07:12.779 --> 00:07:15.600 What are you guys doing here? You're two legs, you 113 00:07:16.040 --> 00:07:20.509 don't waddle. Some of us waddle, but. You point to 114 00:07:20.529 --> 00:07:23.649 me that I waddle. Let's go back 60 years ago. 115 00:07:24.269 --> 00:07:26.870 You're an actor. By the way, by the. 116 00:07:26.829 --> 00:07:31.050 Way, I don't know if you knew this, but William 117 00:07:31.089 --> 00:07:37.430 Shatner appeared in two distinct episodes of The Twilight Zone. Yes, 118 00:07:38.310 --> 00:07:42.870 and quite memorable episodes at that, predating, of course, the 119 00:07:43.189 --> 00:07:47.629 Star Trek series. You're an actor in Hollywood. And so 120 00:07:48.689 --> 00:07:51.310 was there anything in particular that drew you to the part? 121 00:07:52.129 --> 00:07:54.810 You're talking about Star Trek? Yeah, Star Trek. I was 122 00:07:54.850 --> 00:08:00.100 in New York doing something in New York, and they 123 00:08:00.139 --> 00:08:03.540 had made a pilot of Star Trek, and NBC didn't 124 00:08:03.579 --> 00:08:08.870 want to buy the pilot, they had faults with it, 125 00:08:09.149 --> 00:08:11.769 but they loved the idea, and they wanted, for the 126 00:08:11.850 --> 00:08:14.800 first time, I'd never heard of it before, I've never 127 00:08:14.829 --> 00:08:17.240 heard of it since, they said, we'll give you another, 128 00:08:17.740 --> 00:08:21.560 whatever the cost was, to make another pilot, recast it all, 129 00:08:21.939 --> 00:08:23.519 and they called me, I was in New York, they 130 00:08:23.540 --> 00:08:26.259 called me, would I come to Hollywood to see this 131 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:28.480 thing that they had made with the idea of playing 132 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:32.259 the captain? So, I was like, ushered in. 133 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:36.820 Can I presume you had no idea what impact that 134 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:38.159 would have on our culture at the time? 135 00:08:38.259 --> 00:08:41.620 None whatsoever. And I saw the thing that NBC had 136 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.840 turned down. I thought, that's pretty darn good. It's a 137 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:47.879 little pedantic. It's a little, you know, here we are 138 00:08:48.210 --> 00:08:52.649 sailing the five oceans, whereas the guys in the capsules 139 00:08:53.090 --> 00:08:57.149 are all friendly and, you know, there isn't this distance 140 00:08:57.190 --> 00:09:02.149 between us. I suggested a little more camaraderie and humor 141 00:09:02.230 --> 00:09:03.960 and and we sold the pilot. 142 00:09:04.179 --> 00:09:08.529 So when I look at this, by the way, I 143 00:09:08.529 --> 00:09:12.850 don't know if anybody's ever been to Comic-Con. The one, 144 00:09:12.990 --> 00:09:14.929 at least in San Diego, I don't know if they 145 00:09:15.009 --> 00:09:17.879 also do this in New York. The very last session 146 00:09:18.460 --> 00:09:25.600 is a Starship Smackdown where every single starship, spaceship ever 147 00:09:25.659 --> 00:09:31.279 appeared in fictional storytelling is put up on display, like 148 00:09:31.330 --> 00:09:34.970 drawings of them, photos of them, and you vote, there 149 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:37.909 are people arguing the case of one ship or another 150 00:09:38.230 --> 00:09:42.570 of which is the greatest of ships. The year the 151 00:09:42.610 --> 00:09:47.600 Starship Enterprise won that, what carried the day was a 152 00:09:47.669 --> 00:09:54.259 simple fact that no ship before then ever displayed in 153 00:09:54.320 --> 00:10:01.159 storytelling was ever designed to just explore. Every ship you 154 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:03.840 ever see someone get into and out of in a 155 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:07.720 science fiction movie or story, it's designed to take you 156 00:10:07.779 --> 00:10:13.279 to a destination. That's why those ships existed. So this 157 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:18.440 as a concept is like, oh my gosh, exploration was 158 00:10:19.549 --> 00:10:21.909 paramount in why the. 159 00:10:21.850 --> 00:10:26.289 Ship existed at all. It was designed, I mean, what 160 00:10:26.309 --> 00:10:30.480 you've said is valid. The truth of the matter is 161 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:36.840 the designer of the ship had designed many versions. put 162 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:40.080 them on a wall and invited all the executives in 163 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:44.659 to see which aspect of which drawing they loved. And 164 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:47.720 then he combined what everybody loves. It was like a 165 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:51.539 potpourri of... Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. 166 00:10:51.899 --> 00:10:53.009 NASA's done that before. 167 00:10:53.029 --> 00:10:58.129 Say that again? NASA's done that before. That's why they 168 00:10:58.169 --> 00:10:59.070 get canceled. That's a space shuttle. 169 00:10:59.409 --> 00:11:04.570 Space shuttle is an amalgam of ideas stapled together pretty much. 170 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:11.159 It's a noble looking ship. It looks like it should 171 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:14.610 go someplace. Unfortunately, it's not powered, right? 172 00:11:15.029 --> 00:11:19.470 The space shuttle orbiter, it's got wings and jet nozzles 173 00:11:19.529 --> 00:11:23.639 out the back. So it seems to me, wherever you are, 174 00:11:23.730 --> 00:11:25.769 you ought to be able to choose, let's go someplace new. 175 00:11:26.649 --> 00:11:30.950 And in fact, that's what they did in the film Armageddon. 176 00:11:31.350 --> 00:11:35.019 Yes, but in real life, Once they start their approach, 177 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:37.649 they're gonna land it. 178 00:11:38.090 --> 00:11:42.710 That's one of the reasons why Armageddon violated more known 179 00:11:42.789 --> 00:11:48.169 laws of physics per minute than any other film ever made. 180 00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:52.399 So just tell me about the space shuttle, what it meant. 181 00:11:52.639

--> 00:11:58.179 If its only job, as fun and versatile as it looked, 182 00:11:58.600 --> 00:11:59.779 if its only job was to get you. 183 00:11:59.700 --> 00:12:03.480 To orbit, That wasn't its only job. Oh, please. So 184 00:12:03.980 --> 00:12:10.100 the space shuttle is the most diverse spacecraft we've ever 185 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:13.399 built and probably will be so in our lifetime. But 186 00:12:13.419 --> 00:12:16.200 it has one serious limitation. It's heavy and it doesn't 187 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:18.480 carry enough fuel to get out of low Earth orbit. 188 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:21.940 But it does launch people. It launches cargo. It can 189 00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:24.940 build things. It built an international space station. It can 190 00:12:24.980 --> 00:12:28.870 be its own science laboratory. You can do spacewalks from it. 191 00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:29.820 And that cargo. 192 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:33.639 Bay is huge, as far as I can tell, because 193 00:12:33.700 --> 00:12:39.600 it deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. And my favorite size 194 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:43.019 analog to this Hubble Telescope is about the size of 195 00:12:43.059 --> 00:12:46.730 a Greyhound bus, which means you could lower a Greyhound 196 00:12:46.750 --> 00:12:48.210 bus into the payload. 197 00:12:47.850 --> 00:12:48.309 Of the shuttle. 198 00:12:48.710 --> 00:12:52.309 Yeah, something that weighed up to 50,000 pounds, whereas the Soyuz, 199 00:12:52.330 --> 00:12:55.929 if you use that as the counter example, the Russian 200 00:12:56.009 --> 00:12:59.710 Soyuz spacecraft is really only designed to launch three people 201 00:12:59.970 --> 00:13:01.669 and a very small amount of cargo. 202 00:13:01.889 --> 00:13:02.370 And that's it. 203 00:13:02.649 --> 00:13:04.789 Does it very well, but it doesn't do very much. 204 00:13:04.970 --> 00:13:07.009 You've been up more than once. Have you been up 205 00:13:07.070 --> 00:13:07.929 on each of those craft? 206 00:13:08.330 --> 00:13:09.149 Twice on each. 207 00:13:09.409 --> 00:13:10.470 Twice on each? Yeah. 208 00:13:10.809 --> 00:13:15.070 So now maybe because the Soyuz is not as complex 209 00:13:15.809 --> 00:13:20.289 as the shuttle and the orbiter and the solid rocket boosters, 210 00:13:20.789 --> 00:13:27.779 the Soyuz has the best safety record of any space rocket. 211 00:13:28.210 --> 00:13:31.509 They've had two fatal in-flight accidents, just like the space shuttle, 212 00:13:31.549 --> 00:13:32.710 but less people. 213 00:13:33.230 --> 00:13:33.830 Okay. 214 00:13:33.970 --> 00:13:35.809 Similar number of flights, but. 215 00:13:36.370 --> 00:13:37.919 Oh, I thought they had many more flights. Okay, I 216 00:13:37.909 --> 00:13:38.360 didn't know that. 217 00:13:38.779 --> 00:13:40.360 You know, there's no greater gift we can give our 218 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:43.679 children than the freedom to explore and develop a lifelong 219 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:46.860 passion for learning. That's why we're excited to have KiwiCo 220 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:51.379 supporting today's episode. KiwiCo clubs are designed to spark innovation 221 00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:56.409 and creativity through hands-on STEM projects. Each monthly crate is 222 00:13:56.509 --> 00:14:01.710 packed with crafts, experiments, engineering challenges, models, and games. And 223 00:14:01.750 --> 00:14:04.669 with five different KiwiCo clubs to choose from, there's something 224 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:08.059 for every age and curious mind. 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But seriously, It's 234 00:14:44.379 --> 00:14:46.980 a lot of fun and it strengthens our love of STEM. 235 00:14:47.340 --> 00:14:50.240 So visit the link on screen or use code StarTalk 236 00:14:50.419 --> 00:14:53.570 at checkout to get 50% off your first monthly crate. 237 00:14:53.870 --> 00:15:00.710 That's KiwiCode.com slash StarTalk for 50% off the gift of learning, creativity, 238 00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:05.450 and exploration. And now, why don't you explore the rest 239 00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:06.029 of the show? 240 00:15:06.590 --> 00:15:09.389 Where does this fit with you? We know we learned 241 00:15:09.490 --> 00:15:15.039 earlier on this voyage. You gave a marvelous talk. reviewing Shackleton, 242 00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:20.629 the explorer to the Antarctic, and the trials and tribulations 243 00:15:20.649 --> 00:15:23.419 he went through, and no one died after he got 244 00:15:23.539 --> 00:15:25.519 stuck in the ice. And he's a bit of a 245 00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:27.500 hero of yours, as we all felt. 246 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:28.750 And mine, too. 247 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:31.870 And yours, too. So here's someone who's gone where no 248 00:15:31.970 --> 00:15:32.929 one has gone before. 249 00:15:32.950 --> 00:15:34.350 Oh, I've heard that. 250 00:15:34.730 --> 00:15:35.929 Boldly. Boldly. 251 00:15:36.809 --> 00:15:39.669 Boldly gone where no one has gone before. 252 00:15:39.690 --> 00:15:40.710 Oh, sorry. 253 00:15:40.909 --> 00:15:44.360 He's right. You sound so good on the track. Is 254 00:15:44.379 --> 00:15:47.539 that you narrating it? That was me. Boldly go. Oh, 255

00:15:47.580 --> 00:15:48.039 my God. 256 00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:48.720 That was you, though, right? 257 00:15:48.779 --> 00:15:51.620 That was me. That was right. With the very famous 258 00:15:51.700 --> 00:15:52.559 split infinitive. 259 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:55.179 Boldly go. Go boldly. Yeah. 260 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.580 And later in the later films, they said, to go boldly. Well, 261 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:01.059 I wrote a book called Boldly Go. Yeah, no, we 262 00:16:01.100 --> 00:16:03.759 love that. When they tried to fix the grammar in 263 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:06.299 a later movie, it was like, no, that's just, just 264 00:16:06.590 --> 00:16:06.870 deal with it. 265 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:08.240 It doesn't work that way. Yeah, it doesn't work that way. 266 00:16:08.250 --> 00:16:12.110 You were talking about ships and its efficiency. I was 267 00:16:12.149 --> 00:16:15.789 invited to the Cape one time. We rolled out the 268 00:16:15.809 --> 00:16:18.509 red carpet. As we take Canaveral, Florida. Yeah, yeah. Where 269 00:16:18.529 --> 00:16:22.129 they would launch all our spaceships. And in the center 270 00:16:22.570 --> 00:16:28.940 of one of those hangars On a platform was the 271 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:33.220 lunar excursion module, the LEM. But up the stairs, and 272 00:16:33.259 --> 00:16:36.460 they invited me in to the LEM, which looks like 273 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:41.220 whatever you call it, you know, the... Pergola? Yes, exactly. 274 00:16:41.500 --> 00:16:45.700 It looks, it's the simplest. And you get inside and 275 00:16:45.720 --> 00:16:48.120 they have a hammock to lie down. I laid down 276 00:16:48.179 --> 00:16:54.389 on the hammock. And it's this ridiculous children's toy... And 277 00:16:54.450 --> 00:17:01.350 it's got more instruments, more complications. And that's the result 278 00:17:01.710 --> 00:17:05.019 from the shuttle to the spaceship to the thing and 279 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:09.440 the model. They've got a little garden tool thing to 280 00:17:09.500 --> 00:17:12.140 land on the moon, get out there, take a picture, 281 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:16.349 get back in. And then... meet up with the whatever 282 00:17:16.410 --> 00:17:20.660 we call it, the thing circling... The command module. Then 283 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:24.319 they get out of the LEM into the ship that's 284 00:17:24.339 --> 00:17:28.960 going to take them back to Earth. And this... What 285 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:31.740 happens to the... Oh, that's been let... No, no. What 286 00:17:31.779 --> 00:17:32.400 happens to it? 287 00:17:32.660 --> 00:17:33.599 Crashes into the moon. 288 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:35.960 It crashes into the moon. That's how. 289 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:36.980 Eventually, I guess. 290 00:17:37.769 --> 00:17:45.029 However, if memory serves, Apollo 13... realized that for their 291 00:17:45.069 --> 00:17:47.210 life support, they needed some of the life support that 292 00:17:47.250 --> 00:17:50.869 was on the

LEM. So that in missions subsequent to 293 00:17:50.930 --> 00:17:54.329 Apollo 13, didn't they keep the LEM a little further 294 00:17:54.430 --> 00:17:55.970 in towards Earth. 295 00:17:55.789 --> 00:17:58.349 To make sure? Is that what happened? I don't remember. 296 00:17:58.630 --> 00:18:03.250 They used life support systems to save themselves. The life 297 00:18:03.269 --> 00:18:06.190 support systems on the LEM, they had to do some modifications, 298 00:18:06.250 --> 00:18:08.920 but they were able to. use that to safely get 299 00:18:08.940 --> 00:18:09.519 back to Earth. 300 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:11.619 Can you imagine? And they say, well, what do we do? 301 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:13.930 And the engineers down on Earth are saying, well, try 302 00:18:13.970 --> 00:18:18.519 this and try that, and you're going to die. But 303 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:23.740 when you talk about exploration and the means of exploration 304 00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:31.200 from the, what's his name, Thor Heidel using papyrus as 305 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:36.859 a raft and then getting to all Shackleton in a 306 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:39.910 wooden boat and here we are on this modern liner 307 00:18:40.349 --> 00:18:46.009 which was being explained by you, that the engines here 308 00:18:46.450 --> 00:18:50.259 are of particular make, and because we don't hear the 309 00:18:50.470 --> 00:18:53.700 engines propelling this boat as we are right now going 310 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.980 back to Ushuaia, we don't hear the engines. Except every 311 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:03.099 so often, and I didn't understand why, you hear, when 312 00:19:03.140 --> 00:19:05.839 we're parked, you hear a rumble. I think, what is that? 313 00:19:05.859 --> 00:19:09.279 Is that the anchor going down? It's not. 314 00:19:09.779 --> 00:19:10.720 Well, it's station keeping. 315 00:19:11.140 --> 00:19:12.579 It's the station keeping from. 316 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:15.940 Yeah, so you could drop an anchor, but if you 317 00:19:15.980 --> 00:19:19.059 don't need to, then why, right? And now we know 318 00:19:19.099 --> 00:19:22.240 exactly where the boat is. It's not my boat. The 319 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:23.460 captain knows. 320 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:27.160 All the means of exploration going on. The variety of 321 00:19:27.329 --> 00:19:31.410 things that we're using to explore. Well, let me throw 322 00:19:31.450 --> 00:19:37.589 a little monkey wrench in this. As usual. If you 323 00:19:37.630 --> 00:19:40.170 know that much about where you're going. 324 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:45.009 and it can be done in the safety and comfort 325 00:19:45.670 --> 00:19:52.619 of a luxury ship, then is it really exploration? If 326 00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:54.259 the risks have been reduced to zero. 327 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:56.789 Well, but you mean if you're rowing in an open boat, 328 00:19:57.069 --> 00:19:59.789 you're more exploring than getting a. 329 00:20:00.529 --> 00:20:05.869 If you're going where no one has gone before, that... 330 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:10.839 is exploration. If you're attempting tasks that have never been 331 00:20:10.900 --> 00:20:15.150 attempted before, Scott goes into orbit. He's a guinea pig 332 00:20:15.289 --> 00:20:18.049 for the doctors on earth because he's got a twin brother. 333 00:20:18.069 --> 00:20:20.630 We're going to learn about, no one had done that 334 00:20:20.690 --> 00:20:21.970 before with a twin brother. 335 00:20:21.990 --> 00:20:23.970 It's incredible. What an incredible thing. 336 00:20:24.029 --> 00:20:26.119 Your brother was not the guinea pig. You were because 337 00:20:26.140 --> 00:20:28.819 you're in space and you're exposed to cosmic rays. 338 00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:29.579 What happened? 339 00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:30.309 What happened to you? 340 00:20:31.130 --> 00:20:33.789 Well, I was exposed to the environment. He was the 341 00:20:33.829 --> 00:20:36.220 guinea pig on Earth that was a complete ball of. 342 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:39.799 Yeah, keep telling yourself that. He's chilling on the safety 343 00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:41.559 of Earth's surface, and you're not. 344 00:20:42.819 --> 00:20:44.920 And, you know, he had people following him around the 345 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:47.430 country and taking all kinds of samples and having to 346 00:20:47.470 --> 00:20:50.150 leave stuff outside his front door and also was like 347 00:20:50.210 --> 00:20:50.650 the lowest. 348 00:20:50.670 --> 00:20:52.869 Stuff outside his front door. We figured what that is. 349 00:20:53.009 --> 00:20:56.710 Yeah, for people to pick up. Lowest, lowest paid government 350 00:20:56.839 --> 00:20:59.079 employee at the time because they had to pay him. 351 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:00.960 So he was making minimum wage because he was no 352 00:21:00.980 --> 00:21:03.339 longer a NASA astronaut. So I really have to hand 353 00:21:03.380 --> 00:21:06.039 it to him to do that. Whereas I was like 354 00:21:06.140 --> 00:21:09.829 getting all the glory by being in space. But also, 355 00:21:09.950 --> 00:21:10.970 like you mentioned, the radiation. 356 00:21:11.009 --> 00:21:13.029 Yeah, but your heart is smaller than it was when 357 00:21:13.049 --> 00:21:15.289 you went in there. Yeah, stuff happened to you. It 358 00:21:15.329 --> 00:21:16.650 grew back. It did. 359 00:21:16.769 --> 00:21:18.789 But as my wife, Amiko, says, it's a good thing 360 00:21:18.829 --> 00:21:19.930 I started with a big heart. 361 00:21:23.470 --> 00:21:24.230 That's great. 362 00:21:24.250 --> 00:21:26.950 I just want to understand this. So even though the 363 00:21:27.029 --> 00:21:30.410 exploration was not in the realm of place, it was 364 00:21:30.539 --> 00:21:31.670 in the realm of physiology. 365 00:21:32.430 --> 00:21:36.180 It's exploratory physiology. That's exploration. I agree. I agree. 366 00:21:36.279 --> 00:21:40.740 So what did we learn by exploring what happens to 367 00:21:40.940 --> 00:21:43.640 your

body in orbit for how many days? 368 00:21:43.660 --> 00:21:44.819 On that mission, 340. 369 00:21:44.789 --> 00:21:44.849 340. 370 00:21:44.819 --> 00:21:45.779 They couldn't stay an extra 25 days and call it 371 00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:52.920 a year? I wanted to, but the Russians had a 372 00:21:53.180 --> 00:21:55.480 certain schedule they had to meet, so we had to 373 00:21:55.539 --> 00:21:56.140 come back. 374 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:57.359 Because you came back on the Soyuz. 375 00:21:57.380 --> 00:21:57.559 Yeah. 376 00:21:58.099 --> 00:22:01.400 Let me remind people, the Soyuz does not land in water. 377 00:22:02.359 --> 00:22:04.680 They just land on land. 378 00:22:04.740 --> 00:22:06.769 They crash land on the parade. They crash land. Yeah. 379 00:22:07.569 --> 00:22:08.660 It's really not a landing. 380 00:22:11.470 --> 00:22:15.109 Well, if you'll landage, if you walk away, it's a landing. 381 00:22:15.890 --> 00:22:19.690 It's the ultimate e-ticket ride when that parachute opens. 382 00:22:20.150 --> 00:22:20.490 Opens. 383 00:22:20.589 --> 00:22:23.450 And if I hated being in space every minute for 384 00:22:23.529 --> 00:22:26.430 that entire 340 days, I'd do it all over again 385 00:22:26.450 --> 00:22:27.349 for that last 20 minutes. 386 00:22:28.049 --> 00:22:32.309 Really? Just the last 20 minutes of coming back to earth? 387 00:22:33.349 --> 00:22:34.029 What was that like? 388 00:22:34.309 --> 00:22:37.569 Well, when the parachute opens, you're just, you just tumble 389 00:22:37.609 --> 00:22:40.630 and are thrown around like crazy. And there have been, 390 00:22:40.650 --> 00:22:44.079 I know one of one particular person, I'm sure other 391 00:22:44.099 --> 00:22:47.849 people have felt this way, who was an experienced test pilot. 392 00:22:47.869 --> 00:22:49.390 I'm not going to say the person's name because I 393 00:22:49.390 --> 00:22:52.630 don't want to embarrass him, but he was not, apparently 394 00:22:52.670 --> 00:22:55.710 not briefed on how dynamic the landing is. And he 395 00:22:55.750 --> 00:22:58.539 started screaming because he thought he was going to die. 396 00:22:58.579 --> 00:23:00.339 High pitch or low and guttural? 397 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:01.819 I wasn't there. Yeah. 398 00:23:02.660 --> 00:23:07.099 Because there's flames coming out of the tile, right? 399 00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:10.660 It's like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, but 400 00:23:10.700 --> 00:23:14.869 while you're on fire. And as soon as you realize. 401 00:23:14.890 --> 00:23:17.730 So, I mean, the flames are coming up through the windows. 402 00:23:18.190 --> 00:23:21.599 You're on fire. That's while you're slowing down on... Yeah, but. 403 00:23:21.720 --> 00:23:23.480 The chute opens a little bit later. 404 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:26.140 The chute opens later than that. Oh, I understand that. 405 00:23:26.220 --> 00:23:31.130 But in that moment, when I was screaming... Flames are 406 00:23:31.289 --> 00:23:35.130 coming up. You're burning up, and you don't know whether 407 00:23:35.170 --> 00:23:38.890 the tiles are glued down and up. They may be 408 00:23:38.950 --> 00:23:43.259 flipping out. The tiles may be... They lost some tiles. 409 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:44.779 There's a lot of things you don't know that's going 410 00:23:44.859 --> 00:23:46.359 on behind the scenes. 411 00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:47.640 You're on the inside. 412 00:23:47.660 --> 00:23:49.339 You don't see what's going on on the outside. 413 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:50.400 You might not want to know. 414 00:23:50.589 --> 00:23:53.829 What was it like to have three of you in 415 00:23:53.849 --> 00:23:55.789 the ship, right? And one guy's going. 416 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:58.319 What's that like? 417 00:23:58.380 --> 00:24:01.279 I wasn't there on that one, but it was only 418 00:24:02.339 --> 00:24:05.359 reported afterwards that this particular person. 419 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:07.819 Did they say, you can't do that? 420 00:24:09.660 --> 00:24:12.299 I don't know. A lot going on then. 421 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:16.279 I'm an astronaut and I explore space. I'm going to Mars. 422 00:24:16.619 --> 00:24:24.019 But when I came down, I saw flames! But I 423 00:24:24.039 --> 00:24:25.740 still want to get to the bottom of. 424 00:24:26.329 --> 00:24:30.630 The advancing a space frontier by learning what's happening to 425 00:24:30.690 --> 00:24:31.569 your physiology. 426 00:24:32.369 --> 00:24:37.130 So, Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. Heart shrunk. 25% changes to 427 00:24:37.450 --> 00:24:38.369 my telomeres. 428 00:24:38.589 --> 00:24:41.089 Yeah. Tell me if that's like the end. 429 00:24:40.990 --> 00:24:44.849 Of your DNA. Really an indication of your physical age. 430 00:24:44.869 --> 00:24:47.559 As you get older, they get shorter, more afraid. Initially 431 00:24:47.619 --> 00:24:50.559 NASA thought that was due to the controlled diet and 432 00:24:50.619 --> 00:24:54.720 exercise later. You know, we learned that there were some 433 00:24:54.769 --> 00:24:58.089 worms that the Japanese were doing telomere experiments on too. 434 00:24:58.690 --> 00:25:00.569 And their telomeres got better while they were on the 435 00:25:00.609 --> 00:25:03.150 space station. Never once saw them working out on the 436 00:25:03.210 --> 00:25:06.569 treadmill or doing any kind of exercise. So it turns 437 00:25:06.650 --> 00:25:10.170 out it was actually the radiation. Most important result that 438 00:25:10.190 --> 00:25:12.630 I always want everyone to understand and point out is 439 00:25:12.710 --> 00:25:15.430 after spending a year in space, like you mentioned earlier, 440 00:25:15.650 --> 00:25:18.410 I am now not only smarter, but more handsome than 441 00:25:18.430 --> 00:25:19.009 my brother, Mark. 442 00:25:20.970 --> 00:25:21.759 Would he agree to that? 443 00:25:22.450 --> 00:25:22.950 Probably not. 444 00:25:23.089 --> 00:25:23.819 Okay. 445 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:28.859 This idea of pushing the limits of not

only what 446 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:31.980 a machine can do, but what human physiology can do, 447 00:25:32.819 --> 00:25:37.019 this is exploration. And who, and who, you, you, sir. 448 00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:37.480 Yes. 449 00:25:38.849 --> 00:25:41.250 Now the oldest person to ascend above the Carmelite. 450 00:25:41.269 --> 00:25:42.970 Oh, do we go there again? I am not. My 451 00:25:43.029 --> 00:25:44.549 telomeres are very long. 452 00:25:45.049 --> 00:25:45.430 Okay. 453 00:25:45.950 --> 00:25:48.509 But let me ask you this. When I saw you 454 00:25:49.390 --> 00:25:58.049 go up the ladder... to go into the Blue Origin capsule. 455 00:25:58.150 --> 00:26:01.369 And I said, this man is 89 years old. How 456 00:26:01.430 --> 00:26:03.710 old were you for that flight? I don't know, 32, 457 00:26:03.710 --> 00:26:08.420 something like that. No, times three. Wait a minute. I'm 458 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:13.180 walking up the stairs to go, and something's venting out 459 00:26:13.220 --> 00:26:15.819 of a pipe. Out of the side of the ship. 460 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:26.779 What's that? Hydrogen. Hydrogen. The the Zeppelin, the Hindenburg, burned. 461 00:26:27.500 --> 00:26:30.609 And hydrogen was what was burning. And I'm looking at 462 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:31.109 this thing. 463 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:35.450 There was some coating of aluminum powder on the surface 464 00:26:35.470 --> 00:26:36.750 to make it highly reflective. 465 00:26:36.890 --> 00:26:39.609 Exactly. On the static electricity up the road. 466 00:26:39.670 --> 00:26:42.049 Had you been in Russia, not only would the thing 467 00:26:42.089 --> 00:26:45.410 be venting the fuel, there'd be people smoking cigarettes right 468 00:26:45.450 --> 00:26:46.740 at the bottom of the launch pad. 469 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:51.170 Let us be candid with ourselves. that part of the 470 00:26:51.250 --> 00:26:56.069 risk of exploring on some level is even the risk 471 00:26:56.150 --> 00:26:57.369 of even starting the trip. 472 00:26:57.710 --> 00:27:01.369 If you're exploring, you're ready to die because you're going... 473 00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:02.980 At some level, you got to be ready to die. 474 00:27:03.339 --> 00:27:03.819 Here you go. 475 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:11.259 What probability of death would you have accepted? What's the 476 00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:14.190 highest probability of death you would have accepted to do 477 00:27:14.230 --> 00:27:14.710 that mission? 478 00:27:15.470 --> 00:27:17.210 To launch on the space shuttle? 479 00:27:17.250 --> 00:27:17.430 Yes. 480 00:27:18.650 --> 00:27:23.289 Well, I launched on the space shuttle STS-103, and so 481 00:27:23.369 --> 00:27:28.230 we had approximately 103 prior missions, and there was one 482 00:27:28.329 --> 00:27:31.230 fatal accident, so that's a 1% chance of dying. 483 00:27:31.250 --> 00:27:32.230 Yes. 484 00:27:33.130 --> 00:27:37.210 What would I have accepted? Certainly not 50%. 485 00:27:37.210 --> 00:27:38.430 10%? 486 00:27:38.430 --> 00:27:41.170 Maybe. Maybe 10%. It would depend on what. 487 00:27:41.109 --> 00:27:43.329 We were doing. Well, that's an interesting question. Yes, it is. 488 00:27:43.569 --> 00:27:48.140 Because death is so permanent, You lose the bet. It's 489 00:27:48.140 --> 00:27:53.180 10 to 1. You don't just pay up. Here's the 490 00:27:53.180 --> 00:27:59.390 100 I owe you. It's your life. 1% is not acceptable. 491 00:28:00.170 --> 00:28:03.069 Nothing is acceptable. I'm going up. I'm a test pilot. 492 00:28:03.509 --> 00:28:06.369 I've tested this plane. I've tested this thing. I know 493 00:28:06.430 --> 00:28:09.380 it works. I'm not going up to die. I'm going 494 00:28:09.410 --> 00:28:10.160 to explore. 495 00:28:10.180 --> 00:28:13.039 That has to be your attitude. 496 00:28:13.059 --> 00:28:13.880 That has to be your attitude. 497 00:28:13.900 --> 00:28:16.049 And that's what you come to terms with, like, I 498 00:28:16.089 --> 00:28:19.940 would think about it leading up to my first flight with, 499 00:28:20.700 --> 00:28:25.200 you know, you kind of rationalize, hey, for one, I 500 00:28:25.240 --> 00:28:26.920 want to do this. I think it's important. I want 501 00:28:26.940 --> 00:28:30.390 to serve my country. It's my job. I'm a test pilot. 502 00:28:31.170 --> 00:28:35.250 There is risk. My brother and I used to exchange 503 00:28:35.289 --> 00:28:37.650 those like death letters for our families. Like if the 504 00:28:37.690 --> 00:28:40.569 thing blows up, give this to my wife and children 505 00:28:40.589 --> 00:28:43.019 and we do the We would do the same, fortunately, 506 00:28:43.299 --> 00:28:47.680 never had to use those, but it's, you know, everything 507 00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:47.940 has risk. 508 00:28:47.960 --> 00:28:49.789 Is that a thing in NASA? Is that a thing? 509 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:50.680 Deaf letters? 510 00:28:50.849 --> 00:28:51.170 Maybe. 511 00:28:51.309 --> 00:28:51.630 I don't know. 512 00:28:51.650 --> 00:28:53.269 It was a thing with my brother and I. You're 513 00:28:53.289 --> 00:28:56.410 a test pilot. So you've run that, it's a new airplane, 514 00:28:57.329 --> 00:28:59.910 and you're testing the airplane. So you run that airplane 515 00:28:59.950 --> 00:29:02.190 along the runway, the front, now you're a foot up 516 00:29:02.230 --> 00:29:05.039 the ground, you make a circle, and get you 10 feet, 517 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:08.019 20 feet, 30, then you're 50 feet. By that time, 518 00:29:08.259 --> 00:29:11.349 you know the plane works. You go up to Mars. 519 00:29:11.450 --> 00:29:14.559 You know it worked. It might not continue to work 520 00:29:14.619 --> 00:29:16.339 as you expand out the envelope. 521 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:19.180 Now you press a button, you eject. I mean, the 522 00:29:19.220 --> 00:29:23.259 chances of living. Now, let's go to Mars, guys. Okay? 523 00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:25.579 Flames scream. 524 00:29:26.339 --> 00:29:26.700 Flames! 525 00:29:26.920 -->

00:29:30.829 And then finally, you're into orbit and you're going towards Mars. 526 00:29:31.950 --> 00:29:38.490 You're going to die. Meteorites, radiation, landing on Mars. This 527 00:29:38.509 --> 00:29:39.589 is why we have engineers. 528 00:29:39.650 --> 00:29:42.910 You may die. You're not definitely going to die. You 529 00:29:42.930 --> 00:29:43.329 may die. 530 00:29:43.349 --> 00:29:45.190 It's why we have engineers to figure this out. You're 531 00:29:45.230 --> 00:29:49.579 going to die. The chances of you surviving a meteorite 532 00:29:49.619 --> 00:29:53.140 hit or lasting six months on Mars with all that 533 00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:57.680 radiation and then getting back in and saying, oh, more flames, 534 00:29:57.720 --> 00:30:00.920 you've got to get lift off, get out of orbit, 535 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:04.049 I mean, and land on Earth, you're going to die. 536 00:30:05.210 --> 00:30:07.750 Okay, none of us want to hear you say that, 537 00:30:08.089 --> 00:30:10.720 who uttered the words to boldly go in on it. 538 00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:15.539 You're going to die! Boldly go, boldly go to your death, 539 00:30:15.579 --> 00:30:18.670 and if you don't die, we'll congratulate you and we'll 540 00:30:18.710 --> 00:30:20.490 tell you your telomeres are lengthening. 541 00:30:21.609 --> 00:30:25.190 Take us back to Antarctica. There on the open seas... 542 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:28.220 There could be monsters in the ocean. There could be 543 00:30:28.740 --> 00:30:32.339 weather patterns they've never thought of or predicted. They don't 544 00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:35.680 know how much food they'll actually need. They don't even 545 00:30:35.769 --> 00:30:37.480 know if there will be food there. 546 00:30:37.609 --> 00:30:42.730 Devin coined the word catabatic or adabatic. What does that mean? 547 00:30:42.730 --> 00:30:44.930 100 mile an hour winds coming downwind or 100 mile 548 00:30:44.950 --> 00:30:48.069 an hour going up. 100 mile an hour winds. You're 549 00:30:48.089 --> 00:30:50.410 in a rowboat, for crying out loud. You got a sail. 550 00:30:50.450 --> 00:30:50.789 A sail. 551 00:30:50.809 --> 00:30:54.509 A sail's good for 15 knots. 20 knots, you're going 552 00:30:54.529 --> 00:30:58.259 to blow your sails out. 30 knots, your masts are crashing. 553 00:30:58.779 --> 00:31:00.000 You're going to die. 554 00:31:03.059 --> 00:31:06.299 So what I have come to learn, being a member 555 00:31:06.460 --> 00:31:11.069 of the species that we call Homo sapiens, not all 556 00:31:11.109 --> 00:31:16.809 of us fear the risk of death at the same level. 557 00:31:17.089 --> 00:31:20.609 Wait a minute. Hang on. No, very simple. They're people 558 00:31:20.650 --> 00:31:24.950 who ascend Mount Everest knowing there's a real chance they're 559 00:31:24.970 --> 00:31:28.950 going to die. They got oxygen. They've got parkas. They're 560 00:31:28.970 --> 00:31:32.380 going to slide down on their ass down the glacier 561 00:31:32.660 --> 00:31:36.900 to get back to camp. They've got Sherpas who go 562 00:31:36.980 --> 00:31:39.839 up without oxygen and run up and run back. If 563 00:31:39.859 --> 00:31:42.779 you need some help, sir, I'll help you, says a Sherpa. 564 00:31:44.059 --> 00:31:47.099 They probably give, you know, all those National Geographic specials 565 00:31:47.140 --> 00:31:49.809 where They show someone ascending the mountain for the first time, 566 00:31:50.029 --> 00:31:51.650 but there's a camera already there. 567 00:31:51.730 --> 00:31:53.509 When they get up to the top. So who got 568 00:31:53.529 --> 00:31:55.650 the camera? The camera got there first. The Sherpa. 569 00:31:55.730 --> 00:31:57.559 The Sherpa and the camera got there first. 570 00:31:57.680 --> 00:31:58.140 Exactly. 571 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:00.460 But what I'm saying is, there are people who jump 572 00:32:00.539 --> 00:32:02.480 out of airplanes willingly. 573 00:32:03.019 --> 00:32:05.910 People who rock climb. They have a parachute. They're not 574 00:32:05.970 --> 00:32:09.650 going they this thing's gonna open How about that guy 575 00:32:09.690 --> 00:32:18.839 that jumped out of these? Yeah He was dead Scared 576 00:32:19.220 --> 00:32:21.900 he was gonna die the moment. He started twisting. I'm 577 00:32:21.940 --> 00:32:24.640 gonna die of centrifugal force How would you like to 578 00:32:24.700 --> 00:32:28.240 die of centrifugal force your blood comes out of your ears? I? 579 00:32:31.650 --> 00:32:35.549 I had Felix Bumgarner on StarTalk. Yeah, see, check our archives. 580 00:32:36.210 --> 00:32:38.049 And he's a pretty good guy. I thought he'd be 581 00:32:38.069 --> 00:32:41.119 a little weird or crazy. What was he exploring? He 582 00:32:41.740 --> 00:32:47.440 liked exploring the limits of his own body's tolerances. 583 00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:50.460 Okay, so it's like a rock climber. How many rock 584 00:32:50.509 --> 00:32:55.319 climbers live to 40 years? Nobody, you know why they're 585 00:32:55.380 --> 00:32:58.059 after that thrill after a while to climb a rock. 586 00:32:58.329 --> 00:33:00.569 I got to go further I got. 587 00:33:00.130 --> 00:33:03.259 To take this listen to me some of us do 588 00:33:03.299 --> 00:33:08.400 that and Some of them die. Those who don't die 589 00:33:08.420 --> 00:33:11.839 figured out how to do it without dying. They'll write 590 00:33:11.880 --> 00:33:13.779 about it. There'll be someone documenting it. 591 00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:14.119 No way. 592 00:33:14.259 --> 00:33:17.380 And it opens up horizons for the rest of us 593 00:33:17.700 --> 00:33:19.250 who aren't that brave. 594 00:33:19.529 --> 00:33:21.549 Wait a minute. And that's how we got out of 595 00:33:21.569 --> 00:33:24.049 the cave. You don't understand. They're a junkie. Because whisk 596 00:33:24.150 --> 00:33:31.019 is our business. I've heard that. They're adrenaline junkies. They 597 00:33:31.099 --> 00:33:35.250 need the adrenaline. And the adrenaline doesn't

flow after three times. Dude, 598 00:33:35.309 --> 00:33:38.569 if we didn't have them in our species, we'd still 599 00:33:38.609 --> 00:33:42.230 be in the cave. Exactly. They're the explorers. And as 600 00:33:42.269 --> 00:33:46.609 they're falling, they say, I'm dying! And that's it. 601 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:50.339 But the next person that does it makes sure that 602 00:33:50.380 --> 00:33:52.390 they don't make whatever mistake that the previous person did. 603 00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:54.440 That's exactly right, until they make their own mistake. And 604 00:33:54.869 --> 00:33:59.089 that's what these guys are. That's who the original group 605 00:33:59.470 --> 00:34:01.009 of astronauts were. 606 00:34:01.210 --> 00:34:05.210 I agree with you. The one-way mission is not something 607 00:34:05.329 --> 00:34:09.510 I would be interested in. Having lived in an enclosed, 608 00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:13.800 sealed environment for a year when you cannot walk outside... 609 00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:18.360 You know, Earth has like everything practically for humans. It 610 00:34:18.380 --> 00:34:19.739 has everything to offer. 611 00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:25.489 Wait, Scott, Scott, we went 150 years with people coming 612 00:34:25.530 --> 00:34:29.250 from Europe on one-way trips to the New World. 613 00:34:29.389 --> 00:34:30.550 Oh, I know it's for some people. 614 00:34:30.610 --> 00:34:31.650 It's not for me. Oh, not for you. 615 00:34:31.670 --> 00:34:33.289 I would not want to live on Mars for the 616 00:34:33.329 --> 00:34:36.389 rest of my life. However, I would watch that reality 617 00:34:36.429 --> 00:34:40.179 show because... I think at some point it's going to 618 00:34:40.219 --> 00:34:42.900 turn into like Lord of the Flies situation. 619 00:34:43.559 --> 00:34:47.489 Oh, the darker side of what it is to be human. So, 620 00:34:47.530 --> 00:34:51.369 but that's what you're on. We're on to an interesting 621 00:34:51.429 --> 00:34:56.769 part of this thesis of what is exploration. Those who 622 00:34:56.889 --> 00:35:01.980 do explore those not, you know, the, the, the, the, the, 623 00:35:02.219 --> 00:35:05.360 the ranger with the deer and the penguin who asked 624 00:35:05.420 --> 00:35:09.000 a question, that's one kind of exploration. But the jeopardy 625 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:13.360 of exploration is something to be discussed. Who goes on 626 00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:15.900 what could be a one-way trip? These guys didn't know. 627 00:35:16.840 --> 00:35:20.630 They had to know. When that guy, when that brave 628 00:35:22.349 --> 00:35:26.550 astronaut was seeing flames coming up from the entry point 629 00:35:27.710 --> 00:35:30.869 and screaming, I'm going to die, that's just his humanity. 630 00:35:32.070 --> 00:35:35.500 He was willing to go. Somebody must have said, you know, son, 631 00:35:35.880 --> 00:35:39.860 the tiles are going to heat up and you'll probably 632 00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:42.639 feel some heat and it's going to look, oh, it's okay, 633 00:35:42.659 --> 00:35:44.969 I can take that. But when you see it flaming 634 00:35:45.409 --> 00:35:50.170 and it's going to burn your parachute and you're screaming, 635 00:35:50.449 --> 00:35:55.219 you're succumbing to humanity. So you don't always know. where 636 00:35:55.260 --> 00:35:56.880 your limits are. Exactly. 637 00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:58.699 Even if you have bravado leading up to that. 638 00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:04.840 Exactly, your bravado, but that's what this adrenaline is. One 639 00:36:04.920 --> 00:36:07.119 more rock, I can climb up. I put my fingers 640 00:36:07.179 --> 00:36:09.440 in there. I got a grip, I got a grip. 641 00:36:09.460 --> 00:36:12.559 Do I let go with the legs? I don't know 642 00:36:12.619 --> 00:36:13.639 whether I can. 643 00:36:13.659 --> 00:36:16.179 Because I can tell you, the only people, friends I've 644 00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:19.530 ever had, who died prematurely were rock climbers dying in 645 00:36:19.570 --> 00:36:20.070 just such an accident. 646 00:36:20.090 --> 00:36:22.969 I'm telling you, that's why they do it. Free climbing. 647 00:36:23.110 --> 00:36:25.190 See, I grew up in a city The city was 648 00:36:25.250 --> 00:36:29.969 dangerous enough. I don't need to add other dangers. I 649 00:36:30.010 --> 00:36:34.550 already was feeling, it wasn't the exploration gene, it was 650 00:36:34.590 --> 00:36:36.989 a survival gene, enough so that I don't need to 651 00:36:37.030 --> 00:36:38.719 do something else to put my life at risk. 652 00:36:38.880 --> 00:36:45.039 So what is your collective opinion on people who are 653 00:36:45.099 --> 00:36:46.679 looking at, like the people who are going to go 654 00:36:46.699 --> 00:36:51.130 to Mars, once the instruments go, people are going to 655 00:36:51.150 --> 00:36:54.179 go for... at least a year and a half. Wait, wait. 656 00:36:54.610 --> 00:36:56.590 So, Bill, I think the people who want to go 657 00:36:56.610 --> 00:37:00.590 to Mars have already noticed that NASA has plunked an 658 00:37:00.909 --> 00:37:05.550 SUV-sized rover on Mars following a half dozen other rovers 659 00:37:05.570 --> 00:37:08.250 that got there before it. And this current rover brought 660 00:37:08.269 --> 00:37:13.000 a helicopter. So Mars is not some unbreached place. 661 00:37:14.280 --> 00:37:15.920 By humanity. By humanity. 662 00:37:15.980 --> 00:37:18.260 So I think that they're not thinking they're going to die. 663 00:37:18.599 --> 00:37:24.679 No. But they know that the risk is... Like Scott 664 00:37:24.719 --> 00:37:29.420 was saying, 1%, you know, out of 99, 99, 1%, 665 00:37:29.420 --> 00:37:32.219 that's pretty good odds. I'm not going to die. But 666 00:37:32.699 --> 00:37:36.219 would you put the odds at 50-50 to go to Mars? 667 00:37:36.820 --> 00:37:39.519 I would say 50-50 is very generous. I agree. 668 00:37:39.559 --> 00:37:41.300 For the first ones to Mars, I'd agree. 669 00:37:41.539 --> 00:37:43.820 And I think

that's what they were considering maybe even 670 00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:48.110 for Apollo 11, right, Charlie? Maybe a 50% chance of success. 671 00:37:48.119 --> 00:37:52.880 Really? So now you're looking at guys in the magnificence, 672 00:37:53.510 --> 00:37:55.840 and they were all men at that time, in the 673 00:37:55.880 --> 00:38:00.039 magnificence of their manhood. They're running on the beach. They're 674 00:38:00.059 --> 00:38:04.800 in the best physical shape. They've learned everything. Nine, six 675 00:38:06.519 --> 00:38:11.539 years of geology, Jose was saying, wasted on him because 676 00:38:11.579 --> 00:38:11.820 he wasn't. 677 00:38:12.179 --> 00:38:13.760 Jose, another astronaut on board here. 678 00:38:13.780 --> 00:38:19.840 They're trained to a warrior degree. They are wielding their 679 00:38:19.989 --> 00:38:26.789 swords of intellect like the ancient Spartans. They're going to 680 00:38:26.869 --> 00:38:32.230 die nobly. 1% chance. That's what these guys were. The 681 00:38:32.269 --> 00:38:37.269 original 16, 19? What was it? The original 7. 682 00:38:37.269 --> 00:38:42.150 The Mercury 7. By the way, in the spirit of 683 00:38:42.170 --> 00:38:46.010 your exchange letters of who might die, it Within a 684 00:38:46.269 --> 00:38:49.239 few years ago, I forgot exactly when, it went public, 685 00:38:49.380 --> 00:38:55.199 the letter that Nixon was going to read had Apollo 686 00:38:55.199 --> 00:39:00.429 11 not successfully left the moon. And if it couldn't launch, 687 00:39:00.730 --> 00:39:04.469 they'd still be alive until they died. And so you'd 688 00:39:04.510 --> 00:39:05.079 be watching them die. 689 00:39:05.090 --> 00:39:09.150 Which is another aspect. You couldn't test that LEMS takeoff, right? 690 00:39:09.570 --> 00:39:12.389 The LEMS takeoff could not have been tested on Earth. 691 00:39:12.650 --> 00:39:14.570 Well, I'm sure they fired the engine many times in 692 00:39:14.650 --> 00:39:14.889 a vacuum. 693 00:39:14.909 --> 00:39:19.030 Yeah, but I mean, one-sixth the gravity and suffering that 694 00:39:19.170 --> 00:39:20.510 journey and landing. 695 00:39:21.789 --> 00:39:24.590 But we do have the laws of physics, which work 696 00:39:24.650 --> 00:39:25.409 very well for us. 697 00:39:26.010 --> 00:39:27.139 Yeah, it's not just a random. 698 00:39:28.159 --> 00:39:29.650 when we ignite it, where will it go? 699 00:39:29.900 --> 00:39:30.239 I don't know. 700 00:39:30.300 --> 00:39:32.599 No, not where will it go, but will it work 701 00:39:32.659 --> 00:39:35.820 was random. Will it work in those kind of, with 702 00:39:35.880 --> 00:39:39.199 that kind of geese starting off and landing and circling? 703 00:39:39.219 --> 00:39:43.389 Every mission before Apollo 11 was incrementally leading up to 704 00:39:43.429 --> 00:39:46.429 that landing. Right up to Apollo 10, right up to 705 00:39:46.489 --> 00:39:50.969 Apollo 10, We all forgot Apollo 10, but that one 706 00:39:51.010 --> 00:39:51.699 was important. 707 00:39:51.840 --> 00:39:55.159 It got to the moon, deployed. But if you're in 708 00:39:55.199 --> 00:39:58.239 an airplane in the density of this air, and you 709 00:39:58.260 --> 00:40:02.630 can pull a switch and eject, it's far different from 710 00:40:02.710 --> 00:40:05.949 circling the moon and wondering whether it's a little... collapsible 711 00:40:06.409 --> 00:40:12.230 the little hut that was that they were gonna live 712 00:40:12.269 --> 00:40:14.619 in the moon live on the moon and it and 713 00:40:14.820 --> 00:40:17.719 and get it to fire to get back into orbit 714 00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:20.559 and then climb from that back into there and they 715 00:40:20.599 --> 00:40:23.139 get from there back to there I mean the chances 716 00:40:23.179 --> 00:40:27.750 were incredible that's why they're heroes that's why they're that's 717 00:40:27.809 --> 00:40:28.690 why they're. 718 00:40:30.510 --> 00:40:36.000 Exactly If you ever wanted one of your questions on 719 00:40:36.039 --> 00:40:40.469 the universe answered, we all have questions about the universe. 720 00:40:41.239 --> 00:40:45.329 Black holes, the quasars, quantum entanglement, wormholes. There is no 721 00:40:45.489 --> 00:40:47.289 end to the depths. 722 00:40:47.289 --> 00:40:48.349 Of cosmic curiosity. 723 00:40:48.909 --> 00:40:56.090 Well, the entry level of Patreon membership with StarTalk gets 724 00:40:56.130 --> 00:40:59.619 you just that. I think it starts at $ 5 a month. 725 00:41:00.400 --> 00:41:05.360 You have access to the question line that reaches our 726 00:41:05.400 --> 00:41:09.019 Cosmic Query programming. And not only that, we produce a 727 00:41:09.099 --> 00:41:15.570 special Cosmic Queries installment just for Patreon members. 728 00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:17.690 So if you weren't the director of the Hayden Planetarium, 729 00:41:17.730 --> 00:41:19.449 what do you think you would be doing? 730 00:41:19.789 --> 00:41:19.969 What? 731 00:41:20.070 --> 00:41:21.769 But this would have to be another universe. It wouldn't 732 00:41:21.789 --> 00:41:26.309 happen in this universe. Okay. I'd be a songwriter for 733 00:41:26.349 --> 00:41:27.070 Broadway musicals. 734 00:41:27.449 --> 00:41:30.610 Ooh! So that's the entry. 735 00:41:30.389 --> 00:41:35.260 Level, and the perks ascend from there. There's a level, 736 00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:40.219 in fact, where we send you an autographed copy of 737 00:41:40.400 --> 00:41:44.420 one of my latest books. Right now, it's Starry Messenger, 738 00:41:44.519 --> 00:41:48.760 Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization. And it's signed with my fancy 739 00:41:48.860 --> 00:41:52.789 fountain pen with purple ink. So I invite you to 740 00:41:52.849 --> 00:41:55.969 just check the link below. And all of that money 741 00:41:56.250 --> 00:42:00.949 goes to our ability to experiment with new ways of 742 00:42:01.010 --> 00:42:02.869 bringing the universe down to Earth. 743 00:42:03.110 --> 00:42:03.809 So thank you.

744 00:42:04.219 --> 00:42:07.949 For those who have already joined, and we welcome others 745 00:42:08.590 --> 00:42:11.730 to participate in this grand adventure of what it is 746 00:42:12.369 --> 00:42:16.489 to bring the universe down to earth. As always, keep 747 00:42:16.510 --> 00:42:20.090 looking up. So we're running short on time here. One 748 00:42:20.429 --> 00:42:23.730 feature of Star Trek in the original series, and it 749 00:42:24.050 --> 00:42:28.159 trickled into other incarnations of it, was that there was 750 00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:35.880 a morality tale. So each episode, was a lesson in 751 00:42:37.460 --> 00:42:42.079 how we treat one another here on Earth, but under 752 00:42:42.119 --> 00:42:44.400 the guise of, oh, it's just science fiction and it's 753 00:42:44.500 --> 00:42:48.219 aliens and it's, so that would get you to comment 754 00:42:48.340 --> 00:42:55.630 on a lot of prevailing geopolitics, social, cultural issues, racial issues. 755 00:42:57.159 --> 00:42:59.670 My favorite episode was the one where the guy was 756 00:42:59.730 --> 00:43:02.690 black and white and the other guy was white and black. 757 00:43:02.730 --> 00:43:04.590 With Frank Gorshin. 758 00:43:04.889 --> 00:43:10.130 In that episode, the aliens were exactly half black, half white. 759 00:43:10.809 --> 00:43:14.800 And one group of them were persecuting the other group. 760 00:43:15.159 --> 00:43:18.480 Why? Because they were black on the other half. of 761 00:43:18.519 --> 00:43:19.079 their bodies. 762 00:43:19.579 --> 00:43:23.550 And so again, it's just the space, but really they're 763 00:43:23.630 --> 00:43:28.170 mirrors back to civilization, especially there in the 1960s, civil 764 00:43:28.190 --> 00:43:31.619 rights movement was still in full swing. So I just 765 00:43:31.659 --> 00:43:35.500 want to say to be able to explore and still 766 00:43:36.139 --> 00:43:40.110 do something socially conscious, I think was with Gene Roddenberry, 767 00:43:40.650 --> 00:43:42.849 as the creative genius behind it all. 768 00:43:42.909 --> 00:43:45.820 And yes, you should get a lot of credit, but 769 00:43:45.840 --> 00:43:48.239 there were other guys that really worked on this. Okay. 770 00:43:48.300 --> 00:43:50.920 You know, people as a, as a, and I was 771 00:43:51.019 --> 00:43:54.920 a huge star Trek fan as a kid. My early 772 00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.250 memories were watching, sneaking behind the couch, watching Star Trek 773 00:43:59.409 --> 00:44:01.829 episodes when I was like five years old, when my 774 00:44:01.869 --> 00:44:03.269 mother didn't know my brother and I were there. 775 00:44:03.369 --> 00:44:04.590 What were you doing behind the couch? 776 00:44:04.670 --> 00:44:06.329 We were just hiding so she wouldn't see us. We 777 00:44:06.349 --> 00:44:09.010 were supposed to be in bed and we would watch. 778 00:44:09.090 --> 00:44:09.730 And same with me. 779 00:44:10.090 --> 00:44:12.139 We weren't allowed to watch TV during the week. 780 00:44:12.320 --> 00:44:12.820 And it was scary. 781 00:44:12.840 --> 00:44:14.940 So I had to catch most of it in reruns. 782 00:44:15.239 --> 00:44:20.139 And Apollo 11 memories. But as an astronaut, people would 783 00:44:20.179 --> 00:44:22.380 sometimes ask me a simple question. You know, the yes, 784 00:44:22.420 --> 00:44:26.510 no questions or questions. the binary question, Star Trek or 785 00:44:26.590 --> 00:44:27.190 Star Wars? 786 00:44:27.670 --> 00:44:28.829 What was your answer, Scott? 787 00:44:28.849 --> 00:44:31.480 I used to say when I was a young fighter pilot, oh, 788 00:44:31.820 --> 00:44:33.320 absolutely Star Wars. 789 00:44:33.980 --> 00:44:36.820 X-Wing fighter. Jesus, Scott, Scott, that's really loud. 790 00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:40.539 Scott, Scott, security, could you get him off of this stage? 791 00:44:41.260 --> 00:44:42.010 As I got older. 792 00:44:42.030 --> 00:44:43.730 Wait a minute, you're a test pilot, so you've got 793 00:44:43.750 --> 00:44:44.400 to be in your 20s. 794 00:44:44.530 --> 00:44:46.860 You know, once I got into my 40s, my 50s, 795 00:44:46.849 --> 00:44:50.150 you know, the harsh edges have gotten rubbed off on 796 00:44:50.170 --> 00:44:53.030 me a little bit. Clearly Star Trek now because of 797 00:44:53.070 --> 00:44:55.719 the very reason you mentioned and how that show was 798 00:44:55.760 --> 00:44:59.619 just so far ahead of its time Decades ahead of this. 799 00:44:59.559 --> 00:45:05.099 Cared about the laws of physics unlike Star Wars just 800 00:45:05.139 --> 00:45:06.940 to be clear just to be I don't want this 801 00:45:06.960 --> 00:45:10.559 to go unrecognized You flew for the Navy, correct? 802 00:45:10.659 --> 00:45:10.840 Right. 803 00:45:11.219 --> 00:45:13.840 I just want to make sure that's on the table here. 804 00:45:14.219 --> 00:45:17.300 Why? Why? Why is it important that he flew for 805 00:45:17.320 --> 00:45:17.559 the Navy? 806 00:45:17.579 --> 00:45:18.579 Oh, it was a fighter pilot. 807 00:45:18.599 --> 00:45:20.159 Versus the Air Force? 808 00:45:20.239 --> 00:45:24.079 Because the Navy? Being a Navy pilot? Much more challenging 809 00:45:24.099 --> 00:45:25.260 than being an Air Force pilot. 810 00:45:25.280 --> 00:45:29.420 That's why it's important. Landing on those carriers. Landing on 811 00:45:29.440 --> 00:45:32.570 the carrier. Landing on a carrier at night apparently is 812 00:45:32.690 --> 00:45:34.409 the worst. 813 00:45:35.030 --> 00:45:38.710 Because I once went on a centrifuge at a in 814 00:45:38.789 --> 00:45:41.530 Brandeis University. We were doing a show there and they 815 00:45:41.550 --> 00:45:44.869 had a centrifuge and They didn't put it at its 816 00:45:44.909 --> 00:45:47.369 fastest or anything. And I got off and my lunch 817 00:45:47.869 --> 00:45:50.449 came out of me. So I realized I was... None 818 00:45:50.530 --> 00:45:55.329 unlike this ship right now. I realized I was the 819 00:45:55.449 --> 00:45:58.989

inadequate stuff rather than the right stuff. But I can 820 00:45:59.139 --> 00:46:01.840 handle that because I have other talents I think I 821 00:46:01.860 --> 00:46:04.199 can bring. You know, this is the second time I've. 822 00:46:04.179 --> 00:46:06.940 Talked to you in the last couple of days where 823 00:46:07.099 --> 00:46:15.010 your up-chucking has been a subject of my... Is it 824 00:46:15.090 --> 00:46:18.769 a fetish with you? I mean, are you trying to 825 00:46:18.809 --> 00:46:21.590 release something from inside you? What is it? 826 00:46:22.199 --> 00:46:25.219 I'm exposing my vulnerable side to the audience. 827 00:46:25.300 --> 00:46:31.059 That's all. You're letting us see your insides. 828 00:46:31.900 --> 00:46:33.679 So we can land this plane here, if I may 829 00:46:33.780 --> 00:46:38.260 use a metaphor, or land this starship. When I look 830 00:46:38.340 --> 00:46:42.000 at the challenges of Shackleton and other polar explorers, it 831 00:46:42.079 --> 00:46:48.090 is many-dimensional. It is the temperature. It is the time. 832 00:46:48.590 --> 00:46:51.289 It is a place they've never been before. Well, do 833 00:46:51.309 --> 00:46:56.199 they have enough food? There's all manner of things that 834 00:46:56.239 --> 00:47:00.440 have never been breached before. And it's all rolled up 835 00:47:00.500 --> 00:47:04.480 into one expedition. And that's got to be the scariest 836 00:47:04.539 --> 00:47:09.150 thing ever. So can you just comment on that? 837 00:47:09.349 --> 00:47:09.690 Reflect? 838 00:47:12.440 --> 00:47:14.730 It's one thing to say, Mars is at risk because 839 00:47:14.750 --> 00:47:17.630 there's radiation, or maybe I'll get a radiation suit or something. 840 00:47:17.849 --> 00:47:18.829 That's one thing. 841 00:47:19.389 --> 00:47:21.440 But if you've got 20 things that could kill you, 842 00:47:21.449 --> 00:47:24.369 you know what it reminds me of? I don't remember 843 00:47:24.469 --> 00:47:28.639 which film. It's one of these sci-fi films where their hand, oh, 844 00:47:28.739 --> 00:47:30.659 I remember, excuse me, I remember what it was. It 845 00:47:30.679 --> 00:47:33.480 was the movie Contact, based on the Carl Sagan novel, 846 00:47:33.880 --> 00:47:38.119 where Jodie Foster's character is going to visit the aliens. 847 00:47:39.050 --> 00:47:41.340 Because they sent us a recipe of how to do that. 848 00:47:41.719 --> 00:47:47.219 Before she gets on board this newfangled alien spacecraft, they 849 00:47:47.280 --> 00:47:52.840 hand her this thing to bite on where she can 850 00:47:52.880 --> 00:47:57.190 kill herself, commit suicide. Cyanide pill. It might have been cyanide. 851 00:47:57.269 --> 00:48:00.690 I don't remember what it was. And she says, you 852 00:48:00.730 --> 00:48:02.030 think I'm going to travel all the way just to 853 00:48:02.050 --> 00:48:06.840 kill myself? And they leveled with her. They said, we 854 00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:07.489 can list 100 reasons. 855 00:48:09.190 --> 00:48:12.639 Why you might want to do this. What scares us 856 00:48:13.320 --> 00:48:16.440 are the hundred reasons we can't think of why you 857 00:48:16.500 --> 00:48:17.440 might want to do this. 858 00:48:18.199 --> 00:48:23.099 I want to ask one question about that very element 859 00:48:23.119 --> 00:48:28.059 of torture. Yes. Okay. You're dressed in a suit from 860 00:48:28.119 --> 00:48:34.460 head to toe. I mean, it's airtight. It's it's water 861 00:48:34.519 --> 00:48:38.019 is flowing through it to cool it the the 200 862 00:48:38.019 --> 00:48:44.760 degrees on that thing and your armpit itches What do 863 00:48:44.820 --> 00:48:45.239 you do? 864 00:48:47.159 --> 00:48:49.480 Well, you can't do anything the worst though is something 865 00:48:49.539 --> 00:48:51.500 on your face or it's the face Yeah, you. 866 00:48:51.380 --> 00:48:54.280 Gotta scratch your cheek and you can't scratch your cheek. 867 00:48:54.659 --> 00:48:55.250 What do you do? I? 868 00:48:56.179 --> 00:48:56.780 You deal with it. 869 00:48:57.179 --> 00:48:59.000 What do you mean deal with it? Dude, they're the 870 00:48:59.059 --> 00:49:01.510 right stuff. They're not going to freak out because their 871 00:49:01.570 --> 00:49:04.690 face itches. No, I don't mind dying, but I got 872 00:49:04.710 --> 00:49:05.849 to scratch this itch. 873 00:49:06.670 --> 00:49:08.610 Not something we really ever talk about much. 874 00:49:09.230 --> 00:49:10.650 But it's so practical. 875 00:49:11.010 --> 00:49:13.349 As I understand, there was a variant on the spacesuit 876 00:49:13.630 --> 00:49:16.650 where they had like a thing where you can maneuver 877 00:49:16.670 --> 00:49:17.530 it from the outside. 878 00:49:17.579 --> 00:49:20.219 And can scratch. I read about this. Is that true? 879 00:49:20.460 --> 00:49:20.780 I don't know. 880 00:49:20.860 --> 00:49:21.460 I've never heard about it. 881 00:49:21.460 --> 00:49:23.530 I just heard about it. You may have heard about it. 882 00:49:23.880 --> 00:49:26.480 I tested this. He was in one, okay? Whose word 883 00:49:26.500 --> 00:49:30.659 are you going to take? So I've tested this. So 884 00:49:30.699 --> 00:49:31.130 I tested it. 885 00:49:31.179 --> 00:49:33.489 I said to myself, if I'm in a spacesuit and 886 00:49:33.510 --> 00:49:36.250 my face itches, I can't scratch it. So I said, 887 00:49:36.530 --> 00:49:39.469 how long can I go without scratching a face itch? 888 00:49:39.909 --> 00:49:42.769 And I would stand there and initially it's a little twitchy, 889 00:49:43.269 --> 00:49:44.750 but after. 890 00:49:44.610 --> 00:49:46.690 A while the itch goes away. So I pictured myself 891 00:49:46.750 --> 00:49:49.360 as an FBI agent and I'm hiding in a closet 892 00:49:49.679 --> 00:49:52.199 and the bed guy is in the room and I itch. 893 00:49:52.880 --> 00:49:55.340 I gotta scratch this thing and he's gonna hear me scratch. 894 00:49:55.380 --> 00:49:57.460 You wouldn't be a good FBI agent. No, you have 895

00:49:57.500 --> 00:49:59.500 to deal with that itch. Yeah, they'd shoot through the 896 00:49:59.519 --> 00:50:01.039 closet and then you'd be removed from the scene. 897 00:50:01.059 --> 00:50:03.159 Absolutely. Here, you got an itch? Where is it? 898 00:50:03.159 --> 00:50:06.039 So I found, you can resist itches. If you wait 899 00:50:06.079 --> 00:50:07.199 long enough, the itch goes away. 900 00:50:07.340 --> 00:50:09.170 Is that right? I have found. I did the experiment, 901 00:50:09.230 --> 00:50:12.670 at least on myself. So now. We've covered that. 902 00:50:13.610 --> 00:50:16.750 All of my shows, when they have fun folks on, 903 00:50:16.789 --> 00:50:18.929 I want to give you a chance to ask me 904 00:50:18.949 --> 00:50:23.639 a question about astrophysics. Only because there aren't many astrophysicists 905 00:50:23.739 --> 00:50:26.139 in the world. In fact, if you do the numbers, 906 00:50:26.159 --> 00:50:28.969 there's one in a million people in the world is 907 00:50:29.010 --> 00:50:31.570 an astrophysicist. So if you're ever in the same space 908 00:50:31.590 --> 00:50:33.289 as one of them, you better ask your question. 909 00:50:33.409 --> 00:50:35.329 My ambition is to sit down and talk with you 910 00:50:35.349 --> 00:50:38.599 about astrophysics. All the stuff I have no comprehension about 911 00:50:38.900 --> 00:50:40.880 that you do, there's so much to learn. 912 00:50:41.139 --> 00:50:42.139 Ask me one question now. 913 00:50:42.460 --> 00:50:47.079 I can't think of one. Scott, go. 914 00:50:47.539 --> 00:50:49.159 I wanted to clear something up for you, Neil. 915 00:50:49.179 --> 00:50:50.489 Uh-oh. 916 00:50:51.190 --> 00:50:52.489 Clear something up. 917 00:50:52.570 --> 00:50:58.099 From Twitter. October 9th in 2022 after the Top Gun 918 00:50:58.139 --> 00:51:01.679 movie came out. You said late to the party here, 919 00:51:02.119 --> 00:51:06.019 but in this year's Top Gun movie, Tom Cruise character 920 00:51:06.039 --> 00:51:10.409 Maverick ejects from a hypersonic plane at Mach 10.5 before 921 00:51:10.429 --> 00:51:10.929 it crashed. 922 00:51:10.949 --> 00:51:11.489 Holy mackerel. 923 00:51:11.750 --> 00:51:15.389 He survived with no injuries. At that airspeed, his body 924 00:51:15.429 --> 00:51:20.389 would splatter like a chainmail glove swatting a worm. Just saying. 925 00:51:20.769 --> 00:51:23.369 And then I responded to it. No kidding. 926 00:51:24.260 --> 00:51:26.659 And I began the Twitter desktop. 927 00:51:26.920 --> 00:51:29.659 Yeah, so I said depends on his altitude I was 928 00:51:29.699 --> 00:51:32.000 going Mach 25 when I left the ISS on a 929 00:51:32.039 --> 00:51:36.579 spacewalk and that was just fine. Oh, that's true which 930 00:51:36.659 --> 00:51:42.000 is a lot faster, so And it was interesting to 931 00:51:42.019 --> 00:51:45.260 see this whole thing unfold because people chose sides. 932 00:51:45.519 --> 00:51:47.000 They so did. 933 00:51:47.219 --> 00:51:50.090 There was like, Tyson, you've never been in space, so 934 00:51:50.110 --> 00:51:52.469 I'm siding with the guy who's been in space. And 935 00:51:52.489 --> 00:51:55.429 other people said, you can't duck the laws of physics. 936 00:51:55.769 --> 00:51:58.250 So it divided right down the middle, I think. 937 00:51:58.269 --> 00:52:00.119 Yeah, and they thought it was just like beef, like 938 00:52:00.159 --> 00:52:01.280 we hated each other all the time. 939 00:52:03.780 --> 00:52:07.579 Because the internet thrives on just that kind of. 940 00:52:07.719 --> 00:52:11.619 Let me ask you an astrophysicist question. 941 00:52:11.639 --> 00:52:12.780 Are you going to leave this dangling here? 942 00:52:13.269 --> 00:52:15.670 Okay, that's fine. I'll come back to it. He's going 18,000 943 00:52:15.670 --> 00:52:20.219 miles an hour with no air and not suffering, I think, 944 00:52:20.239 --> 00:52:23.860 because there's no air. Because there's no air! Right. You're 945 00:52:23.920 --> 00:52:28.949 talking about a winged airplane using air as a lift 946 00:52:29.130 --> 00:52:32.869 and ejecting at 10,000, whatever it is. Locked heavy, 7,000 947 00:52:32.869 --> 00:52:33.989 miles an hour. 948 00:52:34.030 --> 00:52:37.210 Yeah. But there's almost no air where a Mach 10 949 00:52:37.210 --> 00:52:38.230 airplane would fly. 950 00:52:38.239 --> 00:52:39.739 They would fly very high. You can't do that at 951 00:52:39.800 --> 00:52:43.619 low altitude. But that's kind of the whole point. Where 952 00:52:43.639 --> 00:52:46.280 there's less air, you can go faster so that you're 953 00:52:46.380 --> 00:52:50.480 still intersecting the requisite air molecules to measure the fact 954 00:52:50.519 --> 00:52:53.320 that you're going Mach 10. Next time you're driving down 955 00:52:53.340 --> 00:52:56.360 the street, 60 miles an hour, roll down the window. 956 00:52:56.469 --> 00:53:00.170 Yes. Oh, sorry. How do you open windows? 957 00:53:00.909 --> 00:53:04.030 Lower the window. Lower the window with the button. Stick 958 00:53:04.050 --> 00:53:08.659 your hand out just like that. You can barely hold 959 00:53:08.719 --> 00:53:14.000 your hand straight against 60 mile an hour air. That 960 00:53:14.039 --> 00:53:17.690 is a hard thing to accomplish. Now increase the speed 961 00:53:17.730 --> 00:53:23.610 of that air by a factor of 100. You'd stick 962 00:53:23.659 --> 00:53:25.739 your hand out there, your hand will just blow away. 963 00:53:27.260 --> 00:53:28.480 Separated from your arm. 964 00:53:28.579 --> 00:53:31.559 And you're going to we've missed 100 mile an hour 965 00:53:31.599 --> 00:53:34.659 winds here, but they happen all the time. Yes. Now, 966 00:53:34.780 --> 00:53:37.070 pick up where you're going with your question. OK, the 967 00:53:37.130 --> 00:53:41.829 universe is expanding. All measurements tell us that. OK, where? 968 00:53:42.170 --> 00:53:46.730 So the the the the star system that we saw, 969 00:53:47.280 --> 00:53:50.659 we think is the

original one is the farthest away, 13.8 970 00:53:50.659 --> 00:53:53.460 billion years away. Where is it gone? Where is it going? 971 00:53:54.510 --> 00:53:58.739 That star system, we see it not as it is today, 972 00:53:58.840 --> 00:54:02.739 but as it once was 13.8 billion years ago. Because 973 00:54:02.760 --> 00:54:05.639 that light is only now just reaching us. 974 00:54:05.679 --> 00:54:09.849 Jesus, yesterday you said that it's instantaneous. I mean, you've 975 00:54:09.869 --> 00:54:12.650 got to have the rules, follow the rules here. So 976 00:54:12.690 --> 00:54:15.550 wait a minute. So that still is my question. It's 977 00:54:15.610 --> 00:54:19.269 only more compounded. So I'm looking at light from that 978 00:54:19.739 --> 00:54:24.760 galaxy 13.8 billion years away, and it's another, it's 26, 979 00:54:24.760 --> 00:54:27.440 it's 29.6 light years away now. Billion. So what's going 980 00:54:27.599 --> 00:54:34.510 on is, There's. 981 00:54:34.309 --> 00:54:37.230 The light you see from objects formed at the beginning 982 00:54:37.250 --> 00:54:41.250 of the universe, only now just reaching us. Today, that 983 00:54:41.389 --> 00:54:44.510 object is way farther away from us than that. 984 00:54:44.570 --> 00:54:47.190 So the universe is far larger. You just can't see that. Yes. 985 00:54:48.170 --> 00:54:50.380 The measurements of the universe is far larger. 986 00:54:50.449 --> 00:54:53.260 It's like 90, nearly 100 billion light years across. 987 00:54:53.300 --> 00:55:00.340 So it's like immeasurably big. So what is space? Gotcha. 988 00:55:03.980 --> 00:55:11.969 It's the final frontier. Oh, mic drop on that. 989 00:55:14.610 --> 00:55:16.369 Let me say, Scott, it was fun doing a little 990 00:55:16.409 --> 00:55:18.489 dust up with you on Twitter just to see how 991 00:55:18.550 --> 00:55:20.650 people chose sides. Right, they thought we were just enemies 992 00:55:20.690 --> 00:55:23.280 and they wanted to watch it happen. But it was fun. 993 00:55:23.429 --> 00:55:26.730 It was a highly educational moment for people. They'd see 994 00:55:26.789 --> 00:55:27.849 what's going on there. 995 00:55:28.719 --> 00:55:29.030 Bill. 996 00:55:29.219 --> 00:55:29.429 Yes. 997 00:55:29.639 --> 00:55:31.920 You're my man. You are my man. You are a treasure. 998 00:55:31.940 --> 00:55:32.760 You are a treasure. 999 00:55:33.429 --> 00:55:35.969 Not only to me, but to everyone assembled here on 1000 00:55:36.010 --> 00:55:40.190 this ship, to the country and to the world, your enthusiasm, 1001 00:55:40.530 --> 00:55:48.119 your boyish curiosity, childlike curiosity is infectious. It is contagious. 1002 00:55:48.280 --> 00:55:51.159 I don't want to use these biologically bad words. 1003 00:55:51.519 --> 00:55:57.849 It is, it's, yeah, it's contagious. Great. It's contagious. to 1004 00:55:57.929 --> 00:56:01.289 us all. That's wonderful, thank you. And this past year, 1005 00:56:01.349 --> 00:56:05.690 you had your 93rd birthday? My birthday is March 22nd, 1006 00:56:05.750 --> 00:56:08.070 so it's not that far away. You're going to be 94? 1007 00:56:08.070 --> 00:56:08.989 I'll be 94. 1008 00:56:08.989 --> 00:56:12.840 And we have, there's a documentary called You Can Call 1009 00:56:12.860 --> 00:56:16.699 Me Bill that's out and around, making its rounds right now. 1010 00:56:16.739 --> 00:56:17.579 Yeah, it's really good. 1011 00:56:17.639 --> 00:56:19.320 And I was with you for the New York premiere 1012 00:56:19.360 --> 00:56:23.429 of that, which I delighted in, just to, and just 1013 00:56:23.570 --> 00:56:27.030 if I can steal another minute here, could you tell 1014 00:56:27.090 --> 00:56:29.869 us all Recount for us all, as you did in 1015 00:56:29.889 --> 00:56:34.889 the film, what were you thinking after they had canceled 1016 00:56:34.949 --> 00:56:39.349 Star Trek after its third season? We haven't yet landed 1017 00:56:39.409 --> 00:56:42.880 on the moon, and you're living out of a trailer 1018 00:56:43.500 --> 00:56:43.860 trying to. 1019 00:56:44.139 --> 00:56:46.599 Did I tell that story in the film? Or maybe 1020 00:56:46.619 --> 00:56:47.119 you told me. 1021 00:56:47.679 --> 00:56:52.099 But you're in a trailer in regional theater trying to 1022 00:56:52.119 --> 00:56:52.599 make a buck. 1023 00:56:52.679 --> 00:56:55.159 I have three children. They're going to school. I was 1024 00:56:55.480 --> 00:56:59.380 getting divorced. as the show was being canceled, I was broke. 1025 00:56:59.719 --> 00:57:02.280 I couldn't write a $ 15 check at the end of 1026 00:57:02.320 --> 00:57:07.289 Star Trek. I acquired, I think I bought an old 1027 00:57:07.329 --> 00:57:11.010 truck with a cab on the back and a dog, 1028 00:57:11.030 --> 00:57:17.000 a Doberman, and I put together a summer show theater show, 1029 00:57:17.599 --> 00:57:23.489 and I drove across the country to the Cape Boston 1030 00:57:24.349 --> 00:57:27.969 and did summer theater for 13 weeks, turned around, headed 1031 00:57:28.010 --> 00:57:31.369 back home to go back to my family. Made a 1032 00:57:31.409 --> 00:57:34.650 point of calling my agent every day from a gas station, 1033 00:57:34.989 --> 00:57:38.760 put the quarters in, and he said, oh, Rose Kennedy 1034 00:57:39.320 --> 00:57:44.090 wants you to come I can't come to a party. 1035 00:57:44.349 --> 00:57:46.349 I've got to go see my kid. All right, well, 1036 00:57:46.389 --> 00:57:49.309 call me tomorrow. I call him tomorrow. He says, I'm 1037 00:57:49.349 --> 00:57:51.599 telling you, Rose Kennedy wants you to come to the 1038 00:57:51.659 --> 00:57:55.360 Kennedy party and the thing. I can't come. I get 1039 00:57:55.400 --> 00:57:58.079 to Phoenix. I call him. He says, they'll send an 1040 00:57:58.219 --> 00:58:01.739 airplane for you. Had I not been so blinded by 1041 00:58:01.940 --> 00:58:06.530 coming home in this, pilots know about the danger of coming, 1042 00:58:06.750 --> 00:58:11.170 of home-itis, is it? Where you sacrifice the rules to 1043 00:58:11.210 --> 00:58:13.989 get home and you're so anxious. I sacrificed the rules. 1044 00:58:14.090 --> 00:58:17.030 I could have asked her, send the plane to Arizona, 1045 00:58:17.550 --> 00:58:20.519 fly me to Los Angeles, pick up my kids, fly 1046 00:58:20.559 --> 00:58:24.780 back to New York, meet the Kennedys and fly me back. 1047 00:58:24.900 --> 00:58:28.719 I didn't think of it. And that was my journey, 1048 00:58:29.300 --> 00:58:32.610 my initiation after Star Trek. 1049 00:58:33.309 --> 00:58:35.449 So it went to a low and then it has 1050 00:58:35.489 --> 00:58:37.010 been ascending ever since. 1051 00:58:37.170 --> 00:58:39.679 I've had good luck ever since. And, of course, you 1052 00:58:39.699 --> 00:58:42.500 have the book To Boldly Go. To Boldly Go. But 1053 00:58:42.519 --> 00:58:45.159 there's more than one book out there. Okay. Yeah. All right. 1054 00:58:45.179 --> 00:58:47.000 Well, look for those. And, Scott, what projects do you 1055 00:58:47.019 --> 00:58:47.840 have going right now? 1056 00:58:48.119 --> 00:58:51.389 I do a bunch of public speaking. I'm on some 1057 00:58:51.429 --> 00:58:55.409 advisory boards. Yeah, okay. I write a little. I have 1058 00:58:55.469 --> 00:58:57.869 some other book ideas I need to. 1059 00:58:58.090 --> 00:59:00.889 Start working on. He's a wonderful public speaker. He's perfect 1060 00:59:00.929 --> 00:59:01.710 in front of an audience. 1061 00:59:02.250 --> 00:59:04.030 Guys, thanks for coming back onto StarTalk. 1062 00:59:04.050 --> 00:59:04.590 Yeah, it's great. 1063 00:59:04.789 --> 00:59:09.380 So this has been StarTalk Live. in a voyage sponsored 1064 00:59:09.400 --> 00:59:12.280 by the Future of Space, an organization that's trying to 1065 00:59:12.719 --> 00:59:15.460 connect us to exploration. 1066 00:59:15.739 --> 00:59:16.380 Absolutely. 1067 00:59:16.440 --> 00:59:19.219 And this is the inaugural voyage of the Space 2C 1068 00:59:20.139 --> 00:59:26.070 trip to Antarctica, which brought the three of us together. Fortuitously. 1069 00:59:26.269 --> 00:59:29.889 I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist, and as always, 1070 00:59:29.969 --> 00:59:32.269 I bid you to keep looking up.