WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:01.919 Welcome to my world. 2 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:31.160 Bitch, wow god good here. 3 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:37.320 Welcome to the one hundred and seventy eighth episode of 4 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:41.000 the Supernatural Occurrent Studies podcast. 5 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:43.359 So Astrologically Paranormal. 6 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:46.320 Good one. My name is Jason Knight, host of this show, 7 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:53.320 and with me as always is Oscar Spector, producer extordinaire 8 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:56.399 and podcast co host. Did you have a little hiccup there? 9 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:57.000 A little no? 10 00:00:57.079 --> 00:00:59.240 I wanted to give you a pause. Oh so you 11 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:01.280 can freak out because you're waiting for me to say it, 12 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:03.159 So you can just get right into the next line. 13 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:05.480 That's right. So I was trying to throw me off 14 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:07.439 my Yeah, I am. That's all right, That's all right. 15 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:08.879 I feel like I'm off tonight. This is This is 16 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:11.599 a long one, but a good one. What has been 17 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:16.840 up with you man since last month? Catchup month? 18 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:19.120 Oh yeah, so I got that tattoo. I mentioned that 19 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:22.239 I was going to get. Uh Furthermore, there was a 20 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:25.319 discussion we were having while I was at getting my 21 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:28.120 first tattoo, because I've gone two this year, and just 22 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:33.560 two I will be getting until next year and after 23 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:36.599 my first. I got my first one in at the 24 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:40.400 Chicago Villain Arts Tattoo convention, And while I was there, 25 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:43.599 the artist that was doing that tattoo, that was doing 26 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:47.319 mine had his brother, who was also an artist the 27 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:52.120 booth right next to him, and he was offering It's crazy, Yeah, 28 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:58.120 this is crazy. He was offering free, like twenty minute sessions, 29 00:01:58.599 --> 00:02:03.799 free paint tattoos. The taint, you know what I mean, 30 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:08.719 it's the space between your asshole and your genitals. That's 31 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:12.400 the one right the landing strip. There's many calls or 32 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:16.879 not the landing stripe that's but the runway right to 33 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.199 the ass hole. So he was offering them for free. 34 00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:23.199 It wasn't for like the whole day or anything, but 35 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:28.199 it was such a such a weird left turn to 36 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:30.520 know this like thing that this guy was doing. 37 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:31.599 I was seeing. 38 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:33.319 I mean I couldn't see very well from because I 39 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:36.199 was getting tattooed, but before doing my break or whatever, 40 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:39.039 I would see him and wide open in front. It 41 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:42.000 wasn't no curtains. Wow, you know, just like you would 42 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:42.759 just doing. 43 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:45.039 Them, So you saw people getting their taint. 44 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:47.240 I didn't like to go in there and see, but 45 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:48.080 yes they were doing it. 46 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:50.280 Yes they were in front of garden everybody. 47 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:55.360 And had I either done this, had I anticipated it 48 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.800 or had my artists finished early, which of course I'm 49 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:02.199 not going to rush my artist. I would have gotten one. 50 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:03.000 You were going to do it. 51 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:05.199 So I told a guy like, I want to get one. 52 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:06.960 That's what we were going to talk about. Because the 53 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:08.479 show last time, you didn't want to. 54 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:10.360 I didn't want to because I did in case. I 55 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:11.960 didn't do it at that time because there was that 56 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:14.560 weekend that we were recording, and I'd gotten in an 57 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:16.719 extra free ticket to come the next day, the last 58 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:19.639 day of that convention, and the brother was an offered 59 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:23.560 free tank tattoos. The next day is tanink tattoos and 60 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:26.520 the guy want for the best worst tattoo in like 61 00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:27.400 a year or something. 62 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:29.319 That's worst. That's funny. 63 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:33.039 Him and his other artist friend they tattooed each other's 64 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:35.120 taints and that's how they won. 65 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:38.759 That's get together and do podcasts. Some people get together 66 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:40.520 and they write tattoo their taints. 67 00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:43.199 I think it's great. I mean, if they're not bonded 68 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:45.039 for life, I don't know what bonds you. I don't 69 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:48.680 know what does it better than that? So my idea 70 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:51.800 for what I wanted to get is to have the 71 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:54.159 word love or something love. So it could be a 72 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:57.319 tainted love like the song that's what I wanted to 73 00:03:57.400 --> 00:03:59.479 get it's perfect. 74 00:03:59.159 --> 00:04:01.360 Jay, whereas the show going and just like it's a 75 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:03.360 perfect could we put in a clip of that. 76 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:05.680 I almost couldn't contain myself. I was supposed to be 77 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:08.199 still that I was. I almost cann't contain myself with 78 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:11.199 glee at the idea that I might get a taint tattoo, 79 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:15.159 which is so impulsive, something like something I would I'd 80 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:17.279 never imagined getting. By the way, it's not like a 81 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:19.720 I've been looking for a taint artic. 82 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:22.680 I forget it even exists, right, But it was. 83 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:24.920 Such an impulsive thing that I was so yes for 84 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:30.439 because it's so unique and literally only the people that 85 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:32.160 know me best will ever get to see it. 86 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:33.839 You know what I'm saying. 87 00:04:34.360 --> 00:04:38.439 It's it's it's great, it's a cocktail story, it's great, 88 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:40.199 it works on so many levels. 89 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:45.800 But tainted love, yes, God, yes. So to be clear 90 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:48.720 for the audience, you did not get your taint tattooed? 91 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:51.839 No, because because he was he was done offering it. 92 00:04:51.959 --> 00:04:57.000 He was doing regular sessions by appointment that he had money. Yeah, right, yes, 93 00:04:57.480 --> 00:05:00.279 so he wasn't offering it and I didn't go next 94 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:02.480 day because I just felt like shit, I just didn't 95 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:04.199 feel like getting out of the house. I think I 96 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:07.240 depleted all my social networking that I wanted to do. 97 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:09.079 All the people was on a. 98 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:11.879 Saturday, you know, because I because after that tattoo, I 99 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:13.839 also came to see you raf, so like I was like, oh, 100 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:15.560 it's been out all day. I don't want to do Yeah, 101 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:17.240 stayed home basically on that Sunday. 102 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:19.279 But you did get another tattoo on your leg. 103 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:21.600 Yes, I got this about two weeks ago, a little less. 104 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:22.319 It's pretty cool. 105 00:05:22.839 --> 00:05:27.199 Yeah, two weeks so, and uh, I forget where in Kankakee, Illinois, 106 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:31.120 that's where I went. Okay, Yeah, And it's a tattoo 107 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:36.800 on my leg on my right shin area, not the 108 00:05:36.839 --> 00:05:38.480 shin because the shin is like only the front right, 109 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:39.360 Oh shin is front. 110 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:39.720 Yeah, so. 111 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:45.360 Yeah, yeah exactly. And it's it's another Kirby tattoo. So 112 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:48.959 it's a Kirby tattoo with it's a Kirby tattoo that 113 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:53.879 ate an umbryon, which is an evilution evolution from Pokemon. 114 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:56.199 So if there's Pokemon people out there, they know what 115 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:56.560 you're talking. 116 00:05:56.639 --> 00:05:59.120 So yeah, I'm brand is my favorite probably my favorite 117 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:02.079 Pokemon ever and at least my favorite evil ev Luciens. 118 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:04.839 And basically I just made a or not made, but 119 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:08.800 this hardest did a Kirby that ate and transformed into 120 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:11.040 an umbry on because that's what I'm doing. I'm doing 121 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:14.519 a whole Kirby leg over time. And this one artist 122 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:17.800 that I'm seeing is my second time seeing her, is 123 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:20.639 going to be doing more Kirby ideas that I'll be having. 124 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:23.759 Can we put a because I'm sure there's the majority 125 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:25.360 people out there, like, what the fuck is it? So 126 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:26.959 we can put a picture on Instagram? 127 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:29.720 What is our demographic of age groups that we we 128 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:31.160 tend to like attract? 129 00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:31.480 You know? 130 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:33.519 I would say everybody? 131 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:35.399 Everybody? Just everyone? 132 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:37.759 Really? Yeah, I mean we've got you know, yeah, I 133 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:38.399 would say. 134 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:39.759 So, and fucking ask your kids. 135 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:46.079 Sorry, our demographic is wide, it's varied. 136 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:48.800 I'm gonna try to find this sentence to you now 137 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:49.519 before I forget. 138 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:51.279 Yeah, yeah, I'll put it up on Instagram. You got 139 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:53.439 some likes on the last tattoo that I put up there? 140 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:58.480 Oh cool? Yeah, so I too, I too got something new. 141 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:02.399 I know on the last show we talked about I 142 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:04.959 was in the market for a new car, right, and 143 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.360 so I did get a new car. The car buy 144 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:09.120 and I said in the last episode, I'm gonna say 145 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.519 it again, the car buying process is fucking terrible. There 146 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.439 should be laws around this shit. It's an awful experience. 147 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:18.519 I'm sorry if your car salesman out there, but fuck 148 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:25.319 man horrible. I didn't get a Tesla, and I guess 149 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:27.839 partially partially it was you know what, if I am 150 00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:31.279 driving somewhere and some asshole who can't separate cool tech 151 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:34.759 from politics sales are bricked through my window or I'm 152 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:37.079 parked at a restaurant and someone keys my car. I 153 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:38.759 don't want to fucking deal with that shit. And it 154 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:42.439 sucks because I really really had my heart set on Tesla, 155 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.399 but I still got an EV but I went with 156 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:49.600 the Cadillac EV. So I got what's called a Cadillac Optic, 157 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:52.600 and it is I'm glad I went with that instead 158 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:55.600 of the Tesla for sure. Okay, so I'm excited. I'm happy. 159 00:07:57.160 --> 00:08:00.839 It's still it's not home again because when they I guess, 160 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:02.879 took it off the truck, there were some dings on it, 161 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:06.800 and uh, I said, nope, it's not brand new, so 162 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:08.720 they're gonna if they're fixing it right now, they're doing 163 00:08:08.759 --> 00:08:12.319 some paint touch ups. So I have a loaner. But yeah, 164 00:08:12.439 --> 00:08:15.639 it was just a horrible nightmare. I turned into a 165 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:18.959 person that I am not. I am not a person 166 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:21.759 who returns food. I am not a person who complains. 167 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:24.879 I'm a person who understands. People have bad days, things 168 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:28.360 go wrong. You know, people wake up with devastating news, 169 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.040 right this, these are these are first world problems that 170 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:34.720 I have. But but I had enough and I went 171 00:08:34.759 --> 00:08:38.840 into that dealer like a fucking rage and maniac. And uh, 172 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:42.480 I'm not proud of it, but that's where they pushed me. 173 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:44.720 They pushed me the edge with this shit. 174 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:46.759 Well that's that's how they live. They live on that 175 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:50.200 because they most people would just want to just forget 176 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:53.240 it and you know, go with thee by the time, yeah, 177 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:54.240 so they can get out of there. 178 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.480 So but I did. I got a new car. I'm 179 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:00.279 very excited. I'm very happy. It's a beautiful ride. 180 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:03.960 Well, it doesn't exist, Jay, until I see it myself. 181 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:05.960 Right, No, I had it. I turned it in two 182 00:09:06.039 --> 00:09:08.240 days ago to get that those touch ups done, so 183 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:12.840 that should be back by mid next week, so it'll 184 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:15.360 be here next time you come. Okay, I'll take you 185 00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:18.200 for a ride. It's so cool, different, so different. 186 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:20.600 We should do you want to record the next episode 187 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:22.200 in your car as we're driving? 188 00:09:22.919 --> 00:09:23.759 People would hate us. 189 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:25.720 Well, you can't focus. 190 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:27.200 I can focus. 191 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:28.200 What the fun? We can do it? 192 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:29.039 It's got self driving. 193 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:35.399 You're you're making us easier, that's true. Why I don't 194 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:36.120 know why I'm pitching this. 195 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:40.919 Tesla undoubtedly has some better tech, more advanced tech. Hands down, 196 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:44.159 when it comes to ev technology, Tesla's got it by 197 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:47.519 the balls for sure. But the luxury that the Cadillac 198 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:50.960 brings and still has some of that tech that people 199 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:53.000 love in the Tesla, just to a little lesser degree. 200 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:56.399 It just still what a great choice. So I'm happy. 201 00:09:56.919 --> 00:09:59.320 I'm happy. Also, thanks, So you didn't get this? 202 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:08.159 Oh yeah, one day, who knows, we'll see, but for now, Cadillac, ummm, yeah, 203 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:10.879 it's about it. Should we take a break? Yes, that 204 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:14.360 it's a long and oh do it? We're drinking whiskey? 205 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:17.799 Of course? Did you stop it? No? I did not. 206 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.279 We're drinking belfour belfour whiskey. 207 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:23.159 Oh yeah, Jordan belfour it got. 208 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:29.039 Well, that's right. No, this is whiskey finished with pecan 209 00:10:29.159 --> 00:10:30.480 wood and panties talks. 210 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:35.559 Sell me this pen, sell me this whiskey bottle. 211 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:39.240 But ed belfour, So this is a celebrity sponsored whiskey 212 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:39.919 and it's not bad. 213 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:41.360 Jordan's pretty famous. 214 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:44.240 You could know ed belfour. He's hockey. 215 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:45.840 I'm trying to confuse you again. 216 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:49.720 Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, the Maple Leafs. 217 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:52.320 Can't say black Hawks anymore, I should, my dear. 218 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:55.279 I wonder did they take away the logo? 219 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:58.320 Well, well, you know, we know, my Jerry about how 220 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:01.200 we get with like the Indians and black You can't 221 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:04.639 say that. No, but there was a spits team sport. 222 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:06.440 No I know, but just in case someone out there doesn't, 223 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:10.039 because apparently our demographic wages from child to eighty years old, 224 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:15.720 we're like a Jigsaw apostle game. 225 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:17.200 Whiskey would do other? 226 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:17.799 You? Fuck? 227 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:21.720 That burns so good. Cradle the Grave, Baby, Cradle. 228 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:28.960 The Grave, that's all that MX, right, fuck, there's a 229 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:31.279 movie called Cradle through Gray with Jetley and d MX. 230 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:35.120 I think, yeah, remember I do anyway do what the 231 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:35.840 fuck was I saying? 232 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:39.360 I didn't get a waiting and you just's like apparently 233 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:46.840 a typocrat. Oh fuck, that was funny. I can't laugh. 234 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:50.960 Oh my god, Fuck, I don't remember. 235 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:52.080 It was so good talking. 236 00:11:52.440 --> 00:11:53.320 We're talking hockey. 237 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:58.519 Oh yeah, yeah. So apparently the reason why it's easier 238 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:00.559 to get away with saying black so we're having a 239 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:05.399 team back that or whatever is because unfortunately most of 240 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.960 the people that would care about that are dead. They 241 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:11.960 were we did such a good job exterminating them over 242 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:14.720 we as in Americans I mean and and by way, 243 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.679 I mean really white Americans, and did such a good 244 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:19.840 job that there's no one around to care. 245 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.120 You know. Well, maybe there's a little truth to that 246 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:25.240 or less an. I don't care. 247 00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:27.960 I'm not saying no one, but so it's it's not 248 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:29.960 that's a terrible thing. I'm just it's just an observation. 249 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:33.399 Yeah, well, I mean he did this, mister belfour did 250 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:35.639 play for and I think I'm hitting the table, and 251 00:12:35.799 --> 00:12:41.200 so I apologize. He did play for the Chicgo black Hawks. Okay, yeah, 252 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:43.879 so that's the whiskey we're drinking. It's good. I like it. 253 00:12:44.200 --> 00:12:46.240 Check it out, Oscar. Can we take a break? 254 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:47.159 Are you sure this time? 255 00:12:47.399 --> 00:13:25.840 Yes? Welcome back to the show listeners. Well, the lights 256 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:28.960 are turned down low or not the ceremonial candle. Of 257 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:31.279 course they are. Look it's almost romantic. 258 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:32.279 And take your next line. 259 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:34.600 The ceremonial candle is lit. 260 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:35.519 Where is the candle? 261 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:40.440 Fuck? And the drinks are flowing. Let's start this show. 262 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:45.600 So the title of this episode, Oscar is what goes up? 263 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.919 This has taking a hard right turn for us based 264 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:52.480 on the last I don't know dozen or two were 265 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:56.120 going republic episodes that had to do it like serial 266 00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:59.360 killers and shit, it's way different. What goes up? This 267 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:03.480 is a out man made space objects that make re entry, 268 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:08.559 whether intended or not. And I got this idea when 269 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:10.720 my wife and I were watching a new movie called 270 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:15.559 Cold Storage with Joe Was it Joe carry Joe carry 271 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:19.600 Kearney from Stranger Things? You know what I'm talking about? No? Yes, 272 00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:21.320 you do? You fucking do? 273 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:24.519 Yeah? We talked about this off air, folks, right, yes, no? 274 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:26.679 Or do you know who I'm talking about? And in 275 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:30.480 this story, the mirror space station, the Russian space station 276 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:34.399 comes down, and on that space station is this goo, 277 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:37.200 and that goo is deadly and has a mind of 278 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:38.720 its own right, So that gave me an idea. 279 00:14:38.759 --> 00:14:42.279 I'm like, oh, like Nickelodeon's Ghak the get oh. 280 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:45.120 From You can do that on television? Do you remember 281 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:47.399 that when they got slimed? 282 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:48.799 Yeah, but it is like a slime. 283 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:50.960 Did slime become Ghak for your generation? 284 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:51.600 I think so? 285 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:55.159 Huh kind of Uh. So that's what gave me the 286 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:59.639 idea for this this show, what goes up must come down? 287 00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:04.679 Right but before as above, so below and yang. 288 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:09.159 Before we begin the episode though, because there's a lot 289 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:10.639 of detail in here. Once I started. 290 00:15:10.679 --> 00:15:12.200 I don't know if he knows Jay, but we started 291 00:15:12.200 --> 00:15:12.720 the episode. 292 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:17.840 There's a lot of detail in here. Once I started 293 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:20.759 researching this, I couldn't stop. It was so fascinating. But 294 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:22.879 I just want to talk about some of the sources 295 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:29.519 for this story. I relied on primary sources and official 296 00:15:29.559 --> 00:15:33.559 records wherever possible, but I would say the most valuable 297 00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:38.799 single resource was the public tracking data and commentary of 298 00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:44.240 someone named Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 299 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:49.679 who spent decades cataloging every man made object that re 300 00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:56.240 enters Earth's atmosphere. NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office, through its 301 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:00.600 quarterly newsletters and incidence reports, provided detailed count of multiple 302 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:02.679 re entry events that we talk about in this show. 303 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:07.480 The European Space Agency published technical reports of two of 304 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.320 its missions re entries, while the US Space Command and 305 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:16.000 the Department of Defense to classified internal memos and public 306 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:21.440 summaries related to specific space debris incidents. The Canadian and 307 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:24.960 Australian governments released final reports on separate entry events in 308 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.960 their territories. China's Manned Space Agency shared tracking data for 309 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:34.279 one of its decommissioned spacecraft, and the Russian Federal Space 310 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:37.840 Agency issued a technical summary of one of their major 311 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:41.960 control the orbits. So I tried to get incredibly official 312 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:44.679 sources to put the story together. 313 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:47.039 Okay, I have a good iron of this. Yeah, please 314 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:49.799 don't mind, I'm acting. I'm only asking now because I 315 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:51.279 don't know where in the story will be best to 316 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:55.879 fitted in. So, you know, I from what I little 317 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:58.240 I know this, which is not much. Is that this 318 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.039 happens all the time, like things come all the time. 319 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:01.799 Is that correct? 320 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:02.120 It is? 321 00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:02.960 So, it's correct. 322 00:17:03.080 --> 00:17:06.000 But most things burn, they burn, well you know, yeah, totally. 323 00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:09.279 Pre entry means that they probably disintegrate, and that all 324 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:12.039 of them rights not all of them do. I mean, 325 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:15.240 if anyone's seen the first episode of Dead Like Me, 326 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:19.680 the main character gets killed by a falling space toilet 327 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:22.759 that hits her from space. I remember that that's a 328 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:26.920 show though, Yes, okay, you're flying that's toilet that's from space. 329 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:29.839 But this reminds me of a story from a show 330 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:32.599 called The West Wing. Really, in The West Wing, there's 331 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:37.359 a character Donna, who finds a report. You know, she's 332 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:39.319 she works at the White House. In the show, she 333 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:42.920 finds this report that says that a decommissioned Chinese satellite 334 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:47.440 is due to re enter and parts unknown, like, they 335 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:49.640 don't know what's going to land. It's going to land 336 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:52.079 that day. That the day she gets a report, right, 337 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:55.319 and she starts freaking out telling everyone about it and 338 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:57.160 like we got a duck and cover, you know, we 339 00:17:57.240 --> 00:17:59.400 gotta do something. And then at some point later on 340 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:02.000 the episode, everyone in doors. At some point later on 341 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:05.799 the episode, her boss goes like, like, here's about it, 342 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:08.720 and someone else goes, that's just does she know that 343 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.039 this happens all the time? Like, no, she doesn't know. No, 344 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:13.400 it happens all the time, and no one's ever been 345 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:15.519 hit by one. Well that's just a TV show though, 346 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:19.039 But apparently in that show, in that world. Maybe at 347 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:21.720 that time it's really right to get hit by one, 348 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:24.079 but it does happen all the time, and there's no 349 00:18:24.200 --> 00:18:24.839 cost for our alarm. 350 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:27.160 So I open up this this whole show with a 351 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:30.079 story or someone getting hit. Yeah, someone actually got it. 352 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:32.079 Okay, crazy, I mean bound to happen. 353 00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:34.079 But you're right, it does happen all the time, and 354 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:38.519 people don't realize this. Yeah, we are fucking up space. Yeah, 355 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:41.000 it's like we're fucking up the Earth. Yes, you can't 356 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:44.319 contest that. This isn't political. You can't contest we're fucking 357 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:47.559 up the Earth. We're fucking up space too, and there's 358 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:50.400 some very important orbits up there that we should not 359 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:53.799 be fucking up where we keep very important satellite equipment 360 00:18:54.039 --> 00:18:58.680 and you know, reconnaissance equipment and things like the International 361 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:01.759 Space Station, things like this, very important orbits that we 362 00:19:01.880 --> 00:19:06.440 are destroying. And it's frightening because you can't. Once they're 363 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:08.799 up there, what do you do. You can't. They're gonna 364 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:11.799 come down eventually, or they're going to destroy something, you know. 365 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:15.880 Yeah, like gravity when they all start crashing each other 366 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:18.640 and they destroy the space stations and stuff exactly like that. 367 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:19.200 Uh huh. 368 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.000 Yeah. So I really got into this. I hope you 369 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:26.279 do too, So let me let me begin with this story. 370 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:31.200 On a warm January night in nineteen ninety seven, Lottie 371 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:33.559 Williams went for a walk in a park with some 372 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:38.720 friends in Turley, Oklahoma. It was about four am, and 373 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:42.079 the kind of hour reserved for INSOMNIAX and the very dedicated. 374 00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:47.119 She saw a huge fireball streak across the sky, a 375 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:50.880 shooting star, she thought, but it was brighter and slower 376 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:55.319 than usual. She didn't think much of it. Later, as 377 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:58.720 she walked back to her car, something small and light 378 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.480 tapped her on the shoulder. It almost felt like an 379 00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:07.400 empty soda can. She looked down. On the ground lay 380 00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:11.559 a crumpled, blackened piece of fiberglass about the size of 381 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:16.240 her fist, and it was warm. What Lottie Williams had 382 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:20.079 just experienced was a one in a trillion event. She 383 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:23.200 became the first person in history to be hit by 384 00:20:23.319 --> 00:20:27.240 human made space debris. The object that tapped her on 385 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:31.079 the shoulder was later confirmed to be a fragment from 386 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:36.200 the second stage of a US Delta to rocket, specifically 387 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:42.400 an aerojet Aja ten Dash one one eight K engine section. 388 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:47.599 A year earlier that rocket launched from an Air Force satellite. 389 00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:50.920 I'm sorry a year earlier. That rocket launched an Air 390 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:54.880 Force satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on 391 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:59.160 April twenty fourth, nineteen ninety six, and it spent. Stage 392 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:02.680 had been circled circling Earth in a decaying orbit ever since. 393 00:21:04.359 --> 00:21:07.359 On the night Lotty was walking or morning Lotty was 394 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:11.359 walking Interley, the stage re entered the atmosphere at about 395 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:17.119 forty two nautical miles above Topeka, Kansas, scattering debris across 396 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:21.680 Oklahoma and Texas. The largest piece, a five hundred and 397 00:21:21.799 --> 00:21:25.519 fifty one pound propellant tank, landed just one hundred and 398 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:29.720 sixty four feet from a farmhouse in Georgetown, Texas. That's 399 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:33.480 fucking heavy. Five hundred and fifty one pounds. Yeah, but 400 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:37.359 the small, blackened piece that found Lotty's shoulder had spent 401 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:41.720 twelve months in orbit, enduring hundreds of degrees of temperature swing, 402 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:47.160 until atmospheric drag finally pulled it down. The fragment now 403 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:50.519 sits in a drawer somewhere, A souvenir of the only 404 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:54.519 confirmed case of a human being struck. A human being 405 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:59.240 being struck by fallen hand human made space debris now. 406 00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:02.559 Jonathan mcdaie Powell has spent decades tracking this kind of debris. 407 00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:08.599 An astronomer astronomer at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 408 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:12.640 he maintains one of the world's most detailed public databases 409 00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:17.880 of re entering space objects. When asked about Lottie's close call, 410 00:22:18.440 --> 00:22:23.519 he didn't sound surprised, just weary. Quote. We've been lucky, 411 00:22:23.720 --> 00:22:26.440 he said, But when you do this for fifty years, 412 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:31.359 eventually you're going to get unlucky. And that's really that's 413 00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:35.160 the unsettling truth here. The situation overhead is no longer 414 00:22:35.319 --> 00:22:39.519 just a concern. It's a full blown crisis. The European 415 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:44.079 Space Agency now tracks forty four, eight hundred and seventy 416 00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:48.920 human made objects longer than ten centimeters, about the size 417 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:52.039 of a softcover book. But those are just the pieces 418 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:56.279 we can see. The true count of orbiting debris larger 419 00:22:56.359 --> 00:22:59.960 than one centimeter, a size capable of shredding a space craft, 420 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:04.039 thermal blanket or shattering a solar planel has surpassed one 421 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:07.720 point two million, and for every one of those, there 422 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:11.079 are an estimated one hundred and forty million fragments smaller 423 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:14.759 than a centimeter invisible to radar, but moving with the 424 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:18.880 force many times that of a bullet. The total mass 425 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:23.440 of this orbiting junk, from dead satellites to frozen blobs 426 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:27.799 of reactor coolant, has balloon to fifteen thousand, eight hundred 427 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:32.079 metric tons, heavier than the Eiffel Tower or three large 428 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:41.319 cruise ships or fifteen eight hundred cars. And take a drink. 429 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:45.200 I really try it this one. 430 00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:49.599 Okay, okay, that was a good one. I can't now. 431 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:52.759 Even more alarming is the debris density in the most 432 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:57.519 popular orbital lenses lanes in the three hundred and forty 433 00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:01.279 two mile altitude altitude band, which is prime real estate 434 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:05.799 for Internet constellations like Starlink. The number of hazardous debris 435 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:10.519 objects now rivals the number of active satellites. This congestion 436 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:16.039 forces operators to perform a staggering number of collision avoidance maneuvers. 437 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:20.000 In just the first half of twenty twenty five, the 438 00:24:20.119 --> 00:24:24.799 Starlink constellation moved to dodge potential impacts one hundred and 439 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:27.279 forty four four hundred and four times. 440 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:28.000 Wow. 441 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.400 That's a collision warning every couple of minutes for six 442 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:36.319 months straight. Wow. According to a recent NASA study. If 443 00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:39.079 a major solar storm were to knock out our ability 444 00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:43.240 to track and maneuver, a catastrophic collision would likely occur 445 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:47.440 in less than three days. And this scenario has a name. 446 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:53.160 It's called the Kessler syndrome. Proposed in nineteen seventy eight 447 00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:58.640 by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler. The Kessler syndrome describes 448 00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:03.720 a runaway chain reaction in low earth orbit. Imagine two 449 00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:07.880 large objects colliding up there, say, a dead satellite and 450 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:12.039 a spent rocket stage. The impact shatters them into thousands 451 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:16.400 of fragments. Those fragments hit other objects, creating even more. 452 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:17.640 Fragments, like a cascade. 453 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:21.680 Yeah, at a certain threshold, the debris field becomes so 454 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:27.400 dense that collisions cascade beyond control. Even if we launched 455 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:32.400 nothing else, that junk would keep multiplying, shredding satellites and 456 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.680 spacecraft for generations. 457 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:37.759 Yeah, just like Gravity. That's exactly the plot of Gravity. 458 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:38.759 The movie, is it really? 459 00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:39.079 Yeah? 460 00:25:39.160 --> 00:25:39.839 Have you never seen it? 461 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:41.160 I did, I just don't remember. 462 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:44.480 Yeah. Yeah, that's how it opens. That's the first disaster, 463 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:47.440 and that disaster starts cascading into other parts that she's 464 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:50.720 just trying to get away by escaping from the initial 465 00:25:50.759 --> 00:25:53.720 American Nazi station to the ISS. That's right, and that 466 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:56.640 starts getting also bombarded by all the satellite debris that's 467 00:25:56.759 --> 00:25:58.839 simply circling. That's exactly what happened. 468 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:03.279 That's exactly what they're They're acting on the Kessler syndrome, 469 00:26:04.200 --> 00:26:07.880 and some of our important orbital bands could be unusable 470 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:13.440 for decades or even centuries. Now. The good news is 471 00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:17.319 we're not there yet, but according to Kessler's models, some 472 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:21.799 altitudes are already approaching that tipping point. The question isn't 473 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:25.640 whether a cascade will begin, but when it will begin. 474 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:30.400 It's like everyone's obsessed. It's like we're obsessed with making 475 00:26:31.160 --> 00:26:34.720 and building the future via rockets and uh, you know, 476 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:38.480 I don't habitats or going to mark you know, fancy 477 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:40.759 things that makes us feel glorious, But no one wants 478 00:26:40.759 --> 00:26:42.240 to do the cleanup. No one wants to do clean 479 00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:45.640 cleanup is never sexy. That's making a road is never sexy. 480 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:50.519 Things we need are never attractive to do. Always by 481 00:26:50.599 --> 00:26:52.359 kicking and screaming do we have to do them? And 482 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:55.759 almost always after already a big disaster has happened. That's right, 483 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:58.240 how we learn because we're stupid but yeah. 484 00:26:58.519 --> 00:27:01.640 And to your pointive it or not. Every week, on average, 485 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:05.480 a piece of human made junk re enters our atmosphere. 486 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:09.519 Most of it burns up, a brief man made meteor 487 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:11.960 that you'd make for making mistake for a shooting star, 488 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:15.279 make a wish on, fake a wish on a piece 489 00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:18.119 of flaming poop, and when it doesn't happen or turned 490 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:21.440 against you, now you know why. Yeah, But sometimes that 491 00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:26.559 math goes wrong. Sometimes the heat shields they hold, Sometimes 492 00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:30.319 the rocket misses the ocean by a few miles, and sometimes, 493 00:27:30.839 --> 00:27:33.880 very rarely, a piece of space debris taps a woman 494 00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:39.000 on the shoulder in an Oklahoma park. Now, what follows 495 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:42.599 is a brief catalog of debris, both controlled and uncontrolled, 496 00:27:43.000 --> 00:27:46.319 that fell from space. Some were designed to come home, 497 00:27:46.920 --> 00:27:50.160 most were not. Their stories trace the arc of our 498 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:55.799 species reckless, brilliant, and often careless expansion into the cosmos. 499 00:27:56.519 --> 00:27:59.039 And they also raise a question that no one's yet answered. 500 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:01.000 Who cleans up the sky? 501 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:03.400 You need to do, yeah, and needs to be done, 502 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:06.319 and to make a giant nets or whatever the hell 503 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:08.599 we have to do to do it. But we have 504 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:09.839 to do it, and it was not gonna happen, but 505 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:10.599 we have to do it. 506 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:14.400 Yeah. So the first one I want to get a 507 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:17.200 little bit more into Lottie Williams, the woman who got 508 00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:18.720 tapped on the show. It was a little bit deeper. 509 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:22.079 So this is the Delta too rocket stage, the one 510 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:25.279 that hit a woman. So the Delta two was a 511 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:30.240 workhorse of American spaceflight for three decades. On November nineteen 512 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:33.359 ninety six, one of them lifted off from Vanderberg Air 513 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:36.920 Force Base in California, carrying a GPS satellite for the 514 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:41.400 US Air Force. After the satellite was deployed, the rocket's 515 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:45.359 second stage remained in orbit. A dead hulk of aluminum 516 00:28:45.400 --> 00:28:50.119 and steel. It circled Earth once every ninety minutes, slowly 517 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:55.559 losing altitude. On January twenty second, nineteen ninety seven, that 518 00:28:55.759 --> 00:28:59.599 stage re entered. Most of it burned up, but not all. 519 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:04.519 A small piece a woven composite material from the stage's 520 00:29:04.599 --> 00:29:10.200 motor casing survived three thousand degrees heat of reentry. It 521 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:14.319 fell toward Turley, Oklahoma, at terminal velocity, which for an 522 00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:17.079 object that small, is about one hundred miles an hour fast, 523 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:21.759 and that's fast enough to sting, but thankfully not fast 524 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:26.440 enough to kill Lottie. Williams saw the fireball, felt the 525 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:29.880 shoulder tap, and later handed the fragment to the local sheriff. 526 00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:34.640 The US Space Command confirmed that re entry window matched 527 00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:36.960 the time and location where Lottie got hit, So this 528 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:40.359 is really it was a piece of this rocket. To 529 00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:42.480 this day, she remains the only person to have ever 530 00:29:42.519 --> 00:29:44.640 been hit by a piece of human made space debris. 531 00:29:45.960 --> 00:29:48.440 The case is often cited as a lucky near miss, 532 00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:52.920 but also a warning. As Jonathan McDonell puts it, the 533 00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:56.559 probability is low, but the consequence is high, and we're 534 00:29:56.599 --> 00:30:00.480 putting more objects up there every year. End quote that 535 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:02.880 while the odds of any particular piece of debris hitting 536 00:30:02.920 --> 00:30:06.880 a person are extremely low, yeah, the consequences of a strike, 537 00:30:07.559 --> 00:30:11.000 especially from a larger object or one containing toxic or 538 00:30:11.079 --> 00:30:15.039 nuclear material, which we'll talk about here shortly, could be catastrophic. 539 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:18.759 And McDonald's warning is simple. Luck is held so far, 540 00:30:19.240 --> 00:30:21.920 but statistics suggests it won't hold forever. 541 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.039 No, it will not. And it also reminds me of 542 00:30:25.160 --> 00:30:28.920 a raining debris like that. It reminds me of this 543 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:34.240 book called Seven Eves. It's a sci fi book, sci 544 00:30:34.359 --> 00:30:39.440 fi meaning fiction, but in this scenario, the Moon cracks basically, 545 00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:45.400 and debris from the Moon starts shattering and hitting our atmosphere. 546 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:48.240 And the way that the book gets very accurate the book, 547 00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:51.119 and the way that the science the fake is of course, 548 00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:53.039 at the Moon that will ever crack, that's the only thing. 549 00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:56.400 But what happens to Earth is what's kind of realistic 550 00:30:56.440 --> 00:30:58.839 and taken in scientifically, I guess as much as you can. 551 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:03.640 And in it it depakes this picture of all the 552 00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:08.839 spikes shooting down pieces of the Moon over time, blanketing 553 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:12.279 first our atmosphere and then shooting down endlessly for I 554 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:14.359 think they put in the book one hundred two hundred, 555 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:19.480 three hundred years straight hitting. You know, I'm not saying 556 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:21.720 that we're getting to that point, but the idea of 557 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:26.279 raining debris would be like bullets being shot from three 558 00:31:26.359 --> 00:31:29.440 or four miles up right around four miles it's five. 559 00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:31.039 So that's crazy. 560 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:34.799 It is crazy. And now we're going back strong. I mean, 561 00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:37.000 look at Artemis. That just happened, Yeah, Utomius, right, Yeah. 562 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:38.759 The goal is to put a base on the Moon, 563 00:31:39.640 --> 00:31:40.319 from which. 564 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:43.039 I mean, someone's been watching for all mankind, for. 565 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:44.960 All mankind, and they should we should totally do that. 566 00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:48.799 Trump has been watching for all mankind a purpose of 567 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:52.119 which to obviously have something that's that's habitable up there, 568 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:56.720 but to also launch to Mars eventually. That equals a 569 00:31:56.720 --> 00:31:57.240 lot of junk. 570 00:31:57.680 --> 00:31:59.039 That's a lot of junk yet, you know, and a 571 00:31:59.079 --> 00:32:00.599 lout of mistakes, a lot. 572 00:32:00.519 --> 00:32:02.920 Of refueling missions, a lot of supply missions, a lot. 573 00:32:02.839 --> 00:32:05.680 Of if they commercialize it in any way, which they will, 574 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:07.839 they will not in our lifetime. Maybe well maybe we're 575 00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:09.759 too old to go at that time. But like they 576 00:32:09.799 --> 00:32:13.920 will do it, it's gonna be a lot worse. We 577 00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:17.319 can help, we can't help. But treat everything like like 578 00:32:17.400 --> 00:32:19.200 a landfill, right, you just can't help it. 579 00:32:19.400 --> 00:32:23.240 Yep. So though, yeah, interesting this topic. 580 00:32:23.319 --> 00:32:24.519 Yeah, totally and this is totally mate. 581 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:29.079 Now, the next example I want to talk about is 582 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:33.680 Cosmos N four, the nuclear spy that fell on Canada. 583 00:32:35.559 --> 00:32:37.960 This one, this is the one that keeps safety analysts 584 00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:43.119 awake at night. On September eighteenth, nineteen seventy seven, the 585 00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:50.119 Soviet Union launched Cosmos NUR for the Bangkoor Cosmodrome. Cosmos 586 00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:54.200 n was a radar surveillance satellite designed to track and 587 00:32:54.319 --> 00:32:59.119 spy on American aircraft carriers from space to power its radar. 588 00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:04.839 It carried US small nuclear reactor, specifically a BS five reactor, 589 00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:09.160 containing about fifty kilograms of enriched uranium two three five. 590 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.400 You could probably see where this is going for months later, 591 00:33:14.200 --> 00:33:18.279 excuse me. Four months later, a satellite, of course malfunction. 592 00:33:19.319 --> 00:33:22.240 The reactor failed to separate and boost itself up into 593 00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:27.000 a higher what's called a disposal orbit as designed. Instead, 594 00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:30.839 the entire spacecraft began to tumble, its orbit, decaying with 595 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:35.880 each passing day. Western intelligence agencies and media watched with 596 00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:40.359 growing alarm. The New York Times called it Russian Roulette 597 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:45.279 in space. On January twenty fourth, nineteen seventy eight, Cosmos 598 00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:49.599 nine five four re entered Earth's atmosphere over northwestern Canada. 599 00:33:50.680 --> 00:33:54.400 It broke apart, scattering radioactive debris across three hundred and 600 00:33:54.480 --> 00:33:59.839 seventy three miles swath of northwest territories Alberta and Saskatchewan. 601 00:34:01.160 --> 00:34:05.799 Some fragments admitted up to two hundred renngins of per hour, 602 00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:10.280 in other words, enough radiation to cause acute radiation sickness. 603 00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:15.480 The US and Canadian militaries launched Operation Morning Light to 604 00:34:15.639 --> 00:34:18.840 find and clean up the mess. Recovering more than one 605 00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:24.480 hundred radioactive pieces. The Soviet Union eventually paid Canada three 606 00:34:24.519 --> 00:34:28.519 million dollars in compensation, a fraction of the actual fourteen 607 00:34:28.599 --> 00:34:33.679 million dollar cleanup cost. Cosmos nine four remains the closest 608 00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:36.239 the world has ever come to a nuclear disaster falling 609 00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:39.760 from the sky. And the real legacy of Cosmos nine 610 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:43.119 five four, however, is not the money. It's the fact 611 00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:45.440 that it forced the world to recognize that space is 612 00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:49.000 not an empty void, but a shared environment, and that 613 00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:52.559 what goes up, especially when it contains a nuclear reactor, 614 00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:56.639 must eventually come down. In the wake of the incident, 615 00:34:56.760 --> 00:35:00.480 the Soviet Union redesigned its nuclear power satellites to boost 616 00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:04.239 their reactors into thousand year disposal orbits. But the older 617 00:35:04.320 --> 00:35:06.960 ones are still up there and some are still falling 618 00:35:08.440 --> 00:35:12.400 thousand year disposal orbits. Isn't that crazy? It doesn't even 619 00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:12.880 make sense. 620 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:13.960 I don't get it. 621 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:17.320 How do you calculate? Like it's it's mind blowing, it's amazing. 622 00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:17.719 I don't get it. 623 00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:26.440 Yeah, but there we actually have disposal orbits. Crazy. This 624 00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:30.840 next one's an interesting one. This is Skylab, America's first 625 00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:36.159 space station. So Skylab was America's first space station. It 626 00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:40.639 was a convert a converted Saturn five rocket stage, weighing 627 00:35:40.719 --> 00:35:44.880 seventy five point seven tons, a behemoth that remains the 628 00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:48.039 largest single object ever placed into orbit by the US. 629 00:35:49.400 --> 00:35:52.400 It was launched in May nineteen seventy three, and three 630 00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:55.199 crews of astronauts called it home. For the next two years. 631 00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:00.599 They conducted experiments in microgravity, observed the Sun, and proved 632 00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:04.239 that humans could live and work in space for months 633 00:36:04.280 --> 00:36:08.960 at a time. By nineteen seventy nine, though Skylab was empty, 634 00:36:09.880 --> 00:36:12.440 it was essentially abandoned due to the combination of budget 635 00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:17.079 cuts and major strategic shifts at NASA, mainly focusing energy 636 00:36:17.159 --> 00:36:20.559 and funds on the brand new Space Shuttle program, leaving 637 00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:24.199 Skylab in a powerless, uncrewde parking orbit. 638 00:36:25.559 --> 00:36:25.679 Now. 639 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:30.519 Unfortunately, Skylab's orbit decayed faster than NASA predicted, thanks to 640 00:36:30.599 --> 00:36:34.440 higher than expected solar activity that expanded the Earth's atmosphere 641 00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:40.719 and increased drag, which accelerated Skylab's fatal descent. Skylab was 642 00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:44.199 going to fall, and all NASA could do was aim it. 643 00:36:45.960 --> 00:36:49.119 So on July eleventh, nineteen seventy nine, Skylab made its 644 00:36:49.159 --> 00:36:53.960 final descent. NASA controllers tried to target the Indian Ocean 645 00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:58.159 as a crash zone, but Skylab had other ideas. It 646 00:36:58.239 --> 00:37:01.920 broke apart over western Australia, scattering debris across a ninety 647 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:06.440 three mile stretch between the towns of Esperance and Wallina 648 00:37:06.920 --> 00:37:11.639 or Wallina. Residents reported large sonic booms and the sight 649 00:37:11.719 --> 00:37:15.960 of burning metal streaking across the sky. Some pieces were large, 650 00:37:16.039 --> 00:37:19.599 including two ton oxygen tank that punctured a crater into 651 00:37:19.639 --> 00:37:23.239 the ground and a lead safe. They had it in quotes, 652 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:25.840 a lead safe the size of a file cabinet, a 653 00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:30.360 filing cabinet. But the most surreal detail emerged days later 654 00:37:30.599 --> 00:37:33.719 when a San Francisco newspaper offered a ten thousand dollars 655 00:37:33.800 --> 00:37:37.079 prize for the first piece of debris delivered to their office. 656 00:37:37.639 --> 00:37:37.920 Wow. 657 00:37:38.239 --> 00:37:41.000 A seventeen year old local named Stan Thornton pulled the 658 00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:43.960 fragment from his roof, hitched a ride to the airport, 659 00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:46.360 and flew all the way to California and claimed the 660 00:37:46.440 --> 00:37:50.920 prize and cementing Skylab's strange legacy as the world's most 661 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:54.480 chaotic treasure hunt. And thankfully, after all this, no one 662 00:37:54.599 --> 00:37:57.280 was hurt during this massive re entry well and. 663 00:37:57.320 --> 00:38:00.519 Went into Australia. Right. Yeah, so I'm saying, if you 664 00:38:00.679 --> 00:38:04.679 have to go somewhere Australia, Siberia, there's a lot of 665 00:38:04.800 --> 00:38:06.360 space which is nothing there. 666 00:38:06.679 --> 00:38:08.840 So well that's exactly why they tried to aim it 667 00:38:08.840 --> 00:38:09.599 at the Indian Ocean. 668 00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:11.320 No, I get that. Yeah, I'm saying Australia is not 669 00:38:12.119 --> 00:38:13.360 it's not that bad. 670 00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:14.840 It's not New York City, right. 671 00:38:14.840 --> 00:38:17.119 Or it's you know, some other country that have millions 672 00:38:17.159 --> 00:38:19.320 more people circle, you know, surrounded. 673 00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:22.239 No, you're right, so I don't know. I don't know 674 00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:25.559 the square mileage of the outback, but I'm guess huge 675 00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:27.559 million upon millions, huge ins of square. 676 00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:29.239 Miles have more space. They have way more space that 677 00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:30.519 they don't use than they use. 678 00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:34.559 Oh good, it's a good way to put it now 679 00:38:34.760 --> 00:38:37.599 as a joke that has gone down an infamy. The 680 00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:40.559 town or shire they call it in Australia, I guess 681 00:38:40.920 --> 00:38:44.079 of esperance actually sent NASA a four hundred dollars fine 682 00:38:44.159 --> 00:38:47.440 for Lloyd littering no Way, which was never paid. Of course, 683 00:38:50.119 --> 00:38:52.960 decades later, a California radio station raised the money to 684 00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:56.880 settle that debt, but NASA's never cashed the check. The 685 00:38:56.920 --> 00:38:59.960 Skylab debris however, it's still there. Some pieces were recovered 686 00:39:00.039 --> 00:39:03.719 and put on display, others remain scattered across the outback 687 00:39:03.960 --> 00:39:05.719 still to this day. I was about to ask, just 688 00:39:05.760 --> 00:39:07.039 slowly resting away, Yeah. 689 00:39:06.960 --> 00:39:08.400 Yeah, I was about to ask about that, Like, there's 690 00:39:08.440 --> 00:39:09.679 no way you don't make a thing out of it, 691 00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:13.519 or an attraction to look at the craters or something. 692 00:39:13.559 --> 00:39:16.920 You know, it's fascinating. I would check that out totally. 693 00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:21.360 So Skylab's fall was an embarrassment for NASA, but it 694 00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:26.079 also galvanized international efforts to track space debris. Today, the 695 00:39:26.199 --> 00:39:29.800 US Space Surveillance Network tracks more than twenty thousand objects 696 00:39:29.880 --> 00:39:33.079 larger than a softball, and Skylab is the reason we 697 00:39:33.239 --> 00:39:34.599 know where most of the big stuff is. 698 00:39:36.079 --> 00:39:39.400 I mean you mean the incident of Skylab, right, meaning yes, yeah, 699 00:39:39.599 --> 00:39:40.760 because of what happened with Skylab. 700 00:39:40.840 --> 00:39:43.239 Not in the sky, right because the Skylab, but the 701 00:39:43.360 --> 00:39:45.079 incident we started tracking. 702 00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:46.960 I should look into that one. I'm curious how why 703 00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:48.960 I looked Skylab when it was over. 704 00:39:49.039 --> 00:39:51.320 Oh I'm listeners, I should have mentioned this. I'm gonna 705 00:39:51.320 --> 00:39:53.400 have tons of photos in the show notes. I don't 706 00:39:53.440 --> 00:39:55.320 have photos. I don't think we have photos. I don't 707 00:39:55.320 --> 00:39:57.440 think photos exist of Skylab too late. 708 00:39:57.480 --> 00:39:59.840 I mean as late as the seventies, right, so. 709 00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:03.199 I certainly didn't find any photos of it entering the atmosphere. 710 00:40:03.559 --> 00:40:05.480 No, no, what I mean that, I mean Skylight. That's 711 00:40:05.480 --> 00:40:07.599 how I'm curious about that show notes, because it's cool 712 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:10.400 it's in there, like we had crazy things up there, 713 00:40:10.440 --> 00:40:12.719 you know. Yeah, some of the shits gone from me, 714 00:40:12.920 --> 00:40:14.800 and it was gone before I was born, so like 715 00:40:14.920 --> 00:40:15.360 that sucks. 716 00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:17.360 Yeah, you know. No, in the show notes, I have 717 00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:18.320 pictures of all this stuff. 718 00:40:18.559 --> 00:40:21.199 Yep, you were already eighteen and one. 719 00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:26.079 Oh Jesus, I was born in seventy seven. The next one, 720 00:40:26.199 --> 00:40:29.679 number four is the Long March five B core stage, 721 00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:35.000 the rocket that flew over every city. On May fifth, 722 00:40:35.079 --> 00:40:38.400 twenty twenty, China launched the maiden flight of its Long 723 00:40:38.519 --> 00:40:44.239 March five B rocket, successfully delivering an experimental crew spacecraft 724 00:40:44.320 --> 00:40:48.159 to orbit. An experimental spacecraft to orbit. But then something 725 00:40:48.360 --> 00:40:53.079 unusual happened. The rocket's massive core stage, ninety eight point 726 00:40:53.199 --> 00:40:57.440 five feet long and weighing seventeen point eight tons, also 727 00:40:57.559 --> 00:41:01.199 reached orbit. Unlike most rockets stages, which are designed to 728 00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:04.480 fall back to Earth shortly after launch, the Long March 729 00:41:04.559 --> 00:41:07.599 five BEES core stage was placed into a low orbit 730 00:41:07.880 --> 00:41:11.760 where it didn't belong, and that's where it stayed for 731 00:41:11.880 --> 00:41:16.280 five days. Trackers watched in horror as the stage's orbit decayed. 732 00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:20.559 The predicted re entry path passed directly over Los Angeles, 733 00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:25.559 New York, Beijing, and a dozen other major cities. This 734 00:41:25.719 --> 00:41:27.679 is a quote. I'd never seen a major re entry 735 00:41:27.800 --> 00:41:32.639 pass directly over so many major metropolitan areas, tweeted Jonathan McDowell. 736 00:41:33.199 --> 00:41:36.239 Remember he's an astronomer at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for 737 00:41:36.280 --> 00:41:42.400 Astrophysics and leading expert on space debris and uncontrolled re entries. Now, 738 00:41:42.440 --> 00:41:44.920 the uncertainty of the long March five bees Core stage 739 00:41:44.960 --> 00:41:48.639 re entry point was maddening, and because the stage was tumbling, 740 00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:53.360 its drag profile was unpredictable. Re Entry windows shifted by 741 00:41:53.400 --> 00:41:57.519 the hour. On May eleventh, twenty twenty, the stage re 742 00:41:57.719 --> 00:42:03.039 entered over the Atlantic Ocean off Mauritania. Mauritania, it's a 743 00:42:03.079 --> 00:42:05.199 country off of northwest Africa. I've never heard of it 744 00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:09.840 splashing down far from land in the ocean. No debris 745 00:42:09.960 --> 00:42:13.440 was covered, recovered, and thankfully no one was hurt, but 746 00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:16.639 the incident exposed a glaring gap in international space law. 747 00:42:17.159 --> 00:42:19.599 There's no rule that says you have to aim your trash. 748 00:42:20.360 --> 00:42:23.519 China had done nothing illegal, but it also done nothing 749 00:42:23.599 --> 00:42:27.880 to minimize risk. The world held its breath. The long 750 00:42:27.960 --> 00:42:31.599 March five bees design had been used several more times 751 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:35.679 with similar uncontrolled re entries. And each time the world 752 00:42:35.760 --> 00:42:39.880 holds its breath, and so far each time the rocket 753 00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:44.199 falls into the ocean. But so far isn't a safety guarantee. 754 00:42:44.760 --> 00:42:46.840 Yeah, it's like, you know, the grand majority of the 755 00:42:46.920 --> 00:42:50.280 earth is covered by water, so most times when something 756 00:42:50.360 --> 00:42:52.800 falls ill most likely hit the water, but not everything 757 00:42:53.039 --> 00:42:55.360 out of your time, that's right. I feel like I 758 00:42:55.440 --> 00:42:58.559 get why we don't have ethics communities anymore, or some 759 00:42:58.719 --> 00:43:04.199 sort of version of responsibility crew or charters or laws 760 00:43:04.360 --> 00:43:07.360 that are kind of a blanket thing to account people 761 00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:10.119 that are accountable for things in this case China or 762 00:43:10.280 --> 00:43:13.039 US or in many ways Russia. Those are top three 763 00:43:13.079 --> 00:43:14.320 con topic. 764 00:43:14.559 --> 00:43:15.360 Yeah, but like. 765 00:43:17.280 --> 00:43:20.360 Because as at least to a lot of horrible corruption 766 00:43:20.559 --> 00:43:23.920 and horrible things happening, as attested from America in the sixties, 767 00:43:24.199 --> 00:43:28.360 but like or forties. But man, it feels like we 768 00:43:28.440 --> 00:43:31.800 needed some accountability about some of these near misses are 769 00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:33.880 happening left and right, a lot of near misses. 770 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:40.480 Yes we do all right. Number five Cosmos four to 771 00:43:40.559 --> 00:43:43.760 eight to two, the failed Venus probe that took fifty 772 00:43:43.880 --> 00:43:48.440 three years to come home. In March nineteen seventy two, 773 00:43:48.840 --> 00:43:53.039 the Soviet Union launched a pair of Venus probes. Veniera 774 00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:55.840 eight made it to Venus and sent back data for 775 00:43:55.920 --> 00:43:59.599 fifty minutes before succumbing to the planet's crushing heat and pressure. 776 00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:04.559 Its twin, Cosmos four eight two, never made it. A 777 00:44:04.679 --> 00:44:07.880 rocket failure left it stranded in Earth orbit, which it 778 00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:11.400 circled for our planet for fifty three years, A forgotten 779 00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:15.760 ghost of the nineteen seventy space race. Cosmos four eight 780 00:44:15.800 --> 00:44:18.599 two was a time capsule of Cold War space engineering. 781 00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:23.400 It carried a spherical landing capsule designed to survive Venus's 782 00:44:23.840 --> 00:44:28.320 eight hundred and sixty degree fahrenheit surface temperature and ninety 783 00:44:28.440 --> 00:44:31.920 atmospheres of pressure, or the pressure of being about point 784 00:44:32.000 --> 00:44:35.760 six miles deep in the ocean. That same heat shield 785 00:44:36.400 --> 00:44:39.840 intended for the hell of Venus, also made it capable 786 00:44:39.920 --> 00:44:45.559 of surviving re entry into Earth's atmosphere. Not good for decades, 787 00:44:45.679 --> 00:44:49.000 the satellite was just an afterthought, one of thousands of 788 00:44:49.039 --> 00:44:52.800 pieces of space junk in orbit, but as its orbit decayed, 789 00:44:53.239 --> 00:44:57.280 experts began to pay attention. In May twenty twenty five, 790 00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:01.599 the European Space Agency issued a warning Cosmos four eight 791 00:45:01.679 --> 00:45:06.119 two would re enter within days. The landing capsule, weighing 792 00:45:06.159 --> 00:45:09.880 about one one hundred pounds, might survive. Where it would 793 00:45:09.960 --> 00:45:14.639 land was anyone's guess. On May tenth, twenty twenty five, 794 00:45:15.079 --> 00:45:17.840 Cosmos four eight two re entered over the Indian Ocean 795 00:45:18.360 --> 00:45:23.480 west of Jakarta, Indonesia. The landing capsule's parachute system, designed 796 00:45:23.519 --> 00:45:26.880 after fifty three years in the vacuum of space, likely failed. 797 00:45:27.599 --> 00:45:30.760 No debris was found. For a few tense days, the 798 00:45:30.840 --> 00:45:33.960 world watch a Cold War relic fall home, and then 799 00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:38.039 it was just gone. It was a reminder that orbital 800 00:45:38.119 --> 00:45:42.719 debris doesn't care about policies or treaties. It just orbits 801 00:45:43.159 --> 00:45:49.079 patiently until it doesn't all right. Number six is Salute seven, 802 00:45:49.719 --> 00:45:54.199 the space station that missed the ocean. Salute seven was 803 00:45:54.280 --> 00:45:57.639 the last of the Soviet Union's first generation space stations. 804 00:45:58.559 --> 00:46:02.480 Launched in nineteen eighty two, it served both scientific research 805 00:46:02.960 --> 00:46:07.360 and military reconnaissance for nine years, hosting crews who performed 806 00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:12.199 daring repairs, including one famous dramatic mission that kept the 807 00:46:12.280 --> 00:46:16.840 station alive after a total power failure in nineteen eighty six, 808 00:46:17.119 --> 00:46:20.119 the new Mirror Space Station had taken its place, and 809 00:46:20.280 --> 00:46:24.960 Salute seven was abandoned, but the Soviets didn't just leave 810 00:46:24.960 --> 00:46:28.559 it to drift. That same year, they boosted the vacant 811 00:46:28.599 --> 00:46:31.559 station into a higher orbit, a two hundred and ninety 812 00:46:31.639 --> 00:46:34.880 five mile by three hundred and six mile perch, where 813 00:46:34.920 --> 00:46:39.960 they expected it to remain until nineteen ninety four. They 814 00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:43.440 even considered retrieving it using the Bronze Space Shuttle, the 815 00:46:43.559 --> 00:46:47.559 Soviet Union's answer to the NASA's orbiter, but the plan 816 00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:52.519 never materialized. Bron flew only once, an uncrewed test flight 817 00:46:52.599 --> 00:46:55.119 in nineteen eighty eight, and the program was canceled soon 818 00:46:55.199 --> 00:47:01.119 after Salute seven was on its own. Salute seven side 819 00:47:01.239 --> 00:47:05.599 was Cosmo sixteen eighty six, a modified cargo spaceship that 820 00:47:05.719 --> 00:47:09.760 had arrived in nineteen eighty five, carrying nine hundred and 821 00:47:09.840 --> 00:47:14.199 twenty one pounds of supplies and nearly doubling the station's 822 00:47:14.239 --> 00:47:19.840 habitable volume. Together, the complex massed forty three tons heavier 823 00:47:19.920 --> 00:47:23.519 than a Boeing seven thirty seven. After the final crew 824 00:47:23.679 --> 00:47:27.719 departed in nineteen eighty six, Both Salute seven and Cosmo 825 00:47:27.800 --> 00:47:32.880 sixteen eighty six suffered major system failures, making the complex 826 00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:36.880 impossible to control from the ground. The Soviets had planned 827 00:47:36.880 --> 00:47:40.760 to fire Cosmo sixteen eighty six's engines for controlled deorbit, 828 00:47:41.280 --> 00:47:44.519 but the propellants. The propellant supply had dwindled to just 829 00:47:44.559 --> 00:47:47.719 one hundred and fifty four pounds, far short of the 830 00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:51.719 one hundred and two pounds required for a safe descent. 831 00:47:53.480 --> 00:47:57.519 For five years, the dead station drifted. In early nineteen 832 00:47:57.599 --> 00:48:01.199 ninety one, Soviet controllers made one less attempt to aim 833 00:48:01.280 --> 00:48:04.920 it at the Atlantic Ocean, firing thrusters to lower its orbit, 834 00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:11.079 but the tumbling, lifeless complex had other ideas. The official 835 00:48:11.159 --> 00:48:15.360 Soviet news agency, called Tasks or the Telegraph Agency of 836 00:48:15.400 --> 00:48:18.519 the Soviet Union, insisted that no one was to blame 837 00:48:19.239 --> 00:48:22.880 the unexpected increase in solar activity, they said, had made 838 00:48:22.920 --> 00:48:27.679 the orbit impossible to predict, but some Soviet scientists were furious. 839 00:48:28.679 --> 00:48:31.199 A veteran a scientist who was a veteran of the 840 00:48:31.239 --> 00:48:35.320 Military Industrial Commission claimed he had warned for five years 841 00:48:35.400 --> 00:48:39.000 earlier that the station lacked enough fuel for controlled re entry. 842 00:48:40.559 --> 00:48:44.000 The director of the Institute of Applied geophysics was blunter 843 00:48:44.400 --> 00:48:47.400 when he said, quote, it's insulting to hear the report 844 00:48:47.480 --> 00:48:50.639 that solar bursts are unpredictable. That burst was not a 845 00:48:50.719 --> 00:48:55.519 surprise at all. Typical Russian cover up, you know. On 846 00:48:55.639 --> 00:48:59.239 February seventh, nineteen ninety one, at eleven pm Eastern Salute 847 00:48:59.280 --> 00:49:02.840 seven re entering it over Argentina, traveling at more than 848 00:49:02.960 --> 00:49:07.239 seventeen thousand miles per hour, the forty three ton complex 849 00:49:07.360 --> 00:49:10.920 left the trail of fire across the night sky. Witnesses 850 00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:13.639 described it as a video game come to life, a 851 00:49:13.719 --> 00:49:16.519 glowing object that broke it into seven or eight luminous 852 00:49:16.519 --> 00:49:20.719 spheres before disappearing. One man in San Juan, stepping to 853 00:49:20.840 --> 00:49:24.400 his window to light a cigarette, watched the station disintegrate 854 00:49:24.440 --> 00:49:26.719 and thought for a moment he was seeing a comet. 855 00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:29.960 A policeman took it and mistook it for a plane 856 00:49:30.039 --> 00:49:34.039 falling in flames. The station split into an estimated two 857 00:49:34.159 --> 00:49:38.119 hundred and fifty pieces of debris, with surviving fragments weighing 858 00:49:38.199 --> 00:49:41.519 somewhere between two thousand, six hundred and forty six pounds 859 00:49:41.840 --> 00:49:44.920 to three thousand, six hundred and three nine hundred and 860 00:49:44.960 --> 00:49:49.039 sixty eight pounds. Massive very act numbers of debris. Thinks 861 00:49:50.599 --> 00:49:54.119 the debris scattered across hundreds of miles San Juan, Santa Fe, 862 00:49:54.599 --> 00:49:59.719 Andre Rios, Venado, Twerto, even as far south as Perto. 863 00:50:00.880 --> 00:50:03.519 I don't know these places. That's where it was. The 864 00:50:03.639 --> 00:50:06.400 largest piece, a hatch or bulkhead the size of a 865 00:50:06.559 --> 00:50:09.559 washing machine, crashed into the patio of a house in 866 00:50:10.039 --> 00:50:14.559 Capitin Bermudez, a town of about thirty thousand people, and 867 00:50:14.679 --> 00:50:17.920 remarkably no one was killed or injured. The station's pre 868 00:50:18.039 --> 00:50:21.760 dawn arrival around one am local meant that more residents 869 00:50:21.800 --> 00:50:27.199 were indoors, not standing in their yards or in the streets. Today, 870 00:50:27.519 --> 00:50:30.960 fragments of Salute seven are on display in museums across Argentina, 871 00:50:31.719 --> 00:50:35.639 at the Ouro Verde Astronomical Observatory in andtre Rios, at 872 00:50:35.679 --> 00:50:38.960 the local museum in fermat and at the famous UFO 873 00:50:39.119 --> 00:50:42.599 Museum in Victoria, which preserves a large piece of the station. 874 00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:48.920 Spherical metal tanks, charred and scarred by entry, sit under glass. 875 00:50:49.199 --> 00:50:52.639 These strange souvenirs of the night at Soviet space station 876 00:50:52.840 --> 00:50:57.280 fell on South America. Salute seven was a near disaster. 877 00:50:57.880 --> 00:50:59.639 It showed that even when you try to aim a 878 00:50:59.679 --> 00:51:03.239 falling space station. Space station you can miss, and when 879 00:51:03.239 --> 00:51:05.840 you miss, people can die. The fact that no one 880 00:51:05.920 --> 00:51:07.719 did was just pure luck. 881 00:51:08.960 --> 00:51:13.880 Yeah, crazy, right, it's funny as so how so far 882 00:51:13.920 --> 00:51:17.400 all these stories feel like a warning. They all feel 883 00:51:17.400 --> 00:51:19.360 like warnings almost like verty much not really threats, but 884 00:51:19.440 --> 00:51:22.480 the kind of they're like just warnings very much, so hard. 885 00:51:23.159 --> 00:51:28.000 They're like they're like adult, realistic bad time stories you 886 00:51:28.119 --> 00:51:32.679 tell like the equivalent we tell children to like cautionary tales, 887 00:51:33.559 --> 00:51:36.000 warn them of strangers by telling them a story about 888 00:51:36.039 --> 00:51:40.079 this or that or whatever, riding hood or whatever, and 889 00:51:40.280 --> 00:51:44.599 three little bears. It is like that, but for silence. 890 00:51:44.639 --> 00:51:46.239 And the moral of this story is we're a. 891 00:51:46.280 --> 00:51:51.400 Helmet, right, We're a helmet. Build a metal canopy over 892 00:51:51.480 --> 00:51:53.320 your home or something. 893 00:51:53.079 --> 00:51:55.599 In metal dome. Could you imagine being this, this old 894 00:51:55.679 --> 00:51:57.159 dude that just walked to his window to light a 895 00:51:57.199 --> 00:52:00.519 cigarette and see this massive hulk of metal. Yeah, not 896 00:52:00.679 --> 00:52:02.360 expecting what do you even mean? 897 00:52:02.679 --> 00:52:02.920 Yeah? 898 00:52:03.320 --> 00:52:07.840 Ah man to see something like that. Ow cool now. 899 00:52:08.159 --> 00:52:12.639 The next two these are Tragic Number seven, the Space 900 00:52:12.679 --> 00:52:15.960 Shuttle Columbia, the Data Charlotte, The day the Shuttle came 901 00:52:16.039 --> 00:52:20.719 apart on February first, two thousand and three, the Space 902 00:52:20.760 --> 00:52:25.840 shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re entry over Texas, scattering debris 903 00:52:25.880 --> 00:52:29.840 across eastern Texas and western Louisiana. The cause was a 904 00:52:29.880 --> 00:52:32.559 piece of insulating foam that had broken off the external 905 00:52:32.639 --> 00:52:36.599 tank during launch, and it struck the left wing, punching 906 00:52:36.679 --> 00:52:39.960 a hole that allowed superheated gas to melt the wing 907 00:52:40.079 --> 00:52:45.199 structure from the inside. Columbia had spent sixteen days in orbit, 908 00:52:45.679 --> 00:52:50.599 a science flight that carried seven astronauts, Commander Rick Husband, 909 00:52:51.400 --> 00:52:58.440 pilot William McCool, payload commander Michael Anderson, mission specialist kalpan Chawla, 910 00:52:59.320 --> 00:53:03.920 mission special list David Brown, mission specialist Laurel Clark, and 911 00:53:04.079 --> 00:53:09.800 payload specialists, and first Israeli astronaut Elin Ramon. All seven 912 00:53:09.880 --> 00:53:15.559 souls were lost. The breakup scattered debris across twenty nine thousand, 913 00:53:15.639 --> 00:53:19.760 one hundred and seventy four square miles, an area larger 914 00:53:19.840 --> 00:53:23.519 than West Virginia, creating a debris field that stretched roughly 915 00:53:23.599 --> 00:53:27.480 two thousand miles from the California coast to western Louisiana, 916 00:53:28.239 --> 00:53:31.559 a distance the shuttle covered in about seven minutes while 917 00:53:31.639 --> 00:53:35.079 still traveling at roughly twelve thousand, five hundred miles per hour. 918 00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:39.880 Recovery teams including the FBI and the US military, fanned 919 00:53:39.920 --> 00:53:43.199 out across the piney Woods of East Texas, a region 920 00:53:43.280 --> 00:53:46.760 of dense forests and swamps home to wild hogs and bobcats. 921 00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:51.360 The largest ground search in US history eventually collected more 922 00:53:51.400 --> 00:53:55.400 than eighty two thousand pieces of the shuttle, weighing about 923 00:53:55.440 --> 00:53:58.760 eighty four thousand, eight hundred pounds, and that's only thirty 924 00:53:58.760 --> 00:54:02.079 eight percent of the show shuttle. The rest was either 925 00:54:02.159 --> 00:54:05.199 vaporized or remains to this day scattered in the woods 926 00:54:05.239 --> 00:54:09.159 and swamps of the South. Now, pieces of Columbia are 927 00:54:09.159 --> 00:54:13.000 still being found, often uncovered by drought or land development. 928 00:54:14.000 --> 00:54:17.159 The FBI notes that its offices still receive calls about 929 00:54:17.159 --> 00:54:21.639 potential Shuttle debris, and NASA's Columbia Research and Preservation Office 930 00:54:21.719 --> 00:54:25.079 receive about two to three of reports each month, though 931 00:54:25.119 --> 00:54:28.639 many turn out to be something else, but from what 932 00:54:28.800 --> 00:54:32.239 I could find. As recently as twenty twenty two, a 933 00:54:32.360 --> 00:54:34.880 severe drought in East Texas dried up a portion of 934 00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.000 Lake Natdochis, exposing a long buried piece of the Space 935 00:54:39.000 --> 00:54:44.159 Shuttle Columbia. NASA officials recovered the fragment for analysis a 936 00:54:44.239 --> 00:54:47.280 reminder that the disaster's physical traits are still emerging from 937 00:54:47.320 --> 00:54:52.320 the landscape nearly two decades later. Today, the recovered fragments 938 00:54:52.320 --> 00:54:55.480 are stored on the sixteenth floor of the Vehicle Assembly 939 00:54:55.559 --> 00:54:59.239 Building at Kennedy Space Center, the same facility where Columbia 940 00:54:59.280 --> 00:55:02.760 had been prepared for its twenty eight launches. Some of 941 00:55:02.800 --> 00:55:05.000 the debris has been loaned to research as to study 942 00:55:05.079 --> 00:55:08.599 how to build safer spacecraft components, and a portion is 943 00:55:08.719 --> 00:55:11.840 used in an educational program to teach future engineers the 944 00:55:11.960 --> 00:55:16.880 lessons of disaster now. The search for the astronauts remains 945 00:55:17.079 --> 00:55:21.039 were grim and methodical. Within an hour of the breakup, 946 00:55:21.320 --> 00:55:24.800 the first remains of a crew member were found. Searchers 947 00:55:24.880 --> 00:55:28.159 working near Hemphill, Texas, about one hundred and seventy miles 948 00:55:28.239 --> 00:55:32.280 north of Houston, recovered a charred torso, a thigh bone, 949 00:55:32.880 --> 00:55:36.360 a skull with front teeth, a charred leg, and a 950 00:55:36.480 --> 00:55:40.920 finger with a ring still attached. An empty astronauts helmet 951 00:55:41.039 --> 00:55:47.199 was also found, potentially containing trace DNA. Nasha initially stated 952 00:55:47.199 --> 00:55:49.840 that the remains of all seven astronauts had been recovered, 953 00:55:50.599 --> 00:55:53.239 then retracted the statement amid the chaos of the early 954 00:55:53.320 --> 00:55:58.519 identification process. By February thirteenth, two thousand and three, the 955 00:55:58.599 --> 00:56:01.559 agency had positively a day the remains of all seven 956 00:56:01.639 --> 00:56:05.320 crew members. The remains of the six American astronauts were 957 00:56:05.360 --> 00:56:08.599 taken to the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs 958 00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:12.519 at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the same military 959 00:56:12.639 --> 00:56:15.440 morgue that had identified the victims of the Challenger disaster 960 00:56:15.559 --> 00:56:18.800 in nineteen eighty six, which will cover next and the 961 00:56:18.880 --> 00:56:24.079 September eleventh attack on the Pentagon. Israeli astronaut Elon Ramon 962 00:56:24.320 --> 00:56:30.440 was buried in his country. Forensic experts used DNA analysis, fingerprints, 963 00:56:30.480 --> 00:56:35.599 and dental records to make the identifications. Remarkably, investigators believe 964 00:56:35.639 --> 00:56:38.519 that if the astronauts had remained inside the crew cabin 965 00:56:38.960 --> 00:56:42.239 during re entry, portion of the cabin's structure might have 966 00:56:42.280 --> 00:56:45.199 shielded their bodies from the worst of the heat, allowing 967 00:56:45.280 --> 00:56:49.159 for recovery and identification. The families of the crew later 968 00:56:49.239 --> 00:56:54.000 praised recovery volunteers. John Clark, husband of astronaut Laurel Clark, 969 00:56:54.559 --> 00:56:58.039 told the gathering in Texas, you welcomed their family home. 970 00:56:58.360 --> 00:57:02.599 For that I could never repay you. The Columbia Accident 971 00:57:02.719 --> 00:57:06.880 Investigation Board convened within days of the disaster and issued 972 00:57:06.880 --> 00:57:09.679 its final report on August twenty six, two thousand and three. 973 00:57:10.760 --> 00:57:13.840 The board determined that a piece of foam insulation weighing 974 00:57:13.880 --> 00:57:18.039 about one point sixty seven pounds that's it, had broken 975 00:57:18.119 --> 00:57:21.840 off the external tank eighty two seconds after launch and 976 00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:25.039 struck the leading edge of the left wing, damaging the 977 00:57:25.119 --> 00:57:30.000 carbon heat shielding panels. But the report went further, exposing 978 00:57:30.079 --> 00:57:34.360 a culture of complacency at NASA. Foam shedding had occurred 979 00:57:34.400 --> 00:57:38.679 on every prior Shuttle flight and was well known, but 980 00:57:38.880 --> 00:57:41.800 management had come to treat it as an acceptable risk. 981 00:57:43.239 --> 00:57:48.360 The investigation also uncovered deeper structural problems. Columbia's wings and 982 00:57:48.440 --> 00:57:51.320 fuel tank were found to be riddled with pinholes and cracks, 983 00:57:52.039 --> 00:57:54.639 a flaw in NASA had known about since the early 984 00:57:54.760 --> 00:57:59.599 nineteen nineties but failed to address properly. Investigators discovered that 985 00:57:59.639 --> 00:58:02.800 many of the these surface pinholes were openings to far 986 00:58:02.920 --> 00:58:07.480 more extensive breeches underneath, namely erosion that had compromised the 987 00:58:07.519 --> 00:58:12.639 structural integrity of the wings. This was particularly acute for Columbia, 988 00:58:12.679 --> 00:58:15.320 which was on its twenty eighth mission when it broke apart. 989 00:58:17.320 --> 00:58:20.920 In the immediate aftermath of the disaster. As the nation mourned, 990 00:58:21.360 --> 00:58:26.199 the Internet, of course, filled with speculation. Within days, message 991 00:58:26.239 --> 00:58:29.840 boards and chat rooms remember those, were buzzing with theories 992 00:58:29.880 --> 00:58:35.920 of aliens, booby trapped satellites, and space lasers one communist columnist. 993 00:58:37.440 --> 00:58:41.280 One columnist speculated about a bomb aboard the Shuttle or 994 00:58:41.360 --> 00:58:45.440 a terrorist missile intercepting the spacecraft at twelve five hundred 995 00:58:45.440 --> 00:58:49.559 miles an hour. Another post suggested that Israeli astronaut Elon 996 00:58:49.639 --> 00:58:53.480 Ramon was a Masad agent supervising the retrieval of a 997 00:58:53.519 --> 00:58:57.760 spy satellite that had booby trapped by Chinese. One message 998 00:58:57.760 --> 00:59:01.400 board asked who shot down the Columbs and proposed that 999 00:59:01.480 --> 00:59:05.639 a space laser a weapon system was to blame. Of course, 1000 00:59:05.719 --> 00:59:09.159 NASA dismissed these theories as highly unlikely, but the rumors 1001 00:59:09.199 --> 00:59:14.000 persisted for weeks. The official investigation ultimately concluded that sabotage 1002 00:59:14.440 --> 00:59:18.639 wasn't a factor. The investigation that followed the disaster led 1003 00:59:18.639 --> 00:59:20.400 to the grounding of the Shuttle fleet for more than 1004 00:59:20.440 --> 00:59:23.679 two years, and ultimately to the decision to retire the 1005 00:59:23.719 --> 00:59:28.679 program in early twenty eleven. Columbia isn't a piece of 1006 00:59:28.800 --> 00:59:31.719 space debris in the usual sense that we've been talking about. 1007 00:59:32.039 --> 00:59:35.360 It was a crude spacecraft on a scheduled return, but 1008 00:59:35.440 --> 00:59:37.920 its fate is the ultimate example of what happens when 1009 00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:42.840 re entry goes wrong. Its wreckage, stored in a hangar 1010 00:59:42.880 --> 00:59:45.800 at the Kennedy Space Center, serves as a memorial and 1011 00:59:45.880 --> 00:59:50.440 a warning. The atmosphere is not forgiving. And if you 1012 00:59:50.519 --> 00:59:53.400 guys want to see what happened to Columbia, I left 1013 00:59:53.400 --> 00:59:55.960 a link in the show notes to that re entry video. 1014 00:59:56.159 --> 00:59:59.280 It's kind of hard to watch, but it's there if 1015 00:59:59.320 --> 01:00:05.519 you want to see it now. The next one, of course, 1016 01:00:05.679 --> 01:00:10.280 is Space Shuttle Challenger, the disaster that grounded a generation. 1017 01:00:12.119 --> 01:00:15.559 The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster is another scar on the 1018 01:00:15.599 --> 01:00:19.199 American memory. What began as a routine launch of the 1019 01:00:19.280 --> 01:00:22.840 twenty fifth Space Shuttle mission and in a public explosion 1020 01:00:22.880 --> 01:00:26.639 that killed all seven crew members, including a school teacher 1021 01:00:26.719 --> 01:00:31.119 from New Hampshire. For millions who watched live, the question 1022 01:00:31.440 --> 01:00:34.559 wasn't what just happened, it was how NASA could have 1023 01:00:34.639 --> 01:00:41.599 let it happen. Space Shuttle Challenger, NASA's second space rated orbiter, 1024 01:00:42.000 --> 01:00:46.239 had flown nine successful missions before its final flight, including 1025 01:00:46.360 --> 01:00:49.159 the first American spacewalk of the Shuttle program and the 1026 01:00:49.239 --> 01:00:53.000 first night launch. The Challenger mission was to be a 1027 01:00:53.079 --> 01:00:56.679 six day flight with an ambitious agenda. The crew planned 1028 01:00:56.719 --> 01:01:00.159 to deploy the Spartan Haley Astronomy satellite to observe of 1029 01:01:00.199 --> 01:01:04.320 Haley's comment, launched a second tracking in data relay satellite, 1030 01:01:04.760 --> 01:01:09.360 and conduct dozens of scientific experiments. The Challenger crew was 1031 01:01:10.159 --> 01:01:16.920 Commander Francis Dick Scobie, pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialist, 1032 01:01:17.000 --> 01:01:24.679 Ronald McNair, mission specialist, Allison Onezuka, mission specialist, Judith Redsnik, 1033 01:01:25.079 --> 01:01:30.719 payload specialist Gregory Jarvis, and most famously Christa mcculoff, a 1034 01:01:30.840 --> 01:01:33.920 high school teacher from New Hampshire who was selected as 1035 01:01:33.960 --> 01:01:39.199 the first participant in NASA's Teacher and Space Project. Tragically, 1036 01:01:39.320 --> 01:01:42.440 the seven crew members would only spend one minute and 1037 01:01:42.599 --> 01:01:47.679 thirteen seconds in flight. At eleven thirty eight Eastern on 1038 01:01:47.840 --> 01:01:51.800 January twenty eighth, nineteen ninety six, Challenger lifted off from 1039 01:01:51.880 --> 01:01:54.920 launch Pad thirty nine B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, 1040 01:01:55.079 --> 01:01:58.960 Wait eighty sixth right, nineteen eighty six. What did I say? 1041 01:01:59.039 --> 01:02:01.320 I I heard you saying, but I could have gotten 1042 01:02:01.840 --> 01:02:02.480 maybe I heard. 1043 01:02:02.599 --> 01:02:05.239 Okay, Yeah No. January twenty eight, nineteen eighty six. Okay, 1044 01:02:06.119 --> 01:02:09.519 launch Pad thirty eight B Kennedy Space Center. Seventy three 1045 01:02:09.599 --> 01:02:15.079 seconds later, it was gone. At point six seven to 1046 01:02:15.159 --> 01:02:18.199 eight seconds into the flight, cameras registered a puff of 1047 01:02:18.280 --> 01:02:21.920 gray smoke spurting from the aft field joint of the 1048 01:02:22.039 --> 01:02:27.119 right solid rocket booster. More puffs followed as the shuttle accelerated. 1049 01:02:27.840 --> 01:02:31.360 The rubber O rings designed to seal the boosters segmented 1050 01:02:31.440 --> 01:02:35.679 joints had failed. The night before. The launch had been 1051 01:02:35.800 --> 01:02:40.159 unusually cold. Temperatures at Cape Canaveral in Florida dropped to 1052 01:02:40.280 --> 01:02:45.360 thirty six degrees fifteen degrees colder than any previous Shuttle launch. 1053 01:02:46.519 --> 01:02:50.000 Frost formed on the O rings, freezing the rubber and 1054 01:02:50.119 --> 01:02:55.719 making it brittle. Engineers at Morton Thiacol, the contractor that 1055 01:02:55.880 --> 01:02:59.920 manufactured the O rings, had warned that the seals failed 1056 01:03:00.079 --> 01:03:06.000 repeated tests under cold conditions. NASA managers dismissed those concerns. 1057 01:03:07.639 --> 01:03:11.239 At fifty eight point seven eight eight seconds, a flickering 1058 01:03:11.360 --> 01:03:15.079 flame excuse me, A flickering flame appeared on the right 1059 01:03:15.400 --> 01:03:19.639 solid rocket booster. At sixty four point sixty six seconds 1060 01:03:20.360 --> 01:03:23.400 came the first visual indication that the flame had breached 1061 01:03:23.440 --> 01:03:27.679 the external fuel tank. At approximately seventy two seconds, the 1062 01:03:27.800 --> 01:03:31.320 lower strut linking the right booster to the tank was severed. 1063 01:03:32.239 --> 01:03:36.360 The booster rotated around the upper strut, puncturing the hydrogen tank. 1064 01:03:37.239 --> 01:03:42.039 Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen mixed and exploded, enveloping the 1065 01:03:42.119 --> 01:03:46.159 shuttle in a massive fireball. Challenger was traveling at mock 1066 01:03:46.239 --> 01:03:49.079 one point nine to two at an altitude of forty 1067 01:03:49.119 --> 01:03:54.199 six thousand feet. The orbiter broke up under severe aerodynamic loads. 1068 01:03:54.880 --> 01:03:59.639 The crew compartment, still largely intact, separated from the forward 1069 01:03:59.679 --> 01:04:04.320 fusel lodge and continued its upward trajectory, peaking at sixty 1070 01:04:04.440 --> 01:04:08.840 five thousand feet at approximately twenty five seconds after the breakup. 1071 01:04:10.039 --> 01:04:14.559 Then it began its long fall back to the Atlantic Ocean. 1072 01:04:16.400 --> 01:04:20.440 The crew compartment plummeted for two minutes and forty five seconds. 1073 01:04:21.000 --> 01:04:24.519 Think of that a free fall, and they're likely still 1074 01:04:24.519 --> 01:04:28.280 alive at this point. And it struck the Atlantic Ocean 1075 01:04:28.400 --> 01:04:31.480 at a velocity of approximately two hundred and seven miles 1076 01:04:31.519 --> 01:04:35.559 per hour. The impact force was about two hundred g's, 1077 01:04:36.239 --> 01:04:39.159 far beyond the structural limits of the cabin or any 1078 01:04:39.239 --> 01:04:42.360 chance of survival. You could liken this force to the 1079 01:04:42.440 --> 01:04:46.239 acceleration of a bullet being fired from a handgun. For 1080 01:04:46.320 --> 01:04:49.719 a human, it means your body effectively weighs two hundred 1081 01:04:49.760 --> 01:04:53.000 times its normal amount, a force that would crush bones 1082 01:04:53.039 --> 01:04:57.239 and organs instantly if sustained for more than a few milliseconds. 1083 01:04:57.880 --> 01:05:03.239 They went for minutes. The challengers debris field stretched across 1084 01:05:03.280 --> 01:05:07.079 the Atlantic Atlantic off the coast of Florida, and the 1085 01:05:07.159 --> 01:05:09.719 crew compartment came to rest on the sandy Ocean floor 1086 01:05:10.119 --> 01:05:12.119 in about eighty seven to one hundred and fifty feet 1087 01:05:12.119 --> 01:05:15.239 of water, about seven to eight seventeen to eighteen miles 1088 01:05:15.280 --> 01:05:20.960 off the northeast of Cape Canaveral. The recovery operation was 1089 01:05:21.039 --> 01:05:25.159 the most massive ocean search in history. Navy divers from 1090 01:05:25.199 --> 01:05:29.239 the USS Perseverer worked day and night, often battling strong 1091 01:05:29.360 --> 01:05:33.320 Gulf stream currents that covered wreckage with silt and sometimes 1092 01:05:33.400 --> 01:05:37.639 limited visibility to just six inches. On March seventh, nineteen 1093 01:05:37.679 --> 01:05:41.000 eighty six, six weeks after that disaster, they found the 1094 01:05:41.039 --> 01:05:44.599 crew cabin, described by divers as a heap of rubble 1095 01:05:44.639 --> 01:05:48.760 eight feet high, disintegrated with the heaviest fragmentation and crash 1096 01:05:48.840 --> 01:05:53.039 damage to its left side parts. Of bodies surfaced for 1097 01:05:53.119 --> 01:05:58.079 several days, first Judy Resnick, then the others. A seventh 1098 01:05:58.159 --> 01:06:00.880 crew member was brought carefully to the surface and Ashore 1099 01:06:01.519 --> 01:06:06.000 and the Challenger seven were united. NASA confirmed on April nineteenth, 1100 01:06:06.079 --> 01:06:09.239 nineteen eighty six, that remains of all seven astronauts had 1101 01:06:09.280 --> 01:06:12.800 been recovered. The remains were taken to a military morgue 1102 01:06:12.920 --> 01:06:15.280 at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. We just talked 1103 01:06:15.280 --> 01:06:19.239 about it with Columbia. Seven funerals were held for the 1104 01:06:19.320 --> 01:06:23.239 seven astronauts, and an eighth ceremony for remains that couldn't 1105 01:06:23.280 --> 01:06:27.280 be identified with certainty, plus additional interments for body parts 1106 01:06:27.360 --> 01:06:31.199 that could not be linked to any one astronaut. A 1107 01:06:31.320 --> 01:06:33.840 NASA report concluded that the cause of death couldn't be 1108 01:06:33.920 --> 01:06:38.159 positively determined. The forces of the orbiter breakup were probably 1109 01:06:38.239 --> 01:06:41.599 not sufficient to cause death or serious injury. Imagine that, 1110 01:06:42.239 --> 01:06:45.519 but the ocean impact was so violent that evidence of 1111 01:06:45.599 --> 01:06:47.480 earlier damage was just it was masked. 1112 01:06:47.519 --> 01:06:50.760 You could It makes you want It makes you wish 1113 01:06:50.880 --> 01:06:55.000 that they had died from the explosion instantly, instantly, rather 1114 01:06:55.079 --> 01:06:57.119 than right later on. 1115 01:06:58.599 --> 01:07:02.000 So and to this point, four of the crew's emergency 1116 01:07:02.039 --> 01:07:06.360 air packs were recovered. Three have been manually activated, suggesting 1117 01:07:06.880 --> 01:07:09.159 that at least some crew members were conscious and aware 1118 01:07:09.320 --> 01:07:14.440 after that breakup. In total, about one hundred and eighteen 1119 01:07:14.639 --> 01:07:18.639 metric tons, about forty five percent of the shuttle, was recovered. 1120 01:07:19.800 --> 01:07:22.760 The debris was initially stored at hangars at Kennedy Space 1121 01:07:22.800 --> 01:07:26.440 Center in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Then, less than 1122 01:07:26.440 --> 01:07:28.880 a year after the accident, the records was buried in 1123 01:07:29.000 --> 01:07:33.519 two abandoned Minutemen missile silos at Complex thirty one on 1124 01:07:33.639 --> 01:07:37.400 the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The silos are ninety 1125 01:07:37.480 --> 01:07:42.239 feet deep and roughly fifteen feet wide. Massive ten thousand 1126 01:07:42.320 --> 01:07:46.199 pound concrete caps were lowered into place, creating a weather proof, 1127 01:07:46.440 --> 01:07:51.639 secure tomb. NASA officials stressed that the debris remains accessible 1128 01:07:51.719 --> 01:07:55.639 for future engineering studies. The concrete caps can be removed 1129 01:07:55.639 --> 01:07:58.880 if needed, but the location of the actual crew cabin 1130 01:07:59.360 --> 01:08:03.920 those remained is a very closely guarded secret. Why do 1131 01:08:03.960 --> 01:08:11.119 you think, yeah, I mean that's where because it's just 1132 01:08:11.159 --> 01:08:11.800 a horrible thing. 1133 01:08:11.960 --> 01:08:16.960 I mean, people's missile sados now as a part of things. Well, 1134 01:08:17.399 --> 01:08:20.680 I mean doesn't that make it kind of worse? I mean, 1135 01:08:20.920 --> 01:08:25.359 I would shouldn't we be it's also a museum thing. Now, 1136 01:08:25.840 --> 01:08:28.840 like why isn't it being displayed not as a part, 1137 01:08:28.920 --> 01:08:29.760 but like as a you. 1138 01:08:29.800 --> 01:08:32.680 Know, yeah, just for respect to the dead. I guess 1139 01:08:33.359 --> 01:08:36.600 they won't let you know where it is visit it. 1140 01:08:37.479 --> 01:08:40.039 That's crazy, it seems not I mean, does it seem 1141 01:08:40.119 --> 01:08:41.199 unreasonable to you? Still? 1142 01:08:42.079 --> 01:08:43.319 No? I mean it doesn't bother me. 1143 01:08:43.840 --> 01:08:47.600 No, No, but unreasonable that that's still like that buried 1144 01:08:47.680 --> 01:08:50.640 like the way, like so shamefully, like like we can't 1145 01:08:50.680 --> 01:08:51.199 get past it. 1146 01:08:52.279 --> 01:08:53.880 Yeah, I don't know, No, I don't. 1147 01:08:53.920 --> 01:08:55.000 I don't feel weird about it. 1148 01:08:55.199 --> 01:08:56.680 I don't feel one way or the other. But I 1149 01:08:56.760 --> 01:08:59.239 get it. You know seven seven? 1150 01:09:00.439 --> 01:09:03.159 Would you would you? Would you keep would you keep 1151 01:09:03.199 --> 01:09:03.439 it there? 1152 01:09:04.199 --> 01:09:04.760 Would I keep it? 1153 01:09:04.800 --> 01:09:07.680 Hitting? I say, you got the position of authority to 1154 01:09:07.840 --> 01:09:11.000 decide that or today? Would you change that? 1155 01:09:11.079 --> 01:09:11.279 Yeah? 1156 01:09:11.279 --> 01:09:12.520 I don't think that would be something I would put 1157 01:09:12.560 --> 01:09:14.920 on display. I don't think I would make us back 1158 01:09:14.960 --> 01:09:16.439 to love it. No, oh I'm not. 1159 01:09:16.479 --> 01:09:18.800 I mean not saying, but stamers. I don't think I 1160 01:09:19.079 --> 01:09:20.119 like you would keep it there? 1161 01:09:20.239 --> 01:09:23.840 I think I just yeah, we're closing this chapter. Yep, 1162 01:09:24.560 --> 01:09:27.079 we have other pieces we can study for future generations, 1163 01:09:27.119 --> 01:09:27.720 like it' said. 1164 01:09:27.520 --> 01:09:29.359 I mean, it's part of our history and if it's available, 1165 01:09:29.359 --> 01:09:30.479 I would definitely put it out there. 1166 01:09:30.960 --> 01:09:32.680 Well, it's like people ask, well, why don't you bring up. 1167 01:09:32.600 --> 01:09:35.640 It's going to plantations or whatever, you know, or like 1168 01:09:35.720 --> 01:09:37.439 the It's like, why don't you open a tomb like 1169 01:09:37.520 --> 01:09:38.760 Jefferson's house or something. 1170 01:09:38.840 --> 01:09:39.720 Yeah, we all went through. 1171 01:09:39.800 --> 01:09:42.880 I think it's different, just like the Titanic. Why don't 1172 01:09:42.920 --> 01:09:43.199 you bring. 1173 01:09:43.159 --> 01:09:45.079 Up with it's way worse because you know. 1174 01:09:45.159 --> 01:09:49.880 It's yeah, no, leave it alone. But as recently as 1175 01:09:49.920 --> 01:09:53.239 twenty twenty two, new pieces of Challenging debris have been found. 1176 01:09:54.000 --> 01:09:56.600 A documentary crew searching the bottom of the Atlantic off 1177 01:09:56.680 --> 01:09:59.800 the coast of Florida for World War two wreckage uncovered 1178 01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:03.800 twenty foot segment made of eight inch thermal tiles, one 1179 01:10:03.840 --> 01:10:07.039 of the largest pieces of Challenger found in decades. So 1180 01:10:07.079 --> 01:10:10.760 they're still pulling this stuff up. The official cause of 1181 01:10:10.800 --> 01:10:14.520 the Challenger disaster, determined by the Rogers Commission, was the 1182 01:10:14.600 --> 01:10:17.960 failure of o rings seal on that right solid rocket booster, 1183 01:10:18.760 --> 01:10:22.760 but the commission's more damning finding was cultural NASA's safety 1184 01:10:22.840 --> 01:10:25.960 reporting system was so weak that the commission termed it silent. 1185 01:10:27.039 --> 01:10:30.920 The agency's management structure had suppressed pre launch warnings that 1186 01:10:31.000 --> 01:10:35.520 could have prevented the tragedy. Morton Thiakol, the manufacturer of 1187 01:10:35.520 --> 01:10:38.680 the O rings, first discovered that flaw in nineteen seventy 1188 01:10:38.760 --> 01:10:41.840 seven and reported it to NASA, but the commission in 1189 01:10:41.920 --> 01:10:45.359 charge of the Shuttle project ignored it, even after significant 1190 01:10:45.399 --> 01:10:48.239 erosion of the O rings was discovered during Shuttle flights 1191 01:10:48.520 --> 01:10:53.439 as early as eighty one. Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard 1192 01:10:53.720 --> 01:10:59.359 Feynmann f Fineman yet was member of the Rodgers commission. 1193 01:11:00.760 --> 01:11:03.640 It grew frustrated with the vague testimony and bureucratic evasion, 1194 01:11:03.720 --> 01:11:07.640 and in this now sort of infamous moment, he dunked 1195 01:11:07.680 --> 01:11:09.760 a piece of O ring material into a glass of 1196 01:11:09.840 --> 01:11:14.359 ice water, demonstrating how it lost all resiliency at low temperatures, 1197 01:11:15.199 --> 01:11:18.359 removing all doubt about the technical cause of the explosion. 1198 01:11:18.960 --> 01:11:21.239 And then he accused ness of playing Russian Roulette with 1199 01:11:21.319 --> 01:11:25.279 astronauts' lives, which they kind of did. And of course, 1200 01:11:25.399 --> 01:11:28.640 just like the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, conspiracy theory surfaced 1201 01:11:28.640 --> 01:11:33.119 about the Challenger disaster too. A recurring theory maintains that 1202 01:11:33.199 --> 01:11:36.399 the Challenger crew members never died, that they faked their 1203 01:11:36.479 --> 01:11:38.439 deaths or are never on the Shuttle to begin with, 1204 01:11:38.760 --> 01:11:41.880 and they're actually saying that about Artemist today, that it's 1205 01:11:41.920 --> 01:11:45.319 all fake, that the astronauts ejected at the last minute. 1206 01:11:46.159 --> 01:11:49.760 Social media posts circulate photos of people who resemble the astronauts, 1207 01:11:50.279 --> 01:11:54.000 claiming they're the same individuals living under new identities. A 1208 01:11:54.119 --> 01:11:57.479 Judith Resnick teaching law at Yale. A Michael J. Smith 1209 01:11:57.520 --> 01:12:01.399 as a university professor. A Dick Scope be running a company. Me, 1210 01:12:02.119 --> 01:12:09.279 that's right, it's awesome. A target. Yeah, it's crazy. These 1211 01:12:09.319 --> 01:12:11.479 theories are crazy, but people swear. 1212 01:12:11.319 --> 01:12:13.199 It's true, buying cookies when he shouldn't. 1213 01:12:16.079 --> 01:12:19.479 NASA's chief historian has stated unequivocally that the disaster did 1214 01:12:19.520 --> 01:12:23.920 occur and all seven crew members they died. Other theories 1215 01:12:23.960 --> 01:12:27.399 claimed the Shuttle was sabotaged by terrorists, by foreign powers, 1216 01:12:27.520 --> 01:12:31.840 or by a secret space based laser weapon. Some conspiracy 1217 01:12:31.920 --> 01:12:35.520 sites suggest the launch was intentionally botched because President Reagan 1218 01:12:35.600 --> 01:12:38.439 was about to deliver some major news and he needed 1219 01:12:38.439 --> 01:12:42.640 a distraction. The Rogers Commission found no evidence of sabotage. 1220 01:12:42.680 --> 01:12:46.399 Of course, the cause was tragically simple rubber o rings 1221 01:12:46.520 --> 01:12:50.520 and cold weather. One theory that does hold weight. Though 1222 01:12:50.880 --> 01:12:53.359 it's not a conspiracy so much as a suppressed truth. 1223 01:12:53.960 --> 01:12:56.279 Is that NASA managers knew about the ol ring flaw 1224 01:12:56.439 --> 01:13:01.600 years before the launch launched. Anyway, that's not speculation. It's 1225 01:13:01.640 --> 01:13:04.720 in the Rogers Commission report. And if you want to see, 1226 01:13:05.279 --> 01:13:08.119 you know, kind of what happened to the Challenger, millions 1227 01:13:08.159 --> 01:13:10.840 were watching it. It was recorded. I've left a link 1228 01:13:10.880 --> 01:13:12.079 in the show notes to that video. 1229 01:13:14.039 --> 01:13:17.319 You know the worst part about that, and yeah, the 1230 01:13:17.479 --> 01:13:22.920 lives obviously hugely yea. The worst part though, that affects me. Oh, 1231 01:13:23.000 --> 01:13:26.720 that affects some still things day to day. Is that 1232 01:13:27.640 --> 01:13:30.199 about spaceflight and NASA and stuff. Is that we lost 1233 01:13:30.279 --> 01:13:35.359 our confidence with space. I think people lost. The general 1234 01:13:35.479 --> 01:13:42.159 public lost its trust of NASA and governmental approval, I agree, 1235 01:13:42.239 --> 01:13:44.960 and a lot of people in general lost faith or 1236 01:13:45.159 --> 01:13:48.279 confidence into wanting to do space. 1237 01:13:48.439 --> 01:13:48.640 Yeah. 1238 01:13:49.199 --> 01:13:51.319 Like, I think it all went super downhill after that 1239 01:13:51.319 --> 01:13:52.000 one hundred percent. 1240 01:13:52.079 --> 01:13:53.359 That's why it was called That's why I kind of 1241 01:13:53.359 --> 01:13:56.279 called it. You know, that grounded the generation. 1242 01:13:56.640 --> 01:13:58.760 Yeah, yeah, No, I totally understand where you're coming from 1243 01:13:58.800 --> 01:14:00.960 for that, because it did feel that way growing up 1244 01:14:00.960 --> 01:14:04.000 in the nineties. You know, I wasn't there and famously. 1245 01:14:04.119 --> 01:14:06.880 Some people have testified not to, but like I have 1246 01:14:07.000 --> 01:14:10.399 given testimonials about them being in school shown the Challenger 1247 01:14:10.479 --> 01:14:13.359 as a big event and seeing the horror or yeah, 1248 01:14:13.399 --> 01:14:15.560 of course, they have so many funny stories. 1249 01:14:15.359 --> 01:14:17.079 About the teachers all over the country. 1250 01:14:17.279 --> 01:14:18.560 Yeah, yeah, I know it did. But I was saying 1251 01:14:18.600 --> 01:14:20.239 I was too young. I was two years old when 1252 01:14:20.279 --> 01:14:22.199 this happened, so I was too young for that. But 1253 01:14:22.319 --> 01:14:23.840 in the nights I was still hearing about it. Still 1254 01:14:23.960 --> 01:14:28.399 beat the big deal, and you could feel that lack 1255 01:14:28.479 --> 01:14:29.760 of confidence about space. 1256 01:14:29.960 --> 01:14:36.319 Absolutely, I know, but it's tragic, tragic. I remember my 1257 01:14:36.439 --> 01:14:39.319 mom and my stepdad took me to Florida one time. 1258 01:14:39.359 --> 01:14:42.840 I was a kid, probably Nico's age twelve thirteen, and 1259 01:14:43.359 --> 01:14:45.079 we got to see one of the space shuttles on 1260 01:14:45.159 --> 01:14:49.439 the launching padre from Afar. Yeah, yeah, we have pictures 1261 01:14:49.439 --> 01:14:51.239 of that still, I don't remember which one. 1262 01:14:51.399 --> 01:14:53.880 How many miles were you? We say with ways, But he. 1263 01:14:53.960 --> 01:14:56.800 Had a telephoto lens, like this massive lens got it, 1264 01:14:57.359 --> 01:14:59.079 I mean made it look like you were right there. 1265 01:14:59.119 --> 01:14:59.920 It was really cool to see. 1266 01:15:01.119 --> 01:15:03.279 I've never seen that, ye never seen that kind of thing. 1267 01:15:03.479 --> 01:15:06.079 Yep, we didn't see it launched, but we saw it 1268 01:15:06.159 --> 01:15:07.760 on a launch pad. It must have been launching the. 1269 01:15:07.800 --> 01:15:10.600 Day anything space related is going through the observatory here 1270 01:15:10.600 --> 01:15:14.399 in Chicago. Has it was crazy? 1271 01:15:17.359 --> 01:15:21.399 Okay? Moving, moving on number nine. It's the GOOCEE, the 1272 01:15:21.520 --> 01:15:25.960 Ferrari of space that ran out of gas. The Gravity 1273 01:15:26.079 --> 01:15:31.319 Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation Explorer or GOCEE. Say 1274 01:15:31.399 --> 01:15:34.720 that five times fast Ahead was a thing of beauty 1275 01:15:35.520 --> 01:15:39.520 built by the EAU, the European Space Agency. It was sleek, 1276 01:15:40.000 --> 01:15:44.800 aerodynamic empowered by an ion engine, a propulsion system that 1277 01:15:44.960 --> 01:15:50.279 used xenon gas to produce tiny efficient thrusts. Its shape 1278 01:15:50.359 --> 01:15:53.960 was unusual, long and slender with fins, which earned it 1279 01:15:54.039 --> 01:15:55.600 the nickname the Ferrari of Space. 1280 01:15:56.119 --> 01:15:57.840 It sounds like it would be on a Formula one 1281 01:15:57.920 --> 01:15:58.960 racing right track. 1282 01:15:59.079 --> 01:16:01.359 Yeah, it's cool. And again check the show notes. I 1283 01:16:01.399 --> 01:16:04.680 have a picture of this thing. It's singular mission map 1284 01:16:04.800 --> 01:16:11.479 Earth's gravity field with unprecedented precision. For four years, GOCEE 1285 01:16:11.680 --> 01:16:15.319 circled the planet, revealing the subtle variations in gravity that 1286 01:16:15.439 --> 01:16:19.199 shapes ocean currents, sea level rise, and the structure of 1287 01:16:19.319 --> 01:16:25.000 Earth's interior. Cool some heavy stuff. Yeah, and you know 1288 01:16:25.079 --> 01:16:28.359 it basically was delivering data that scientists only dreamed of. 1289 01:16:30.079 --> 01:16:34.760 But in October twenty thirteen, Goose ran out of fuel. 1290 01:16:35.840 --> 01:16:40.359 Without propulsion, the one ton satellite began a slow, uncontrolled descent. 1291 01:16:41.600 --> 01:16:44.520 On November eleven, twenty thirteen, it re entered over the 1292 01:16:44.640 --> 01:16:48.479 South Atlantic over the Falcon Islands. Most of it burned 1293 01:16:48.560 --> 01:16:51.199 up in the atmosphere, but about twenty five percent, or 1294 01:16:51.279 --> 01:16:54.159 roughly five hundred and fifty one pounds a debris reached 1295 01:16:54.199 --> 01:16:54.640 the ocean. 1296 01:16:55.359 --> 01:16:58.279 Was it the fucking islands? Oh, the Falcon Island? 1297 01:16:58.479 --> 01:16:59.239 Falkland? 1298 01:17:00.079 --> 01:17:02.920 Oh? Okay, okay? I thought you were swearing at islands 1299 01:17:03.079 --> 01:17:03.520 or something like that. 1300 01:17:03.640 --> 01:17:08.560 Fucking islands. GOCE was the first European Space Agency mission 1301 01:17:08.600 --> 01:17:10.960 to make an uncontrolled re entry in more than twenty 1302 01:17:11.000 --> 01:17:15.319 five years. Its fall was monitored closely and the agency 1303 01:17:15.439 --> 01:17:19.199 issued regular updates. But the incident raised a question. If 1304 01:17:19.199 --> 01:17:22.600 a one ton satellite can re enter uncontrolled, what about 1305 01:17:22.600 --> 01:17:25.720 a ten ton one or one hundred ton one. The 1306 01:17:25.840 --> 01:17:28.920 answer is later events show is that it depends on 1307 01:17:29.000 --> 01:17:31.960 how well you plan. It was a quiet reminder that 1308 01:17:32.000 --> 01:17:35.279 even the most elegant machines eventually bowed a gravity. 1309 01:17:36.960 --> 01:17:40.359 Gravity's a bitch, gravity are what is that? 1310 01:17:40.439 --> 01:17:40.600 From? 1311 01:17:40.840 --> 01:17:40.880 That? 1312 01:17:40.920 --> 01:17:41.680 From something No. 1313 01:17:44.479 --> 01:17:50.199 Number ten Okay. Tiengong one, the Chinese space lab that 1314 01:17:50.319 --> 01:17:55.760 lost contact. Tien Gong one was China's first step towards 1315 01:17:55.800 --> 01:18:00.279 a permanent space I'm joking a permanent space date. A 1316 01:18:00.359 --> 01:18:04.079 thirty three foot long, eight point five ton laboratory that 1317 01:18:04.279 --> 01:18:08.800 launched in twenty eleven. Sorry, ah, don't know what happened. 1318 01:18:10.079 --> 01:18:13.359 Over the next two years. It hosted six Chinese astronauts 1319 01:18:13.399 --> 01:18:17.840 who conducted experiments, practiced docking maneuvers, and basically proved that 1320 01:18:17.960 --> 01:18:23.239 China could sustain human spaceflight. In twenty thirteen, the station 1321 01:18:23.439 --> 01:18:28.359 was retired. Shortly afterward, China lost contact with it. For 1322 01:18:28.479 --> 01:18:33.000 five years, Tiangong I circled Earth in a slow, uncontrolled decay, 1323 01:18:33.680 --> 01:18:37.079 its orbit dropping a little more each day. The world 1324 01:18:37.199 --> 01:18:40.800 watched nervously as the re entry window narrowed. The European 1325 01:18:40.840 --> 01:18:45.159 Space Agency published regular predictions, each one shifting by hours 1326 01:18:45.560 --> 01:18:51.039 or sometimes days. On April two, twenty eighteen, Tiangong one 1327 01:18:51.159 --> 01:18:54.439 re entered over the South Pacific Ocean. It burned up 1328 01:18:54.439 --> 01:18:58.319 almost completely. No debris was found the end. The re 1329 01:18:58.520 --> 01:19:01.000 entry was so far from land that no one even 1330 01:19:01.079 --> 01:19:05.720 saw it, but the uncertainty surrounding Tianlong one. The fact 1331 01:19:05.760 --> 01:19:07.840 that no one knew exactly when or where it would 1332 01:19:07.880 --> 01:19:12.159 fall highlighted a growing problem. China had not shared its 1333 01:19:12.239 --> 01:19:15.640 tracking data. Other nations had to track the station themselves. 1334 01:19:16.000 --> 01:19:19.960 Ah And while Tiangong one ultimately caused no harm, it's 1335 01:19:19.960 --> 01:19:22.560 at a precedent for uncontrolled re entries from nations that 1336 01:19:22.680 --> 01:19:26.079 don't always play nice with international tracking systems. 1337 01:19:26.520 --> 01:19:28.800 Yeah, China, like Russia, they keep a lot of things 1338 01:19:29.079 --> 01:19:32.439 just only to themselves, like very close to the that's absolutely, 1339 01:19:32.479 --> 01:19:36.079 I mean, we can't help ourselves if we I mean, 1340 01:19:36.119 --> 01:19:37.680 we would be that way if we had that, you 1341 01:19:37.760 --> 01:19:39.800 know that, if we had that kind of like personality 1342 01:19:39.840 --> 01:19:41.800 as a country. But we don't. We're very loud and 1343 01:19:42.640 --> 01:19:44.680 we say, well, what's what's in our minds all the time, 1344 01:19:45.199 --> 01:19:47.399 So we can't help ourselves. But trust me, we would 1345 01:19:47.399 --> 01:19:49.760 be like them too if because you know, they're huge countries. 1346 01:19:50.199 --> 01:19:56.920 Absolutely. Number eleven. The Jewels Vern, the European truck that 1347 01:19:57.039 --> 01:20:01.479 took out the trash Okay. The Uropean Space Agency named 1348 01:20:01.479 --> 01:20:06.319 their first cargo ship or automated transfer vehicle ATV the 1349 01:20:06.399 --> 01:20:11.079 Jewels Vern, the nineteenth century French author whose novels from 1350 01:20:11.119 --> 01:20:14.720 the Earth to the Moon and around the Moon. Imagined 1351 01:20:14.760 --> 01:20:20.520 space travel decades before rockets existed. His stories inspired generations 1352 01:20:20.560 --> 01:20:24.720 of scientists and astronauts, so when the European Space Agency 1353 01:20:24.800 --> 01:20:27.800 built its first cargo ship for the International Space Station, 1354 01:20:28.319 --> 01:20:32.319 they named it after him. The jewels Vern carried handwritten 1355 01:20:32.399 --> 01:20:36.199 pages and copies of the author's books into orbit, a 1356 01:20:36.279 --> 01:20:38.520 fitting tribute to the man who dreamed of the journey 1357 01:20:38.840 --> 01:20:40.479 long before it was possible. 1358 01:20:40.399 --> 01:20:43.600 And Dr Brown, Doctor Brown, Emin Brown from Back to 1359 01:20:43.600 --> 01:20:44.079 Your Future. 1360 01:20:44.279 --> 01:20:51.399 He also, between two thousand and eight and twenty fifteen, 1361 01:20:52.119 --> 01:20:57.039 five ATVs delivered supplies of fuel, oxygen, and experiments to 1362 01:20:57.119 --> 01:21:01.239 the ISS. At the end of each mission, each ATV 1363 01:21:01.479 --> 01:21:05.319 was filled with station trash International Space Station trash and 1364 01:21:05.439 --> 01:21:10.319 then deliberately deorbited. The first of these ATVs, the jewel 1365 01:21:10.439 --> 01:21:13.079 Vern Jules Verne, launched in March two thousand and eight. 1366 01:21:13.920 --> 01:21:17.279 After seven months in space, its mission was complete and 1367 01:21:17.399 --> 01:21:20.239 it executed a controlled re entry on September twenty ninth, 1368 01:21:20.279 --> 01:21:23.880 two thousand and eight, over the South Pacific Ocean, and 1369 01:21:24.000 --> 01:21:29.239 the others followed suit, finishing in February twenty fifteen. Now, 1370 01:21:29.319 --> 01:21:33.079 unlike most objects on this list, the ATVs were designed 1371 01:21:33.159 --> 01:21:35.720 to burn up. You see, they had no heat shields, 1372 01:21:36.319 --> 01:21:40.800 Their aluminum structures melted at relatively low temperatures and therefore 1373 01:21:40.920 --> 01:21:43.680 no debris hits the ground. They were a model of 1374 01:21:43.800 --> 01:21:47.840 responsible behavior, a reminder that controlled re entries are possible 1375 01:21:48.279 --> 01:21:51.680 if you plan for them. The ATV program set a 1376 01:21:51.720 --> 01:21:55.680 gold standard for disposal, proving that even a twenty ton 1377 01:21:55.800 --> 01:22:01.520 cargo ship could vanish without a trace. Program also demonstrated 1378 01:22:01.560 --> 01:22:06.399 that international cooperation can work. The spacecraft were built in Europe, 1379 01:22:07.119 --> 01:22:11.159 launched on European rockets, and operated by the European Space Agency. 1380 01:22:12.000 --> 01:22:15.239 They docked with the ISS, a partnership of fifteen nations, 1381 01:22:15.760 --> 01:22:17.960 and when they fell, they were aimed at the South 1382 01:22:18.039 --> 01:22:22.840 Pacific Ocean uninhabited area, the same spacecraft cemetery used by 1383 01:22:22.920 --> 01:22:26.079 Russia and Japan, which we'll get into a little later 1384 01:22:26.119 --> 01:22:29.399 in this episode because it's fascinating, because this place is 1385 01:22:29.479 --> 01:22:31.399 really cool, and we talked about do you remember talking 1386 01:22:31.399 --> 01:22:33.319 about this area of the Pacific Ocean when we did 1387 01:22:33.359 --> 01:22:36.720 the Bump Point NEMO, Right, Yeah, this is all the 1388 01:22:36.800 --> 01:22:39.680 same listeners we did an episode talked heavily about this 1389 01:22:39.800 --> 01:22:42.199 section of the ocean in what the Bloop look up 1390 01:22:42.239 --> 01:22:43.159 that episode. It's fun. 1391 01:22:43.279 --> 01:22:46.439 That's right, That's what it was. I was trying to 1392 01:22:46.479 --> 01:22:46.800 think of that. 1393 01:22:47.039 --> 01:22:51.279 Yeah, what the bloop. Okay, I'm gonna try to get 1394 01:22:51.279 --> 01:22:56.520 this one right. Number twelve. It's the HTV Kownotry, the 1395 01:22:56.640 --> 01:23:04.479 Japanese stork Kownoturi okay, okay, I mean I can check you. Yeah. 1396 01:23:04.600 --> 01:23:09.800 Cow Nory, Japan's H two transfer vehicle or the HTV 1397 01:23:10.359 --> 01:23:15.399 nickname Commentory Japanese for Stork, was another ISS cargo ship. 1398 01:23:16.079 --> 01:23:19.800 Between two thousand and nine and twenty twenty nine, htvs 1399 01:23:19.880 --> 01:23:24.000 delivered supplies, batteries, and experiments up to the orbiting lab, 1400 01:23:24.600 --> 01:23:28.039 just like the Jewels Vern. Each mission lasted two months. 1401 01:23:28.720 --> 01:23:31.760 Each one ended with a controlled re entry, again just 1402 01:23:31.880 --> 01:23:36.000 like Jewels Vern. The first HDV re entered on November one, 1403 01:23:36.119 --> 01:23:39.680 two thousand and nine, after a successful mission. The final 1404 01:23:39.880 --> 01:23:44.079 HDV HDV nine re entered on August twentieth, twenty twenty, 1405 01:23:44.640 --> 01:23:48.279 after delivering a new battery system to the ISS. Now, 1406 01:23:48.399 --> 01:23:52.920 Japan took re entry safety seriously, establishing its own regulations 1407 01:23:52.960 --> 01:23:56.479 for controlled re entries and building redundancies into every system. 1408 01:23:57.439 --> 01:24:01.800 Each vehicle could carried multiple navigations systems, backup computers, and 1409 01:24:01.880 --> 01:24:05.479 redundant thrusters. When it came time to to orbit, the 1410 01:24:05.560 --> 01:24:09.319 odds of an actual failure were very low, and when 1411 01:24:09.359 --> 01:24:11.800 the vehicle fell, it fell where it was supposed to, 1412 01:24:12.039 --> 01:24:15.319 into the South Pacific, far from any ship or island 1413 01:24:15.399 --> 01:24:19.640 a person. So overall, the HD program, the HTV program 1414 01:24:19.840 --> 01:24:22.680 was a quiet success story, the reminder that not everything 1415 01:24:22.760 --> 01:24:29.000 that falls from space has to be a crisis. Okay. 1416 01:24:29.520 --> 01:24:34.520 Number thirteen Progress M two seven M, the Russian supply 1417 01:24:35.039 --> 01:24:40.119 ship that went rogue. On April twenty eight, twenty fifteen, 1418 01:24:40.520 --> 01:24:44.600 Russia launched the Progress M two seven M cargo ship 1419 01:24:44.920 --> 01:24:49.840 to resupply the ISS. Progress was carrying six thousand pounds 1420 01:24:49.880 --> 01:24:53.680 of cargo, including one nine hundred and forty pounds of propellant, 1421 01:24:54.079 --> 01:24:56.760 one hundred and ten pounds of oxygen, nine hundred and 1422 01:24:56.800 --> 01:24:59.640 twenty six pounds of water, and three one hundred and 1423 01:24:59.680 --> 01:25:03.479 twenty eight pounds of spare parts, supplies and scientific experiment. 1424 01:25:04.680 --> 01:25:08.680 Soon after reaching orbit, flight controllers lost contact with Progress 1425 01:25:09.479 --> 01:25:13.079 and the spacecraft began tumbling, and it became clear very 1426 01:25:13.159 --> 01:25:15.560 quickly that no one could regain control of this thing. 1427 01:25:16.720 --> 01:25:20.800 For ten days, Progress M two seven M circled Earth 1428 01:25:20.840 --> 01:25:24.159 in this uncontrolled decay a dead ship with no one 1429 01:25:24.239 --> 01:25:27.760 at the helm. On May eight, twenty fifteen, it re 1430 01:25:27.920 --> 01:25:31.680 entered over the Pacific Ocean. The spacecraft was not designed 1431 01:25:31.720 --> 01:25:34.439 for re entry, It had no heat shield, and it 1432 01:25:34.560 --> 01:25:37.079 was supposed to burn up completely, and in this case 1433 01:25:37.159 --> 01:25:41.479 it did. No debris reached the ground, but the incident 1434 01:25:41.680 --> 01:25:45.399 highlighted a risk even a routine supply mission can go wrong. 1435 01:25:46.359 --> 01:25:50.319 Progress spacecraft had flown more than fifty successful missions before 1436 01:25:50.600 --> 01:25:53.680 M two seven M, but when it failed, there wasn't 1437 01:25:53.680 --> 01:25:57.279 a backup plan. The spacecraft fell where gravity and drag 1438 01:25:57.359 --> 01:25:59.960 took it, and while it falling, it fell into the ocean. 1439 01:26:00.199 --> 01:26:02.520 This time there was no guarantee it would do so 1440 01:26:02.720 --> 01:26:07.399 next time. Now some background, The trouble began almost immediately. 1441 01:26:07.880 --> 01:26:11.760 The Soyuz rocket carrying Progress M two seven M, lifted 1442 01:26:11.800 --> 01:26:16.039 off from the Bayingcore Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April twenty eight, 1443 01:26:16.079 --> 01:26:20.600 twenty fifteen, at seven h nine gmt, climbing through a 1444 01:26:20.640 --> 01:26:25.079 clear blue sky. Initial reports suggested a normal ascent, but 1445 01:26:25.199 --> 01:26:29.199 within minutes something went wrong. The spacecraft separated from the 1446 01:26:29.319 --> 01:26:33.479 rocket's third stage improperly, leaving it about thirteen miles short 1447 01:26:33.520 --> 01:26:37.159 of its intended altitude and in the totally wrong orbit. 1448 01:26:38.319 --> 01:26:41.800 Telemetry later showed consecutive leaks in the occident and fuel 1449 01:26:41.840 --> 01:26:46.119 tanks of the rocket's third stage, followed by an emergency separation. 1450 01:26:47.439 --> 01:26:50.239 Fuel leaks from the booster had also occurred, meaning the 1451 01:26:50.279 --> 01:26:53.800 spacecraft was not only lost but potentially damaged right from 1452 01:26:53.840 --> 01:26:58.800 the start. On board video later released by ros Cosmos, 1453 01:26:59.399 --> 01:27:02.520 or the Russian government agency responsible for the Russian Federation 1454 01:27:02.640 --> 01:27:08.840 space program Star for All Mankind so ros Cosmo, showed 1455 01:27:08.880 --> 01:27:13.000 the Earth spinning wildly outside the window, confirming that progress 1456 01:27:13.159 --> 01:27:17.199 was rotating about its axis. The spacecraft was tumbling so 1457 01:27:17.439 --> 01:27:21.920 fast that a full rotation only took one point eight seconds. Wow. Right, 1458 01:27:22.079 --> 01:27:27.079 that is blindingly fast fast. This rapid rotation meant its 1459 01:27:27.119 --> 01:27:31.319 solar panels couldn't track the sun, draining its batteries. With 1460 01:27:31.479 --> 01:27:34.880 no way to stabilize the craft, Russian flight controllers called 1461 01:27:34.920 --> 01:27:37.880 off the rescue effort. On April twenty nine, twenty fifteen. 1462 01:27:38.960 --> 01:27:42.239 The US Air Force Joint Space Operations Center began tracking 1463 01:27:42.319 --> 01:27:46.520 the spacecraft and soon reported forty four pieces debrias along 1464 01:27:46.600 --> 01:27:50.159 its orbit fragments that had broken off even before re entry, 1465 01:27:50.680 --> 01:27:54.920 suggesting the spacecraft might have already been coming apart for 1466 01:27:55.079 --> 01:27:58.479 ten days. The world watched as the tumbling Progress decayed. 1467 01:27:59.199 --> 01:28:03.279 The European Space Agency's Space debris Office, led by doctor 1468 01:28:03.399 --> 01:28:09.039 Holger crag Strong name Yeah Hulger Kraft. 1469 01:28:08.800 --> 01:28:10.680 Would be like a Swedishian or something. 1470 01:28:10.960 --> 01:28:15.479 Yeah probably, issued regular predictions, noting that in an uncontrolled 1471 01:28:15.520 --> 01:28:18.640 re entry, the vessel could fall anywhere between fifty one 1472 01:28:18.720 --> 01:28:22.680 degrees north and fifty one degrees south latitude, a band 1473 01:28:22.760 --> 01:28:26.840 that includes most of the world's population. The uncertainty window 1474 01:28:27.000 --> 01:28:31.479 was huge. At oral speeds, a time uncertainty of just 1475 01:28:31.560 --> 01:28:35.239 a few hours translates into thousands of miles of possible 1476 01:28:35.279 --> 01:28:39.359 re entry points. On May eighth, twenty fifteen, at two 1477 01:28:39.439 --> 01:28:43.359 oh four UTC, Progress M two seven M re entered 1478 01:28:43.399 --> 01:28:48.399 over central Pacific Ocean. Ross Cosmos announced simply the Progress 1479 01:28:48.520 --> 01:28:52.319 M two seven M spacecraft ceased to exist. Most of 1480 01:28:52.399 --> 01:28:54.520 it burned up during re entry as designed for a 1481 01:28:54.600 --> 01:28:58.279 spacecraft with no heat shield, and any surviving fragments fell 1482 01:28:58.319 --> 01:29:02.239 into the ocean far from land. The US military tracking 1483 01:29:02.399 --> 01:29:05.920 refined the time of entry to two twenty UTC, still 1484 01:29:05.960 --> 01:29:09.680 over the Pacific, and then it was gone. The official 1485 01:29:09.760 --> 01:29:13.840 ros Cosmos investigation concluded that an improper separation from the 1486 01:29:14.199 --> 01:29:17.720 third stage of Saiu's rocket, combined with fuel leaks, had 1487 01:29:17.800 --> 01:29:21.399 doomed the mission progress. M two seven M was not 1488 01:29:21.600 --> 01:29:24.960 the first progress to fall. In twenty eleven, a similar 1489 01:29:25.079 --> 01:29:28.880 third stage engine failure caused a progress to crash in Siberia, 1490 01:29:29.680 --> 01:29:32.800 but M two seven M was different. It reached orbit 1491 01:29:32.880 --> 01:29:36.560 before falling, turning a routine supply run into an uncontrolled 1492 01:29:36.600 --> 01:29:39.319 re entry with a one in two thousand chants of 1493 01:29:39.399 --> 01:29:44.199 causing a ground casualty, well above the one ten thousand 1494 01:29:44.319 --> 01:29:49.640 risk threshold considered acceptable for uncontrolled re entries. So let's 1495 01:29:49.760 --> 01:29:53.279 talk this real briefly. One in ten thousand is an 1496 01:29:53.319 --> 01:29:54.159 acceptable risk. 1497 01:29:54.560 --> 01:29:58.800 Yeah, it's like accepting radiations that are harm but not 1498 01:29:58.880 --> 01:30:02.359 gonna kill us. That's that risk though, Like that's usually 1499 01:30:02.479 --> 01:30:05.680 money that's created sort of thing. But yeah, there is 1500 01:30:05.760 --> 01:30:07.079 got to be a limit, and it's got to be 1501 01:30:07.159 --> 01:30:09.000 an upward it's got to be a ceilion, a floor, 1502 01:30:09.039 --> 01:30:09.479 two things. 1503 01:30:09.680 --> 01:30:09.880 Yeah. 1504 01:30:09.920 --> 01:30:11.640 I think that's the way they look at it, right, 1505 01:30:11.920 --> 01:30:16.119 And if they're I mean, and that's how they started, right, What. 1506 01:30:16.279 --> 01:30:19.079 Is the acceptable risk in order to keep progress moving forward? 1507 01:30:19.319 --> 01:30:19.520 Yeah? 1508 01:30:19.680 --> 01:30:19.800 Right? 1509 01:30:20.039 --> 01:30:21.079 Ten thousand, Yeah, Okay. 1510 01:30:21.399 --> 01:30:23.720 I mean, you know when you consider all of human 1511 01:30:23.840 --> 01:30:28.399 history that the human risk plus watch worse and you know, 1512 01:30:28.720 --> 01:30:32.079 I can like it doesn't matter. Yeah, right, departments were 1513 01:30:32.119 --> 01:30:34.800 built on the blood of a lot of people, for example. 1514 01:30:35.039 --> 01:30:39.720 True. Yeah, well, luckily, you know a lot of these stories, 1515 01:30:39.720 --> 01:30:43.000 they end pretty pretty well scary when it's happening, but 1516 01:30:43.039 --> 01:30:50.800 they end pretty positively right. All right, Moving on number fourteen, Oscar. 1517 01:30:51.119 --> 01:30:53.079 You're still with me on this, Yeah, we're halfway. 1518 01:30:52.840 --> 01:30:57.000 Right, listeners are still with us. Number fourteen iss EP 1519 01:30:57.359 --> 01:31:02.640 nine the NASA battery palette that hit house. Oh hit house. 1520 01:31:03.680 --> 01:31:06.079 So this is the most recent and in some ways 1521 01:31:06.279 --> 01:31:10.279 kind of the most alarming. On March eighth, twenty twenty four, 1522 01:31:10.399 --> 01:31:12.840 so this is really this is the recent A small 1523 01:31:12.960 --> 01:31:16.199 metal cylinder crashed through the roof of a home in Naples, Florida. 1524 01:31:17.000 --> 01:31:20.279 It tore through two floors and missed the homeowner's son 1525 01:31:20.439 --> 01:31:23.960 by two rooms, and embedded itself in the floor. A 1526 01:31:24.039 --> 01:31:28.800 home security camera captured the whole impact. The object was 1527 01:31:28.800 --> 01:31:32.319 a one point six pounds stanchion made of a rugged 1528 01:31:32.399 --> 01:31:37.720 metal alloy designed to survive extreme conditions. NASA Lata confirmed 1529 01:31:37.760 --> 01:31:40.840 that it came from a cargo pallet called the Exposed 1530 01:31:40.920 --> 01:31:44.319 Pallet nine or EP nine, which had been jettison from 1531 01:31:44.359 --> 01:31:48.359 the ISS in March twenty twenty one. The pallet overall 1532 01:31:48.399 --> 01:31:53.520 weighed fifty eight hundred pounds and carried spent nickel hydrogen batteries, 1533 01:31:53.960 --> 01:31:57.079 the heaviest piece of trash ever tossed overboard from the station. 1534 01:31:58.399 --> 01:32:01.239 NASA had predicted the hardware were would burn up harmlessly 1535 01:32:01.319 --> 01:32:04.560 after two to four years in orbit, but instead that 1536 01:32:04.720 --> 01:32:08.359 stanchion survived and found its way to a house in Naples, 1537 01:32:09.479 --> 01:32:13.880 and the incident raised kind of uncomfortable questions. Who's responsible 1538 01:32:13.920 --> 01:32:16.840 when space debris hits a house? What happens when a 1539 01:32:16.920 --> 01:32:22.079 planned disposal goes wrong? Now, under international space law, the 1540 01:32:22.239 --> 01:32:26.239 launching state is liable for damage caused by its space objects, 1541 01:32:26.920 --> 01:32:31.319 but NASA's a government agency, and the homeowner, Alejandro Otero, 1542 01:32:31.880 --> 01:32:36.039 has since sued the agency for damages. Arturo said he 1543 01:32:36.239 --> 01:32:40.119 was shaking and completely in disbelief, adding quote, what are 1544 01:32:40.159 --> 01:32:43.000 the chances of something landing on my house? Was such 1545 01:32:43.119 --> 01:32:47.560 force to cause so much damage? The Naples incident is 1546 01:32:47.640 --> 01:32:51.680 now milestone the first space debris insurance claim in American history. 1547 01:32:52.640 --> 01:32:55.039 NASA offered to settle the case on November twenty two, 1548 01:32:55.159 --> 01:33:00.880 twenty twenty four, and the family accepted with no confidential restrictions. 1549 01:33:01.359 --> 01:33:04.520 The agency paid a total of forty four thousand and 1550 01:33:04.600 --> 01:33:07.960 fifty one dollars and twenty two cents to the Taros 1551 01:33:08.039 --> 01:33:12.079 for their homeowners and their homeowners insurance carrier. Though modest, 1552 01:33:12.560 --> 01:33:16.720 the settlement set a powerful precedent. When something falls from space, 1553 01:33:17.279 --> 01:33:21.479 someone's ultimately responsible. It's a warning to space faring nations 1554 01:33:21.920 --> 01:33:24.159 and a small measure of justice for a family caught 1555 01:33:24.520 --> 01:33:25.800 in a one in a trillion event. 1556 01:33:26.079 --> 01:33:30.119 Can I say that sounds like a I mean, borring 1557 01:33:30.159 --> 01:33:33.439 any psychological effectors doesn't seem to be any. Is that 1558 01:33:33.880 --> 01:33:36.159 that sounds kind of a reasonable probably the most reasonable 1559 01:33:36.239 --> 01:33:39.319 sounding settlement I've ever heard. You think, I think it 1560 01:33:39.399 --> 01:33:41.560 costs what it's a it's for the damages, maybe a 1561 01:33:41.600 --> 01:33:44.520 little more. How much more can it be? Yeah, it 1562 01:33:44.560 --> 01:33:46.960 sounds right to me. I mean that sounds actually reasonable. 1563 01:33:47.840 --> 01:33:53.840 Millions kid one, Well, if you kill the kid a 1564 01:33:53.880 --> 01:33:55.359 different style, it's a different story. 1565 01:33:55.359 --> 01:33:57.439 If it kills a kid, obviously Donnie Darko's style. 1566 01:33:57.600 --> 01:33:59.800 Right. It is not that I was a jet engine, 1567 01:33:59.800 --> 01:34:01.960 though it was. That was a much bigger thing. But 1568 01:34:03.119 --> 01:34:05.079 but you know what I'm saying, you don't often hear 1569 01:34:05.239 --> 01:34:09.399 reasonable settlements. So okay, everyone expects millions off flick a 1570 01:34:09.600 --> 01:34:11.560 punch in the face or whatever, like it's just a barf. 1571 01:34:11.600 --> 01:34:12.119 I settled down. 1572 01:34:12.479 --> 01:34:16.000 But like you know, forty four thousand, couple hundred and 1573 01:34:16.039 --> 01:34:18.479 some change forty one point two two. 1574 01:34:18.600 --> 01:34:21.920 That's more than it's extra leftover for a low vacation. 1575 01:34:23.800 --> 01:34:26.680 That's pretty good to me. Yeah, you know, right, you 1576 01:34:26.720 --> 01:34:30.159 know what, take it, take it, take the take the publicity, 1577 01:34:30.880 --> 01:34:32.479 have a little celebrity for a little while. 1578 01:34:32.680 --> 01:34:34.840 Also that I mean true, I tell a story for 1579 01:34:34.920 --> 01:34:36.880 the ages, right, sure, that's cool. 1580 01:34:37.039 --> 01:34:39.039 For sure, it got fixed. 1581 01:34:39.079 --> 01:34:43.640 It's cool. No one died or got hurt, thankfully, as 1582 01:34:43.680 --> 01:34:46.279 a dog fell through the hole or something after chasing 1583 01:34:46.359 --> 01:34:48.159 her something terrible. 1584 01:34:48.520 --> 01:34:51.359 How much then would forty four thousand be acceptable? Then 1585 01:34:51.399 --> 01:34:52.119 if they lost a dog? 1586 01:34:52.439 --> 01:34:56.560 Yeah, I don't know, no, I don't know how it works, 1587 01:34:56.920 --> 01:35:01.000 but I think I mean I would put a fire 1588 01:35:01.199 --> 01:35:04.159 like a fireman's pole thousand of through the hull. 1589 01:35:05.399 --> 01:35:07.079 Sir, we gave you that money to fix your house. 1590 01:35:08.720 --> 01:35:13.560 Fuck you, I wanted my fire pole, all right. Number fifteen. 1591 01:35:13.600 --> 01:35:16.479 Now this is the mere space station the controlled end 1592 01:35:16.520 --> 01:35:20.399 of an era. Mirror was the largest space station of 1593 01:35:20.439 --> 01:35:24.479 its time, one hundred and twenty ton modular complex that 1594 01:35:24.720 --> 01:35:28.520 orbited Earth for fifteen years. It hosted crews from the 1595 01:35:28.560 --> 01:35:33.399 Soviet Union, Russia, the US, and other nations, a symbol 1596 01:35:33.439 --> 01:35:39.079 of Cold War cooperation turned post Soviet endurance. But beneath 1597 01:35:39.119 --> 01:35:43.960 the diplomatic veneer, Mirror was a floating catastrophe. It had 1598 01:35:44.000 --> 01:35:46.760 been built to only last five years. Oh, it was 1599 01:35:46.920 --> 01:35:49.880 kept a law for three times that long, and by 1600 01:35:49.920 --> 01:35:53.960 the late nineteen nineties it was falling apart. The station 1601 01:35:54.159 --> 01:35:57.640 suffered a catalog of crisises that read like a horror novel. 1602 01:35:58.359 --> 01:36:01.439 A fire that nearly burned through the hole, a collision 1603 01:36:01.479 --> 01:36:04.159 that punctured a module and sent air hitsing into space, 1604 01:36:04.760 --> 01:36:08.439 computer crashes that left a station adrift, and a mysterious 1605 01:36:08.960 --> 01:36:14.279 fungal infestation that began eating the station from the inside out. Yeah, 1606 01:36:14.520 --> 01:36:20.079 crazy cosmonauts or Russian Russian astronauts right. Cosmonauts described Mirror 1607 01:36:20.159 --> 01:36:24.520 as quote someone's very old garage where there's just been 1608 01:36:24.600 --> 01:36:27.600 stuff put away for years on end and nobody's moved 1609 01:36:27.640 --> 01:36:29.760 it end. Quote. I love that quote. 1610 01:36:30.039 --> 01:36:30.840 It's space horror. 1611 01:36:31.039 --> 01:36:36.159 Yeah, I like yeah. NASA officials privately called it an 1612 01:36:36.319 --> 01:36:41.399 orbiting lemon, so she wasn't doing good. Shortly after dinner 1613 01:36:41.479 --> 01:36:46.640 on February twenty fourth, nineteen ninety seven, cosmonaut Alexander Lezupkin 1614 01:36:47.239 --> 01:36:51.960 activated a solid fuel oxygen generator in Mirror's Cavant one module. 1615 01:36:53.119 --> 01:36:57.199 The canister ignited, shooting a three foot flame across the module, 1616 01:36:57.640 --> 01:37:00.239 with sparks and bits of molten metal metal flo in 1617 01:37:00.319 --> 01:37:05.840 every direction. Dense smoke filled the station almost instantly. The 1618 01:37:06.359 --> 01:37:09.479 flame blocked an evacuation route, so one of the two 1619 01:37:09.840 --> 01:37:16.800 Suya's escape vehicles. Doc can I hye, please start over. 1620 01:37:18.279 --> 01:37:22.960 From the top. Welcome to the show. I rewind so 1621 01:37:23.680 --> 01:37:25.960 so surprisingly paranorm. 1622 01:37:26.319 --> 01:37:28.479 My notes a page five of twenty eight. But I 1623 01:37:28.560 --> 01:37:36.880 know that's not right, so all right. Shortly after dinner, 1624 01:37:36.920 --> 01:37:41.680 on February twenty fourth, nineteen ninety seven, cosmonaut Alexander Lezutkin 1625 01:37:42.279 --> 01:37:47.399 activated a solid fuel oxygen generator in Mirror's Cavant one module. 1626 01:37:48.159 --> 01:37:52.079 The canister ignited, shooting a three foot flame across the module, 1627 01:37:52.560 --> 01:37:55.600 with sparks and bits of molten metal flying in every direction. 1628 01:37:56.279 --> 01:37:58.119 This is a I mean, that's this is huge in 1629 01:37:58.239 --> 01:38:03.119 space fire. Bad right, this is this is a serious situation. 1630 01:38:03.880 --> 01:38:07.760 DNSE smoke filled the station almost instantly. The flame blocked 1631 01:38:07.800 --> 01:38:10.920 the evacuation route to one of the two Souya's escape 1632 01:38:11.000 --> 01:38:15.800 vehicles docked at the station. The six crew members, four Russians, 1633 01:38:15.880 --> 01:38:19.039 one American, and one German, put on oxygen masks and 1634 01:38:19.159 --> 01:38:22.800 fought the fire for nearly fourteen minutes. The smoke was 1635 01:38:22.880 --> 01:38:26.760 so thick they could barely see. After the flames were extinguished, 1636 01:38:27.119 --> 01:38:29.880 the crew spent hours clearing the toxic smoke from the 1637 01:38:29.960 --> 01:38:34.439 station's atmosphere. Four months later, on June twenty fifth, nineteen 1638 01:38:34.520 --> 01:38:39.640 ninety seven, Mirror faced its most dramatic crisis yet. Commander 1639 01:38:39.800 --> 01:38:45.760 facilis we'll just call him Commander Facili Russian, was remotely 1640 01:38:45.840 --> 01:38:49.680 piloting an unmanned Progress cargo ship towards the station for 1641 01:38:49.760 --> 01:38:53.359 a docking test. Watching a monitor and operating a pair 1642 01:38:53.399 --> 01:38:56.560 of joysticks. He tried to coax the robot ship in 1643 01:38:56.800 --> 01:39:00.920 for a gentle approach, but then on exis lickably, the 1644 01:39:01.039 --> 01:39:04.960 Progress stopped responding to his commands. The cargo ship ram 1645 01:39:05.119 --> 01:39:08.760 the station at speed. The impact punctured the whole of 1646 01:39:08.840 --> 01:39:12.560 the Spectra module which contained science experiments and the sleeping 1647 01:39:12.640 --> 01:39:17.720 quarters of the American astronaut Michael Full. Air began hissing 1648 01:39:17.760 --> 01:39:20.560 out of the station. The crew scrambled to seal the 1649 01:39:20.640 --> 01:39:24.840 hatch to Specter, but they only had seconds. In the chaos, 1650 01:39:24.920 --> 01:39:28.239 they had to sever cables carrying power from Spector solar 1651 01:39:28.279 --> 01:39:31.039 panels to the rest of the station. The loss of 1652 01:39:31.119 --> 01:39:34.840 power was immediate and severe. Mirror lost forty percent of 1653 01:39:34.920 --> 01:39:41.119 its electricity supply, forcing a shutdown of oxygen generation, water production, lightning, 1654 01:39:41.199 --> 01:39:45.399 and research work. The collision also knocked Mirror into a slow, 1655 01:39:45.560 --> 01:39:49.720 sickening spin. The station's solar panels couldn't track the sun, 1656 01:39:50.239 --> 01:39:54.399 so the batteries drained rapidly For a few terrifying hours. 1657 01:39:54.880 --> 01:39:58.479 The crew was facing the real possibility of abandoning Mirror entirely. 1658 01:40:00.920 --> 01:40:02.800 This is a quote. The first thought was are we 1659 01:40:02.920 --> 01:40:05.720 going to die instantly because of air rushing out so fast? 1660 01:40:05.800 --> 01:40:09.800 We can't control it. Full later told the BBC the 1661 01:40:09.920 --> 01:40:13.960 crew sealed off Specter, but Full lost all his personal gear, 1662 01:40:14.399 --> 01:40:18.039 his clothes, his music tapes, his family photos trapped in 1663 01:40:18.199 --> 01:40:19.439 the depressurized module. 1664 01:40:19.640 --> 01:40:20.000 His mood. 1665 01:40:21.039 --> 01:40:25.079 Then, yeah, it's portnt The station limped along at half 1666 01:40:25.159 --> 01:40:28.720 power with failing systems, causing heat and humidity to soar 1667 01:40:29.359 --> 01:40:33.479 and Mirror itself to list and drift. Dude, I can't 1668 01:40:33.479 --> 01:40:35.000 even imagine how terrifying that is. 1669 01:40:36.800 --> 01:40:41.279 No, I can't imagine the gravity much yes, much less. 1670 01:40:41.560 --> 01:40:44.399 Yet a disaster in zero gravity right like, oh my god. 1671 01:40:44.720 --> 01:40:44.920 Yeah. 1672 01:40:45.920 --> 01:40:48.920 As if the fire and collision weren't enough, Mirror was 1673 01:40:48.960 --> 01:40:53.960 also being devoured from within. In nineteen eighty eight, astronauts 1674 01:40:54.079 --> 01:40:57.000 noticed that something had blanketed one of the station's windows 1675 01:40:57.359 --> 01:41:02.720 from the outside. The outside. Several species of earth derived 1676 01:41:02.800 --> 01:41:06.319 fungi had been brought up by visitors and had adapted 1677 01:41:06.359 --> 01:41:10.199 to the space environment so well that they thrived on windows, 1678 01:41:10.560 --> 01:41:15.119 control panels, air conditioners, and cable insulators. The fungus was 1679 01:41:15.199 --> 01:41:18.960 corroding the station's integrity, putting both the spacecraft and its 1680 01:41:19.000 --> 01:41:22.600 occupants at risk. It was yet another reminder that Mirror 1681 01:41:22.720 --> 01:41:26.720 was no longer a pristine laboratory. It was a biohazard. Yeah, 1682 01:41:28.079 --> 01:41:29.039 this fucking movie. 1683 01:41:29.920 --> 01:41:31.119 This movie that. 1684 01:41:32.720 --> 01:41:36.399 The problems never stopped. A month after the fire, a 1685 01:41:36.520 --> 01:41:39.960 second main oxygen generator malfunctioned. A month after that, the 1686 01:41:40.039 --> 01:41:44.560 carbon dioxide removal system failed On July first, nineteen ninety seven, 1687 01:41:44.960 --> 01:41:48.079 a crew member inadvertently pulled the plug on Mirror's main computer, 1688 01:41:48.600 --> 01:41:51.479 causing the loss of systems and forcing a power shut 1689 01:41:51.560 --> 01:41:55.159 down with loss of most light, heating, and life support systems. 1690 01:41:55.479 --> 01:41:56.520 And the list went on and on. 1691 01:41:57.119 --> 01:41:57.359 Wow. 1692 01:41:58.359 --> 01:42:00.760 Now, by two thousand and one, Mirror was so old, 1693 01:42:01.039 --> 01:42:04.920 worn and expensive to maintain the Russian government decided to 1694 01:42:05.079 --> 01:42:08.319 end it on its own terms. On March twenty third, 1695 01:42:08.399 --> 01:42:11.560 two thousand and one, a Progress cargo ship fired its 1696 01:42:11.600 --> 01:42:16.600 engines to push mir into a controlled descent the final deorbit. 1697 01:42:17.039 --> 01:42:20.199 The burn lasted twenty two minutes and twenty seven seconds. 1698 01:42:21.119 --> 01:42:24.359 The station broke apart over the South Pacific Ocean and 1699 01:42:24.560 --> 01:42:29.479 debris fell into a remote area near Nadi, Fiji. It 1700 01:42:29.640 --> 01:42:33.039 was the largest controlled re entry ever attempted, and it 1701 01:42:33.119 --> 01:42:34.319 went exactly as planned. 1702 01:42:34.560 --> 01:42:36.359 I was gonna say it sounds like it did, Yeah, exactly. 1703 01:42:36.399 --> 01:42:40.199 It's controllers had calculated the trajectory down to the second. 1704 01:42:40.960 --> 01:42:44.279 The station's breakup was modeled in advance, and when the 1705 01:42:44.359 --> 01:42:47.880 debris splashed down, it did so in the South Pacific 1706 01:42:48.000 --> 01:42:53.239 Ocean uninhabited area. That same spacecraft cemetery used by the ATV, 1707 01:42:53.720 --> 01:42:58.640 the HTV and other controlled re entries. Mir proved that 1708 01:42:58.760 --> 01:43:02.640 with enough preparation, even the biggest objects can be disposed 1709 01:43:02.680 --> 01:43:05.920 of safely, A fiery goodbye to the station that had 1710 01:43:05.960 --> 01:43:10.720 been home in space for a generation. Today, Mirror's legacy 1711 01:43:10.800 --> 01:43:14.359 lives on in the International Space Station, which was assembled 1712 01:43:14.439 --> 01:43:16.560 partly from module design for Mer. 1713 01:43:16.920 --> 01:43:18.640 And the same mold was carried over. 1714 01:43:21.840 --> 01:43:25.520 Now and when the ISS itself is diorbited, which is 1715 01:43:25.640 --> 01:43:30.199 planned for twenty thirty, it will follow Mer's path, a 1716 01:43:30.359 --> 01:43:33.359 controlled fall into the South Pacific where no one lives. 1717 01:43:34.680 --> 01:43:37.560 But the story of Mirror is not one of triumph. 1718 01:43:37.680 --> 01:43:41.800 It's a story of survival against impossible odds. A rusted, 1719 01:43:42.039 --> 01:43:46.439 fungus eaten, fire damaged, collision scarred relic that just refused 1720 01:43:46.520 --> 01:43:48.920 to die, and the men and women who lived on 1721 01:43:49.000 --> 01:43:51.840 it somehow who also refused to die along with it. 1722 01:43:52.039 --> 01:43:54.119 It's like my first car right. 1723 01:43:54.239 --> 01:43:57.199 Excuse me, Yeah, I'm sorry, I need to drink. I've 1724 01:43:57.199 --> 01:43:57.960 been talking so much. 1725 01:43:58.359 --> 01:44:01.720 That first car mine was. It lasted way longer than 1726 01:44:01.760 --> 01:44:02.159 it should have. 1727 01:44:03.800 --> 01:44:09.520 Okay, So, as you've heard throughout this episode, not everything 1728 01:44:09.600 --> 01:44:12.520 that falls from space lands on a roof in Florida, 1729 01:44:13.079 --> 01:44:16.640 or in a town in Argentina, or on a woman's shoulder. 1730 01:44:17.279 --> 01:44:20.359 Most of it, the vast majority, in fact, ends up 1731 01:44:20.439 --> 01:44:22.800 in the one place on Earth where no one lives, 1732 01:44:23.720 --> 01:44:27.600 a place so remote, so utterly empty, that its official 1733 01:44:27.720 --> 01:44:32.239 name is the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area. At its 1734 01:44:32.319 --> 01:44:37.000 heart lies a coordinate called Point Nemo, the oceanic pole 1735 01:44:37.159 --> 01:44:41.359 of Inaccessibility, the farthest point from any land mass on 1736 01:44:41.680 --> 01:44:47.159 the planet. It's truly the loneliest place on Earth, and 1737 01:44:47.279 --> 01:44:51.880 it's also the world's largest spacecraft cemetery. The South Pacific 1738 01:44:51.960 --> 01:44:55.880 Ocean Uninhabited Area is not marked by buoys or painted 1739 01:44:55.960 --> 01:44:59.399 on nautical charts with a special symbol. It's defined by 1740 01:44:59.439 --> 01:45:03.800 what it lacks land, shipping lanes, and for the most 1741 01:45:03.840 --> 01:45:08.600 part life. If you doggy paddled or floated on your 1742 01:45:08.640 --> 01:45:11.359 back at Point Nemo, you would experience a form of 1743 01:45:11.479 --> 01:45:16.359 isolation almost incomprehensible. The nearest land is more than one thousand, 1744 01:45:16.439 --> 01:45:21.239 six hundred and sixteen miles away in every direction. Deucey Island, 1745 01:45:21.600 --> 01:45:25.279 part of the Piccarin Islands to the north, Motu Nui 1746 01:45:25.760 --> 01:45:29.319 near Easter Island to the northeast, and Mayhere Island off 1747 01:45:29.359 --> 01:45:32.920 the coast of Antarctica to the south. All three uninhabited 1748 01:45:32.960 --> 01:45:35.800 by the way. That means there is no permanent human 1749 01:45:35.880 --> 01:45:39.920 presence within an area of roughly eight point five million 1750 01:45:40.039 --> 01:45:44.119 square miles of open ocean. The nearest humans are often 1751 01:45:44.159 --> 01:45:49.000 the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, orbiting two hundred 1752 01:45:49.000 --> 01:45:52.920 and fifty eight miles above the Earth, significantly closer than 1753 01:45:53.000 --> 01:45:58.359 anyone at sea level. Mine just explit's so crazy. 1754 01:45:58.640 --> 01:46:01.039 Yeah, the way I heard when I start about Point Nemo, 1755 01:46:01.119 --> 01:46:03.920 I forget where it was many many years ago. I 1756 01:46:04.079 --> 01:46:06.439 was also fascinated by it, But the way it was 1757 01:46:06.479 --> 01:46:09.159 described to me, either told to me or I read it, 1758 01:46:09.880 --> 01:46:14.159 is that it is such a lonely right thing, distance 1759 01:46:14.199 --> 01:46:16.039 from everything else in the world, that you might as 1760 01:46:16.079 --> 01:46:18.560 well be in space, because that's how it feels, the 1761 01:46:18.640 --> 01:46:20.880 only place you can feel like space and the loneliness 1762 01:46:21.159 --> 01:46:22.920 as a as an unearthed. 1763 01:46:23.600 --> 01:46:27.000 Yeah, I can't even imagine what it is out there 1764 01:46:27.039 --> 01:46:32.239 at night, what it looks like, what's look great? Terrifying? Now. 1765 01:46:32.319 --> 01:46:35.319 The name Point Nemo was given in nineteen ninety two 1766 01:46:36.079 --> 01:46:41.960 by He's a Croatian by ravage Luka Tella. We're just 1767 01:46:42.000 --> 01:46:43.000 gonna call him Lukatella. 1768 01:46:43.079 --> 01:46:44.680 I mean, I know he read Jules Varron. I'll tell 1769 01:46:44.680 --> 01:46:44.880 you that. 1770 01:46:45.000 --> 01:46:48.760 Hervogi hr voj E. I don't even know how you 1771 01:46:48.840 --> 01:46:54.439 say that. Lukatella a Croatian Canadian survey engineer. Using a 1772 01:46:54.520 --> 01:46:58.680 geospatial program he developed to calculate the point furthest from 1773 01:46:58.720 --> 01:47:03.119 any clothesline coastline, he named it after Captain Nemo, the 1774 01:47:03.199 --> 01:47:08.279 fictional submarine commander from Jewels Verns twenty thousand leagues under 1775 01:47:08.279 --> 01:47:12.000 the Sea. Yeah, a fitting tribute, as Nemo is Latin 1776 01:47:12.119 --> 01:47:16.920 for no One. The region's formal designation the South Pacific 1777 01:47:17.000 --> 01:47:20.720 Ocean uninhabited Area. It's less poetic. It's less poetic, but 1778 01:47:20.760 --> 01:47:24.520 it's accurate. It's accurate now. The sea here is cold, 1779 01:47:24.760 --> 01:47:27.800 averaging about forty five degrees fahrenheit, and the depth at 1780 01:47:27.840 --> 01:47:30.399 Point Nemo is nearly two and a half miles down. 1781 01:47:31.239 --> 01:47:35.319 Sunlight never reaches the ocean floor. The waters are part 1782 01:47:35.359 --> 01:47:39.319 of the South Pacific Geyer, a vast rotating current system 1783 01:47:39.399 --> 01:47:43.039 that is largely cut off from nutrient rich upwellings, so 1784 01:47:43.159 --> 01:47:45.880 as a result, the region is one of one of 1785 01:47:45.920 --> 01:47:50.880 the most biologically desolate in the ocean. Marine life is minimal, 1786 01:47:51.079 --> 01:47:56.880 mostly microbes and the occasional deep sea scavenger otherwise nothing cool. 1787 01:47:57.279 --> 01:47:59.319 In fact, Point Nemo is so remote that it has 1788 01:47:59.439 --> 01:48:02.399 spawned its own legends, And we did an episode on 1789 01:48:02.479 --> 01:48:05.439 this member the Bloop. So in nineteen ninety seven, deep 1790 01:48:05.520 --> 01:48:11.079 water hydrophones detected this ultra low frequency underwater sound near 1791 01:48:11.239 --> 01:48:13.960 the region of Point Nemo, which was called the Bloop. 1792 01:48:14.079 --> 01:48:17.279 The scientists dubbed it the Bloop. The sound was powerful 1793 01:48:17.359 --> 01:48:19.800 enough to be heard five thousand kilometers away, and for 1794 01:48:20.000 --> 01:48:25.079 years speculation ran wild with a giant squid, some unknown 1795 01:48:25.199 --> 01:48:29.600 sea monster, a secret military test, wasn't me. The answer 1796 01:48:29.840 --> 01:48:34.720 eventually is, supposedly, it's a lot more maintain the blue mundane. 1797 01:48:34.760 --> 01:48:36.880 The bloop is actually a sound of an ice quake, 1798 01:48:37.520 --> 01:48:42.159 a large iceberg cracking and caving and breaking apart in Antarctica. 1799 01:48:43.399 --> 01:48:46.479 But the mystery, the mystery just added to Point Nemo's aura. 1800 01:48:47.800 --> 01:48:50.920 And again go check out the Blop episode. We covered 1801 01:48:50.960 --> 01:48:51.880 this extensively. 1802 01:48:52.479 --> 01:48:54.600 Yeah, and the aura, that kind of aura is compounded 1803 01:48:54.680 --> 01:48:56.600 by the fact that, much like space, we don't know 1804 01:48:56.680 --> 01:48:59.079 what's going on under the ocean for the majority of 1805 01:48:59.439 --> 01:49:03.159 bar still to this day. So like, you know, all 1806 01:49:03.199 --> 01:49:06.239 that as tood like for me to triangle shit things 1807 01:49:06.319 --> 01:49:08.159 like that just further away. 1808 01:49:09.159 --> 01:49:14.119 Yeah now. Point Nemo's extreme isolation makes it ironically one 1809 01:49:14.119 --> 01:49:16.399 of the most valuable pieces of real estate on Earth, 1810 01:49:17.039 --> 01:49:20.600 at least for space agencies. In nineteen seventy one, the 1811 01:49:20.760 --> 01:49:25.800 United States, Russia, Japan, and the European Space Agency have 1812 01:49:26.000 --> 01:49:30.000 deliberately crashed more than two hundred and sixty spacecraft into 1813 01:49:30.039 --> 01:49:33.800 this remote patch of ocean. It's the only place on 1814 01:49:33.880 --> 01:49:36.760 the planet routinely used as a controlled re entry zone, 1815 01:49:37.279 --> 01:49:40.840 a spacecraft cemetery where the largest human made objects are 1816 01:49:40.920 --> 01:49:44.640 sent to die, and the logic is simple. As we've 1817 01:49:44.680 --> 01:49:48.199 seen throughout this episode, large spacecraft do not always burn 1818 01:49:48.279 --> 01:49:51.960 up completely during re entry. Fragments can survive the three 1819 01:49:52.039 --> 01:49:56.319 thousand degree heat and reach the ground. If those fragments 1820 01:49:56.399 --> 01:49:59.319 fall on the city, people die. If they fall in 1821 01:49:59.399 --> 01:50:03.359 the ocean, no one dies. By targeting Point Nemo, space 1822 01:50:03.439 --> 01:50:06.960 agencies reduced the risk of a catastrophic ground impact to 1823 01:50:07.079 --> 01:50:11.319 near zero. According to NASA, the likelihood of spacecraft degree 1824 01:50:11.439 --> 01:50:13.720 hitting someone in this part of the ocean is about 1825 01:50:13.760 --> 01:50:14.640 one in ten thousand. 1826 01:50:16.600 --> 01:50:16.720 Now. 1827 01:50:16.800 --> 01:50:19.279 The first spacecraft sent to this watery grave was a 1828 01:50:19.359 --> 01:50:23.239 Soviet rocket stage in nineteen seventy one. Since then, the 1829 01:50:23.319 --> 01:50:26.600 list of notable burials reads like a history of the 1830 01:50:26.640 --> 01:50:31.159 space age. Six Soviet Salute space stations, one hundred and 1831 01:50:31.239 --> 01:50:35.920 forty five autonomous Russian supply ships, five European Space Agency 1832 01:50:36.279 --> 01:50:41.399 Agency automated transfer vehicles, four Japanese HTV cargo graft, and 1833 01:50:41.560 --> 01:50:47.119 the Russian space station Mirror. Even spaceikes ex rocket capsule 1834 01:50:47.199 --> 01:50:51.840 has reportedly ended its mission in these waters. And in 1835 01:50:51.960 --> 01:50:54.760 case any people are thinking about savage or doing some 1836 01:50:54.960 --> 01:50:58.920 sight seeing, don't. None of these spacecraft are intact on 1837 01:50:59.000 --> 01:51:02.840 the ocean floor. Re Entry is a violent, destructive process. 1838 01:51:03.600 --> 01:51:06.079 What reaches the bottom is a field of twisted metal, 1839 01:51:06.560 --> 01:51:10.840 shattered composites and metal alloys scattered across a massive area, 1840 01:51:11.359 --> 01:51:14.039 rather than piled neatly in one spot. So don't go there. 1841 01:51:15.000 --> 01:51:18.119 It's it's a cemetery, not a museum. It's a crime 1842 01:51:18.199 --> 01:51:20.279 scene where the victims are machines. 1843 01:51:22.039 --> 01:51:25.239 So when the when the machine uprising happens, that'll be 1844 01:51:25.319 --> 01:51:27.640 their first like graveyard they can honor. 1845 01:51:27.720 --> 01:51:32.079 Yeah, they'll go salvage like pieces from there. The spacecraft 1846 01:51:32.159 --> 01:51:35.920 cemetery is about to get its largest occupant yet. NASA 1847 01:51:36.039 --> 01:51:39.359 plans to deorbit the International Space Station in twenty thirty 1848 01:51:39.439 --> 01:51:42.960 or twenty thirty one, steering the four hundred and fifty 1849 01:51:43.000 --> 01:51:47.520 ton structure straight towards Point Nemo. The station will break 1850 01:51:47.560 --> 01:51:50.640 apart during re entry, but debris will splash down. 1851 01:51:50.680 --> 01:51:53.600 Oh, I do too, I do too. 1852 01:51:55.039 --> 01:51:58.680 It'll break apart and debris will splash down over that 1853 01:51:59.159 --> 01:52:03.319 remote stretch of over. The exact timing depends on solar activity, 1854 01:52:03.439 --> 01:52:07.119 which affects drag, but the target is fixed, the loneliest 1855 01:52:07.159 --> 01:52:10.239 place on Earth, And for a few minutes, the loneliest 1856 01:52:10.239 --> 01:52:12.960 place on Earth will be the brightest lit by a 1857 01:52:13.039 --> 01:52:16.399 fire of a falling space station. Then the water will 1858 01:52:16.439 --> 01:52:21.319 close over and the silence and darkness will return, And 1859 01:52:21.439 --> 01:52:24.399 even after the isis is gone, the cemetery will continue 1860 01:52:24.439 --> 01:52:28.680 to fill more cargo vehicles, more spent rocket stages, and 1861 01:52:28.760 --> 01:52:31.720 eventually the next generation of space stations will all make 1862 01:52:31.760 --> 01:52:35.479 the same final voyage. There's no other option. The only 1863 01:52:35.560 --> 01:52:38.600 alternative to a controlled re entry at Point Nemo is 1864 01:52:38.640 --> 01:52:42.560 an uncontrolled re entry somewhere else. And somewhere else might 1865 01:52:42.640 --> 01:52:46.359 be your backyard. Now here's the thing. Most of the 1866 01:52:46.399 --> 01:52:49.359 objects we talked about tonight fell into the ocean. Most 1867 01:52:49.399 --> 01:52:54.199 of them burned up, and few horrifically, But most isn't all. 1868 01:52:55.000 --> 01:52:57.319 Lottie Williams got tapped on the shoulder by a piece 1869 01:52:57.359 --> 01:52:59.840 of rocket, a house in Florida got a hole in 1870 01:52:59.880 --> 01:53:04.000 the truth, a Canadian forest got sprinkled with nuclear debris, 1871 01:53:04.800 --> 01:53:07.479 and a Chinese rocket flew over every major city in 1872 01:53:07.560 --> 01:53:10.159 the world and no one could say exactly where it 1873 01:53:10.159 --> 01:53:13.920 would land. We're putting more space, more stuff into space 1874 01:53:14.000 --> 01:53:17.680 than ever before, more rockets, more satellites, more space stations, 1875 01:53:18.319 --> 01:53:20.000 and we're leaving more of it up there to fall 1876 01:53:20.079 --> 01:53:24.960 down whenever gravity decides it's time. Controlled re entries are possible, 1877 01:53:25.520 --> 01:53:29.439 the ATVs, the htvs, the mere deorbit, they all prove 1878 01:53:29.560 --> 01:53:32.399 we can aim our trash if we want to. But 1879 01:53:32.600 --> 01:53:37.439 uncontrolled re entries are cheaper, they're easier, and for now 1880 01:53:37.880 --> 01:53:42.000 they're still legal. The question isn't whether something will fall, 1881 01:53:42.840 --> 01:53:46.479 it's it's weather will be ready when it does, And 1882 01:53:46.600 --> 01:53:52.840 that's all I have to say about that what goes 1883 01:53:52.920 --> 01:53:54.439 up must come down. 1884 01:53:58.000 --> 01:53:59.800 I'm gonna ask a question that I know it's stupid, 1885 01:54:00.039 --> 01:54:01.359 know you don't know the answer, and I know the 1886 01:54:01.359 --> 01:54:03.680 answer is very simple and probably obvious that I cannot 1887 01:54:03.680 --> 01:54:05.560 think of. That many will be asking, is that, why 1888 01:54:05.640 --> 01:54:09.880 can't we just send things further into space instead of 1889 01:54:10.079 --> 01:54:12.760 like worrying about it coming back down littering our oceans. 1890 01:54:12.920 --> 01:54:16.199 I'm the only factor I could guess is money. It 1891 01:54:16.199 --> 01:54:19.119 would cost more money to get enough fuel to push 1892 01:54:19.199 --> 01:54:20.960 them into that level of space. 1893 01:54:23.039 --> 01:54:25.039 To go into outer space from our orbit. 1894 01:54:24.960 --> 01:54:25.840 To go into deep space. 1895 01:54:25.920 --> 01:54:28.600 Let's say that's right, really that much worse? Really that much? 1896 01:54:28.880 --> 01:54:29.520 I wonder that's the. 1897 01:54:29.479 --> 01:54:32.560 Only thing I could think of. It's gotta be otherwise, Yeah, 1898 01:54:32.600 --> 01:54:36.399 why not what I'm saying, unless they're afraid we'll piss 1899 01:54:36.439 --> 01:54:38.520 off the aliens, you know, if we because aliens are 1900 01:54:38.560 --> 01:54:40.199 really putting this in our backyard. 1901 01:54:39.880 --> 01:54:43.560 For because you know, if we were let's say, if 1902 01:54:43.600 --> 01:54:46.680 we were living I don't want to keep bring enough 1903 01:54:46.720 --> 01:54:48.359 for all mankind. But if we were living in an 1904 01:54:48.439 --> 01:54:50.560 age where we cared about our space travel a lot 1905 01:54:50.600 --> 01:54:53.680 more and we were more advanced, I expect to predict 1906 01:54:53.760 --> 01:54:56.600 a we would be in a situation where we were 1907 01:54:56.640 --> 01:54:59.319 throwing our own garbage. That we're having a lot of 1908 01:54:59.359 --> 01:55:03.880 problems with putting on islands of landfills into space as 1909 01:55:03.920 --> 01:55:08.439 a solution, because that's the ultimate Garbage's boldo is all 1910 01:55:08.520 --> 01:55:12.039 of space infinity. The only thing I'm okay with littering 1911 01:55:12.119 --> 01:55:14.680 is space because we're all litters in it already. That 1912 01:55:14.760 --> 01:55:17.600 makes sense to me. But you know, like, how are 1913 01:55:17.640 --> 01:55:20.319 we not we just focused off. We could just be 1914 01:55:20.399 --> 01:55:22.720 sending our garbage into space and not to mention all 1915 01:55:22.800 --> 01:55:24.880 these it's got to batellites and ship It's got to 1916 01:55:24.920 --> 01:55:27.760 be cost. It's got to be everything is cost. Everything 1917 01:55:27.840 --> 01:55:29.960 is the problem with costs, which is something we only 1918 01:55:30.000 --> 01:55:32.039 impose on ourselves, by the way, you know that, right, 1919 01:55:32.520 --> 01:55:34.199 We only impose it to ourselves because we. 1920 01:55:34.239 --> 01:55:37.000 Want to you mean, we always want to money. 1921 01:55:37.039 --> 01:55:39.439 I mean, like it's cost, Like it's that's a silly reason. 1922 01:55:40.960 --> 01:55:42.520 I mean, what what other reason could there be? 1923 01:55:43.079 --> 01:55:44.800 You're right, I think I think you're right. You know, 1924 01:55:45.079 --> 01:55:45.920 you're probably right. 1925 01:55:47.479 --> 01:55:49.760 But I also think you're right in that that's got 1926 01:55:49.880 --> 01:55:52.640 to be the only place to put the ship. 1927 01:55:52.720 --> 01:55:55.239 That is the only place that everyone's cool with is infinity. 1928 01:55:55.479 --> 01:55:58.159 It's infinity. Put it in infinity, put it right, is 1929 01:55:58.199 --> 01:56:00.319 an infinite bag of holding cults space. 1930 01:56:01.079 --> 01:56:07.880 Yeah ah man, yeah, God, I found literally as. 1931 01:56:07.800 --> 01:56:09.840 A kid too. But like I used, don't even know how. 1932 01:56:09.760 --> 01:56:12.199 To how fucked up is that littering the cosmos? 1933 01:56:13.560 --> 01:56:15.960 It can't be done. Give us a trillion years, we 1934 01:56:16.039 --> 01:56:18.439 won't even do any You're right. 1935 01:56:18.880 --> 01:56:21.800 You might not ever see it again. There doesn't was 1936 01:56:21.880 --> 01:56:22.600 it space X? 1937 01:56:22.680 --> 01:56:24.560 If any of aliens come back with our garbage, like, 1938 01:56:24.680 --> 01:56:27.199 is this yours came to our backyard? 1939 01:56:27.199 --> 01:56:30.279 You know who launched ah, I should have worked well, 1940 01:56:30.399 --> 01:56:32.199 it didn't re enter, so it wouldn't make sense in 1941 01:56:32.239 --> 01:56:35.000 this episode. I think it was space X who sent 1942 01:56:35.079 --> 01:56:36.079 the convertible out there. 1943 01:56:36.439 --> 01:56:37.039 I heard about this. 1944 01:56:37.239 --> 01:56:39.760 There's a convertible out there flying. Someone's in the cockpit. 1945 01:56:39.840 --> 01:56:42.199 I don't know if it's a dummy of elon. There's 1946 01:56:42.239 --> 01:56:44.079 someone in the cock in the in the driver's seat, 1947 01:56:44.159 --> 01:56:48.640 not cockpick, so copy like a dummy. And it's out 1948 01:56:48.680 --> 01:56:52.079 there cruising man out there beyond the stars. You know 1949 01:56:52.239 --> 01:56:53.159 it's gone so far. 1950 01:56:54.000 --> 01:56:57.319 Great use of money, but definitely not make anything useful 1951 01:56:57.399 --> 01:56:59.319 with it. Definitely not. Definitely not. 1952 01:56:59.439 --> 01:57:03.399 I mean that that's junk, right, that's junk out there 1953 01:57:03.439 --> 01:57:04.439 in the infangat. 1954 01:57:04.079 --> 01:57:05.560 But that was not That's not to say the plane. 1955 01:57:05.600 --> 01:57:07.560 We're not throwing all in garbage like we should. We 1956 01:57:07.680 --> 01:57:10.319 have real worries here. We have microplastics everywhere. We shouldn't 1957 01:57:10.319 --> 01:57:10.720 be worried. 1958 01:57:10.760 --> 01:57:12.600 Michael prest classics in our brains. 1959 01:57:13.119 --> 01:57:15.239 Yeah, scary and my boobs. 1960 01:57:16.920 --> 01:57:24.359 Pieces. Yeah, scary stuff. And it's only getting worse and 1961 01:57:24.439 --> 01:57:26.760 there's no solution. So there you have it. 1962 01:57:27.000 --> 01:57:34.359 Yeah, thank you, thanks that. Sorry fucking boomers man, Sorry. 1963 01:57:34.119 --> 01:57:36.000 Listeners, I brought you down on that one. But yeah, 1964 01:57:36.039 --> 01:57:39.000 it's just getting worse and worse. Kessler syndrome terrifying. Yeah, 1965 01:57:39.079 --> 01:57:42.159 it is one major collision is going to send millions 1966 01:57:42.199 --> 01:57:47.800 of pieces like bullets for generations. It doesn't even compute. 1967 01:57:48.720 --> 01:57:51.720 Yeah, I do believe that while the first lunar station 1968 01:57:52.079 --> 01:57:54.439 liverable and commercial of any kind will not be in 1969 01:57:54.520 --> 01:57:56.600 my lifetime, it's possible, but I just don't think it 1970 01:57:56.640 --> 01:58:00.079 will be. I do believe that the first fatality in 1971 01:58:00.159 --> 01:58:03.880 lawsuit as a result to falling space debris will be 1972 01:58:04.039 --> 01:58:06.640 in my lifetime. Will happen in my lifetime, it would 1973 01:58:06.640 --> 01:58:12.319 be I believe that far more likely. It's what I'm saying. Yeah, certainly, 1974 01:58:12.399 --> 01:58:14.439 then that's going to fucking Mars. I have no hope 1975 01:58:14.479 --> 01:58:15.800 of going to space, that's my point. 1976 01:58:16.640 --> 01:58:18.760 You yourself, yeah, yeah, oh, I don't even want to 1977 01:58:18.760 --> 01:58:19.760 fly in a fucking airplane. 1978 01:58:19.960 --> 01:58:20.000 No. 1979 01:58:20.079 --> 01:58:21.720 No, I'm saying in a sense that like okay me 1980 01:58:21.720 --> 01:58:24.479 and myself. Yes, but I mean like happening in while 1981 01:58:24.479 --> 01:58:26.720 I'm alive to see it like on TV or whatever 1982 01:58:27.760 --> 01:58:29.680 or reading it at at all. I mean, I just 1983 01:58:29.720 --> 01:58:30.159 don't think. 1984 01:58:30.079 --> 01:58:34.439 So they're saying by so artemists just launched, which they're 1985 01:58:34.439 --> 01:58:38.239 saying people are saying are fake, is fake. So they 1986 01:58:38.279 --> 01:58:40.560 did a reconnaissance of the Moon. They swung around the 1987 01:58:40.600 --> 01:58:41.479 Moon and came back home. 1988 01:58:42.039 --> 01:58:44.159 Yeah, it's nice to go back to the next year, 1989 01:58:44.800 --> 01:58:45.319 it's lovely. 1990 01:58:45.600 --> 01:58:49.319 In twenty twenty seven they're supposed to actually land and 1991 01:58:49.399 --> 01:58:52.520 then come home, and then in twenty twenty eight they're 1992 01:58:52.560 --> 01:58:54.479 supposed to start building the first moon base. 1993 01:58:55.640 --> 01:58:57.359 I believe that is the long as we don't fuck 1994 01:58:57.479 --> 01:59:01.520 up those steps. Yeah, but they're being very nice about 1995 01:59:01.560 --> 01:59:04.359 that time period. Yeah, so, I mean it's almost always 1996 01:59:04.439 --> 01:59:05.520 pushed away a couple of years. 1997 01:59:05.560 --> 01:59:07.279 We could see a moon base. I don't know. 1998 01:59:09.800 --> 01:59:11.039 You have more and more hope than I did that 1999 01:59:11.199 --> 01:59:11.760 we did it. 2000 01:59:11.840 --> 01:59:14.840 We did one of the episodes where there was a 2001 01:59:14.880 --> 01:59:19.039 construction company, let's call it in Texas by NASA's by 2002 01:59:19.159 --> 01:59:23.119 NASA base in Texas where they were doing remote control 2003 01:59:24.239 --> 01:59:28.920 tests of excavating equipment to be able to control a 2004 01:59:29.000 --> 01:59:31.840 bulldozer here on Earth that's sitting up on the Moon. 2005 01:59:32.279 --> 01:59:37.199 And they're already doing the tests years ago that they 2006 01:59:37.239 --> 01:59:41.319 started these tests. So the equipment is in Texas and Houston, 2007 01:59:42.000 --> 01:59:45.439 and the operator is in a completely different state controlling 2008 01:59:45.479 --> 01:59:48.000 this thing remotely. That's to put it on the fucking Moon, 2009 01:59:48.800 --> 01:59:51.880 to control it from all this stuff is in place. Yeah, 2010 01:59:51.880 --> 01:59:52.039 I know. 2011 01:59:52.399 --> 01:59:54.359 No, I'm not saying it's I'm not saying it's not impossible. 2012 01:59:54.359 --> 01:59:57.079 I think everything's possible. I just don't have any faith 2013 01:59:57.119 --> 01:59:58.359 of it happening while I'm alive. 2014 01:59:59.239 --> 02:00:00.880 Let's hope. Think that would be pretty interesting. 2015 02:00:00.920 --> 02:00:03.119 That's the commercial too. I want people to go up there. 2016 02:00:03.239 --> 02:00:05.359 I don't want just like five scientists up there. 2017 02:00:05.640 --> 02:00:08.279 I just don't. I don't want to see eat at 2018 02:00:08.399 --> 02:00:10.039 Joe's when I look up at the Moon at night. 2019 02:00:10.279 --> 02:00:11.960 You know what I'm saying. I don't want to see 2020 02:00:11.960 --> 02:00:13.119 a burger king fucking sign. 2021 02:00:13.960 --> 02:00:15.399 You don't want to see ads. I don't want to 2022 02:00:15.399 --> 02:00:17.760 see as that's always gonna happen. Jay, the more we 2023 02:00:17.960 --> 02:00:21.439 like capitalism, it's gonna happen. I mean, while there's capitalism 2024 02:00:21.800 --> 02:00:22.399 running rampant. 2025 02:00:22.479 --> 02:00:24.479 Yes, will World's best coffee? 2026 02:00:25.039 --> 02:00:27.920 Yeah, you know that future from Black Mirror with the bicycles. 2027 02:00:28.880 --> 02:00:31.319 I don't remember whether where they're like them. 2028 02:00:31.439 --> 02:00:31.760 I just don't. 2029 02:00:31.880 --> 02:00:34.039 It's the future, it's the first season. It's the future 2030 02:00:34.079 --> 02:00:36.640 where like they're all running bikes for energy. Everyone in 2031 02:00:36.640 --> 02:00:39.520 the world provides energy on a daily basis, on on, 2032 02:00:39.720 --> 02:00:44.880 like on the stationary bikes there for exercise. 2033 02:00:44.920 --> 02:00:48.640 What are they're called ellipticals? No, I think it's a 2034 02:00:48.640 --> 02:00:51.359 stationary bike. Okay, whatever, ellipticals. 2035 02:00:50.960 --> 02:00:55.279 And everyone has to unless you pay for every single 2036 02:00:55.319 --> 02:00:58.359 individual add to be ignored. You have to watch every 2037 02:00:58.399 --> 02:01:00.760 ad and they all based it on your blink, like, 2038 02:01:00.840 --> 02:01:03.399 so if you close your eyes, it's it pauses for 2039 02:01:03.479 --> 02:01:05.039 you until you open it so you can finish. 2040 02:01:05.720 --> 02:01:07.119 Yeah, I do not remember that. 2041 02:01:08.239 --> 02:01:10.159 As so many there's a lot of fucked up things 2042 02:01:10.159 --> 02:01:11.279 in an episode. That's one of them. 2043 02:01:11.479 --> 02:01:14.079 Wow. Yeah, I don't know. 2044 02:01:14.199 --> 02:01:15.760 I got off track. I was gonna say something else, 2045 02:01:15.800 --> 02:01:19.720 but I love space stuff. I love it. What about 2046 02:01:19.760 --> 02:01:23.279 that guy from we talked about him, that one guy 2047 02:01:23.359 --> 02:01:29.600 from Vegas, Nevada who build all those contraptions involving like 2048 02:01:29.680 --> 02:01:34.079 an accordion, like inflating and deflating space stations for cargo 2049 02:01:34.640 --> 02:01:36.239 and possible living habitats. 2050 02:01:36.800 --> 02:01:36.960 Yeah. 2051 02:01:37.039 --> 02:01:41.079 Yeah, it was the guy that did the NI see 2052 02:01:41.520 --> 02:01:43.880 or you whatever. He had that. Yeah. He was the 2053 02:01:43.960 --> 02:01:49.840 guy who owned the Uenta basin the ranch. Yeah, yeah, 2054 02:01:49.920 --> 02:01:51.840 that guy he did stuff like that. Yes, he had 2055 02:01:51.840 --> 02:01:54.359 a space program thing. He was into space a lot 2056 02:01:55.439 --> 02:01:58.560 bigger aerospace. He had that invention with the habitats, but 2057 02:01:58.680 --> 02:02:01.000 the infloat it inflated and deflating things. 2058 02:02:01.760 --> 02:02:05.319 I remember that. I think when we talked about Skinwalker Ranch, 2059 02:02:05.319 --> 02:02:06.640 we might have talked about that every day. 2060 02:02:06.680 --> 02:02:08.760 We did it on the background of him, because he 2061 02:02:08.880 --> 02:02:11.800 was the owning Skinwalker at that time or in a 2062 02:02:11.880 --> 02:02:12.720 while anymore. 2063 02:02:12.960 --> 02:02:17.399 But that's right. I mean we've done you know, biodome 2064 02:02:18.479 --> 02:02:24.319 experiments here on Earth where you know astronaut people, right, 2065 02:02:25.119 --> 02:02:28.239 but there is there's a massive, huge one. I just 2066 02:02:28.279 --> 02:02:30.960 watched a documentary on it a few months ago where 2067 02:02:31.159 --> 02:02:33.720 you know, eight to ten people who would be astronauts 2068 02:02:33.800 --> 02:02:38.079 were locked in this thing that had an atmosphere, it 2069 02:02:38.159 --> 02:02:40.920 had a desert, it had an ocean, it had everything. 2070 02:02:41.520 --> 02:02:45.760 And the thing was could they survive here simulating on 2071 02:02:45.800 --> 02:02:48.920 another planet surfas you know, and they couldn't. You know, 2072 02:02:49.000 --> 02:02:51.439 they couldn't. They couldn't get along and things fell apart 2073 02:02:51.600 --> 02:02:54.880 and turned to this whole thing. But I mean the 2074 02:02:55.000 --> 02:02:57.479 experiments are in place. We're working on that technology. We've 2075 02:02:57.520 --> 02:03:00.640 been working on that technology. Now it's time we go 2076 02:03:02.439 --> 02:03:03.359 out there do something. 2077 02:03:03.479 --> 02:03:05.520 They won't let us go. Okay, but I don't want 2078 02:03:05.560 --> 02:03:06.359 to go anybody else. 2079 02:03:06.840 --> 02:03:12.720 I don't want to go. No, no, thank you. So 2080 02:03:12.840 --> 02:03:14.920 that's it. What do you think it was fun? I 2081 02:03:15.079 --> 02:03:17.720 like that long? Not too long? No, no, it was 2082 02:03:17.760 --> 02:03:20.319 definitely long, but stop interesting. 2083 02:03:20.319 --> 02:03:21.800 It was definitely long. I'm not gonna say. I'm not 2084 02:03:21.800 --> 02:03:24.199 gonna lie and say it wasn't long. Definitely wasn't long, 2085 02:03:24.439 --> 02:03:25.399 but I'm fine with it. 2086 02:03:25.720 --> 02:04:02.399 Awesome, Oscar take us home on a Suez rocket. Sometimes 2087 02:04:02.479 --> 02:04:04.840 that helps, Dude. You can. When I have sore throats 2088 02:04:04.840 --> 02:04:11.399 and stuff, I gargle with whiskey, no joke. It's the 2089 02:04:11.479 --> 02:04:12.319 old I feel like. 2090 02:04:12.399 --> 02:04:15.239 I feel like it's a wild West. You talk. 2091 02:04:15.439 --> 02:04:18.720 Oh, definitely, that's passed down generations, generations, and I think 2092 02:04:18.760 --> 02:04:21.319 it worked. A couple of weeks ago, my back tooth 2093 02:04:21.439 --> 02:04:24.840 was really bothering me. It really hurt. So I took 2094 02:04:24.880 --> 02:04:28.800 some whiskey and I was swishing and holding it yeah 2095 02:04:28.960 --> 02:04:31.479 in my mouth back there, and man, I swear of 2096 02:04:31.520 --> 02:04:32.680 got it made the acho away. 2097 02:04:34.039 --> 02:04:37.239 I'm gonna show you a clip. Nope, nope, nope, nope, 2098 02:04:37.760 --> 02:04:42.560 nope nope, Stop talking, stop talking, trying to find that 2099 02:04:42.640 --> 02:04:43.399 it's with uh. 2100 02:04:45.479 --> 02:04:45.920 With uh. 2101 02:04:48.800 --> 02:04:49.520 Yeah, that's. 2102 02:04:52.640 --> 02:04:59.199 Some sub continent licoration. The trooths combined with the badsaf 2103 02:04:59.279 --> 02:05:03.359 and a strong sholl whiskey ginger up. Also I'm mixed 2104 02:05:03.399 --> 02:05:03.640 with the. 2105 02:05:04.199 --> 02:05:06.479 Citrus peel and a strong shot of whiskey. 2106 02:05:06.720 --> 02:05:09.800 Of course, in fact, the ginger root and citrus pan 2107 02:05:09.800 --> 02:05:13.960 will still be well on you, just a whiskey, just 2108 02:05:14.039 --> 02:05:15.960 like that. It's exactly that. It's true. 2109 02:05:16.279 --> 02:05:21.239 Lord John Marbury listener, Oh my god, we're there as 2110 02:05:21.279 --> 02:05:22.279 welcome back to the show. 2111 02:05:22.800 --> 02:05:29.640 Is that what you're about to say? Four five four 2112 02:05:29.760 --> 02:05:31.199 three tins? Well? 2113 02:05:31.439 --> 02:05:33.880 And it would it be if we only attracted cars 2114 02:05:34.920 --> 02:05:36.720 as our democrat And it was. 2115 02:05:36.800 --> 02:05:38.840 It was a fucked up. It was a so I 2116 02:05:38.880 --> 02:05:41.199 got a car, I did not go with the tesla. 2117 02:05:42.039 --> 02:05:44.840 I did not go with the tesla. I guess some 2118 02:05:45.000 --> 02:05:46.640 of it had to do with like, man, you know, 2119 02:05:46.720 --> 02:05:48.720 if I'm driving somewhere and someone throws a brick at 2120 02:05:48.760 --> 02:05:51.039 my car or keys it, like I don't want to 2121 02:05:51.079 --> 02:05:52.159 deal with this nightmare I. 2122 02:05:52.199 --> 02:05:54.319 Mean, I'm pro shating people into not buying a fslow. 2123 02:05:54.439 --> 02:05:54.960 I'm fine with it. 2124 02:05:55.119 --> 02:06:02.920 There you go. I thought I don't love that. 2125 02:06:03.199 --> 02:06:05.800 Definitely was stopping love it. Do you watch this in too? 2126 02:06:06.199 --> 02:06:08.479 Yeah? Oh yeah, the Nazi World. 2127 02:06:08.600 --> 02:06:12.439 Oh my god, it's so funny, so funny, funnier still 2128 02:06:12.520 --> 02:06:14.520 that I didn't immediately get it either. What do you 2129 02:06:14.600 --> 02:06:15.600 mean that I didn't know. 2130 02:06:15.720 --> 02:06:18.680 I didn't notice the town? Yeah, no one, I don't 2131 02:06:18.680 --> 02:06:19.279 think anyone did. 2132 02:06:19.399 --> 02:06:21.840 No, I'm sure some people did, but you but but yeah, 2133 02:06:22.039 --> 02:06:24.479 but like it's so I'm not saying I was disappointed 2134 02:06:24.520 --> 02:06:26.760 on myself, but a little bit that I didn't get 2135 02:06:26.800 --> 02:06:29.760 it because I guess I'm just so used to and 2136 02:06:29.880 --> 02:06:33.680 that's why they played on watching American television and getting 2137 02:06:33.760 --> 02:06:35.920 used to seeing all white actors in a place, and 2138 02:06:36.039 --> 02:06:37.600 that's what And it just threw me off because I'm 2139 02:06:37.640 --> 02:06:39.720 so used to it. I should have I should have 2140 02:06:39.760 --> 02:06:40.359 been notified. 2141 02:06:40.720 --> 02:06:41.159 It's okay. 2142 02:06:41.199 --> 02:06:43.119 And when they show him what about that fucking Hitler post, 2143 02:06:43.159 --> 02:06:45.600 You're like, oh, I didn't see that. That was funny. 2144 02:06:46.079 --> 02:06:46.640 That was funny