Show Notes
On April 11, 2026, the Orion spacecraft Integrity splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, bringing astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Jeremy Hansen, and Christina Koch (cook) safely back to earth after an epic 10-day journey from the earth to the moon - the first such mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. Aside from some minor issues with the spacecraft’s toilet and Microsoft Outlook, which… historically the furthest from Earth Outlook has ever not worked… so far… the Artemis II mission was near-flawless from start to finish, marking a triumphant return to manned space exploration beyond low earth orbit.
These days space travel can seem almost routine, with only the most spectacular missions like Artemis II even making headlines. It can thus be easy to lose sight of an important fact: space travel is hard - and dangerous. The road to the stars is littered with the wreckage of hundreds of failed spacecraft and not a few human corpses. From the crew to Apollo 1 and Soyuz 1 in 1967 to those of Soyuz 11 in 1971, Challenger in 1986, and Columbia in 2002, dozens of astronauts have given their lives in the pursuit of the Final Frontier. But not all spaceflight disasters are so tragic; some are just plain absurd - even funny - and none more so than a largely forgotten incident from the very dawn of the U.S. space program. This is the hilarious story Mercury-Redstone 1, the four inch failure, not to be confused with my college girlfriend’s nickname for me…
On October 4, 1957, history forever changed when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite, into orbit. In response to Sputnik, the United States ramped up ICBM development efforts while simultaneously scrambling to launch its own satellite. These early efforts were…less than successful, with the first attempted American satellite launch, Vanguard TV3 on December 6, 1957, ending in a fiery and embarrassing explosion on the launch pad. It would not ...
Author: Gilles Messier Host/Editor: Daven Hiskey Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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In this episode of The Brain Food Show, we start with the rather curious way in which George Eastman, founder of Kodak, died.
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Although you might assume that being made to wear a stupid costume, be mocked, and act like an idiot for the entertainment of fatuous rulers would be a job nobody would want- like the position of Groom of the Stool (a job which initially consisted of directly supplying the necessaries to facilitate a good and clean bowel movement to the King, as well as to monitor said fecal matter and make dietary recommendations based on what you saw there)- the position of court jester was actually an enviable one due to it involving spending so much time with those in power. And as you were often putting them in good humor and otherwise making them happy, it was a position that came with a whole slew of perks. So what was life actually like as a court jester?
Ever wonder why Austria agreed to give up its sovereignty so readily to Nazi Germany without any semblance of a fight?
In the video today, we're looking at How Do German Schools Teach About WWII? How Do the Japanese Teach About WWII? Why Wasn't There an Italian "Nuremberg / Tokyo War Crimes" Trial After WWII? How Did Germany DeNazify So Quickly After WWII. How Do They Teach the American Revolution in Britain? How do Arabic Nations Teach the Crusades? How Do British Schools Teach About the British Empire? How do The Persians Teach Alexander the Great and When in History Did He First Become Great?