This Week in Space 200: Our 200th Episode Listener Special!

Summary

This Week in Space 200: Our 200th Episode Listener Special!

Date: March 6, 2026
Hosts: Rod Pyle (Editor-in-Chief, Ad Astra Magazine) & Tarek Malik (Editor-in-Chief, Space.com)
Theme: Celebrating 200 episodes of “This Week in Space” with headline news, listener questions, jokes, and nostalgia about the show’s journey.

---

Episode Overview

The 200th episode marks a milestone for “This Week in Space” as Rod and Tarek don their finest attire (“dressed to the nines”) and dedicate the show to their listeners. This special episode features updates on major space news, reflections on favorite show moments, a rapid-fire reading of listener questions and space jokes, and a heartfelt sense of community and banter. The tone is celebratory, informal, and loaded with classic Rod-Tarek humor, inside jokes, and engaging anecdotes.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Latest Artemis Program Developments (03:29–08:14)

• Update on Artemis 2:
  NASA has repaired the helium system on the upper stage, and the mission remains on track for a rollback to the pad, aiming for an April 1st launch window.
  Tarek: “They fixed the issue on the helium system on the upper stage. So that's really good. And we're thinking that we're going to see rollback to the pad sometime in the next couple weeks… They're still looking at April 1st.” (03:32)

• Artemis Roadmap:

  • Artemis 2 will fly around the Moon using the current SLS Block 1 with the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).
  • Artemis 3 will also use the current configuration; only with Artemis 4 and 5 will a new, likely commercially competed upper stage be introduced, possibly Vulcan Centaur.
  • NASA clarified that there will no longer be a Block 2 SLS or an Exploration Upper Stage (E.U.S.), signaling a streamlined direction for Artemis.

• Hardware & Cost Concerns:
  Construction of the Mobile Launch Platform 2 is halted due to changes in the program, with much of the funding already spent.

  Notable quote — Rod (on hardware costs):
  “How much did they spend on that thing? Like a billion eight or something.” (07:24)

  Tarek (on launch platform):
  “Looking at the contract... it was like 90 plus percent paid out already. So that money is out the door, you know.” (07:29)

---

2. Asteroid Safety for the Moon (08:46–09:48)

• Good news for future lunar astronauts:
  Asteroid 2024 YR4 was once considered a threat to both the Earth and Moon in 2032, but updated NASA analysis shows it will miss both.

  Tarek: “...we don't have to worry in 2032 when asteroid 2024 YR4 swings by… NASA says that we don't have to worry about it now. It's just going to miss us all entirely.” (08:48)

---

3. NASA’s New Hiring Initiative: NASA Force (10:05–12:28)

• Background:
  Reflects federal job losses at NASA due to previous administration cuts and a new push to rapidly hire technical talent to accelerate Artemis and other programs.

  Tarek: “Their goal is to just recruit as many people as fast as possible through this NASA Force so that they can continue, as Isaac says, to attract the next generation… of innovators and technical experts...” (12:19)

---

4. Status of MAVEN Mars Orbiter (12:43–14:47)

• Update:
  After losing contact in December during solar conjunction, efforts to revive MAVEN have so far been unsuccessful, and the outlook is pessimistic.

  Tarek (on MAVEN): “We've been waiting for an update about what NASA's going to do because at some point they have to call it. Is Maven dead and lost in orbit around Mars or is it salvageable and can they resurrect it?” (13:53)

---

5. Recent Lunar Eclipse (14:56–15:46)

• Astro Weather:
  The last total lunar eclipse until 2029 in the US occurred March 3rd, 2026. Cloudy skies obscured it for the hosts, but listeners worldwide sent in photos.

---

6. Listener Questions & Show Nostalgia (19:12–79:50)

Favorite Guests (23:01–25:27)

• Notable guests included John de Lancie, Bill Nye, Pam Melroy, Eileen Collins, and authors like Jack McDevitt and Alan Steele.
  • Tarek (on Eileen Collins): “...that was the first mission that I ever covered as lead reporter back in 2005.” (24:01)

Science Fiction’s Influence (20:12–22:09)

• Discussion on how sci-fi authors incorporate real science, and tease for a potential interview with Andy Weir about the upcoming “Hail Mary” film.

Global Collaboration vs. Competition in Mars Exploration (39:46–42:45)

• Debate on whether competition or collaboration would get humans to Mars faster, with both hosts leaning toward competition as the historical motivator for rapid progress.

  Rod: “God love the US, we do best when we're competing with somebody... it may be that it takes that kick to the groin to get us to wake up and get back to the moon.” (41:23)

Communications Tech Evolution (26:17–29:43)

• Reminiscing on old frustrations sending emails via satphone in the Arctic vs. now having Starlink and ubiquitous global connectivity.

The Moon Landing Proofs (64:17–69:21)

• Multiple forms of modern and historical proof for the Apollo landings explained, including recent lunar orbiter images showing hardware and rover tracks, and the ongoing use of lunar laser retroreflectors.

  Rod (on Soviet tracking):
  “Since we follow the Soviet Union, we know that the Russians were tracking everything we did. And they were able to use Doppler radar to see Apollo coming around the side of the moon...” (67:21)

  Tarek (on retroreflectors):
  “Anyone can shoot a laser, they know where it is and they can get the flashback. And we saw them on video deploy that stuff.” (68:08)

Terraforming and Martian Settlement Ethics (49:32–54:29)

• Discussion of “terraforming hubris,” and the philosophical debate: Should we prioritize fixing Earth before investing in making Mars habitable? Both acknowledge the allure and immense challenge of interplanetary settlement.

  Tarek: “...I would hope that we wouldn't stop working on Earth to make it better for everybody and not just for the people that have the money and the SpaceX, Elysium, the Amazons and all of that stuff.” (52:56)

---

7. Listener Jokes, Sound Effects & Fun (Throughout)

• The episode is peppered with listener-submitted space jokes, rapid banter, and the hosts riffing off one another. Notable moments include:
  • “Why did the sun go to school? To get brighter.” (02:11)
  • “Why did the space tourists want to go to Saturn? To go ring shopping.” (22:21)
  • “Why are astronauts hungry when they reach space? Because they already had a lunch.” (58:53)
  • “Because he had too big a pile of them!” (Rod on his last name – 72:52)

---

8. The Show’s Spirit and Community

• Frequent digs at each other, sharing slips, embarrassing stories, and how their families don’t really want to join them onscreen (“Your family tolerates you. Let's be honest...” – 32:49).
• Fans write in with limericks (45:13), favorite moments, questions about sci-fi objects on set, and mission naming suggestions.
• Both hosts express gratitude for the audience, acknowledging that the show’s true highlight is its community of listeners.

---

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Artemis priorities:
  Rod: “NASA, NASA, NASA.” (08:12)

• Listener love:
  Rod: “This one's for you, gang. Listener gang.” (01:36)

• Meta-podcast humor:
  Tarek: “We wouldn't be at episode 200 if we didn't have listeners, so thank you all.” (74:36)

• Reflective:
  Rod, closing thoughts: “From the bottom of our hearts, small, gnarled, and black as they may be in my case, because we love having you here and we love doing this show... this is kind of the highlight of my week, sad to say.” (78:19)

---

Important Segments (Timestamps)

• Artemis & NASA Updates: 03:29–08:14
• Asteroid 2024 YR4 News: 08:46–09:48
• NASA Force Hiring: 10:05–12:28
• MAVEN Status: 12:43–14:47
• Listener Questions, Nostalgia & Jokes: 19:12–79:50

---

Final Segment: Looking Forward

The episode ends by encouraging audience engagement, sending in questions or jokes, and teasing future milestones. Both hosts share updates about their activities (e.g., Tarek doing yoga and visiting the Lego store; Rod’s talk at the Bowers Museum), plug their social handles, and express excitement for another 100 episodes to come.

---

Summary

This celebratory 200th episode of “This Week in Space” is a lively, listener-driven showcase of space news updates, reflections on past milestones, the quirky charm and wit of its hosts, and strong connections to the show’s dedicated fan base. Covering everything from the status of Artemis to the ongoing proof of the Moon landings, debates about Mars, space tech evolution, special guests, and lots of laughter, the episode is both a space-geek’s delight and a warm thank-you note to its audience.

Subscribe, send a space joke, and celebrate with Rod and Tarek—200 down, hundreds more to go.

Transcript

[A]

Coming up on this week in space, NASA's Artemis program gets some new details on how it's evolving. The moon is Safe from asteroid 2024 yr 4. And it is episode 200 of this Week in Space. And Rod and I are dressed to the nines and answering your questions. Tune in, don't miss it.

[B]

Podcasts you love from people you trust. This is truant. This is this Week in space. Episode number 200, recorded on March 6, 2026. Our 200th episode listener special. Hello, and welcome to another episode of this Week in space, our episode 200 listener special edition.

[A]

Yay.

[B]

Wow. Yeah, somebody spent five minutes on that. I'm Rod Pyle, editor chief at Astor Magazine, and I'm here with my 200th episode Anniversary Man. The one, the only, the legendary tarek Malik of Space.com. yay.

[A]

Hello, Rod. Hello.

[B]

That is the first and last time bunch of groupies are going to make a noise about you. This week. We're speaking with you, albeit directly, and your space jokes. Questions about the show or space or us, or insults for Tarik or whatever you got.

[A]

Or for Rod.

[B]

Actually, I was going to say we didn't get any insults for Tarik because your mother, smart woman, that she has hacked my email and took them out.

[A]

Everybody loves me. So it's.

[B]

It's sad, but it's true. Anyway, this one's for you, gang. Listener gang. Now, before we start, please don't forget to show us your love and like and subscribe and thumbs up and stuff for this podcast with all your might, because it means the world to us. And now, a fresh space joke, one of many for today from our friend Claude.

[A]

Claude.

[B]

Hey, Tarek. Tarek.

[A]

Oh my God. Episode 200. And we're still here. Okay. Yes. Yes.

[B]

Rod. Why did the sun go to school?

[A]

Why?

[B]

To get brighter. That's good. That's good.

[A]

Makes sense. Very cognitive.

[B]

I've heard that some folks want to turn us over to our robot overlords for proper disposal when it's joke time, this show. But you have the power to help us by sending us your best, your worst, your most indifferent space joke to TwistWit TV. And we'll be happy to blame it on you when it goes in the air. Now let's go to Headline News.

[A]

Should we comment on what we're wearing? Headline News?

[B]

Why, whatever would we say about what we're wearing?

[A]

I don't know. We're very fashionable today.

[B]

Well, it's our 200th anniversary. I mean, we.

[A]

It's actually wasn't our first episode with John de Lancie. I think it was, wasn't it?

[B]

You mean when we came out of Beta?

[A]

I mean like first ever.

[B]

No, I don't think so. I don't know.

[A]

I don't remember now.

[B]

Now you have me wondering. Let's look.

[A]

I was thinking about him today with a talk to you offline about other stuff. I've got Race to the Moon, Venus is back. SpaceX versus the world.

[B]

John Delancey was. Was out.

[A]

Right.

[B]

All right. But hey, nice try for your old man. Memory more like me. Okay. Tarik Malik.

[A]

Yes, Rod. Yes.

[B]

Tell us all about what's going on with Artemis.

[A]

Oh, big stuff. Big stuff from Artemis this week. Well, as we all, you know, the last time we talked we got the big news that NASA is changing up all of the Artemis program. And this week we found out that they fixed the issue. They fixed the issue on the helium, the helium system on the upper stage. So that's really good. And we're thinking that we're, we're going to see rollback to the pad sometime in the next couple weeks, which is really good. They're still looking at April 1st. So that's your Artemis 2 update. They're on track. They fixed whatever it was and yeah, yeah. So that's exciting. But we also got Artemis program news in the form of a NASA update that kind of laid out how they're going to change things in a step by step process. So when we look last spoke Rod, it was, hey, you know, everything's delayed. We want to accelerate the time frame and we're going to not, you know, fly Artemis 3 to the moon. That'll be for later. So now we know that the, the current system of sls, the Block one system with the. It was it. The icps, the inter. Inter.

[B]

The interim.

[A]

Interim. Interim, that's the word. Interim cryogenic propulsion stage. That's going to be a lock until Artemis 3. So they're going to fly the first three missions with the rocket as designed right now and that interim upper stage to do all of their tests. So Artemis 2 goes around the moon, Artemis 3 goes into orbit. We expect to get one, if not two different landing rendezvous operation systems, depending if starship and the blue. The blue moon landers. The blue. Yeah, the blue moon mark two landers are ready. And then for Artemis 4 and 5 is what they said this week. That's going to be the one that has a new upper stage and it's most likely going to be a commercially kind of competed upper stage. And there's some talk at least through ours and some other, other sites. I think Bloomberg had it as well that they're looking at the Vulcan Centaur upper stage because that's like the most advanced Centaur as like the potential go to because it's more powerful than icps and could have the lift capacity that they need to get to the moon.

[B]

The ICPS has genes in old aerospace. Was it originally the, the upper stage of the Delta 2 or something?

[A]

You know, I recall it was something like that. It wasn't a Centaur, but it was like a reused version that was like, okay, we're going to build this now but we're going to replace it because it can't get, it can't get us to the orbit of the moon that we would need to land. That is why they had the near rectilinear orbit the first place is because it wasn't a lock that they were going to get the, the exploration upper stage. But what the NASA announcement said this week is that that exploration upper stage, it's gone. There is no E.U. s if you will, coming for Space Launch System because that was part of block two and that's it. There is no block two. It's just this. What we have now is what we're going to have for the foreseeable Artemis 4, Artemis 5, get that new upper stage and we're going to find out what that means. They did mention that changes are coming for the other plans. Like Gateway is not really mentioned at all. Are they going to do that? Are they not going to do that? Is it going to change in some way or fashion? We don't really know. But they said that that stuff is all being looked at right now and that they'll have more later. But now we know exactly what's going on with the, the upper stage for Artemis 3. It's not going to have the new one. It's going to, it's going to wait for Artemis 4.

[B]

Now we know what's going on with those things for this week.

[A]

For this week. Yeah, we'll see because there's hardware for Gateway already built right. From partners and, and stuff that's already underway. Oh, they also, in that NASA update this week, they also said the mobile launch platform too, which is being built, it's also done like they are stopping everything. They're going to save money. It's been super delayed.

[B]

How much did they spend on that thing? Like a billion eight or something.

[A]

It's quite, it's in the hundreds of millions. If it Isn't the billion plus. And also I was talking to my, my, one of my, my writers, Josh Dinner and he was telling me that looking at the contract that it was like 90 plus percent paid out already. So that money is out the door, you know. But if you're not going to have another iteration of space launch system, which is why they needed that, then you don't need it. Right. And it'll go the way of the. Remember the one that they built for Artemis or not for Artemis, for Aries, for Ares 1x. That special launch tower. Yeah, they built it and it just sat there and then they took it apart because they don't need it anymore. Like they spent all those millions of dollars on it.

[B]

NASA, NASA, NASA.

[A]

And it's too bad. And they launched that mission after they canceled it too, which is really sad. Artemis1x. So but you know, it's nice to get some new details about what's happening on Artemis and Artemis 2. And I think we're going to get more as it develops as Jared Isaacman really lays down the law saying we need to do this. I think, I'm sure there's going to be a hearing in the near future because the authorization act is, is, is making its way through the Congress, which I think, I don't think I have something on that. But that happened this week too.

[B]

And speaking of the moon.

[A]

That's right, the moon is safe. You know, we don't have to worry in 2032 when we have our big moon base, when you and I, Rod, are are reporting live to all our fabulous listeners from the moon and recording this. John, you can come, we'll let you. As long as you're nice to me, I'm good dog. But for those future moon astronauts, they won't have to worry in 2032 when asteroid 2024 yr 4 swings by. This is the asteroid that was discovered in 2024. Like its name mentions. That was really like a will it won't. It hit the Earth for a while and then the odds of that kind of dwindled. But the odds weren't zero for it hitting the moon in 2032 when it flew by. Now NASA says that we don't have to worry about it now. It's just going to miss us all entirely. We can go about our day and feel safe from this asteroid, let alone like all the other asteroids are out there. But this one is okay, at least

[B]

as far as the moon's concerned.

[A]

So you know, if someone tries to sell you asteroid 2024 yr 4 insurance. You got to tell them, you know,

[B]

it's all right or those, those hats like they had when Skylab was coming down. So what's all this about a new hiring initiative under Jared Isaacman?

[A]

Yeah, this is an interesting one because I didn't, this is something I didn't see coming. And it seems very, it seems very like, huh, so here we are, right? NASA and the, and the United States Office of Personnel Management. By the way, I didn't know this, but we have a US Office of Personnel Management. I didn't know that. I thought that it was just the Labor Department. They have announced this new joint initiative called NASA Force. So you've heard about Space Force. This isn't that. This is NASA Force. NASA Force, that's right. You do it, you do it much better than I did. And so this is a specific, like, as I understand it, in the Office of Personal Management there is this US Tech Force initiative to try to recruit talented people in information technology to computers. You know, engineers, scientists, like that kind of thing. People that would have high, high tech skill related jobs. And, and so this is a initiative in that force that is geared to try to bring people into NASA. And the reason that I said is that this news kind of caught me by surprise, like a moment is because we lost 260,000 federal jobs last year, you know, because of the Trump administration cuts. And a lot of those cuts, not all of them obviously, but a lot of those cuts were at NASA as they retired offices. They closed some, some offices. They were looking at streamlining a lot of things. They canceled a lot of contracts. We've talked a lot about that on the show. And now because of the need to accelerate Artemis to like, as Jared Eisenman said, he says that they need, they need new people. They need people that are dedicated, they need people that are eager.

[B]

People need.

[A]

And in order to do that, they have to hire more people. They just laid off like tens of thousands of people, you know, so imagine if those people were still here. And so that's like the big moment for me is that this is like a situation that it feels like an own goal that not just NASA, but like the administration really has gotten itself into. Because now it's like, well, we need these people if we want to do the things you want to do. And, and so, so their goal is to just recruit as many people as fast as possible through this NASA Force so that they can continue, as Isaac says, to attract the next generation. Hey, that's the TNG of Innovators and technical experts who are ready to solve the toughest challenges in exploration science and aerospace technology. So there you go.

[B]

Very good. This could be our big chance to go get jobs as janitors at NASA.

[A]

They'll need janitors on the moon. Right?

[B]

Why don't you pick one more story and then we'll break and get to the meat of our episode for our dear listeners who we love and cherish.

[A]

Well, I would. I will stop with this. We're going to talk about Maven real quick. So, yeah, it's just, this is just a little bit of an update that we got this week on the loss or potential salvation of the Maven orbiter around Mars. Now, if you don't remember, back in December, NASA lost contact with Maven when it flew behind Mars, and then it had to wait through solar conjunction for Mars to come out from behind the sun until, until February, basically just after Valentine's Day to try to call Maven again because it's been silent since December. I know, right? It's really sad. This is a, an orbiter that was designed to basically investigate where Mars's water went through its atmosphere and how its atmosphere interacts with the solar wind and, and all of that to see what happened, why it's so dry, what killed Mars. Exactly right. That was like the goal and it's done very well. Also, also try to investigate the methane mystery about what's going on about that on the planet. So it's not Rod, everybody. It's not Rod. I checked. So we had him checked out is what I'm trying to say. So the doctor said it's fine. Okay, they.

[B]

From orbit, but, but.

[A]

So we've been waiting for an Update about what NASA's going to do because at some point they have to call it. Is Maven dead and like, lost in orbit around Mars or is it salvageable and can they resurrect it?

[B]

Salvageable.

[A]

So what we heard this week is that last month after those initial efforts to try to resurrect or revive the spacecraft, reestablish contact, they commissioned an anomaly board. And that board, like, reviewed all the work. And that's the update. The update is that they had a meeting last month and they looked at the results from the trials. So it's not very promising. You know, if you, if you, if you've got all your, all your chips set down on Maven coming back, I don't know what to tell you. It doesn't look like it's great and it's really sad because that was a mission that was run out of Goddard. It was doing really, really awesome science. And I was there with Jim Green, friend of the show for its orbital arrival. It was really exciting to see back under the Charlie Bolden era.

[B]

Okay, very, very quickly because I know you're just bursting at your non existent buttons in that tunic to talk about at the blood moon eclipse.

[A]

Oh, I wasn't gonna. I was gonna skip it, but since you said, you know, we had. We had a. We had a total lunar eclipse this week and it's the Last 1 until 2028, 2029 for the World and for us, it's the Last 1 until 2029 in the United States. So if you're like me, you didn't see anything because it was totally clouded out over my house. It was in the pre dawn one on Tuesday, March 3rd. But we got photos from people around the world who saw amazing, amazing things. You've got the moon dipping into the Earth's turning red, as it always does, you know, and then of course, coming back so that we don't have to be afraid and that we can actually know that there will be seasons coming because, you know, we need the moon for our seasons and our tilt and all that fun stuff.

[B]

Okay, let's tilt our way into a break and we'll be right back with our listener messages. Standby.

[C]

Hey, guys. This episode of this Week in Space is brought to you by Helix Sleep, my mattress. That's why they asked me to do the ad. How are you preparing for the spring cleaning? Wouldn't it be nice to get rid of that old, stinky old mattress and upgrade to a Helix mattress and finally get a good night's rest? That's what we did. We found out that after eight years, six to 10 years, you're supposed to get a new mattress. Maybe that's why it's, you know, sagging and rocking and sweaty. Now with our new Helix, we love it. No more night sweats, no back pain, no motion transfer. You don't have to settle for a mattress made overseas with low quality, questionable materials and stuffed in a box and shipped in a container, shipped for months. Rest assured, your Helix mattress is assembled, packaged and shipped from Arizona in the US of A. And it's done within days of placing your order. So it's brand new and it smells great, like the desert, not like some old container ship. You could take the Helix Sleep quiz we did that'll match you with the perfect mattress based on, you know, your preferences. You like firm, you like soft, you like medium and how you sleep. We're side sleepers. We got the mattress that's just right for us. You will too, and it really works. Helix did a sleep study with Wesper. They measured the sleep performance of participants after switching from their old mattress, as we did, to a Helix mattress.

[B]

And you know what?

[C]

The results in this Westbrook study were just like our results. I would say identical. They said 82% of participants saw an increase in their deep sleep cycle. Yes. Mine was about 50% longer. And by the way, that's the important one, the one that cleans out your brain. Gosh knows I need that. Participants, on average achieve 25 more minutes of deep sleep per night. Yeah. Participants also achieved 39 more minutes of overall sleep per night. So you sleep better and you sleep longer and you wake up feeling great. I know I do. Time and time again, Helix Sleep remains the most awarded mattress brand tested and reviewed by experts like Forbes and Wired. And Helix delivers that mattress right to your door. Free shipping in the US and rest easy with seamless returns and exchanges. They call it their Happy with Helix guarantee. It provides a risk free customer first experience, ensuring you're completely satisfied with your new Mattress. Go to helixsleep.comspace for 27% off site wide during the sleep week sale. Best of Web now. This is exclusive for you listeners of this week in space. That's helixsleep.com space for 27% off the sleep week sale. Best of Web now This offer ends March 15, so get over there now. And make sure you enter our show name after checkout. It'll help us. They'll know we sent you. If you're listening after the sale ends, don't worry. Still, check them out. Helix sleep space. And now back to Rod and Tarek.

[B]

All right, we are back with our 200th anniversary episode, 200 Anniversary Listener Special. And we're also going to talk a little bit about, if we have time, our our biggest impression since we started the show.

[A]

Can you do that again, please? What the. There it is.

[B]

Speaking of having the doctor check him out. Okay. And we've been doing this since January 2022. Tark and I realized yesterday.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So it's been a while. I've gotten old and gray.

[A]

So I thought we'd be on the moon by now. A couple of times. Right.

[B]

Elon told me we'd be on Mars four times.

[A]

I know, I know.

[B]

I guess he was wrong. Well, hey, so let for expert advice, let's go to Mark Pachalski. Mark, is that right? Question for you. Have you considered having sci fi authors as guests? You've had authors on before, but generally they've written or produced documentaries. You might talk to them about how their stories relate to real science, how much they use proven science versus made up science and fantasy. I thought this, I thought about this with Tarek. Mentioned some sci fi stories a few episodes ago, stories related to the subject being discussed. And that was probably the Jack McDebitt stuff.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, we were talking about Jack McDevitt. So, you know, fun story. I actually spoke to Alan Steele one time through email.

[B]

Alan Steele sounds like an adult video star.

[A]

No, no, he, Alan. Alan Steele wrote, wrote like a series of like. I think, I think I talked about it when we were talking about Jack McDivitt and Alan Steele. I might even told this story, but when I might have been snoozing one of his, one of his stories. They, it's. It's this whole like, thing about where like some dissidents went out to colonize like a moon and then they like the, the regime goes after them and then they have a big thing when they all get there. And one of the commanders. The book starts out with him landing on Titan and surveying his domain as they have won whatever battle on Titan from these, these, these dissidents. And it was just as Cassini Hoygens Hoyens had landed on Titan. And I was asking him if they were. He was surprised or if it sounded exactly like what he thought it was going to be like. And he wasn't surprised. He thought it was just fine. But it was exciting because sci fi authors are smart. I know, right?

[B]

So.

[A]

Yeah, but that's a good point. You know, in fact, it's really important now when we look at like, what's happening this month because Hail Mary is coming out by Andy Weir, the, the film. And I've seen it and I. My feeling is that it's very good, but I can't talk about details about it yet.

[B]

And it's a million light years of space talking to a rock. Right.

[A]

Well, that's the book. Right. So if you've read the book, you know what it's about. So I'm not going to talk about the movie itself, but thanks a lot. Well, I can. It's, you know, you have to wait until the movie comes out later this month.

[B]

Fine. All right.

[A]

I'll tell you my thoughts about the movie itself, specifics, when I can talk about it.

[B]

So. Aren't you precious?

[A]

But the book is great. The book is a really fun read. Everyone should read the book and. But that's what I'm saying is that maybe we can get Andy on to come talk about it.

[B]

That would be fun.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And who won't even have to travel to us, which is good. All right, let's go to a space joke from Kyle Dietrich. Hey, Tarek.

[A]

Kyle. Yes, Rod?

[B]

Why did the space tourists want to go to Saturn?

[A]

I don't know. Why?

[B]

To go ring shopping.

[A]

I dig it. I dig it.

[B]

Okay, let's go to.

[A]

Because of the rings.

[B]

Let's go to question.

[A]

Did you know that it's because Saturn has rings?

[B]

Are you done?

[A]

No. I guess you want to move on. No, no, no. I personally want to hear more.

[B]

Well, and here is more, my good friends from Ralph, whose last name unfortunately got cut off of his message. Sorry, Ralph, you can eat.

[A]

No, he didn't have his last name

[B]

in the finger at me. Yeah, well, it was in his email address, but I couldn't quite decipher it. Anyway, congrats on 200 episodes of this Week in Space. Wait, you read, you read all these emails?

[A]

I added this email to the rundown. Did you not know? See, I do some stuff. People. I do some. Some stuff.

[B]

Somebody.

[A]

I do see the emails. I just always respond.

[B]

Congrats on two other episodes this week of Space. I wanted to know who were some of the more interesting guests you had on the show so far. I'll start with John Delancey. He was fun. Always good to have to be able to hang out with Q and his weirdness.

[A]

I thought having Bill Nye on, like on our first televised one, that was really fun too. And Pam Melroy. Pam Melroy, Yeah, she was great. And she was in charge of NASA at the time. Yeah, right. Wasn't that exciting?

[B]

That was a big deal. Thank you.

[A]

There was that time that she photobombed the episode before.

[B]

That was a Greg Autry's bequest. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And when I talked to Eileen Collins, it was really, really nice. You were out for that one. I don't know if you remember, but we had Eileen on when her book had come out and she's.

[B]

She's a wonderful person to talk to.

[A]

Oh, man, it was so exciting. And, and, and it was really a highlight for me because, Ralph, that her mission, STS114, the last one was the first return to flight mission. And that was the first mission that I ever covered as lead reporter back in 2005. And so. Wow, that was 21 years ago. Now my space career at Space.com is old enough to Drink, you know, so.

[B]

And then some one place all that time. That's impressive.

[A]

Well, you know, try not to think about it because man, that's a long time. That's like, that's like if it was like an old time 1950s job, that's a pension.

[B]

Get a gold watch.

[A]

I know.

[B]

Instead of a swatch like you're probably going to get.

[A]

But like more, more recently I would point out, you know, that, that becoming Mar interview, that was a lot of fun.

[B]

And Timmy Turtle for Dragonfly was great.

[A]

And oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

The young lady we had on for Mars Bio Terraforming whose name has jumped out of my.

[A]

With the mushrooms. So.

[B]

No, no, no. Well, the mushroom show. Yeah. But the other one was for Pioneer Labs Terraforming or that one.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, you know, I hate to leave people out, but we don't have time to sit here and separate names. But they've all been pretty good.

[A]

They've all been great. They've all been great. We don't, we don't want to pick favorites because like we, we invite people on the show because we think that they are really interesting people and that we really dig the stuff that they're doing and we want to share it with you.

[B]

And it's going to get better and better as we move into 200 plus. Tucker Drake.

[A]

Yes, Rod?

[B]

How does NASA ensure the ISS has a smooth course around the planet?

[A]

I do not know how.

[B]

By using an orbital sander. I think that's about the right response. Okay, let's do one more. Becky Clark. Hi, Becky. Becky, several years ago, when Rod tried to talk with Leo from that base up in the Arctic, that was marginally successful at best. Hopefully if you get to go again, you'll have better communications. Producing a this Week in Space episode from there would be super. However, referring to a few episodes ago, my suggestion, she says she must vote no on the mud wrestling because there's a lot of mud up there and it's very slimy.

[A]

Didn't Pascal say that they've got stomach now?

[B]

So they do let me do a belly jump. Yeah, they got. So when we were there, we had. Is it Intelsat, the sat phone?

[A]

Yeah. You had a sat phone. I remember using. Yeah.

[B]

And you know, you'd get a satellite for two to three minutes and then it would go out and it might or may, the phone might or might not track the jump to the next satellite. So it was very frustrating. Yes. Now they have Starlink and you know, that kind of takes some of the adventure out of it because I was trying to upload stories to you, Dark space dot com. And you don't think about it because we have cheap broadband now. Right. But every time because we're paying by the megabyte, like six bucks a mega.

[A]

That takes you back, man.

[B]

Yeah, it was like you were waiting for the bing bing of the modem or something. So I'd log on and before I could push the button to upload the

[A]

story, the satellite's gone.

[B]

No. 6. This was, it was, it was still through satellite, but this was strictly email.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But before I could send that email, about 90 megabytes had transferred back and forth with all this handshaking and Yahoo had to send me all their commercials and everything. We tried to block it. I mean it cost him a small fortune just to supply you with stories.

[A]

It's really funny.

[B]

I want to point out if you ever wanted to send a nice gift to the Mars Institute, Dr. Pascal Lee, you could pay that bill. Sorry, what were you going to say?

[A]

Well, I was going to say it's just funny because that was like what, that was 2023.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think I want to say. So it's been, it's been three years since that and in that time like space based Internet is, it's, it's not just SpaceX and Starlink, there's like a few others. I think Intel's not still building out their constellation as well, but like I, I have T Mobile and they signed the deal with, with, with Star.

[B]

I used it the other day.

[A]

I just get it, you know.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And now I finally get reception in my kitchen. Thank you. You know, I got broadband and everything but it would always lose it in the kitchen.

[B]

Well, I've got it. The SpaceX stuff is only for texting.

[A]

No, it's supposed to be like they have a whole new separate thing now that is, that is just for like, like Internet and connectivity for cell phones and they also, they're launching their own network too.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it's not going to compete with everyone else. But I just think it's really interesting that it's become super ubiquitous when I go on overseas trips. Yeah, well, I know, right? My daughter's studying for the SATs when, when I go overseas I have like 100% data and it's all included now, you know, and it's, it has been for quite some time, but now you don't have to worry about it because you know you're going to be connected.

[B]

Wow. We know all about your phone plan now. Well, speaking of my Phone plan when I was out in the desert with my son last week doing astronomy and other things there. This is east of Joshua Tree.

[A]

Joshua Tree, yeah.

[B]

Which is pretty bleak. And. No. So, you know, I'm in China. I'm in the bottom of a canyon. I'm walking around with. With five bars of 5G. I go out to the California high desert and I got nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing for hours at a time. But I. But suddenly I got that little bing pop up saying Starlink. So I also have T mobile. So I tried a Starlink text to my. My dear woman and went right through. So that was impressive proof of concept. I think it would work. Okay, let's do one more joke and then we'll break.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

From Barry Hayworth. Hi, Barry. Barry, thanks for, I think, like, 20 jokes or something.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I say, old chap, how did New Horizons get to Pluto so fast?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

I don't know how it got a gravity assist. By Jove.

[A]

By Jove, he says. By Jove.

[B]

Now, if I had had a better. If this was Leo, he'd have a good British accent, but it's me, so you got nothing.

[A]

Whenever I hear like, by Jove, I think of Jupiter Ascending. Did you ever see that movie?

[B]

No.

[A]

It's got. It's got. What's her name? Mila Kunis and Channing Tina. That's right. That's right.

[B]

Wow, look at John. Actually, pop size stuff.

[A]

Actually, the Wachowski siblings. Yeah, the Wachowski siblings made that movie. And it's. It's fun. It's fun. A lot of people tell you that it's bad, and I'm not gonna disagree with them, but it's a guilty pleasure. Like. Like Pluto Nash. The Adventures of Pluto Nash. I love it.

[B]

Pluto Nash. I know. It is such a hideous movie. What about Europa Report?

[A]

Oh, I love that one, too. So that one's got a fun twist ending that I'm not going to spoil for anyone if you haven't seen it yet. So you're good.

[B]

Twisted. Okay, let's twist our way into a break and we'll be right back. Standby.

[A]

Hey, is that a spun twist? Right. If you're a maintenance supervisor at a manufacturing facility and your machinery isn't working right, Grainger knows you need to understand what's wrong as soon as possible. So when a conveyor motor falters, Grainger offers diagnostic tools like calibration kits and multimeters to help you identify and fix the problem. With Grainger, you can be confident you

[B]

have everything you need to keep your facility running smoothly.

[A]

Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickranger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. No.

[B]

All right, here's a good one that actually doesn't apply today, but we'll do it anyway. From Jan. Wild Jan. Okay, so what is the name of the lava lamp type device that looks like jellyfish on your set? Where did you get it? I'd like to get one.

[A]

Oh, you got a. Turn your. You gotta turn your background off so that people can see it.

[B]

No, because I got a green screen blocking it. Give away the secret. It's from Amazon. If you look up jellyfish lamp, you'll find it. They're about 20, 25 bucks. And it's just a plastic tube that you pour water in. You put in little rubbery plastic jellyfish, but they're really cool and they look like little aliens. So I thought that was pretty fun.

[A]

I thought it was just a lava lamp. It's not just a lava lamp.

[B]

No, it's got little jellyfish kind of blooming up and down in it. I'll show you next week. I have never. I'll go over and lick one or something then.

[A]

I'm sure it's super toxic.

[B]

And I'm sorry, it's a little toxin between friends. And then, although it's too late for. For right now, she said maybe for episode 200, you and Tarek could both invite your wives, girlfriends and kids to say hi. Wives and girlfriends. But they never meet. You know, if we had anybody in our lives that actually loved us, we'd probably do that. But, you know, we are each other's biggest fan.

[A]

They just don't care about being on the podcast.

[B]

Your family tolerates you. Let's be honest, you know, if I. If I go to Sherry, my beloved, and say, wow, some really interesting things happen in space today, she kind of stops tick tocking or whatever she's doing and looks at me and goes. And it's this look that's very non committal. It's kind, but it's distant. And the message is, make it quick, buster. I'm doing something more interesting. Like, you know, looking at different ways of putting snare all in your salad online or something.

[A]

Snarl. Oh, wait, wait. You mean that's a joke of her trying to poison you? Okay, Exactly.

[B]

Good, good. You're. You're catching down fast. So nobody wanted to come. Even my dog decided not to come upstairs for this. I don't know about you, but that's my story.

[A]

No, like, my daughter's in school and doing work. Actually. No, she's probably playing Dungeons and Dragons right now because this is like when they meet. So that she will not be on the show.

[B]

More fun than being on the show. Okay. And then she said, she goes on also. What happened to the smiling alien to the left of the ray gun? Female over your right shoulder. See, people are paying attention. This is.

[A]

That's right. You moved it, huh?

[B]

Well, that was Big Lou the Moon robot made by the Marx Toy Company, which was gifted in 1964. I think it was $9.95, which was a lot of money then probably. I think they'd be about 80 bucks now. Yeah, and it was this, you know, three foot tall styrene thing that instantly stuff started snapping off of and breaking. But it was very cool. And they are now worth about $2,000 if you have them in good condition, which is absurd. So the answer is he was moved to the floor because I was doing an interview for a TV series installment and I. I just felt it was a little much.

[A]

A little. A little. A little too out there, right?

[B]

A little too out there. But. But he will refind his. His place of honor finally, you know. Lord, please remember to take it easy on Tark. He seems like a sensitive guy. Right?

[A]

Thank you, Jan.

[B]

Unless, of course, is part of your stick like Abbott and Costello or Carl Amari and Lisa Wolf of Hollywood360 Old Time Radio. And yes, I'm Carl and he's Lisa and this is our stick. And I'm very nice to you offline. And you have plenty of slings and arrows for me when we're offline, so.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Oh, tell them, Tell, tell the world

[A]

the gloves come off. The gloves come off when the, when the, when the light goes off, I tell you. Right?

[B]

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

[A]

Wait the. The recording light when they're recording.

[B]

Oh, okay. I thought we're getting back with a

[A]

mud wrestling because, like, his mind just goes straight there, everybody. That's why.

[B]

Well, lights out, you know, I mean, okay, maybe I had a more exciting teenager than you. I don't know.

[A]

Jen is right, because when I was. When I was young and growing up, I had three older cousins, all boys, and so they used to pick on me a lot. And to me, it wasn't. Imagine that to me, to me it was like, hey, people are paying attention to me. This is amazing, right? And. But they would call me all super wimpy and everything like that. And my mom would say, he's just sensitive.

[B]

So it's true. I'm just a sensitive lady. Well, I. When I. When my son was found, he had adhd pretty mildly. And I was diagnosed then with adhd. I went back to my elementary school records because I thought, I wonder my report cards look like. Because I don't think my parents ever paid any attention to it. They just kind of look at it and go, yeah, that's our son. He's a loser. And sure enough, from first to second grade up all the way through fifth, I think Rod's a sensitive boy. He's very quiet. He's very smart. We put him in the front of the room. Oh, wait, no, he's not. We put him in the back of the room. Oh, wait. As he is. We put him in the front of the room. So I was an undiagnosed goofball back.

[A]

The front of the room. And the back of the room is where teachers send problem kids to, like. Yeah, well, back then. Now you'd get your own special class.

[B]

That's because I was special. You just ruined my entire self image, thank you very much.

[A]

That's like when I was in kindergarten and I got an A on a paper, and everyone was like, oh, wow, you got an A. And I'm like, there's no. Mrs. Cani was trying to show me how to do A's because my A's are horrible. So that's why it says A. You don't get grades.

[B]

That was the highlight of elementary school for you. Mine was winning the sixth grade handball tournament because the champ managed to out himself because he made a mistake. And so suddenly my wretched, miserable playing was a winner. All right, how did.

[A]

How did he out himself? Like, did he throw the ball and then jump on it and then it hit him?

[B]

No, he. He hit it with the edge of his fingers. That went off in the wrong direction. So they said, you're the winner. I was like, huh? What? Sports and me. All right, from Martin Lawler, good friend of the show, and Martin Lawler, what was Dave Boban's biggest fear in 2001 A Space Odyssey?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

What a case of halitosis.

[A]

Oh. Oh, man. I don't know.

[B]

Smelling it.

[A]

Coming. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. What. He only had, like, one other friend, right? Pool Frank Poole.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What else did he have to.

[B]

And he got. He got the iced in the. In the first couple hours of the movie.

[A]

They do find him in 3001, though, out by Pluto or something like that. They find his body. Body.

[B]

They never made a movie of that. Right? Just.

[A]

No, no, they did not. But they bring him back alive by cloning or something like that. So.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Spoiler alert. By the way, if you've read that 20 year old book.

[B]

So it's. That's. That's extraordinary. Okay, let's do one more. James Hirschberg. James, excellent new Pascal show. And of course I've already read the 200 plus page report and appendices he mentioned. This is a fan who actually read the National Academy's Humans to Mars report.

[A]

Yeah, he did the homework. Look at that.

[B]

That's a big deal.

[A]

Yeah, he knows. He's.

[B]

I don't. We didn't.

[A]

Well, I downloaded it. I did look at it.

[B]

I know how you look at things. Wait, Rod Holder. I type it. What? Huh.

[A]

So Rod is. Rob is describing a planning call that we had last night. Everybody.

[B]

No, those are all our planning calls.

[A]

In which. In which, at the same time, my staff was asking me to solve a headline issue that I had to figure out about Artemis program. And I was also trying to line up some stuff for the show. I don't. I don't multitask very well.

[B]

So I was going to say I've never had a phone call with you where you would. Where you weren't multitasking, which I. I own and take personally. Okay, let me continue. The Sooner the sorties. 30. 30. 30 or 30 supplies. 400. I guess that's referring to the staytime better. Good. And he goes on to say. I'd love to hear how he or other knowledgeable guests. Which would leave you and me out of it. Would answer the question, would humans get to Mars faster through US People's Republic competition or presuming political feasibility, collaboration. Cheers. Enjoy. Apollo 9 again.

[A]

Well, I'd have to say competition. Right. Did they collaborate? Like nothing gets done? Like it'll just not.

[B]

They collaborate. We collaborate with we.

[A]

That's what I mean. If we. Yeah, if the countries collaborate, it'll go a lot slower, don't you think?

[B]

You know, we collaborated on the ISS and it probably ended up costing, well, more than it would have cost the U.S. well, more than it would have had just gone solo in the end of the day.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

However, I was talking to somebody about Buzz Aldrin the other day and he and I had a series of long conversations about this. I don't know, I think it was during COVID actually.

[A]

You and Buzz or you and the friend that you were talking to?

[B]

Me and Buzz.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And he was A big is a big proponent of cooperation with China. And you know, you know, I understand the Wolf Amendment Nightar and all the concerns, but when somebody abuzz's intellect comes along and says this is a really good idea, you know, somebody of my intellect, which is vastly inferior, probably ought to sit up and say, okay, let's consider that. So while I'm sure there would be IP theft or let's just say IP reappropriation because they don't view IP the way we do, they don't view patents protection the way we do and all that kind of stuff, by the same token, NASA generally is pretty transparent anyway. So it's just defense tech you're worried about. And there is a lot of crossover there. I don't know. No, you know, on the other hand, God love the us we do best when we're competing with somebody or being challenged or somebody said Nanner, Nanner, Nanner on the playground, I'm better than you. We proved that in the space race many times since then. So, you know, it may be that it takes that kick to the groin to get us to wake up and get back to the moon.

[A]

If we had a leadership, and I mean like government leadership that was very like very streamlined and functional in a way. Not so much that everyone agrees. Not, I'm not talking about like a single party type of a thing. I mean like, like where, well, no, you know what I mean, like where they're, they're all working together to try to get the best thing. So it's all, it's, it's.

[B]

I'm sorry, you're talking about the Chinese government or ours?

[A]

No, I'm saying that if we, if we didn't have so much infighting of people trying to stay in power and, and get the 1 ups in our own country, if we were like had everything solved here, then I think that cooperation would really go well. I just don't see that happening because the, I don't see our leaders feeling any urgency to get anything done when they're in charge because why would you want that to change? And so they need to have an external influence. And like right now China is it and it's getting things done. And NASA got more money this year because of like the fears for that and the lobbying about that type of thing. So I think that I would be on the other side and that it would actually they need, they need that conflict and that challenge, even if it's just like a pride challenge, not even like a national security one, to say that we got there first and did the other thing, you know.

[B]

Oh, you said that in a very Kennedy like way. Do the other things not because they are easy, but because they are Chinese. What? Yeah. So unfortunately, he asked how Pascal or other knowledgeable guests would feel about this. So we're gonna to hold on that. That's our opinion and we're standing by it. And let's go stand by a break for a couple of seconds. We'll be right back.

[A]

Hey, can I. Can I stop for a minute really quick just to go back to James?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

All right. Well, one thing that you skipped in James's message is that he said, Cheers, enjoy Apollo 9 again.

[B]

I said that at the end.

[A]

Oh, did I miss it?

[B]

I think you were napping.

[A]

Well, but I just wanted to point out that it's the anniversary this week, as we're recording of Apollo 9. Right. On Monday or Tuesday was the anniversary of that mission that helped set the stage to go. To go to the moon. So.

[B]

Well, and maybe what he's referring to is the fact that Artemis 3 is now Apollo 9 as art.

[A]

Yeah. So there is that.

[B]

There's got. But you know what? If. If that gives them time not just to test the lander, which is way better than testing it out the moon, but also to work on that heat shield, then I'm all for it.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think that I'm just listening to a streamer yesterday all about the heat shield not being ready for. For it. Like, in a way that would really make you comfortable. You know, I know that Jared Isaacman is. Is comfortable with what he's heard from the assessments from Artemis 1, but I'd like to see those arguments too. I haven't seen that. The rationale to see like, why they're okay with the cracks and how the. The new. The new orientation for the return. Return re entry profile is going to solve all that and everything. So.

[B]

Yeah. All right. From Tanya Wyman.

[A]

Tanya.

[B]

Tanya, who attended last year's live recording of this show.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Development conference, which we should do again this year at the International Space Development Conference.

[A]

Tarik, I'll have to work on that. I will. I will work on that. So.

[B]

Okay. I'll write you a check. Okay. Tanya, this might be too late for the show. It's not. But I've composed a pretty poor limerick if you want to include it. I actually tried AI to compose it, but that was even worse. So this is purely from the dregs of my brain. Aw. Without further ado, every Friday I get my Fill of space from the Twist podcast, which is just ace. Rod is the man. He tells jokes as he can. And Tarek says headline news to keep pace. Congratulations, gentlemen. Well done.

[A]

I love that.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, we take our. We can get them, Tanya.

[A]

Well done.

[B]

We appreciate that, that. I mean, if somebody told me to do a limerick, I'd have to be reminded what the heck a limerick was. So that was quite good. Thank you. All right. Lauren Cook. Lauren Tarek.

[A]

Yes, Rod?

[B]

What did the aliens say when they found Pioneer 10?

[A]

I don't know. What did they say?

[B]

Humans, please stop sending us pornography and instructions on how to get to your house. It's creepy.

[A]

No, that's good. That's good, because if people don't know. Yeah, right. They had gold plaques on the Pioneer probes and the Voyager probes had those gold naked people with. Yeah, with. With depictions of. Of unclothed. I think we're supposed to say humans as well as, like, pulsar directions.

[B]

Pulsar directions. And the hydrogen.

[A]

The signals. Yeah.

[B]

So just to be clear, you know, this is a gold plaque, flat piece of gold coated. I think it was copper or brass, and it had line drawing, etching representations of a human and female figure and the human's holding his hand up, as in, we come in peace. And, you know, they didn't have clothes on because if you're going to show what mammals look like to the aliens, you shouldn't, you know, they got to look at the clothes and say, oh, my God, what odd scales they have, or whatever. But there were people that got upset because they said, but they're unclothed. And Carl Sagan had to say, yeah, we talked about that, you dumb dumbs. So anyway, you know, this was a long time ago. This is the 70s. Just like how in the 60s, Apollo 8 goes around the mood. They read Genesis. Very moving moment. And then the American Atheist Society, or whatever they're called, complains.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Sues NASA saying, how dare you mix, you know, religion and I. I believe in the church separation of church estate myself. But, yeah, this wasn't the transgression of that. This was meant to be an emotional, emotionally compelling moment.

[A]

You know, I heard a funny thing about those, those golden plaques too, because they, you know, they complain, they contain like, like audio. They clean songs and, and sounds.

[B]

No, no, that's the records.

[A]

The records. So these, these plaques are different.

[B]

Oh, that's right.

[A]

Right. That's right.

[B]

I was thinking about 10 just had the postcards and. And Voyager had the record records.

[A]

That's right. That's Right.

[B]

And a phonograph cartridge.

[A]

Well, there you go. So then does it have any instructions how to build a phonograph?

[B]

It. No, it kind of does. But how do you, you know, how do you relate those instructions to an alien culture? So I. I don't think we. I think we might have talked about this in the show once. There was an engineer a few years back who said, okay, I'm gonna pretend I know nothing about LP records and phonographs, and I'm gonna take reproduction of the Pioneer 10 album, which he got a hold of, which is a phonograph album, but with binary data on it, and tried to figure out how to engineer a way to decode that. And it took him, I think, about a year and a half. So he got the audio first. That was pretty easy. But decoding video or photo signals from that was quite a chore. So, of course, if we did it now, it would be different. I mean, these days. I just saw something the other day that you can store something like 10 terabytes on a crystal the size of your pinky fingernail or something.

[A]

Isn't it crazy how small it is and how like, cheap? I mean, I got terabytes on this computer I built and years ago it would have been like an extra computer of hard drive for something like that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, man.

[B]

Yeah. So. So anyway, yes, it is creepy, the

[A]

teal deal, by the way, about what I was going to say about the. The image before I. Clearly, I was mistaken about what we were talking about. Apologies. Clearly, is that the discussion I had seen is that we had included a lot of photos, but without context. And so there's pictures of people caught like in mid running or jumping, that if an extraterrestrial intelligence sees it, they're like, oh, these people can fly. You know, check that out. That's pretty cool. You know, so maybe they have no gravity on their planet. Anyway, that was what I was gonna say.

[B]

So I like it. All right, From Lauren Waxman.

[A]

Lauren, this is referring another Lauren. Different Lauren. No, it's not the same though.

[B]

Are you done?

[A]

No, probably not, but listen.

[B]

Okay, so Lauren, this is referring to Pascal's Mars episode. Have we reached peak hubris? Okay, we can't even take care of our own home. I don't get it. I guess she's asking, yeah, why. Why are we going to Mars? And the answer is, Lauren, as I think we were talking about in the

[A]

episode, the title of the Zemo was Terraforming Mars too. About doing that, I think, is what I. Oh, okay.

[B]

Thank you. Good point. So you know what we're talking about, Pascal, is exploring and doing science and perhaps a small base, sortie oriented base, where you could have 5, 10, 20 researchers doing their thing. Not that we're particularly advocating terraforming Mars. Now, certainly there are people that are. And my response, and I know there are people, listen to this podcast. There's certainly people at the National Space Society who would look at me and say, oh, Rod, you're so naive. But you know, when you've been up to the Arctic desert and looked around at all that bleak empty land, which is just rock and dirt and little bits of fungus here and there, you think to yourself, there's a lot of good usable space left on Earth, that as, as challenging as those conditions are, they're still better than any place out else out in the solar system. So I don't say we shouldn't eventually move off Earth. We're going to have to someday, you know, when the sun decides to start growing and wipes out our planet and so forth, as we discussed with Jim Green on the show. But we got a lot of time before we. Before that becomes the peak driver.

[A]

Reminder, don't tell your 5 year old that because it'll be a very hard discussion.

[B]

Yeah, well, and don't let your 7 year old watch the 1953 version of the War of the Worlds just before bedtime because there will be no bedtime because he's convinced that the Martians are gonna get here anyway. She says, I don't get it. Glad to hear Pascal League is a voice to this and I love your show and that's the important thing. Yeah, she loves the show.

[A]

Loves the show. Thank you very much.

[B]

But, you know, the terraforming argument is an interesting one. And on the one hand, you've got the rocks have rights crowd, which, and I'm being a bit glib about this, but the idea is, you know, that other planets are sacrosanct. We shouldn't do to them what we've done to our own planet and so forth. Conversely, you have the argument of, you know what, there's nothing there. We may discover microbes, which would be a big moment. But other than that, these places, especially the Moon, are pretty sterile, pretty dead. We don't know about Enceladus and Titan and other places yet, but certainly of the planets that we've reconned pretty thoroughly, there's not a lot going on there. We didn't find the civilizations we all hoped for as younger persons. And, you know, why is that not a resource to be used to help the species survive.

[A]

I think I like Lauren's argument though, about like the not, not so much the should we or shouldn't we for Mars, but we got stuff that we can do here. You know, in Star Trek they go and they colonize. Well, settle, right? They go and they, they, they, they, they build outposts on other planets and moons and whatever because like they just, they ran out of space, but not in a bad way, right? They, they were there, they had trials and tribulations, but then they cleaned the planet up and then it was all, all nice and you know, no one had a want for anything and like the atmosphere was all taken care of.

[B]

How boring.

[A]

So, right, but so, so then let's go somewhere else and like a new home. I like that approach. Like, I think that we will eventually have some kind of settlement on the moon and on Mars and maybe out in Titan and all the fun places. Right. But I would hope that we wouldn't stop working on Earth to like make it better for everybody and not just for the people that have the money and the SpaceX, Elysium, the Amazons and all of that stuff.

[B]

Well, we like the Jeff Bezos notion which comes from Jerry o' Neill and others about hey, let's just move the heavy industry off Earth and keep it this beautiful verdant garden. And just so it said, you know, I know this was a terraforming response, but if you don't terraform and you're sending people to Mars and the moon, they're surviving. Yeah, this isn't, let's go take a stroll by the canals and look up at the twin moons of Mars. It's hey, let's put on our pressure suits, leave our habitat, which has three meters of soil over it to keep the radiation from frying our gonads, and go take a walk in the toxic soil and vacuum of Mars. So, you know, humans are very fragile things. I guess for me the question is, which comes first? Do we manage to alter, you know, through transhumanism, alter human beings enough to survive in these more hostile environments, or do we alter the environment to help our weak little water filled sacks of muscle and salt bodies survive? So it's an interesting question.

[A]

Can I, can I just a quick non sequitur. You mentioned canals on Mars, but we

[B]

do have another, another break coming.

[A]

Okay, really quickly, a really weird thing happened to me this week because Rod went to canals on Mars and that got my tinfoil hat antenna going because I was driving. I think I was driving home from dropping Zadie off at school, and as I passed this guy's house or this house, some people pulled up and got out of a car. And no joke, was wearing a tinfoil hat. Like, I'm serious. Like, I did a double take and I stared at the guy just to see. And it was a tinfoil hat twisted in a little point, you know, on top. I thought of you, Rod.

[B]

You look like a Hershey's Kiss.

[A]

Oh, yeah. It was just so funny to see.

[B]

That is so weird.

[A]

I didn't take a picture because that's inappropriate, so.

[B]

Oh, you're so correct. All right, let's. Let's. Tinfoil had our way into a break here, and we'll be right back. Okay. Hey, Tarik.

[A]

Yes?

[B]

Jumping right into it from Stan Breedlove. Stan name. I wish I had a cool name like that instead of the goofy one I have, which is going to come up later, by the way. All right, Stan Atarik. What did someone say when astronaut Buzz Aldrin was voted off Dancing with the Stars?

[A]

I don't know. I don't know. What did he say?

[B]

Man, what a buzzkill. Oh, he actually got some chuckles there. Okay, very good. John's got a million of them. Barry Hayworth.

[A]

Wow. He just keeps going.

[B]

Barry Hayworth.

[A]

Yes, Barry, I'm waiting.

[B]

Barry Hayworth. He says. I'll keep my eyes out for other funny space jokes. Oops. Regardless of whether they are original or not. For example, did you spot the central pun of the Project Hail Mary book and film? I saw it pretty much immediately as I read the book and was surprised, and I mentioned it to my Catholic friend that he had not. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the story is about Ryland Grace aboard the spaceship. Hail Mary. Or to put it another way, hail Mary, full of grace.

[A]

That's right. That's right.

[B]

Looking forward to the upcoming episode. You have a lot of interesting news discussed this time around. I. I certainly didn't think of that. Was reading the book.

[A]

No. At least they kind of. They. They. They acknowledged that. That's why it's called Hail Mary Project. Hail Mary in the book. When you know that that's. That's because they're. They're. It's their. Their big past, like their big long shot. You know, they're right wing in a prayer kind of thing.

[B]

Ryland Grace is in the spacecraft, so it's full of grace.

[A]

I'm really embarrassed. I'm really embarrassed because I just got that right now. When Rod explained it to me. I just got it. So, Barry, thank you. I read that book, like, in, like, a few weeks ago, all the way through, and I read a couple years

[B]

ago, and, you know, like a lot of Eddie Weir books, I enjoyed it. I didn't get the sense of revelation a lot of people do. And I have to say, the same thing was true of the Martian. I enjoyed it, and I was thrilled that it made its way out of fan fiction that will never happen again quite in that way, because of all the AI books pummeling the market, I suspect. But it was a good book. Again, I feel like there are plenty of others that are peers to that that didn't get a tenth of recognition and didn't buy their authors a mansion in Chicago, you know? Yeah.

[A]

I thought there would be, like. Like a. There was like, a secret twist in Hail Mary, and I kept reading it, looking for that twist, and then it got to the end, and I was like, oh, I guess that's just the story. And I enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I actually thought that it was about a different thing that was, like, the central thing that was happening rather than that it was happening. And so, because I thought that, and I had no reason to think about that that was the case, but I, for some reason, had that in my head that this was what the book was going to be about. And, okay, the next chapter, they're going to reveal what it is. The next chapter. And then I got to the end. I'm like, oh, I guess that wasn't. It wasn't about that at all.

[B]

But did you enjoy the movie?

[A]

I think I said it already.

[B]

And did Spock die at the end?

[A]

And also Luke is. Or Vader is Luke's father. Just don't. Just don't tell anybody. Right. Because there's.

[B]

Okay. Hey, Tarik.

[A]

Yes, Rod?

[B]

From Mark Polchowski. Mark, why are astronauts hungry when they reach space?

[A]

I don't know why?

[B]

Because they already had a lunch.

[A]

Yeah, that's an oldie but a goodie. Here's Ralph. So you put Ralph on as well, so we can skip this.

[B]

That's why I was confused.

[A]

All right, all right.

[B]

Oh, yeah, that. We have already done that. Okay, now, Tarek, help me pronounce this name. Heidi,

[A]

I think it's Tusinon. Yeah. Tell us if we got it right or not. Toussenon.

[B]

Yeah, she can. She could send us a message from afar, saying, you morons, Congratulations on your 200th episode. I've been a Regular listener for a while. I often road trip to see family. My trip is exactly one podcast episode away, so. See, it is good that we go for an hour. Why aren't you banging on me about it all the time?

[A]

I think we're almost over an hour pretty soon.

[B]

Yeah, I know, but still, you know, we. We got to keep our road trips going. And don't forget, we're also date night fodder for that other couple.

[A]

That's right. That's right.

[B]

I can tell you, I can tell that you enjoy working with each other, and that makes it fun for me too. Thank you for your work putting it all together. Hold on, let me pat my own back.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

A question for your Ask Us Anything episode. If I was sending three consecutive lunar missions over the next five years and asked you to name the three missions, what would you name them? So my candidates were Huey, Louie, and Dewey. 1, 2, and 3. Or Athos, Porthos, and Aramis with D' Artagnan is the fourth.

[A]

Yeah. Wait, those are your choice?

[B]

B. Yeah, those are mine.

[A]

You're. You. You chose 1, 2, and 3. Like.

[B]

Well, I'm saying you could just call the missions 1, 2, and 3. That's what a lot of engineers would do. It's like, why are we getting these silly names? Let's call it 1, 2, and 3, like with Artemis.

[A]

You know, I, I, I, I think that I would like to call them Apollo the sequel, Episode whatever. Right. And then Episode four, five, and six, like from Star Wars. I think that'd be fun. But it has to have Apollo the sequel in it, right? No. Luna Cod. You're Luna Cod. No. Wow. Wow.

[B]

Also from Heidi.

[A]

Crickets. That was really an awkward. That's the first awkward science I've had, Rod, in 20 years.

[B]

Oh, it won't be the last. Also from Heidi. Hey, Tarik.

[A]

Yes, Rod?

[B]

What did the lunar lander say to the moon? Is it left to come back to Earth?

[A]

I don't know. What?

[B]

See you later, Crater. And the moon said don't mean her lunar lander. I like that one.

[A]

Luna is a good John.

[B]

Are you having gastric trouble?

[A]

I'm just going down this whole list of sound effects we have that I never used. Like this one right here. Yeah,

[B]

those ones I sent.

[A]

I don't know. They're in here.

[B]

That was probably between.

[A]

Did you know that Mr. Crab is, like, the bad guy from Highlander? Did you know that?

[B]

Oh, I did see that. Yeah.

[A]

Actually, I. And it's like, it's like, paid his whole, like, kids through college My kid

[B]

got into spongebob, and so I started watching it years ago. And as with Bugs Bunny, as you get older, you realize this show is made for two audiences, the kitties and the adults.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And Bugs Bunny, there's a lot of tongue in cheek stuff. The kids just kind of go, I don't get it. And adults are going, wow, that's racing.

[A]

Did you know that the voice actor for Mr. Krabs, aka Clancy Brown, was in the Shawshank Redemption as one of the prison guards? Yeah, that's right. He's also one of the stars of Earth 2. What?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

I'm getting excited. One of the best single seasons of TV that ended on a cliffhanger ever.

[B]

So I could tell you weren't a big fan of Lost, huh?

[A]

So, I mean, I enjoyed Lost.

[B]

I just thought when I was still married, my wife was needed more space watching Lost and very excited about it. And, you know, as an entertainment guy, I'm watching this with slightly different eye, but I remember thinking, these writers, you know, the jokes on the audience. It's like on episode 14, they're thinking about episode 16. Okay, what kind of weird stuff do you want to throw at the wall and see if it sticks this time? I'm sure they had a through line, but you sure wouldn't guess it by watching that show because it was like, what kind of wild junk can we come up with next week that we'll never be able to explain? And then they kind of just dropped it at the end of the whole series without really circling back completely.

[A]

And it's like, yeah, that's a whole other. We could have it.

[B]

Watch this for what, six or seven seasons with. Okay, what's the big. So you're waiting for that 1950s Twilight Zone comic book wrap up, right? The twist ending and it just kind of stops. Yeah, they're going, I followed the show for seven. Okay, moving on.

[A]

I feel like I should just spoil, like, that show. Just spoil it, because just do it, do it, do it. They're all in purgatory and they're all dead. It's there. I've done it.

[B]

Clearly.

[A]

Well, solving nothing.

[B]

That's that 1950s comic book Twilight Zone ending where Rod Serling comes out and say, for your consideration, from Byron Poten, who lives in Camano Island, Washington, which is right across the channel from Whidbey island, where my parents lived for many years and I spent time. So hello, Byron and Camano Island.

[A]

That's a great name.

[B]

I love where you live. I. I wish I lived there.

[A]

I'll change my moon missions to Byron. That sounds great. Name of the poets load. Byron. Right, Dante. That'd be great. Okay, I'm done. Continue, Rod.

[B]

Byron, he's brain tripping. Yeah, actually that's very just right. Okay, from Byron, what is the best proof we actually went to the moon? Oh, that's a long one. I'm old enough to have watched the moon landings. As am I when I was a boy. So these images are ingrained in my mind. One of my three answers is that the movie the Martian is proof. The movie was made with cgi, was fairly well advanced, and yet the simulations, the astronauts walking on Mars were terrible compared to the videos of astronauts on the moon. Well, they were certainly higher resolution, but whatever. Also one person said, oh yeah, how did they film the launching of the lunar module? But they read they could still transmit from the rover. So yes, the rover had a TB camera on it which was generally not turned on unless they had stopped because they had to reorient a little umbrella shaped radio dish back to Earth. It's amazing, all that work. By the way, trying to get TB transmitted 240,000 miles with an antenna dish that's about the size of a parasol is not an easy thing, but they did it. So on Apollo's 15, 16 and 17, which are the three rover flights, they did aim the camera, huh?

[A]

Which are the rover flights, right?

[B]

Yeah, the three rover flights, they aimed the camera at the lunar module, went over, got inside, and then it was time to take off. Ed Fendel, who was the technician back at mission control, who was remote controlling the camera because they could do that. This is 1960s tech, by the way, would try to anticipate the, I think it's what, one 1.5 second delay between the, the Earth and the moon. And he missed it on 15, he got really close on 16, he nailed it on 17. And we watched that sucker go all the way up into space. Now is that proof we were actually there? There are people that looked at that video and said, oh, there's no rocket blast coming from. For the lunar module thing.

[A]

Look how it wobbles on the way up. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Hanging from a string.

[B]

Yeah, right. And it wobbled because of the, the uneven, just burning of the fuels because they had tank on one side, a tank on the other for, for the, the hypergolic fuels. Anyway, so I, I buy that. Although at this point. So I used to go when I do coast to coast AM from time to time. And we got the calls the second Hour and my favorite of which I think I've told you before was I was outside and there was a bright light above my house speaking to me in the voice of Buzz Aldrin. You know, I agree that Buzz is pretty close to omnipotent, but probably not that close. But anyway, you know, there are always moon deniers that call in that show. And I used to go this big song and dance about. Go to the museum, see the rockets. They're the most expensive exhibits in aerospace history. Go to the National Archives, like I have riffle through thousands of photographs and hundreds of hours of audience audio and all that stuff. Now it's much easier. Number one, since we follow the Soviet Union, we know that the Russians were tracking everything we did. And they were able to use Doppler radar to see Apollo coming around the side of the moon and they were able to downlink the transmission. So they knew we were there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Had they realized we were not actually there or it was robotic, you don't think they would have called us out. Since then, of course, but that's the

[A]

whole point of the, the, the feat was to make them think that we did it right. So they.

[B]

But since then we have had India, China and ourselves, among others orbiting the moon with high resolution cameras. And we have photographs of not just the rover tracks, not just the landing stage of the limb, but in some cases, trails of footprints, the footprint going across the moon. That's pretty good. You know, it would be hard, I guess you could have a robot with, with Bigfoot feet type things going stomping around the moon, but it would be pretty hard to fake. So the obvious history and lineage of that is there. So that's my proof.

[A]

Also, the reflectors are still there, the laser, laser. And anyone can shoot a laser, they know where it is and they can get the flashback. And we saw them on video deploy that stuff.

[B]

So what Tarek's talking about is the Apollo astronauts put out laser retro boxes which had these little kind of honeycomby looking mirror cells on them. A bunch of them with the shit they laid out in the lunar surface, I think, I don't know, they were like 24 inches on each side or something. 18 inches. They weren't huge. But if you know exactly where it is. I'll speak for yourself. If you know exactly where they are, you can aim a lase, a laser beam at it from Earth through a telescope and it actually comes back the exact same direction it goes out and you get that ping back and you go aha. Second or Three seconds later, we get, yeah, they measure the distance, the moon within about 6 inches. But they also tell us somebody put them there.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

To some shiny rock. So, yeah, there's all kinds of reasons to believe that this happened, and many fewer not to. But in my opinion, in the opinion of some of our guests, it's just not as sexy to believe that NASA could do it. It's much more fun to say, say it's all a conspiracy. Right.

[A]

And because we're in a generation, we're like a generation removed, if not more, you know, from that era. It's easier for people to believe that it didn't happen. That was a big old setup. You know, it'll be interesting to see how people treat Artemis 3. Especially now with, like, the fact that, like, you can create stuff with AI or whatever. Yeah. Will anyone truly believe it? Actually, that's a good story.

[B]

Well, I think there's a Space.com story.

[A]

No one. Everyone forgets you heard that idea.

[B]

There's a generation or two of people that will take Steph Curry as being the ultimate giant and Kim Kardashian and say, well, they don't think it happened. It didn't happen. Paul Venzio wants to say, hey, Todd.

[A]

Yes, yes, that's right.

[B]

Why wasn't Shoemaker Levy 9 named Shoemaker Levy Sagan 9?

[A]

I don't know. Why?

[B]

Because Sagan just wouldn't comment. Commit comment.

[A]

I thought it was gonna be, like, a comment pun.

[B]

Well, it kind of is. There's no way to read it.

[A]

Oh, commit, commit. Yeah, I get it now.

[B]

Mark Turner sent us two slings and arrows directly to our personal hearts. First to you. Hey, Tarik.

[A]

Oh, yes. Hey.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Why couldn't Tarek rescue the Robinson family when the Jupiter 2 broke down?

[A]

I don't know. Why?

[B]

Because he got lost in space. Now, does this mean that he's called your cell phone and gotten that. That message you had on there for the last 17 years?

[A]

I don't know. It's possible. But also, it's possible that he watched one of my YouTube videos, because that's how I sign off all of my YouTube videos.

[B]

And he's one of your 17 loyal fans.

[A]

There is a brand new Lost in Space puzzle game that's out right now, and it's only $10, and I can't wait to play it. So you play as

[B]

Dr. Smith.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. The boy John. John Will Robinson. You play as Will Robinson with the robot and the Doctor. And so you have to try to Find your family. I'm really excited about it.

[B]

Can I have my Dr. Smith moment?

[A]

That was it. You missed it. So Will Penny.

[B]

He was. And, you know, I just want to say we've discussed this before, too.

[A]

We should do a Lost in Space episode.

[B]

We should. Our first season was in black and white, and it was kind of this. Erwin Allen did the same thing with Voyage of the Bottom of the Sea and other shows. First season, black and white. Very serious. For the first handful of episodes. Dr. Smith is a bad guy. He was really good as a bad guy. He was planning to kill the crew, and then he got stuck on the spaceship. But, you know, he. He was good, and it was actually engaging to watch. And then they transitioned to color, and you had Carrot man and the Space Hippies. It just went right off the rails. And we'll save the rest of it for.

[A]

Who do you think did the adaptation better? Do you think that the 1996 movie was good? Or do you think that. Or was it 98? And then do you think that the Netflix show was. Was. Was better?

[B]

You didn't like the Netflix show? Was. Was better than the movie. But neither of them really grabbed me.

[A]

I thought Parker Posey was the best Dr. Smith, like, hands down, out of the two of them.

[B]

That is true.

[A]

Absolutely awesome. So

[B]

also from Mark Turner, Aimed at my soft tissue. Hey, Tarik.

[A]

Yes, Rod?

[B]

Why couldn't Rod read all his space jokes?

[A]

I don't know. I don't know.

[B]

Because he had too big a pile of them.

[A]

Because it's his name, everybody.

[B]

Never heard a joke about my last name before.

[A]

That's. Did you hear. Do you remember he mentioned that he was gonna get back to his name at the start of the show? Remember? It's foreshadowing.

[B]

So when I was a kid, of course, I got a lot of Gomer Pyle. What's brown and lays on the ground? Rods, Pile, hammer, Rod. I mean, it just went on and on and on. And I think I've said this before, but I thought I had escaped it when I hit my 20s. And then full Metal Jacket comes out and that goofball Private Pyle ends up murdering his drill sergeant. Now I'm Private Pyle again. So I'm not even Gomer Pyle usmc. I'm now just Private Pyle. Which is all, in a way to say, I would rather have the last name Malik than Pyle. Well, just saying. Well, all good things must come to an end. We've had a blast.

[A]

That's a Star Trek reference, right? Because We. But we're in Star Trek outfits.

[B]

I think people have said that before. Star Trek, but that's okay.

[A]

That Shakespeare guy, like, okay. Everyone wants to give him a lot of credit. Sheesh. So, yeah.

[B]

Who we now suspect may have just stolen other people's writing because he was a hack. Huh?

[A]

I didn't see that. I didn't. Yeah.

[B]

Articles come around every decade or so. But I do want to say thank you to everybody for joining us Today for episode 200, our annual listener special. Thank you, Tarek. Thank you so much, John, Ashley, for hanging in with us these last couple of years. Yeah. Very unenthusiastic. Thumbs up and thank you to our listeners because without you there, we wouldn't buy. It would be very lonely of us just sitting here talking to each other.

[A]

Well, we wouldn't be at episode 200 if we didn't have listeners, so thank you all.

[B]

Well, we might. I mean, we're both pathetic enough that we might just get on every Friday and have a snoop call for an hour, you know. Hey, Tarek, what's new in your world? Tarek, where should we look for you in the AI verse?

[A]

Well, you can find [e-mail], as always, Rod, and on all of the socials. Tarikjmalik on YouTube at spacetronplays. There's a whole new space season in Fallout 76 that just launched this week. I'm very excited about that. And this weekend you might find me at my first yoga class, if I can get into it. That'll be pretty exciting to see. And I'm going to be going to the Lego store to build my own free lightsaber. Check your local Lego stores, 12 to 2 o' clock on Saturday.

[B]

Oh, and here's a video game on screen for the highbrow of us. Oh, yeah, yoga. I did yoga for about a year.

[A]

The space, the space, the space. Theming in the current season of Fortnite's really exciting. So I'm going to be playing that because the new update just went live yesterday.

[B]

I could barely contain my excitement.

[A]

Travel distance Will under the Stealth Outmaneuver. That's the audio from.

[B]

Oh, that's you.

[A]

That's me. Yeah, yeah. By the way, in two years you'll find me here with Rod with our episode 300 special. There you go. Right?

[B]

That's right.

[A]

100 in 100 weeks.

[B]

So, yeah, roughly, Yeah, I. I studied under a woman that we called the Yoga Nator because she was absolutely brutal. The room was warm. It was, you know, stretch, stretch, push, push. Oh, what was that snapping sound? Your tendon. Okay, push me more. I mean, it was. I went home crippled from that thing every night, and I was thinner and in good shape then, so. Yeah. Anyway, who cares about that? But what you should care about is that you can find Tarek at the places he just mentioned. And you can find me at pilebooks.com [e-mail] and if you actually want to find me and you're in the Southern California area, please consider joining me for a talk on Apollo and Artemis at the Bowers Museum in Orange county on March 19th at 10:30am and you can go to bowers.org and look for the program section to see the listing. They do charge a fee. It's for charity. And I'll be doing a book giveaway.

[A]

Ooh.

[B]

Yes, Many copies of Space 2.0 will go to people who can answer relevant space trivia questions.

[A]

Are you gonna sign it? You gotta sign it. You gotta sign my books. But I have so many of them.

[B]

Bring them. Yeah, you know, bring them to the ISTC in your car. Hint, hint, hint. Where we can do an episode together. Hint, hint, hint. Because people are asking us to hint in it. Remember, you can always drop us a line at Twisted Twit tv. And we welcome your comments, suggestions and ideas, and space jokes. Send those space jokes because I'm running out. Actually, I think I stripped the inventory on this.

[A]

Well, we shouldn't have used all of these.

[B]

And some have been in there for months.

[A]

And I thought you have no one to blame except for yourself. His own hubris. I've never had anybody said what. I don't know where I was going with that.

[B]

Wow. Hey, guess what?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

New episodes of this podcast published every Friday at your favorite podcaster. So make sure to subscribe, tell your friends, and give us reviews. We'll take five stars. Thumbs up your center digit. Whatever you want to give us, we'll take it. And you can also head to our website at Twisswit TV Twists. That is Twit TV Twists. And you can follow the Twittalk podcast network it on Twitter and on Facebook and Twit TV on Instagram. Thank you, everybody, from the bottom of our hearts, small, gnarled, and black as they may be in my case, because we love having you here and we love doing this show. And I don't know about you, Tarek, but. But this is kind of the highlight

[A]

of my week, sad to say. Oh, yeah, Yeah.

[B]

I know it's the highlight of yours because I talked to you on the other day, you're like, oh, my God, I can't believe it just happened. And then you're all happy when you come on here.

[A]

Yeah, I get to have a good old time. Good old time with Rod, also with John sometimes, but mostly with Rod, so.

[B]

And we miss Aunt and Anthony, too. They're both really, really good and helpful. And I'm glad to see Ant's doing well. For those of you who remember Aunt Pruitt, who was our first board op, he is making his way through television and motion picture fame, I think. John, is he doing mostly commercials or also bit parts?

[A]

He was bit parts in commercials. The last one he was in was for a Super bowl commercial, I think.

[B]

Yeah, he had like two frames.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But I mean, you know, he's a good looking guy. He's. He's built like Arnold Schwarzenegger. So that's what kept you the parts, I guess. I think he got his son on screen too, didn't he?

[A]

Can't say for that. Don't know about that. But anyway.

[B]

Well, Aunt, we love you and we're glad that things are going well. Tarek, you have any final message for our beloved audience?

[A]

No. Thank you all for sticking with us through 200 episodes. You know, frankly, I thought that I would have fallen on my face by now about as many times as I've fallen off the chair. But at least no one makes me remember that. Right, Rod? That one time. One time, Car.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You fell off the chair. Yeah, I think it happened like twice. Maybe three times.

[B]

Video loop of that somewhere, but I

[A]

have to dig it up in the archives.

[B]

We'll save that for another episode. Okay, thanks, everybody. We'll see you later.

[A]

See you next.