Drinking Our Way Through History
Step into a time-traveling adventure with Drinking Our Way Through History, where Cooper and Ian uncork the fascinating secrets of the past. Embark on an enlightening and uproarious podcast experience as they uncover legendary figures, awe-inspiring sites, captivating spectacles, and remarkable events, all with a quirky blend of humor, intrigue, and heartwarming tales. Sip along as we immerse ourselves in history's intoxicating depths, turning moments of the past into unforgettable memories. Cheers to an epic journey!
Drinking Our Way Through History
Episode 26: The Space Race Saga - It Took Some Docking
In today's episode, we'll be taking a cosmic journey back in time to explore one of the most electrifying and iconic competitions in history: the Space Race. The Space Race was a competitive and politically charged period of space exploration and technological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, primarily in the late 1950s and 1960s. It was a critical aspect of the broader Cold War rivalry and had significant implications for both countries' space programs and technological advancements. We'll delve into the political tensions, incredible achievements, and unforgettable moments that defined this remarkable era.
Instagram - @drinkingthroughhistorypodcast
That was really nice. No, I really liked that.
Speaker 1:Alright cool. That's my warm up.
Speaker 2:That's how you warm up.
Speaker 1:I warm up, that's what I do.
Speaker 2:She's picking me, she has chosen.
Speaker 1:She's like I see you and I will go to you.
Speaker 2:We have a guest today on the podcast. It's a cat, mamma Mia. Mamma Mia in the building. In the building Cooper, Did we shoot the wine?
Speaker 1:We always shoot the wine. Yes yes, yes, soon, as I can figure out what I'm doing with my life. No, I like that, I like that. So we'll never be able to shoot this wine.
Speaker 2:Alright, ready. Alright, I like that. No, that's very good.
Speaker 1:Cheers mi amigo, Cheers, mi amigo.
Speaker 2:Just the way I was supposed to be drinking Wine. Shoot that shit. Yeah, you know what else Shoots?
Speaker 1:What? Where do they shoot, Ian? They shoot into space.
Speaker 2:Wow, just space, space or other countries. Oh, enemies of America, enemies of America will receive rockets yeah. Without warning, yeah, or Russia. Coincidentally, they like to do that. They like missiles too.
Speaker 1:There's also a lot of other missiles being shot around the world right now. Yeah, but you know, what we're going to talk about the fun ones today. Yeah, we're going to talk about the good, good, good, nice rockets that progress, the space rockets, our favorite kind of rocket. These ones are truly progressing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the ones that only carry a little bit of death.
Speaker 1:Just a little bit of death and destruction, because welcome to drinking our way through history when we cover the legendary. That was a great segue, wasn't?
Speaker 2:it. That was so good I almost didn't see it coming.
Speaker 1:Where we cover the legendary people, places, spectacles and events that history has to offer, while enjoying a thick pour of whiskey. Thick, I am Cooper, I am Ian Wow, are you sure?
Speaker 2:I had to think about it for a second.
Speaker 1:In today's episode, we will be taking a cosmic journey back in time to explore one of the most electrifying and iconic competitions in history the Space Race. The Space Race was a competitive and politically charged period of space exploration and technological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Speaker 2:Put on your jackets.
Speaker 1:Primarily, this was in the late 1950s and 1960s. It was a critical aspect to the broader Cold War rivalry and had significant implications for both countries, space programs and technological advancements. We'll dive into the political tension, incredible achievements and unforgettable moments that define this remarkable era. So, ian, grab your whiskey, grab your wine, grab your drink, sit back and prepare for a stellar adventure through the stars and history.
Speaker 2:You know, cooper, that was really, really good. Thanks. And what do all of those astronauts that went into space have in common? Big dicks, obviously, yeah, yeah. And they also, all of them, every single one of them, in order to become an astronaut, had to hit that like button, hit that subscribe button, that five star review button. Every single astronaut does it, so why not you? Bam, bada boom and bada boom.
Speaker 1:Be as good as an astronaut and hit that like button. Yeah, hit that five star button. It takes a strong arm to do that.
Speaker 2:you know, like kneel oh arm strong.
Speaker 1:That was good. Thank you, that was a really good one. I'll be here all week. I'll be here all week.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So on July 20th of 1969, noice American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin achieved a remarkable feat they became the first humans to set foot on the moon. This extraordinary accomplishment was part of the Apollo 2 mission and it took place eight years after President John F Kennedy set a bold national goal to land a man on the moon before the 1960s ended. The challenge was issued in response to a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, known as the space race. Yeah, to see which superpower could send a person to the moon first. Because that's just the most human shit I've ever heard.
Speaker 1:It's honestly the biggest. Like big, big contest on the planet, dude.
Speaker 2:That's all the space race is is just a measure of schlongs.
Speaker 1:It also did a lot of good for the world, yeah.
Speaker 2:But the only reason it happened and this is undeniable is because we wanted to prove we had bigger dicks than the Soviet Union.
Speaker 1:Kennedy wanted to win re-election. Yeah, because he just had the Bay of Pigs invasion.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you fumbled that shit hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds exactly right, he's like we need to do something.
Speaker 2:So to understand the context of the space race we kind of have to look a bit further back. Right After World War II ended in the mid-20th century, a new kind of conflict emerged, the Cold War Now. This struggle pitted two major global powers against each other the United States, a democratic and capitalist nation, and of course the Soviet Union, a communist country. This rivalry extended into many aspects of life, and one of the most intense battlegrounds became space exploration. Both sides aimed to demonstrate the superiority of their technology, military strength and, by extension, their political and economic systems.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were going head to head, they were trying to be number one top dog Head to head.
Speaker 2:That's another way of saying dick-measuring context, trying to put them side by side for a comparison.
Speaker 1:No, that's good, I see what you did there, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks for putting that together for me.
Speaker 2:They were putting their dicks together. I'm putting jokes together. We're good. We're good baby.
Speaker 1:Now, by the mid-1950s, the tensions of the Cold War had seeped into the daily lives of people in both the United States and the Soviet Union. This was fueled by an arms race, the looming threat of nuclear weapons, extensive spy activities, the Korean War and a war of words and ideas waging through the media. Yeah, yeah, lots of that, Lots of propaganda going out there. These tensions continued throughout the space race and were amplified by significant events like the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, go check out our podcast episode on that shit.
Speaker 2:I didn't even think about that, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And the outbreak of the Vietnam War. Oh, space exploration provided another platform for this intense competition. On October 4th 1957, the Soviet Union achieved a major milestone by launching a spacecraft called Sputnik Sputnik, which is all over pop culture world and the sci-fi world right. This marked the world's first artificial satellite, a man-made object, placed into Earth's orbit. The launch of Sputnik came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one to most Americans, because we've straight up thought they put a fucking death ray in the sky.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I you know, and I wouldn't put it past them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, but also like the technology wasn't there. This was very much like everybody in the news anchors and everybody's like they're gonna melt our brains. Space laser yeah, Marjorie Taylor Green with Space lasers weird, interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, propaganda bullshit.
Speaker 1:False disinformation.
Speaker 2:Ah yes, Not misinformation, but disinformation.
Speaker 1:Disinformation.
Speaker 2:Disinformation specifically.
Speaker 1:You know that she said that. Right who she's? Uh, marjorie Taylor Greene. She said that, like the war somewhere is caused by Jewish space lasers, hmm, well, we know them, jews, and they're space lasers.
Speaker 2:Let's just have a giant laser out there in the shape of the star of David. It just shoots money. It just shoots money out of it Straight Jewish house. Yeah, they just aim it at themselves.
Speaker 1:It's like a self-sustaining system, and that's how she made it to Capitol Hill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, no, actually that makes a lot of sense. No, I get it.
Speaker 1:I get it Now this. In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of exploration. It was crucial for the US not to fall behind the Soviets in this new frontier. Furthermore, the successful launch of Sputnik demonstrated the formidable power of the Soviet Union's R7 missile, which appeared capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into US airspace, which is pretty scary. This made it ever more urgent for the United States to gather intelligence about the Soviet military activities. This is going in to straight up operation paperclip, right. Yeah, this rips from operation paperclip. Yeah, this goes into Project Bluebird. This is going into MK Ultra with all the fucking acid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the.
Speaker 1:CIA is kind of involved. Well, I mean, we don't really talk about it, but they're there Like because they're the ones gathering the intel at the U-2 fucking spy planes and all that shit, and it's this time would be such a crazy time to be alive. It would be fucking terrifying. Well, okay, not as a citizen, as like, think of it like as a government official or like an agency like the CIA or some shit. Bro, you get away with everything. Because it's just like we're trying to come up with mind control and have a men's cheering candidate.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I mean it's like. It's like you're shooting the shit with your buddies playing pool, drinking some brews, and you're like God damn dude, I just wish mind control was real. And one of them's like hey man, you ever tried acid? I'm pretty impressionable when I take acid, but maybe we can melt people's minds with this. Yeah yeah. Reframe the insane in the membrane. That's actually where that comes from, insane in the membrane.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah Now, before the launch of Sputnik, the United States was the leading world power and they had an edge in terms of their nuclear capabilities, which was confirmed through U2 spy plane flights over the Soviet Union, which is fucking funny, I think that's right. They're just flying, just chilling Yep. These flights provided valuable intelligence that suggested the US held the advantage in terms of nuclear weapons. However, during a period between 1955 and 1961, studies revealed a concerning gap in education. It was found that the Soviet Union was training two to three times as many scientists per year as the.
Speaker 1:United States. They were trying to catch up from fucking operation paperclip and capitalizing, stealing all the goddamn German Nazi scientists. Yeah, yeah, you know those goddamn Nazi scientists.
Speaker 2:How great were they for society? Werner von Braun got us to the fucking moon here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I think about the Nazis. Yeah, so, but yeah, they were training two to three times as many scientists per year, which is crazy to me, because it's I feel like the Soviet Union wasn't really giving them that much of an option, though you know what I'm saying. They were kind of like forcefully recruiting not like forcefully, but strongly suggesting recruiting to become a scientist. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Oh, they were definitely pushing it within their. Yeah, they were. They were recruiting and then having strict schools developing these people in minds into this process.
Speaker 2:Specifically for this purpose.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Now. This raised concerns about the future of scientific and technological progress in the U? S. The launch and orbit of Sputnik one, the Soviets first artificial satellite, indicated a significant technological advance advancement right. This development was perceived as a significant threat to U S national security. In response to this perceived threat, the U S government made substantial federal investments in various areas, including research and development, education and, of course, national security. In 1958, the United States responded to the Soviet achievement by launching its own satellite, Explorer one, or Explorer I if we, if we like Roman numerals. Good job, Ian, Thank you. This satellite was designed by the U S army under the guidance of rocket scientist Werner Werner von Braun. There it is.
Speaker 1:Around this one right, Werner von Braun. Werner von Braun.
Speaker 2:I don't know why I got a little French there, there we go. Now around. How many different nationalities can be pissed off in one episode? Now, around the same time, president Dwight D Eisenhower signed an executive order establishing the national aeronautics and space administration, which obviously is just NASA, a federal agency dedicated to, of course, space exploration.
Speaker 1:Do you know what NASA actually stands for, though?
Speaker 2:No, what does it stand for, cooper?
Speaker 1:Never a straight answer.
Speaker 2:Always a gay answer.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a good second.
Speaker 2:Never a straight answer.
Speaker 1:No, I do like that because facts, yeah, yeah, because try and ask them a question about aliens.
Speaker 2:Never a straight answer. Well, maybe maybe not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's past a boob. I don't know, as they got fucking ET down in the basement. Yeah, I don't know, I don't know, that's NASA exactly, but okay, they had their hands in the pot, yeah.
Speaker 2:They're the ones who brought the alien to Area 51. Yeah, exactly, we've seen.
Speaker 1:Paul, we know what's going on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're in charge of strictly transport whether that's into space or out of space.
Speaker 1:Now Eisenhower also initiated two national security focused space programs that would run alongside NASA's efforts. The first program, led by the US Air Force, aimed to explore the military potential of space. This is where the space lasers come in.
Speaker 2:The space lasers my favorites.
Speaker 1:The second program managed by the CIA. Fucking just acid guys at this. Lsc for days also included the Air Force and a newly established organization called the National Reconnaissance Office, which was a classified entity until the early 1990s and was codenamed Corona.
Speaker 2:Naturally, Because sometimes, at the end of the day, these scientists just like to lean back on a beach with a nice cold Corona in line.
Speaker 1:I have a feeling that they were thinking more of the Corona of the spectrum of light.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The sunrise. Is that right? That's where that. That's what Corona is, right? I don't know, man, I don't know. I'm thinking ice cold brew, but you might be right. I'm going to define Corona right now.
Speaker 2:Actually, yeah, this is why we need a producer, because a producer's job is to just sit there and Google.
Speaker 1:I was right. It's a rare field, gaseous envelope of the sun's and other stars.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I still think they were thinking about beer.
Speaker 1:This mission was to use orbiting satellites to collect intelligence on the Soviet unions and its allies. Yeah, so that was the code name, corona, corona. Now, in 1959, the Soviet space program made another significant stride with the launch of Luna, to the first space probe to impact the moon. Then, in April 1961, yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut cosmonaut cosmonaut, yes, that's such a cool name it is. It is Achieved a historic milestone, but becoming the first person to orbit Earth. Now, by this time they had already launched one. I don't know if it was Sputnik that had the dog there's a dead dog floating its base.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there is a dead dog. It's probably very nicely preserved, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess, because there's no air anymore. That's hot. Oh, that's kind of sad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just chilling.
Speaker 1:It's just sad that the dog died. Yeah well, we did it to fucking monkeys.
Speaker 2:We did it to monkeys.
Speaker 1:We did it to monkeys, yeah.
Speaker 2:In Russia's defense granted we probably just shouldn't have sent animals to space.
Speaker 1:We had to. I know it was either the animals or us. We had to measure our cocks. We could have sent a few Republicans maybe instead. Wow, Wow, Cooper drawn lines in his hand. So Yuri Gagarin, who had been the Soviet cosmonaut who achieved the historic milestone becoming the first person on Earth. He accomplished this aboard the Vostik 1 spacecraft. In response, the US initiated Project Mercury, an effort to send an American into space. They're like we can do the red, white and blue two in space.
Speaker 2:And we're also closer to the sun. I just want to say we're the closest planet to the sun. That's the name of our project and you can't have that. You can't have it, yeah.
Speaker 1:NASA engineers designed a smaller cone-shaped capsule that was significantly lighter than the Vostok spacecraft used by the Soviets. The US conducted tests with chimpanzees to ensure the safety of the capsule. In March 1961, nasa conducted a final test flight before the Soviets pulled ahead with Yuri Gagarin's orbit. Now, on May 5, 1961, american astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space, although he did not achieve orbit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, he was just out there a little bit.
Speaker 1:He's like hey, I can see it, but I can't go all the way around.
Speaker 2:I got pretty high in the sky. And I came back down from the sky Now. On May 25, 1961, President John F Kennedy made an announcement before a joint session of Congress. He unveiled an ambitious and daring plan to safely send an American astronaut to the moon before the end of the decade.
Speaker 1:We can do it Pretty bold. In eight years we got this bitch, you got to say it.
Speaker 2:We can do it in eight years.
Speaker 1:That's good Thank you yeah, yeah, for some reason I'm real good at the Kennedy Wow. Yeah, way better now than you were during our Cuban Missile Crisis.
Speaker 2:I know, I know I missed the mark on that man.
Speaker 1:It's like, don't worry, I've just been watching JFK speeches. For days I've literally been working on it now.
Speaker 2:You think I'm memorizing sales scripts? No man, no, I'm memorizing Kennedy. I just got a new sales job. Context, context, thank you. Now, several political factors influence Kennedy's decision in the timing of this announcement. Primarily, he felt immense pressure for the United States to outpace and outperform the Soviet Union in the ongoing space race.
Speaker 1:The space race, the space race, space race, space race.
Speaker 2:This pressure, that's great. That sounds great this pressure. There are no echoes in space, by the way.
Speaker 1:There's no sound up in that bit.
Speaker 2:This pressure had been mounting since the shocking launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union just four years earlier. You know because, to add to the embarrassment, yuri had become the first human to journey into space and reach orbit, while Alan the American made history as the first American in space on May 5th.
Speaker 1:Except he only fucking hit suborbital flight.
Speaker 2:Right he wasn't.
Speaker 1:You didn't hit full orbit like the other guys.
Speaker 2:So everybody in America's, like we just can't get it up all the way.
Speaker 1:You know like what we needed some fucking biagra for a Seattleist.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, wow, I haven't even heard of that company.
Speaker 1:You've been looking into those, if you use drinking our way through history as a promo code on Seattleists. You'll receive 5% off. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:No, also not the case. You will pay the same amount.
Speaker 1:I wish as we do. Wouldn't that be funny If we just got sponsored by, like Seattle, by an erectile, by a spondra, by a prill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just cuz, just cuz. No, that's good, that's good. So, yeah, he didn't reach orbit and Yuri did. So there was a lot of this competition between the US and the Soviet Union because they beat us, you know. And then, additionally, there was the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in mid-April of that year. That further intensified the pressure on Kennedy right, he was just feeling it from all sides, yeah.
Speaker 1:If you want to know more about the Bay of Pigs, go check out our Cuban Missile Crisis, because we dive into that and how horribly we fucked up that. Yeah, fuck that up.
Speaker 2:We tend to do that sometimes it was so bad. I mean you think you look out at the Bay, see a bunch of pigs swimming, you just wouldn't fuck with it.
Speaker 1:They just had to shoot them all.
Speaker 2:I don't know what the deal was.
Speaker 1:Pigs almost became extinct. Very surprised it never became the term pigs in a bucket.
Speaker 2:Oh, is that where pig slaughter?
Speaker 1:comes from Pigs in a barrel.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's a pig slaughter, you know, like a I don't even think that's a term actually.
Speaker 1:I just said pig slaughter, yeah. Yeah, it's where you go to a pig slaughtering house. They're slaughtering pigs, yeah.
Speaker 2:This episode is brought to you by Viagra. Yeah. Facing these challenges, kennedy wanted to announce a program that had a realistic chance of success before the Soviets achieved a similar milestone. After discussions with Vice President Lyndon B Johnson, nasa Administrator James Webb and other key officials, he concluded that landing an American on the moon would be an incredibly challenging technological goal.
Speaker 1:However, it was also an area where the United States had the potential to take the lead in space exploration, and I also want to note real quick that NASA's Administrator, james Webb is who the James Webb telescope is named after.
Speaker 2:Really, I thought it was a different one.
Speaker 1:I'm just yeah, it wasn't his kid. James Webb the second.
Speaker 2:That's why it's not called James Webb. The second yeah, exactly, OK, yeah, yeah, Everybody would have just gotten confused as like why?
Speaker 1:do we have two James Webb's telescopes? Where was the first?
Speaker 2:one Plot twist, the satellite was launched before his kid was born, and he's actually James Webb the third.
Speaker 1:And they just.
Speaker 2:It's like, yeah, your older brother's a satellite, what?
Speaker 1:is this telescope. In February 1962, john Glenn became the first American to actually orbit the Earth, now marking this huge step in this race. By the end of that year, nasa had laid the groundwork for its lunar landing project, known as Project Apollo.
Speaker 2:Oh no, it's like we all know how that worked out for the first one.
Speaker 1:Well, not most people Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought the Apollo fuck up was like a big deal.
Speaker 1:I mean at the time it was yeah, that's true, we forget about the Zoomers.
Speaker 2:We do the Zoomers. They don't know shit. No, they don't.
Speaker 1:They don't know shit about fuck. So between 1961 and 1964, nasa's budget saw nearly 500% increase, which went from 500 million to nearly 3.75 billion, with a B B for bad bitch, b for bad 3.75 bad bitches. The lunar landing program involved a massive workforce of approximately 34,000 NASA employees, an additional and an additional 375,000 employees working for industrial and university contractors.
Speaker 2:Wow, I didn't realize that, like back then, I didn't realize that. I know it's massive now, but I didn't know that it was this huge, like doing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to the moon man. We know nothing about it. We got to get a bunch of smart people. Yeah, we got shit to do. So these resources were essential for the ambitious moon mission. Obviously Now, in 1961, alongside Project Mercury, which consisted of six flights, project Gemini was initiated. These projects, along with the numerous experiments and test flights, were crucial for the successful landing. Project Mercury aimed to orbit a manned spacecraft around the Earth, study human capabilities in space and safely recover both the astronaut and the spacecraft, because both were very expensive and, yeah, honestly, they probably would have just well no, they probably would have ditched the astronaut, got the spacecraft that they had there.
Speaker 2:No, that's a lot of learning.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of learning.
Speaker 2:You got to reteach somebody. That's true. They want to save that brain. Yeah, knowledgeable enrichment.
Speaker 1:Project Gemini, on the other hand, was focused on developing space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission. Gemini missions tested the endurance of astronauts in space, the ability to perform tasks outside the spacecraft, such as spacewalks.
Speaker 2:God, how would you have liked to take in the first fucking spacewalk, Like how terrifying.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's got to be. I'm just out there.
Speaker 2:Sorry, Sorry. I know I interrupted you there.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, but you're like you're just your space suit away from dying.
Speaker 2:Duff yes imploding A small tug on a tether, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very scary. Scary Just to kind of think about that. I think the best way to visual, to understand how scary space is is watching the Europa report, the.
Speaker 2:Europa report. Such a good movie, so good.
Speaker 1:Jeb and I missions were also for the orbital maneuvers needed to rendezvous and dock with another spacecraft. It's a lot of math.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of math and a lot of little rocket flares. Yeah, those rocket flares mean the difference between life and death, and it's literally a quarter of an inch, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, if we saw Interstellar, it's the part where Matt Damon blew up the fucking space station because he was not proficient at his job, didn't do his math right, didn't check his numbers, the project took place from 61 to 66, ensuring that the Apollo program could concentrate on its primary mission without the need to develop these essential techniques from scratch.
Speaker 2:The astronaut team that played a crucial role in Project Gemini consisted of three groups the Mercury 7, the new 9, and the astronaut class of 1963.
Speaker 1:They're just like. We're not giving you a name, it's so funny.
Speaker 2:Now, these astronauts were responsible for piloting the Gemini spacecraft during this program. That's not just the fucking. Why didn't they get a nickname?
Speaker 1:What did they do wrong? We just got to get these guys in. Do we have time for a name, sir?
Speaker 2:No, no, no.
Speaker 1:Time for a name.
Speaker 2:It's not in the budget, it's not in the budget. You get two nicknames.
Speaker 1:That's it you are the class of 1963. Congratulations, sir. That's when I graduated college. Fuck you, class of 1963.
Speaker 2:It's 64. 63. However, the Gemini program faced tragic setbacks. Three astronauts lost their lives when their trainer jet crashed during training, including both members of the primary crew for the Gemini 9 mission. This unfortunate incident led to the backup crew taking over that mission, so it's like we got second string in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like replacement refs.
Speaker 2:Susan, although these are highly trained astronauts, I feel like those refs were not highly trained refs All right, maybe drastic comparison, but you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:All right, it's actually the same thing, yeah.
Speaker 2:So Apollo faced another major setback on January 27th of 1967. Yeah, this was bad. Yeah. During a launch simulation for Apollo 1, a deadly fire broke out inside the spacecraft, resulting in the deaths of all three astronauts aboard. This tragically halted the program for more than 18 months. During this time, nasa conducted extensive redesigns and safety improvements before they were ready to send astronauts into space again.
Speaker 1:Maybe we should allow you to take off the seat belt by yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That might have helped a little bit. Bro, have you seen the pictures of Apollo 1 that burnt?
Speaker 2:I've seen the photos of the aftermath. Yeah, yeah, it's basically like a.
Speaker 1:It's just a char inside.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The wires and plastic and everything is bubbled and boiled and it's just yeah. And it was just sitting on the launch pad and they were just doing testing, stuff of like trying it out, trying it out, Can we get this to go off and that to go off? And they fucking Like everybody was trying to get in there but it incinerated inside of the fucking craft. Yeah, Like just, oh God.
Speaker 2:And it happened pretty quick too. Yeah, it wasn't like a super slow burn.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, it wasn't like they slowly burned to a crisp.
Speaker 2:Now, granted, they were in their protective spacesuits, I believe right.
Speaker 1:I think those burnt pretty quick. They're pretty fragile.
Speaker 2:They're not. Yeah, they're fragile, but there was like it's just you could see it coming.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, it'd be fucking terrifying, and it was not as quick as Ocean Gate, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:They had time to comprehend what was happening around them, which is sad. Yeah, the Apollo 1 fire was a devastating and challenging time for NASA and its astronauts. However, the safety enhancements that followed ensured that there were no further fatalities during the Apollo program. Simultaneously, the Soviet Union was working on its lunar landing program, but had a much slower process and progress due to the internal debates that was happening about the necessities of such a mission and also the death of the chief engineer of the Soviet space program.
Speaker 2:Well, it's a bureaucracy, it is. And then the death, of course.
Speaker 1:But yeah, we had to put that fucking dog to space. We're fine.
Speaker 2:Like well, we did it. We put dog in space. What else do you want from us?
Speaker 1:Well, we had men also orbit Earth. He went around.
Speaker 2:Earth. He drank five bottles of vodka per day. I was going to say we sent seven bottles of vodka to space.
Speaker 1:It's full of it If he goes to moon. We had to do so much vodka that we have to bring it In cases, and he does not have vodka, he dies.
Speaker 2:He dies. I don't know what accent we ended in, but it wasn't Russian. I think it was Russian. Yeah, sure, We'll just call it Russian. Yeah, those damn Rusky. And actually when they got into space, it was really tragic when the Russians got into space for the first time. We don't hear this mission a lot, but they looked out into the darkness and all they could see was a sniper barrel and Team Ohoya was having a fucking distance, just picking them off one by one.
Speaker 1:There I'll bring it all the way back to episode one. Yeah, no, no, it's a throwback, it's a throwback.
Speaker 2:Go back to episode one. Great fucking episode, man, the.
Speaker 1:White Death lives. The White Death lives and he's in fucking space.
Speaker 2:God that's actually just a chunk of his face that blew off by the bombs. And it's just floating out there with a mini sniper, just taking out Ruskies.
Speaker 1:God, this would be a great like steampunk anime.
Speaker 2:It would be such a good steampunk anime from start to finish.
Speaker 1:really, it really would be In December of 1968, a significant milestone was achieved when Apollo 8 was launched. It became the first manned space mission to orbit the moon.
Speaker 2:We couldn't orbit Earth, but we figured out the moon.
Speaker 1:We're like you know what Fuck Earth. We're just, we're going for it.
Speaker 2:We're gonna go further.
Speaker 1:This historic journey took off from NASA's vast launch facility on Merritt Island near Cape Canaver, canaveral. There we go, florida.
Speaker 2:If those Floridans can pronounce it, I think we should be fine Florida's so flat, it's so weird.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very flat. Have you ever flown over Florida?
Speaker 2:No, yes, actually for the sports unit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for Deca. Yeah, it is ridiculously flat, it is weird.
Speaker 2:It is weird. Well, it's all like Swampland and Everglades and all that Flat, yeah, just very flat, and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we come from Colorado, so it's just weird to see.
Speaker 2:For us, we're like mountains, mountains, mountains and then you get to Kansas and it's like, oh fuck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but even when you fly over you just see like I don't know, it's a different kind of flat. It's a different kind of flat right yeah.
Speaker 2:Because it's not segmented out into yeah, it's not segmented out into squares is what I was going to say. I would say like farmland and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Kansas has at least like an A cup, you know, and then Florida's just like.
Speaker 2:That's a concave.
Speaker 1:That's a concave city, that's plywood, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Wow. Now, on July 16th of 1969, at 9.32 am, one of the most significant events in human history unfolded, as Apollo 11 blasted off from Kennedy Space Center. The crew on board included astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins the lesser known of the three, I will say, Until he didn't actually step on the moon.
Speaker 1:How much would that suck? He was up in the command, it was up in the space shuttle.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:He never actually landed.
Speaker 2:He just forever went down in history as the guy everyone forgets about. That's great, oh my God, poor guy anyway. So let's go ahead and talk about the other two. Armstrong, a 38 year old civilian research pilot, served as the missions commander. Apollo 11 embarked on an epic journey covering a distance of 240,000 miles in just 76 hours On July 19th. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit the next day at 1.46 PM. The lunar module named Eagle, carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, separated from the command module where Collins remained.
Speaker 2:He's like bye guys, it sucks, couldn't have been done without him, like it literally couldn't have been done without him and I didn't even know this guy existed.
Speaker 1:That's so crazy. He's a very essential part of this mission.
Speaker 2:He really is he really all they did was go down there and walk around and they're like yay.
Speaker 1:They put a flag in the ground.
Speaker 2:That's true, Marica, fuck yeah.
Speaker 1:There's also a stone there that says man walked here in peace. Love that in peace.
Speaker 2:Like, who are they gonna fuck with? Who's the issue on the moon? If there was somebody on the moon, we'd go to war with them. I tell you that much Honestly. We really would.
Speaker 1:We colonized the moon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did fucking colonize the moon, Like we just.
Speaker 1:America was the last country to colonize something. I just realized that and it was the moon, and we just put a flag on that bitch.
Speaker 2:And everybody else has been there since and they just kind of like didn't. Well, some people have.
Speaker 1:Not everybody else, but yeah, you know what I mean. Wow, interesting, interesting, it's just in our blood man.
Speaker 2:What can I say? White people being white? Yeah, that's, that's very true. Yeah, so on July 19th. Oh wait, no, no, no, sorry, set the title of the episode the space race, white people being white, white people being white. I mean it's Russia and America two of the widest yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where the melting pot? If the melting pot was made of white chocolate? No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding, just kidding. Two hours later, the eagle commenced its descent to the lunar surface, eventually touching down at 417 PM, just in time for them to light up a bull on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Yeah, they laid it down it was the 60s baby. You guys hey, come on. You think Buzz Aldrin wasn't getting this Buzz on? I mean, geez, bro, it's 417. You think that was an accident?
Speaker 1:No, no, on the Sea of Tranquility. Come on, ok, collins, this is just on the phone, are you guys? Ok? What was that Never been here, man? Buzz, you're right here, man. Yeah, I'm pretty blessed, collins, what's up? Neil's not here man.
Speaker 2:So it was at this moment that Armstrong famously radioed mission control in Houston Texas with the words the eagle has landed, which is cool, which is cool. We've all heard the recording, have we? I have, I think a lot of most people have. I couldn't find it to download, really. Yeah, oh, it's just on YouTube. You could just YouTube MP3 that shit. Well, I didn't do that.
Speaker 1:It's not like you copyrighted it. I didn't do that so you will not hear that. I'm sorry, we could have just played the sound bit.
Speaker 2:Too Tragic Now at 10.39 PM. Also, what time is this in reference to? By the way? Is it UTC? I'm assuming UTC. Yeah, it's like the standard time for space for the world. Like for science program, they use UTC.
Speaker 1:Oh, I actually have no idea. I was just thinking Eastern time, because DC is in Eastern time. I mean, maybe I don't know, and that's who they're communicating with, and they took off from Florida, yeah, ok, and they're communicating with Houston, ok.
Speaker 2:So 10.39 PM Eastern time or another time which was five hours ahead of the original schedule actually, which is they just kind of sped it along With all the math. I don't know how that happened.
Speaker 1:They probably accounted a lot for error. Like just like it's going to take more process, let's just go ahead and buffer, but let's give you 30 minutes extra to do this task. It takes you 20 minutes. Let's plan for 15 minutes. Yeah, ok, that actually makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so at 10.39, five hours ahead, armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module and as he descended the module's ladder, a television camera attached to the craft recorded his historic journey and transmitted the images back to Earth. It was an extraordinary moment and hundreds of millions of people worldwide watched in awe and anticipation.
Speaker 1:Ok, so we're going to read this part and then I'm going to tell you so. At 10.56 PM, as Neil Armstrong took his first steps onto the moon's surface, he delivered the legendary quote Shhh, that's one small step for man. Ha ha, ha ha.
Speaker 2:You made yourself laugh. You made yourself laugh on that one. That's so funny.
Speaker 1:No, no, please try again.
Speaker 2:I can't. No, that's it. That's all you get.
Speaker 1:That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. And that was the recording. We found that sound bit. His colleague, buzz Aldrin joined him on the lunar surface 19 minutes later. Because he's hitting that weed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's like oh, I got to catch this photo quick. I got to hit this bong in here.
Speaker 1:Can't go in front of the camera.
Speaker 2:Can't.
Speaker 1:Get real, the president's going to be so pissed.
Speaker 2:Nixon's going to hate me. We're so high in the sky right now that we need to be higher Together.
Speaker 1:They explored the terrain, took photographs, planted the American flag, conducted some basic scientific experiments and even had a conversation with President Richard.
Speaker 2:Nixon, bro, that gives me chills Just thinking about going for a fucking stroll Just on the moon.
Speaker 1:Walking around Doing a jump. So I was on the phone with Grandpa Lyle earlier because it's my birthday and he called me and he said happy birthday. And then I told him what we were talking about today and he's like oh yeah, I remember watching that live Because we went out and bought a colored TV the first color TV on our block to watch this, and all the neighbors came in and we sat down and we watched it. They watched the launch from Florida and then they all collectively watched the landing at his place on the colored TV. And he's like yeah, you saw Buzz get off, or not? Buzz Armstrong jump off his ladder and the dust comes up and then he says his little thing. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
Speaker 2:I wonder if that was premeditated, or if he just fucking freestyle that shit. I have no idea, probably pushed Buzz back. He's like hold on. This is me.
Speaker 1:This is me and yeah, he's just like we got to watch that live.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool. That's so crazy. That's very, very cool.
Speaker 1:Just to be there and he's like, yeah, it's one of those things that sticks in your mind for absolute eternity.
Speaker 2:Do you think that we'll be alive for them landing somebody on Mars? Yeah, I think so too. I think so. I think that'll be a pretty crazy thing too. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Whoever that person is is fucking crazy You're fucking crazy. First of all, and I don't know if they're ever going to make a bang.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the best thing we're not that advanced yet and I know we're going to try before we're ready.
Speaker 1:Oh, as humans do. Yeah, we'll send a dog.
Speaker 2:The first astronaut gets up there. The dog's just running around chillin. Havin' a grand old time he's like yeah, he's just chillin.
Speaker 1:There's two chimpanzees.
Speaker 2:Actually, all of the animals that were sent into space ended up landing on Mars.
Speaker 1:They're actually just, they would find you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a whole rainforest. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:By 11 AM on July 21,. Both astronauts were back inside the lunar module and the hatch was sealed. They spent the night on the moon's surface. How cool.
Speaker 2:What a slumber party. What a Dude. They were probably so giggly. When cameras turned off, I, him and Buzz looked at each other and I say him as Neil, because everybody knows Armstrong but him and Buzz looked at each other and just had to have a moment.
Speaker 1:They had to have.
Speaker 2:We just fucking did that shit. Yeah, Like that's so wild to me. I mean, obviously it's the same for every astronaut that gets to go to space, but first ones to fucking walk on a space rock.
Speaker 1:Crazy, crazy, absolutely nuts. So they spent the night there and at 1.54 PM the Eagle initiated its scent back to the command module. Among the items left behind on the moon was a plaque that read here, men from planet earth first set foot on the moon, july 1969. Ad. We came in peace for all mankind forever. Forever Any any wars after this ever never.
Speaker 2:But you know what's awesome? Forever 1969. The number 69 is on the moon right now. Isn't that nice? Even the moon's got it going for it, so fucking great.
Speaker 1:I just love that now, at 5 35 pm, armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked with Collins and Collins was like sup dude. So how was it? Was it good?
Speaker 2:How was it making history? No, I was up here just doing all the fucking work. It's like I saw so many scrabbles you guys were just playing with fucking rocks. I was up here doing math now.
Speaker 1:finally, at 1256 am On July 22nd, apollo 11 began its journey back to earth. The spacecraft safely splash down in the Pacific Ocean at 1250 pm On July 24th, concluding the extraordinary mission which had captured the imagination of the entire Mother fucking world.
Speaker 2:Just imagine the collective sigh of relief when they actually touch down the ocean. Oh god, they're just like. Oh, I really hope this fucking works Like, and we could just be plummeting to our deaths now honestly, though, if they had, do you think that would have been like kind of worth it, because they had just walked on the fucking moon? Yeah, probably, I feel like I could. Even I would be like yeah.
Speaker 1:I do it like you know. You are making history. Your name is going to forever. Yeah, etched in the annals.
Speaker 2:Imagine being one of those people that says the moon landing isn't real and it's just like, it's like, and I get conspiracies and stuff, but there's certain things you can't take from us.
Speaker 1:There's no, can't take from humanity?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we did that shit.
Speaker 1:I? I love fun conspiracies, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, and I like talking about how the moon landing might be fake. I love all that I love reading into it, but I don't believe there was no CGI in 1969.
Speaker 1:Oh like we barely had arcade games that worked. You know it's.
Speaker 2:We're trying to figure out Pac-Man and you know they're like no, it's just 3d like.
Speaker 1:But the flag waved and it's like it. They moved it because he did it to put it so that it was standing out. Yeah, it's not just gonna be a heart, it's yeah like an assholes.
Speaker 2:Anyway, the moon landing marked a significant victory for the United States in the space race which it commenced with the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957, about 12 years earlier, the US managed to win this race by successfully landing astronauts on the lunar surface in 1969. Meanwhile, the Soviets made several unsuccessful attempts to send a lunar landing craft between 69 and 72, including a launch pad explosion in July of 1969. So they're just basically like panic sending people up.
Speaker 1:They're just press because they just keep having the mindset of the Soviet Union does not make mistakes, yeah, but then a mistake happens and they're like we need to erase this. This does not have to keep going. Yeah because we don't make mistakes and then you just keep replacing all the smart people with dumber people who are pretending to be smart. Yeah you just end up with a giant explosion on your crack, on your fucking launch pad.
Speaker 2:Now, this competition between the two superpowers garnered intense public interest and was widely covered in the national media. Television played a huge role in this, allowing people to witness these monumental achievements in real time, like our grandpa.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Astronauts became celebrated as the ultimate American heroes, and the general public followed their adventures with great enthusiasm. The space race created a sense of vicarious living through these brave individuals. On the other side, the Soviets were often depicted as the ultimate rivals, tirelessly striving to outperform the United States and Demonstrate the strength of their communist system and then it died.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the Union did not do well, it's not? Yeah, after the moon landing, the US government's interest in lunar missions began to wind down in the early 70s, which is so fucking sad, like we did it. And then politics came in and they're like what else can we distract the American people with?
Speaker 2:yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were five more successful lunar landings and one mission, apollo 13, had to abort its lunar landing due to technical difficulties. So disappointing, which you can watch in Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks and those other guys. The final, whose Collins? Yeah, who's calling? Do you think they named Tom Collins after Collins?
Speaker 2:sorry, I felt bad for him. Sorry, I'm not taking any calls.
Speaker 1:Collin is but I'm not taking any calls. So the final moonwalkers astronauts Eugene Saran and Harrison Schmidt of the Apollo 17 mission departed from the lunar surface on December 14th 1772.
Speaker 2:I believe that's Eugene Cernan.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, what did I say?
Speaker 2:You forgot the end. You said Saran or something. Saran, good job, yeah, thank you, of course.
Speaker 1:Of course. That's what I'm here for. The Apollo program was an expensive and labor-intensive undertaking involving around 400,000 engineers, technicians and scientists, with a cost of $24 billion dollars, which is roughly equivalent to almost a hundred billion dollars in today's.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you put that in there, because I was Definitely gonna be like I wonder what that is in like today's money a lot, a lot, a lot of fucking money.
Speaker 1:In 1975 a pivotal moment in space diplomacy occurred with the joint Apollo Soyuz Mission. I think that's right. So you use.
Speaker 2:So, yes, so you, so is S O.
Speaker 1:Y U Z there we go. I'd like to buy a vowel. In this mission, three US astronauts were sent into space aboard an Apollo spacecraft which docked an orbit with a Soviet made Soyuz vehicle the symbolic handshaking space and you can find this picture. It's really cool when they docked. I like meet at the docking point. Yeah like shaking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of people shake when they dock.
Speaker 1:Actually, If you know, you know especially the Mormons. So between the two commanders of the space ships marked an important development in US Soviet relations during the late Cold War era.
Speaker 2:Hot, take real fast. Imagine if the docking wasn't what we all thought. It was just the two space commanders just unzipped and just Okay, docked.
Speaker 1:And they just like not at each other aggressively and that's the most manly docking. I've ever seen. Now. This mission signified a moment of cooperation between the two superpowers in the previously competitive realm of space Exploration no, I mean it's actually a really, really cool moment.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean, because, because the Cold War had been going on, there was so much tense tenseness between the United States, tension, tense, tensacity. There was so much tensacity between Between the Soviet Union and the United States, but not just on a political level, like between the people, and I feel like this handshake really really like To the actual people, the ones who make up 99% of the population and not the 1% Politician bullshit.
Speaker 2:No, no, fuck those guys like that was a big moment for us, yeah, for the little guys, because we were like, oh, like, everybody's just a person.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:it was a very cool moment, I think and.
Speaker 2:I'm glad it ended that way. The legacy of the space race has left a lasting impact in several key ways. It's spurred remarkable technological progress, giving rise to advancements like satellite technology, which we rely on for communication and navigation, as well as innovations in computing and material science that continue to shape our world today. It promoted international collaboration and space exploration. The joint efforts on the International Space Station Exemplify how nations can work together for scientific and technological goals. And because we're all just fucking people, yep. The space race inspired countless individuals to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. You know the STEM program contributing to the growth of these fields and future space endeavors. The spirit of exploration and ambitious goal-setting seen in the space race persists today, with missions aimed at human exploration of Mars and beyond. The space race highlighted the peaceful uses of space and Emphasize the importance of protecting Earth's environment, fostering diplomacy and global environmental awareness, which remain essential aspects of our continued exploration and preservation of our planet well, well said, thank you.
Speaker 1:I can't believe that all just came from the dome it did. Yeah, I'd freestyle that whole fucking thing.
Speaker 2:This is I and we also. We didn't just to touch on this real quick we didn't really talk about the fact that it made us think about our own environment and things like that. It really we didn't talk about that in the actual script, but that was a huge Secondhand thing that happened because of the space race.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean we kind of touched on it just here, but I mean that that just goes into. It's. It's. It's better just talked about then actually diving into and, yeah, go to a summit meeting and talk to talk about it, no, totally I wasn't, I wasn't, no, no, no, yeah, I get what you're saying but uh but yeah, you know, I mean it really did.
Speaker 2:I mean you go up and everybody got to see that space is full of fucking rocks and that's the future of earth if we don't fucking take care of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:it's kind of a, it's kind of a come to Jesus moment, you know yeah, yeah, come to Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah man, the space race, space race. I fucking love space and you know it's crazy about this whole thing. I didn't bring up aliens once.
Speaker 1:We didn't touch aliens one time not one fucking time. How the?
Speaker 2:closest I got to an alien was Seymour Hoya up there. Fucking blast it off sniper rifle, it's across the space time continuum. I love that Crazy and I think we got into aliens on like every other One that's about space. We were like no.
Speaker 1:Well, ian, do you have anything to say to?
Speaker 2:the children. Well, of course, as usual, ladies and gentlemen, if you have made it this far in the podcast, you're a fucking champion. We appreciate you, we fucking love you, we fucking, we want to stroke your metaphorical cocks because you're awesome and we like awesome people. Cooper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all that awesome. Okay. So stay beautiful bitches cuz. We fucking love you, we fucking love you.
