StarTalk Radio - Cosmic Queries – Seeing Earth From Space with Jordan Klepper & Nicole Stott

Episode Date: October 12, 2021

What do you learn from going to space? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and guest co-host comedian Jordan Klepper answer patron questions about living in space with engineer and NASA astronaut Nicole Stott. What’s the Overview Effect?NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.Thanks to our Patrons Elisa, terrell robinson, Adorak, Leo Azir Ra, Aaron Isaacson, Ian Konkle, and Josh Laurente & Emily McCadden for supporting us this week.Photo Credit: NASA Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to new episodes ad-free and a whole week early.

Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. This is StarTalk. I'm your host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist. And today we're doing cosmic queries. We're going to start off in the first segment with a grab bag, and my guest co-host today is Jordan Klepper. Did I say your name? Klepper. Klepper, yes.

Klepper. Klepper. Take it slow, Neil. I know there's consonants, there's syllables in there. It takes a while. We're going to get through this. We'll get through this. Wait until there's questions about a gravitational field. This is the easy part, Neil. So, Jordan, I missed

you. We haven't had you on the show all since COVID, so... It's been a while. I've been waiting. I've had nothing to do, Neil. I've had nothing to do. Please. Sour bread, children, all sorts of stuff. Thank you.

It's called sour dough bread, not sour bread. I haven't been paying attention to what the kids are into these days. And you also cranked out a COVID baby. I got a COVID baby at home right now. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. And you're still a correspondent at The Daily Show.

I am, yes. Excellent, excellent. Still going out into the field, talking to people who are anti-vax, anti-mask, anti-stress. Exposing the irrationality of the world. Exactly. That's why this, I need this, Neil. Okay. The ability to have an articulate conversation about things that aren't happening on this planet. Excellent.

Let's do this. And we've got a grab bag of questions for this one. So this is going to be a potpourri. And you've had the questions. I haven't seen them. If I don't know the answer, I'll just say, I don't know, go to the next one. And so give it to me.

And tell us who asked the question as well. We know they're all from Patreon, who are our most devoted supporters. And so give it to me. What do you have? Kudos to you, Patreonics. Do they have a name? Do we have a, is that shorthand?

Oh, no, we don't. I like that, the Patreonics. I love that. Patreonics. It sounds like an old school R&B group. The Patreonics. Yeah. Give it up for Gladys Knight and the Patreonics.

The pips. I like it. Yeah, she moved past the pips. They were asking for too much money Patrionics. The pips couldn't. I like it. Yeah, she moved past the pips. They were asking for too much money. The Patrionics, let's bring them in. I love it. I love it. All right, so what do you have?

Our first Patrionic is Sandra Pagliani, and she wants to know, knowing what we know now, do you think we have all that we need to be able to safely send humans to Mars today? If not, what are we missing? Yeah, so great question. So the answer is yes. No one is saying we can't go to Mars because we can't figure it out. That is not the issue. The issue is it's expensive. Do people want to do it for that much money? And there'll be dangers because there'll be some unknowns and some

unknown unknowns. We get it. But probably the last thing that we haven't fully figured out, but if you task some engineers to it, they'll be on it. I'm not worried about this, is when you leave the protective magnetic blanket that we enjoy here on Earth's surface that shields us from some ionizing radiation from the sun. The sun is a very active place. The solar wind has all these charged particles

that are not good for human physiology. The atmosphere and the magnetic field protects us from that. You leave that and go on a long voyage, then you are now susceptible. So we need radiation protection along the way. And so the engineers would figure that out, to figure out what materials. By the way, you know what absorbs that radiation? Water. So imagine a spaceship where there's a layer of protective water that cycles through you, okay? So you would drink it,

you pee it out, filter it, go back in. So you'd have this system where life-sustaining water is also your shield. Then you get to Mars. Mars doesn't have a magnetic field to protect it, so you just need to live underground or something, okay? And you feel confident that we just throw some engineers at that and they can figure it out? There's still not the technology to figure out

how to send me to Phoenix safely. Phoenix, Arizona. I've tried SPF. I've tried thick clothing. My body doesn't withstand the heat. Yeah, Phoenix, latest research shows, is like a quarter mile from the surface of the sun. So you need special SPF 1 billion for that.

Yeah, so I think engineers, what they need is, what is the challenge, how much money do you have, and how much time do you have? And then that's where ingenuity feeds the engineer. And they solve problems that previously might have been thought to be intractable. So we don't have a field, we don't have discovery without engineers

sitting in the next room helping us figure out how to build the thing. So yeah, there's nothing in the way except money. Right. So we're basically there.

In a capitalistic society, consider us on Mars. Well, that's the little, I would say, a capitalist society with vision and a sense of wonder and exploration,

we're already on Mars. I'll take it. Let's hear from our next patron. Take it. This is TJ Monroe. He says, Dr. Tyson, could you explain the relationship between the plane of our solar system

and the plane of our galaxy? I know that our sun is moving south, but how does that relate to the galactic disk? Oh, okay. The sun's spin axis and the disk in which all the planets orbit, except Pluto, which is tipped 30 degrees out of the plane of all the other planets. That's another reason we never even listed for you why Pluto never Pluto had it coming. Okay, so, and don't

get me started. You gotta get off the Pluto thing. Alright? The patriotic has spoken. It's time to move on from the Pluto thing. Moveon.org So the angle that the solar system makes to the plane of the galaxy,

it's like, what is it, 90? It's more than fully tipped. And so we're actually sort of dragging through the galaxy as we orbit it. It takes a couple hundred million years to complete an orbit. But here's what's cool. The cool part is, as the solar system moves through the galaxy, if you track the paths through space that the planets are making, it's a corkscrew through the fabric of space and time. Because we're going around the sun, but we're also moving sideways. So if you combine circular motion with motion sideways, you get a corkscrew.

And so all the planets are corkscrewing around the sun as it moves through the galaxy. It's a beautiful thing to watch when you see it mapped out. You could also say it's like a toilet bowl, but then it wouldn't be a beautiful thing. Corkscrew was the right call is what I'm saying. Yeah, I think so. I'm good. I'm sticking with the corkscrew. Stick with the corkscrew. the right call is what i'm saying yeah i think so yeah i'm good i'm sticking with the corkscrew on that yeah uh this is from rick carlson hi dr tyson and friends because i'm gonna i'm one of the friends klepper is how it's pronounced klepper because we can detect gravitational waves from massive astronomical events l LIGO and Virgo, that obviously didn't tear the place up.

Is there a distance from the events that would be considered safe but would still allow you to notice slash feel it? Ooh. Yeah. You know, I never thought about that because you occupy a volume in the fabric of space and time and a gravitational wave washes over you, distorting the fabric of space and time, but you are occupying the space and time.

So how would you know if you had a wave move across you if you become part of the wave that moves across you? I don't have an answer for that. So you ever see a duck sitting on the ocean and then a wave comes by? The duck just goes up and down, right? Does the duck even know or care that a wave went under it? And so I don't know that you would feel it. This is why I get stoned before doing these things. No,

think about it. Consider you have an ant walking on a sheet of paper. Okay, and the ant is just minding something. And you take the piece of paper and curve it. The ant is just still walking. Does it even know or care that you put curvature in its universe? You would have no idea if you're the

ant. And so unless you made like a kink in it, then it would have to sort of, then the kink is sharp compared to its own body. But if it's a wave moving through, I wonder if we would notice at all. And you need the special instruments to make this measurement. That's why. That's why. So you're measuring at two right angles, right? And so you look at what the length of one of these is relative to the length of the other as the wave moves across it because it stretches in one direction and not the other. And for you to notice that, I don't know. So that's a good question. I don't have a firm answer for it.

I like it. But nor do I want to do the experiment to find out. You don't want to ride that wave? Yeah, yeah, no, I don't want to ride that wave. No, no, no. Let's check in with Roman Prekop. Okay. Okay, Roman.

Roman says, is there any scientific reason for the shape of the Enterprise ship? If it is just an artistic impression, would it actually hold up as an effective shape out there? Yeah, so first of all, all these aerodynamic shapes in space, completely pointless because there's no aerodynamics in space. So they're cool and badass looking, okay? But that ship was built in dry dock in space and launched from space, so it didn't have to move through our atmosphere to get there, right? Whereas the space shuttle, the orbiter,

because it had to actually come out of orbit and navigate through our air, there's some air surfaces on it. It's got wings. It's got a nose cone. It's got things that matter when you're moving through the air. So the Enterprise, badass as it looks, did not have to be that bad.

It could have been just an angular thing that could have looked like anything and would have been no less effective achieving warp speeds. Here's a question I'm going to add on to this for you, Neil. Yeah? So in this world where the Enterprise is being built in space

from a more advanced civilization, time period-wise, they had the technology to build the Enterprise. Do you think the people at that time, even though they could build a more functional ship, the people at that time would still need

an aesthetically cool ship to want to support such a project. Yes. Because you want people to like rally around it. You want it to feel like the future. Otherwise, what's going to motivate you? What's going to do? So I'm into design. I love design. I love good design. I love design that says, yeah, I want to be in that. I want to be a part of that future. Because what is the future if not something that doesn't look like anything we've ever designed before? Do you think human beings will ever evolve past the need for design to be over-functioned? Or is that inherent to us as humans?

Oh, yeah, that's a good question. I know that, you know, once we control the human genome, you can put more of it in or take it out, I guess. I don't know. I know some people who don't care about design at all. We all know such people. They're not following the latest fashions or trends or anything and they're just living, all right? And that's cool. That's cool, but we happen to live in a world where there are people that care about what things look like. And I'm glad some of them are designing our spaceship.

So, Jordan, we're going to take a break, and when we come back, we're going to bring in Nicole Stott, who has a new book on what Earth looks like from space. Because guess what? She's been in space, okay? And she's also an artist and thinks a lot about the effects of having these views of the universe on one's creativity. So we're going to look into that and continue Cosmic Queries into those topics when StarTalk returns. I'm Joel Cherico, and I make pottery.

You can see my pottery on my website, CosmicMugs.com. Cosmic Mugs, art that lets you taste the universe every day and i support star talk on patreon this is star talk with neil degrasse tyson We're back. StarTalk Cosmic Queries Edition. And I got my co-host, Jordan Klepper. Jordan. Let's bring your friends, Neil. Okay.

Jordan, do you have a social media presence? Why don't you tell us what that is? Do I have a social media presence? I think I'm all over that place. You can get at me at Twitter, at Jordan Klepper. Get at me at Instagram, also my name. Yeah. Jordan Klepper, very clever.

They both have the same handle. Exactly. You know, you've got to be clever with this kind of a thing. It's a nice chance. It's an invitation to see more of my life and my insights. Well, we love your dispatches on Comedy Central's central's daily show so keep those going that's right and what that means is if the day that rationality takes over the world you won't have a job because once once this world becomes a rational peaceful place i'm out of work but until then business, business is booming. Business is booming.

All right, so in this segment, we're bringing in Nicole Stott. Nicole is an engineer and artist and a retired NASA astronaut, put in 104 days in space. So that's up there doing some stuff. And also, I remember we had these, the NASA Aquanaut, all right, spending 18 days underwater in the Aquarius Undersea Laboratory. Very pleased to know that we're doing some work there at the bottom of the ocean. But here's what I love about it.

Nicole, you're the first person to paint in watercolor in space. What's up with that? And tell me about this Space for Art Foundation that you're director of. Yeah, thanks. Great to be here with you guys. And yeah, painting in space. I don't know that I would have figured out to do that on my own.

One of our people that I thank every time I see her, Mary Jane Anderson, she was the person who helps us put all of our stuff together that we're going to take to space. And she encouraged me. She's like, you know, Nicole, you're going to be living there, not just working there. Bring something with you that you enjoy doing on Earth.

And so I chose watercolors. Wait, something that fits in a small bag, not a tuba. It has to fit in a small bag. Although there are others who have, you know, gotten away with bringing keyboards and guitars and other things up. Peloton. The Peloton might not make it up.

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. But it was awesome because, you know, I think about it now in hindsight, it's like, man, that's what we need to do to put the human in human spaceflight, right? We need to recognize that we're living there. We need to bring our humanity with us.

That should be stuff that we enjoy. And you should enjoy yourself when you're in space, on a spaceship, but, you know, as well as here on Earth. And is this part of the themes that fed your latest book, Back to Earth, what life in space taught me about our home planet and our mission to protect it? Because that all sounds like it's drawn from the same thematic pot. Yeah, I think so. You know, we go, and you guys talk about this all the time, complexities that are just beyond my total understanding. But for us to fly in space,

to live and work in there, even for a short period of time, it's a pretty complex thing. But for me, in the end, it all came down to like simple lessons like, oh my gosh, we live on a planet. Who knew, you know? Wait, wait, wait, wait, Nicole. We have to spend a hundred million dollars to put you in space to tell me we live on a planet? Really? There's taxpayers listening to this right now. The taxpayers listening. Yeah. There's going to be an alert put out now, right? We've got to use that money for the American education system, clearly. However, we all know these things, right?

We know we live on a planet. We know we're earthlings. We know that the only border that really matters is that thin blue line of atmosphere. And yet that time and space for me made that really real to me, made me realize that, wow, we are doing things, complex things as an international community, peacefully, successfully

on this mechanical life support system. That is- The International Space Station. The International Space Station. We've built it, right? To mimic as best we can what Earth does for us naturally. And it's just the

most wonderful example for how we should be living like crewmates here on Spaceship Earth. And that, I mean, that really became the reality of it for me. What are the ways we do that in space, you know, as the crew of six or seven on the space station, the tens of thousands of people across the agencies here on Earth, that we can share that might encourage people to behave that way as crewmates and not passengers. Wait, wait, so what does art have to do with it? And plus, I'm a little worried because that thing hanging behind you on the wall, was that a spacesuit that an artist got a hold of? I painted in space, came back to Earth thinking, okay, I'm going to use, after retiring from NASA,

I'm going to use my artwork to share the experience, right? Get people knowing about all this work we're doing in space that's ultimately about improving life on Earth. And that evolved into working with kids and hospitals and refugee centers around the world and creating these really, I mean, they are works of art, art spacesuits. And partnering with teams like the folks here at ILC Dover, the spacesuit company who quilt these kids' art together for us. That's where you are in this moment? That's where I am right now, yeah. Really kind of cool today, you know, even as a former astronaut,

it's like any time you can get in a spacesuit, that's a good day. I got to do that. Got to get in one of the new designs and move around and see what it's going to be like and imagine myself walking around on the moon or Mars. So you're not the first astronaut to bring art to the forefront of people's attention. We go back to the Apollo era, we get to Alan Bean. I mean, he published books on art. Yeah.

So should we be sending more artists into space? Because they would communicate a different kind of life experience than an engineer would. And you have the benefit of being both. Yeah, I think, and what's interesting to me is I've kind of, through my NASA career, watched the people around me and tried to get a sense of, you know, what they enjoy, the kinds of things they're doing outside of the technical work area. And I think for most of us, there's some creative outlet. And, you know, you mentioned Alan Bean, Apollo, fourth guy to walk on the moon, who comes back, retires from NASA, and paints the experience for people.

You can go back even further to Alexei Leonov, who wanted to be an artist before he wanted to be a cosmonaut, and took colored pencils with him and sketched, you know, sketched orbital sunrises, drew portraits during the Apollo Soyuz mission. And it's just in us to want to, you know, to want to share the experience in different ways. And I'm absolutely open. We should be sending artists. We should be sending satirical comedians, kinds of people to space to share it. We should be sending all kinds of people to space to share it. We should be sending Jordan.

Thank you. I tell you, what you're describing, you go away just to understand that the earth is beneath us. You get to quilt. You get to paint a little bit. I feel like this sounds like an ayahuasca trip, and I am in. Yeah, and we'll need some earth jokes, you know, when you get back. Yes, exactly. New material for that stand-up routine you got going.

So, Nicole, your book is Back to Earth, What Life and Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet and Our Mission to Protect It. And we solicited questions for you from our fan base, from our Patreon fan base. And in this program, Jordan has renamed this community. What did you call them? It's the Patrionics. You know. The Patrionics. Ladies and gentlemen,

Gladys Knight and the Patrionics. So here we go. They're our most loyal supporters and they get to get their questions asked, submitted and answered. So Jordan, what do you have for us? I got Ben Moore and Ben wants to know, he says, hi Dr. Tyson and Nicole.

My question is for Nicole and I was wondering if you could give us an insight into what it's truly like to look back at Earth from space. It's been a dream of mine, and I can barely begin to comprehend what that must be like. Thanks for your time. And, Nicole, before you answer that, let me just, I have to put this in. There are people who are going in the suborbital sort of joyride, the billionaire joyride, and to a schoolroom globe, they went up the thickness of two dimes. Okay, I did the math on that. And so not even in orbit and even that low. Is there some distance above

which you do feel like, yeah, I'm an astronaut and I'm looking down on Earth rather than I'm just in a very high airplane? You know, I don't know what that number would be. I can tell you nothing prepared me for what I was going to see, what I was going to feel, how it was going to get in me. This sense of our home as a planet, as one place in space. I don't know. I mean, I was the farthest I've ever been from home, and I felt more connected to that place and everything below me than I had necessarily ever felt with my feet right on it.

And I want people to feel that. So, Nicole, can you tell me an IMAX movie can't do that for you? There's a sense of it. Because that's cheaper. That's cheaper than going to the space station. Jordan, what else do you got for us? We got a sense of it. Because that's cheaper. That's cheaper than going to the space station. Jordan, what else do you got for us? We got Brian Lacey here. Brian says, art is the expression of emotional power.

What object in the universe makes you feel emotional power? Wow. Emotional power. Wow. I think I would have to come back to this view of earth, this sense of home that comes from that.

And I don't know. I think it's emotionally powerful. I don't know if it necessarily gives me emotional, but it's emotionally powerful. And you guys talk about that. Yeah, powerful on you is different from feeling power. Right. That's a different thing. So is it humbling? Oh, my gosh, that. Yeah, powerful on you is different from feeling power. Right. Right? That's a different thing.

So is it humbling? Oh, my gosh. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, you know this almost unfathomable size of our universe, what we know of the universe, this sense of, oh, we're this tiny little dot kind of thing in the grand scheme. And that always worried me that I'd have this feeling of insignificance

associated with that. Absolutely not. I mean, thinking about our planet perfectly placed from the sun, you know, distance, doing all it needs to do like it's the spaceship to take care of us. That's significant to me

that we're meeting each other today because there's some significance in all of this that's going on around us in this place. And that's, I in all of this that's going on around us in this place. And that's a pretty powerful, emotionally powerful thing to consider. So your book has a New Age chapter then. There is a stay grounded chapter, yes. We're all spiritually connected.

I think it's true. I'll tell you what object makes me feel emotionally powerful and wields power over me and makes me feel insignificant. It's Instagram. Instagram, okay. Immediately I feel like... We need top people to look into that. Exactly.

The Instagram effect. I can't look away. Nothing. You stare at it and yet you feel small in comparison to your friends who went to Tulum. Right. All right. Keep them coming. What do you have?

This is from Chester Lipschitz. Would it even be practical to use the mediums we use today to create art in zero gravity as in orbit or low gravity such as Mars? Would we have to develop a whole new set of materials to continue to use our human creativity to express the environment that surrounds us. I love that. Yeah, what role does zero-G play in your artwork? Or even like 40%-G, what you'd get on Mars? Yeah, I think we will try to continue using the same medium that we have. And then we'll just realize that that environment allows us

to do a lot more creative things with it. And mean I even found that on the space station you know I didn't have a cup of water that I could dip my brush into I had to squirt a little ball of water out and watch it floating and you know go to dip the brush and then and maybe you guys can once and for all somebody can explain to me but that floating ball of water even before the tip of the brush touched it it's like it wanted to move on to the end of the brush and then I'm watching that floating ball of water, even before the tip of the brush touched it, it's like it wanted to move onto the end of the brush. And then I'm watching this floating ball of water under the brush and I move it down to the paints and the paints kind of pulled it away. And, you know, in my simple mind, I'm thinking, what's this super mysterious attraction thing that's going on between these materials?

Yeah. Surface tension. Yeah. I know. And it is. And that's like the surface tension is that's really, really cool, you know. And I tried to paint the way I paint on earth. And yet, if I touch the brush to the paper, that whole blob of colored water would go into the paper and I'd start over. And it turned out. So your tactics have to be different. Yeah, you know, and you're floating and everything has to be organized. And I found I was just, like, dragging the colored water along the paper to create. So in some way, I was— Okay, so what we need to see is your—we need to see your first painting.

That's the one where you're adjusting. Yeah, I wish I had activated my brain cell to not throw those things away. My first painting in zero-G. That's what that is. Yeah. And another little little point unappreciated perhaps is on the moon or on mars you can construct sculptures that are multiple times larger than you can on earth because they don't weigh as much and so they won't sort of structurally they can hold themselves up to larger sizes and And so you're right. I can't wait to see what we do.

But you have to send the artists. And the one comedian. You have to do that. Please. To critique the art, right? Yeah, so Jordan, here's a joke for you for when they send you to the moon. I'll take it.

Right, and say, I love the restaurants there. They were wonderful, great food, but they had no atmosphere. That's a gift to you. Your first joke in the nightclub. Is this thing on? Is this thing on? How does the electricity work up here?

Actually, I don't know. Is this room dead? Oh, it is. Okay, all right, okay. Let's see if we can squeeze one more question in before we take a quick break. Great. Go ahead. This is from Gabriela Dijhoffs.

Hi, Nicole. As a female engineer, it's so impressive to see another fellow female being an astronaut for NASA. In a male-dominated industry, only 65 out of 565 total astronauts have been women. What was it like for you throughout your career to be a female in the industry, and do you have any advice for young female engineers? Which we'll get to after this break. All right. See what I did there? I also felt like you were like, well, let's keep it short. And I asked a question. What's it like to be one of the few females in space? I said, we have a few seconds left to get in a question. Let's keep it short, Nicole. That's a long one. Yeah. Nicole, answer that in three words, please.

When we come back, we will answer that very important question about sort of gender parity in space exploration and in the engineering community when StarTalk returns. We're back with Nicole Stott, who's our engineer, artist, astronaut in the house, and who's now coming to us from Planet Houston, from a whole company that thinks about innovative designs of spacesuits. And you've got one behind you where an artist got a hold of it, it looks like.

Lots of little artists, yes. Lots of little artists got a hold of it. Jordan Klepper left off with a brilliant and important and incisive question. Can you just read that back again real quick? In a nutshell, again, this is from Gabriela, who's also a female engineer. She wonders what it was like for you throughout your career to be a female in the industry, and do you have any advice for young female engineers? Yeah, excellent, especially given the prevalence of males in such an industry and what struggles or challenges you had to overcome.

Yeah, it is a great question. And, you know, first I'll say I felt all along really fortunate because I think when I came into NASA as a young engineer in the late 80s, already there was this push. There was the group I came in with, half of us were young women coming in. We were getting back up and running with the shuttle program. We're working in the hangar, you know, getting the vehicles ready to fly. were young women coming in. We were getting back up and running with the shuttle program. We're working in the hangar, you know, getting the vehicles ready to fly.

And there was just a presence there already. Which, by the way, was a huge shift from the previous generation of anything we thought of who would be an astronaut, right? Yeah. That was a whole new era for NASA. Yeah, you know, within NASA, at least from the human spaceflight side of things, there's been a real progress over these, you know, 50 or so years to where, I mean, we've been celebrating the Apollo anniversaries,

50th anniversaries of all the Apollo missions, right? And when you look back at that and you look in mission control, there were no women in the front room. Poppy Northcutt was in the back room doing some really important stuff. At Launch Control in Florida, there was one woman, Joanne Morgan, smack dab in the middle of the Launch Control Center.

And now at NASA in Mission Control and Launch Control, both of those places are run by really incredible women. And when you look across the consoles, you're just seeing this mix of humanity. As it should have been from the beginning. Yeah. And it's a really impressive thing. And it kind of is pervasive across all of the human spaceflight stuff, engineers, astronauts. When you look at the astronaut office even now, when I left in 2015, it was still at about the 20, 25% women in the office. Now I think there's roughly 40 active astronauts

and almost 40% are women. And that far exceeds what, you know, what's happening in our universities and the engineering programs. And that's why I think the one piece of advice I would have for, and maybe it's more for us women who have already experienced this, is that we need to be present. We need to be there encouraging the young women

in middle school. So as they continue on, they need to see, I think girls are kind of see it, be it, right? We should get you on StarTalk. Well, I'd be happy to be on Star Trek. Let's see. Hmm. Okay. So thank you. No, no. I mean, it's huge, isn't it? And it's just so that, and young boys, too, need to know. It's like the rocket ship doesn't care if you're a boy or girl. Right? We do that kind of ourselves.

And my biggest. Wait, wait, wait. There's another important point there. Okay. Which you hinted at, but I want to drive home. Wait, wait, wait. There's another important point there, which you hinted at, but I want to drive home. It is one thing for up-and-coming girls to see successful women in these roles.

It's also important for up-and-coming boys to see that. Yes. That is almost equally as important because then they will realize that they could be entering a field where this is fully participatory across the spectrum. Yep. that they could be entering a field where this is fully participatory across the spectrum. Yeah. And that's part of the forcing of what needs to happen in this society if we're truly to have a representative world. Yeah, totally agree. And it's why, I mean, I'm hugely thankful to the male leadership I had at NASA for, you know, encouraging, you know, the growth,

kind of the diversity that showed up in that timeframe as well. And yeah, I mean, I have a son. He's 19 years old now. I don't think it crossed his mind to consider, oh, why is that girl doing this versus, you know, and I love that. I love it.

Are you friends with Kathy Sullivan? I am, yeah. Did you come up with her? Yeah, yeah. We've served on several boards together. She became a good friend. And this is also a shuttle astronaut, Jordan. And she went on to, she became head of NOAA, I think.

Yeah, she had quite a career. Like, usually you say, I'm done as an astronaut. Now you're out to pasture. No, this just kept going. She's awesome. So it's great to see. She did, like, the Marianas Trench thing, too. Oh, my gosh. You guys are out of pasture. No, this just kept going. She's awesome. So it's great to see. She just did like the Marianas Trench thing too.

Oh my gosh, you guys are out of control. I know astronauts too. You ever heard of Buzz Aldrin? Oh yes, we did. Jordan, we had Jordan on a show where we had Buzz Aldrin as one of our guests. So this is one experience that he never let anybody forget. I text with Buzz all the time. We're all friends with astronauts. Picture, videos, yes.

All right, so you've got more questions, Jordan, from our Patreonics. This is from Miss Magoo from Canada. All right, a question about coming back to Earth for Nicole. What goes on inside the body when you experience a massive change, like going from space to Earth? I live with a nervous system disorder called POTS, and I understand astronauts can experience something similar upon returning to Earth. For example, fainting, trouble being upright, etc. Yeah, great question. You know, one thing we all have in common when we come back to Earth, whether we're there for a short period of time or a long period of time is you feel really heavy.

This whole 1G thing, that's putting a lot of load on us every day. We just kind of take it for granted, right? We don't really consider it. Let me tell you, everybody feels heavy. But yeah, you know, the whole vestibular system, that whole thing in our bodies that help us stand up straight, know which way is up, down, you know, it gets a little wacky. And the little hairs in our ears that help control that or monitor it for us need to be recalibrated really once you get back in gravity. Plus, don't you break a lot of glasses because you drink water and you just let go of it and it falls to the ground and you forget you're no longer in zero g yeah there is there's there's there's i mean there's the oh my gosh i was just in space an hour ago and there's the why don't things just float in front of me like they do um deal it's funny though our brains and our bodies

are so cool they adapt so quickly both ways. I mean, really in the grand scheme of, you know, getting to space and figuring out how to float and move in three dimensions and fly, you know, like we all dream about doing. And then coming back to Earth and moving and functioning and being healthy the way, you know, we were before going to space.

Well, how about in the condition that the woman describes, are there any musculoskeletal coordination issues you have to contend with when you come back, other than just what's up and down and left and right? Yeah, well, and I think some of that comes from kind of that spatial orientation that we have, is that which way should I move? And when you're in space, your body's floating and you can just offload all of that. But when

you come back to Earth, now you have to be in control of it. You have to think about holding your head up. I mean, our heads are heavy. And so now I'm like, I didn't have to do that for six months. Now I got to hold it up. I hadn't thought about that that. So astronauts come back, their head is just down. This is the bobbin, yeah. The original bobbleheads are astronauts. But there is. I think there's a lot of that same kind of thing. And if we were in space and we didn't exercise the two hours a day that we do, because of the accelerated bone and muscle loss,

because our bodies figure out, oh my gosh, I don't need those bones and muscles to function in microgravity, so I'm not going to waste any energy maintaining them. We are having to counteract that all the time. Wow, okay. So it's the prior knowledge that, yes, you have to keep your musculoskeletal system tuned so that when you come back,

you're not just this pile of goo that collapses on the ground. Yeah, okay. All right, Jordan, keep them coming. This is from Taylor Prim. Taylor wants to know, what do you think art can do to help make a science or science itself more accessible for the blind? I'm trying to get a degree in astronomy and I'm blind. Most of the tools the school uses for teaching students is inaccessible for the blind.

Wow. Wow. You know, I was just on a call yesterday with some of the folks at Huntsville that run Space Camp. It's Huntsville, Alabama. Yep, Huntsville, Alabama. They run Space Camp and they have every summer, they have at the end of summer, beginning of the school year, they have a camp where all of the kids are blind or really, you know, have trouble seeing. I mean, it's, and I struggle with that. I'm like, how?

They have created an environment around these kids where it's not just, you know, the procedures that are in Braille or the screens have bigger writing on them, but they've put them into the environment in a way where through their other senses, they're experiencing the whole, you know, world of being in mission control, of being a crew member, through those different... So somebody thought about this, clearly. Somebody has actually thought. I encourage you to go, you know, go check this out.

I'm sure the people there would... I did not know about this. This is brilliant. This is brilliant. ...love to talk about what they've done. It was just incredible to me. And I think art, as a way, it allows us to use those other senses, right? To create something.

Like, I always imagine, like, these Hubble images. We're looking at them. We're seeing them. The colors, you know, those colors we put into these images, they are works of art. And yet we could create a structure out of that. We could almost like a textured map that would give you a sense of that same thing we see in the colors, but through the touch of that scene or what we're seeing in the night sky just with our naked eye. Interesting. So is this a well-known program? I didn't know anything about it before.

I was so excited to hear about it because... Okay. And then to hear some of the comments from the students that were participating. I mean, first of all, there was like this joy of being with other people that were experiencing it in the same way they were and being able to share that.

And then really just actively being able to engage in what every other kid that goes to space camp engages in, but through different means. And of course, art is not only a two-dimensional phenomenon, right? I mean, sculpting and so much else. Yes, yes, exactly. There are acoustic sculptures. That's right.

That's right. There's more going on. I went down to space camp a few years ago. And a fun fact is even a 40-year-old who goes to space camp can find himself nauseous for over an hour straight. Oh, okay. Yes, that's right. You don't need to be sighted to feel nauseous and throw up. I flew, but I flew.

That is true. Yeah, excellent. So, Jordan, keep going. Yes. This is from Woody. And Woody wants to know, what part of space travel could be better? We've been doing it for over 50 years.

We've spent trillions on it, so why can't they keep the cabin pressure constant enough that kids' ear holes don't explode on a $90 three-hour trip on a dang Boeing? All right, there's some Woody's editorializing there. Apparently, Woody had a bad trip recently. There's a lot of layers. There's a lot going on.

This is, I think, yeah, the Patreon page is right next to the Delta complaint page. So sometimes StarTalk gets some overlap. But I think the nugget that Woody's trying to get out of here is essentially what part of space travel could be better. Oh, my gosh. You know, I loved every minute of it. I would have to say, you know, my first space flight, we didn't have the cupola module,

that kind of Earth-facing bay window observatory on the space station. And on my second flight, we did. And I'll tell you what, what could make it better is just more windows, bigger windows. Let me look back at earth. Let me look out to deep space. Let me have the opportunity to just experience everything around me from every angle. And by the way, the Boeing 787 has larger windows relative to other craft. And by

the way, the size of the window is an important structural issue because the window is not holding the plane together. The rest of the plane is holding the plane together. So the more windows you have, there's a compromise there. So now how about the pressure? What is the pressure inside the International Space Station relative to what you might experience in an airplane? Well, probably better because we keep the pressure inside the space station at sea level pressure. So what people are normally, you know, experiencing. Yeah, it's very nice. Very comfortable. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Because on an airplane, they drop the pressure a little bit. Because if you keep the same pressure as sea level,

they have to make the structure of the plane stronger to accommodate the pressures against the very low pressure at 30,000, 40,000 feet. So they cheap out, that's why? That's why you get a headache? That's not how I said it, Jordan. You're a little bit loosey-goosey sitting, and you end up buying three Tegres and tonics. They do that because they don't want to splurge the girl.

Yeah, they knock it down. They just knock you out. Yeah. In fact, with the lower air pressure, the alcohol has a stronger effect on you. And so... Yeah. I mean, yeah.

And also, is that why I weep at any Pixar movie on a plane? That is... I've teared up in some movies that I don't think I would have teared up at sea level. We've got to have somebody look into that. Oh, yeah. Old Yeller at sea level, dry face. Old Yeller.

I saw Babe, the movie Babe with the pig. I teared up at the end of that. That was so tender. I first saw that on an airplane. But anyway, we've got time for like one or two more questions. Let's keep going. This is from Zenskudi Bentz. Hello, Neil

and Nicole. What was the strangest habit you had to get used to while being in space? Many thanks from Hungary. Oh, cool. Strangest habit. It's strange, but wonderful. Floating. But it's strange.

It is strange. I mean, it's funny how now I look at my friends. I live vicariously through them floating through the space station. But that's a pretty strange thing. Easy habit to kick, though. What are the easiest habits to kick? You want more, though. You want more.

You want more. So would you find yourself, now that you're retired, would you go up on what they used to call the Vomit Comet, you know, the trajectory planes that simulate zero-G? Yep. Would you do that just to get a little piece of the action again? Yeah, I just did it recently, actually.

It was really wonderful. I got to take my family with me. I was on the plane with Charlie Duke, which was outstanding. Nice, nice, nice. You know, if you want to throw astronaut names out there. See, Jordan, what you made her do, you made her name drop an Apollo astronaut. Jordan, come on. Why did you make it?

That was so much fun. It's not a competition, guys. Okay. Space race is decades ago. Let's stay focused here. I do highly recommend you go on that COG airplane, though, and just gracefully float and appreciate it. Yeah.

Okay. But, okay, you can tell us and we won't tell anybody except for half a million viewers. Yeah. So how quickly did you barf in zero G?

Oh my gosh. I didn't. I did not barf. I was so fortunate. You are lying. You are lying. I am not lying. Jordan,

on to the next question. I am not lying. You don't need this. I felt. Jordan, on to the next question. I am not lying. You don't need this. I felt so good. All I wanted was my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Now, when I got back to Earth, I wanted to barf, but couldn't. I so wished that I could have thrown up. And I think I would have felt so much better on that, you know,

those first few hours, but it didn't happen. Wow. Wow. Okay. I'm not lying to you, man. I had plenty of crew members who didn't either. Wow, wow, okay. I'm not lying to you, man. I had plenty of crew members who didn't either. Yeah, okay, okay. Well, I don't want to end on a barf question.

Okay, so Jordan, last question. A lot of people want to know about the overview effect, and I know we talked a little bit about it, but Maddie Fontaine wants to know from Minnesota, what would be the effect on society if every person got the chance to see Earth from orbit? Oh, beautiful question to end this on. And unfortunately, Nicole, you got to be a little fast in the answer. So what can you tell us? It would be, I think it would be one of the most wonderful

things, most positive, uplifting, life-changing things for everyone. And would it be the end of all wars? I'd be out of a job. I'd be out of a job. Oh, no. Oh! I don't know. It would be better. Everything would be better? I think so.

Okay. You can't experience that and not have it affect you. I like that crewmates, not passengers idea. I think that's a nice way to put it. Okay, so here's, I'm going to give Edgar Mitchell the last word in this.

Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14. You ready? Here it goes. You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics looks so petty, you want to grab a politician by the scuff of the neck

and drag him a quarter million miles out and say, look at that, you son of a bitch. Nicole, do we have agreement on that? We have absolute agreement on that. Oh, man. Can a podcast get an Emmy? A podcast should... All right, guys.

Nicole, thanks for spending time out of your busy life with us on StarTalk and our fan base. And just keep it going. Keep inspiring us all in everything you do. And how do we find you on social media? You can find me at, at Astro underscore Nicole. Astro Nicole.

You've got it. And we've got your new book coming out. And who's the publisher of that? Hachette Books with Seal Press. Okay, excellent. We'll be looking for it. Thank you. All right.

And Jordan, always good to have you, man. I missed you throughout all of COVID. Don't be a stranger next year. Just call me. Just call me, Neil. I'm by the phone. I need the human interaction. You're waiting by the phone.

Okay. But he'll hang up on you at buzz calls. Oh, that's right. Which he does regularly, regularly. We talk about anything. All right. This has been StarTalk Cosmic Queries, the overview edition. Neil deGrasse Tyson here, your personal astrophysicist.

Keep looking up.