Scott Kelly

[0] Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair, expert, experts on expert.

[1] I'm Dax Shepard.

[2] Hello, Monica Padman.

[3] Hi, Dax Shepard.

[4] How are you?

[5] I'm good.

[6] How are you?

[7] Oh, fantastic, fantastic.

[8] We have a really different type of expert today, which was really fun to talk to.

[9] Scott Kelly, he's a former military fighter pilot and test pilot, an engineer, a retired astronaut, and a retired U .S. Navy captain.

[10] He is a veteran of four space flights, and Kelly commanded the International Space Space Space.

[11] station on three expeditions and was a member of the year -long mission to the ISS.

[12] In October 2015, he set the record for the total accumulated number of days spent in space with 340 days, the single longest space mission by an American astronaut.

[13] He has a new audio course teaching lessons in preparation, discipline, and leadership called Lessons from a Life in Space Available, Unknowable, with a K, Knowable, which we will talk about in great depth.

[14] So please enjoy Scott Kelly.

[15] Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair expert early and ad free right now.

[16] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

[17] Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

[18] Is this your office?

[19] behind you?

[20] Yeah.

[21] I really like the Lusite box with the full outfit, the astronaut outfit.

[22] Space suit.

[23] Oh, yeah.

[24] Space suit.

[25] Did you ever see the movies Zathura by chance?

[26] No. No one did.

[27] But I played a space man and they built me this really cool space suit and then I asked for it afterwards after we got done filming.

[28] They said, no, it's going to go in the Sony archives.

[29] And I begged for it and I wrote a letter to the president of the studio.

[30] No luck.

[31] And then 13 years later, someone texts me a picture of it being sold on eBay for like $30.

[32] Well, I'll say you this one if you want.

[33] Oh, God.

[34] Well, how do you get it?

[35] Like, do they want to keep that stuff?

[36] That's like an asset of NASA.

[37] Is it hard to get it?

[38] It's not easy, but, you know, I bought it from the Russian Space Agency.

[39] Oh, that's the way to go.

[40] How much is a suit like that cost to make?

[41] To make, I have no idea because it's made in Russia.

[42] And the way they do their accounting is different, I think, than how you would do something in the United States.

[43] Sure, sure, sure.

[44] Well, I saw a great documentary on Showtime about these guys who got busted.

[45] They were in process of buying a Russian nuclear sub, and they had already successfully bought like six heavy lift helicopters, and they all went down to the Colombian cartels, and they bought these helicopters that would have been like 13 million bucks here for like 60 grand, right after the wall fell.

[46] You could really get in there if you knew the right person and buy a really expensive piece of equipment for a very reasonable price.

[47] Yeah, I mean, there were guys that bought, like, the whole mining industry of the former Soviet Union for pennies on the dollar.

[48] Hey, you want a nickel mine?

[49] Sure, here's $10 ,000 for the billion dollar mine.

[50] Yeah, yeah.

[51] And they went around and bought people's, like, shares that were issued for nothing.

[52] Very fascinating.

[53] So we watched, I think, four episodes of a year in space, and I'm really pissed that we didn't discover it before I knew we were going to interview you because it's super fascinating yeah I mean it's really incredibly well done it's on Netflix a year in space and when you got approach to do that were you gun -ho or were you apprehensive was that something you were like oh that'll be neat or I'll feel really weird doing that I think the one that's on Netflix is the PBS special which was made from these smaller episodes that were produced by Time magazine yeah of my mission And at the time, I was working for NASA.

[54] So I was approached by NASA Public Affairs, and they said, hey, Time Magazine wants to do this profile of you and your mission.

[55] And Misha, my Russian colleague, are you okay with that?

[56] And generally speaking, you know, when you're working for NASA and they want you to do some promotional stuff, you're okay with it because it's part of your job.

[57] So it wasn't like I even gave it much thought other than, yeah, sure, whatever you guys need.

[58] you know, however I can help.

[59] Yeah, I imagine that would be my knee -jerk reaction.

[60] Then when a film crew arrives at my house to, like, film me interacting with my partner, then I'm like, oh, okay, we're doing this now.

[61] All right, I guess that's part of it.

[62] Like, I just wondered if there was any of that once you had already signed on the dotted line.

[63] Yeah, you know, like anything like that, some of it can be kind of intrusive other times, not so much.

[64] But, you know, I recognize it's part of the job.

[65] They were great.

[66] I mean, after all, they put me on the cover of Time magazine, so I felt like I owed them something.

[67] Yeah, you join a very select group of people.

[68] Not a ton of folks have graced that cover.

[69] How did you end up as an astronaut?

[70] What's the path to get to space?

[71] And how many different routes are there?

[72] For NASA, there are two general routes, and that is you're either a member of the military and military service or you're a civilian.

[73] And of the people that are in the military, you know, a percentage of them.

[74] I don't know exact numbers, but especially when the space shuttle was flying, there are pilots that go on to become the pilot and commander of the space shuttle.

[75] So that was the path I took.

[76] I was a military fighter pilot and then test pilot and then, you know, applied to become an astronaut.

[77] But there's also civilians that apply to the space program.

[78] And, you know, they're generally scientists or engineers, medical doctors, accomplished people.

[79] in technical fields.

[80] And it's about, you know, half military, half civilian.

[81] But that's for NASA.

[82] Now we're right on the cusp of other ways to get into space.

[83] You know, private citizens maybe flying eventually on a SpaceX vehicle.

[84] Yeah.

[85] What's your knee -jerk reaction to that news?

[86] I think it's great.

[87] Oh, good.

[88] Why not?

[89] Okay.

[90] It's an incredible experience.

[91] I wish as many people as possible could fly into space.

[92] Yeah, I guess if I were you, I'd be like, okay, so I dedicated me. my whole life to this.

[93] I flew an F -14 off of an aircraft carrier, but yeah, you should probably just buy a ticket and head on up and then be trusted to not, you know, cause some big fiasco up there.

[94] Well, you know, I recognize that my job and what my responsibilities were different than what you would be doing if you were flying as a, you know, a tourist on a SpaceX.

[95] It's kind of the difference between maybe being the airline pilot and being the passenger.

[96] Oh, don't make it so clear -cut and totally debunk my whole position on it.

[97] But it's great.

[98] I think it's an incredible experience.

[99] I think people would care more about the earth than humanity if they had the privilege of seeing the earth from space.

[100] It really changes you.

[101] Yeah, I want to explore that extensively, incredibly humbling, right, to look out the window and see Earth.

[102] And you can't see us.

[103] I mean, you can see the lights we made and, you know, maybe the Great Wall of China, but we're not even invisible, right?

[104] Yeah, you can't see the Great Wall.

[105] Oh, you can't?

[106] Even, no, not with your eye.

[107] As a matter of fact, you can't really even see anything man -made with your naked eyeball.

[108] Certainly with binoculars.

[109] I mean, I could see my house from the space station.

[110] Really?

[111] Whoa.

[112] Yeah.

[113] Oh, my goodness.

[114] Yeah, I was always checking for cars in the drive way.

[115] Of course.

[116] Did your ring not work all the way up there?

[117] You could have just used your ring.

[118] Yeah, right.

[119] Yeah, but I bet it would be hard to articulate, but is what's humbling about it just the scope and size of it and how just physically insignificant we are to that size and scope?

[120] What is it exactly?

[121] Well, it's a few things.

[122] So one is you see how fragile the environment, our atmosphere is.

[123] I mean, our atmosphere just looks like a thin film over the surface of the planet, kind of like a contact lens over somebody's eyeball.

[124] Yeah.

[125] And so you see that.

[126] You see the beauty of the earth, incredibly beautiful.

[127] almost like the most brilliant blue paint you've ever seen in your life painted like on a mirror, like right in front of your eyes, absolutely breathtaking.

[128] But you also see pollution, certain parts of the world.

[129] In some cases, like in certain parts of Asia and Central America, South America, there's certain, you know, cities that are almost always covered in a blanket of pollution.

[130] Yeah, so you can't really see any madmade stuff, really.

[131] You could see a city and recognize that it's a city, but you can't really make out buildings.

[132] Unless you use the lens or your eye.

[133] The other thing is you don't see any political borders during the daytime.

[134] Now you do at night a little bit because countries have different colored lights and sometimes they define borders.

[135] But it just gives you a sense that we are all on this earth together as humanity and not, you know, in this particular country or this particular part of the world or you feel like you're not separated into tribes and it's all about humanity.

[136] And then, you know, you're doing something absolutely incredible, being able to live and work in space, flying space, and you realize that, you know, our species has an incredible amount of capability and potential to do amazing things if we can work together.

[137] Yet, there are all these problems on the planet.

[138] Yeah, so the notion of the stories we tell and how much we believe in them and how we all agree upon them, I have to imagine the absurdity while looking at the planet, as you say, with no border.

[139] how preposterous the stories we all buy into are from that vantage point.

[140] Like, oh, really, you guys are different over here and you're different over there and everyone's so unique and different and your country's so unique and different.

[141] It's got to be a bit laughable once you're up there.

[142] A little bit would sometimes think.

[143] Imagine what an alien species would think about us if they visited Earth.

[144] Probably not a whole lot.

[145] No, it's probably not a lot.

[146] This is Monica's favorite game, as we always talk about the aliens watching the monkeys.

[147] Like one time we witnessed a wedding on accident.

[148] The aliens liked that.

[149] Yeah, the aliens were like, oh, cute, the monkeys gather, and they all sit in a row, and everyone seems happy.

[150] That's nice.

[151] And then, you know, much more of our behavior is quite inexplicable.

[152] Mostly the aliens are laughing at us.

[153] Yeah, there's a pandemic and people don't take it seriously.

[154] Yeah.

[155] Now, once you were flying an F -14, how do you throw your hat in the ring to them pursue a career as an astronaut?

[156] Well, generally, most pilots, at NASA.

[157] The pilots of the space shuttle and the commanders of the space shuttle are test pilots.

[158] So the first step is you apply to and get accepted and graduate from test pilot school.

[159] And there are several of those that you can go to.

[160] I went to the U .S. Navy test pilot school.

[161] There's one in the Air Force, the U .S. Air Force test pilot school.

[162] Of course, it's not as good as the Navy one.

[163] Right.

[164] How could it be?

[165] You know, Navy's always better.

[166] Yes, sure.

[167] In the Air Force.

[168] Well, you got boats.

[169] you're a Navy guy.

[170] And then there are ones, like one of the guys they flew in space with, he went to the French test pilot school.

[171] So there are other ones around the world you can go to.

[172] But that's really the first step.

[173] And then once you're working as a test pilot and there is a application, a selection process going on, most of the people I've found my colleagues in the Navy would apply to the space program, not all of them.

[174] Not everyone was interested, but most of them were assuming they, you know, had met some of the other qualifications and, you know, felt like they would be competitive.

[175] Yeah.

[176] Was it a dream that you had always had, or did it evolve?

[177] Like, was Dream won, like, B, Top Gun, B. Maverick?

[178] No. No?

[179] No, not for me. You know, that is the case for some astronauts.

[180] You know, there's certainly a lot of my colleagues, and, you know, I wish this was the case for me. Wouldn't be as interesting as story, I think, but there are those people that, you know, saw Neil Armstrong walk down the moon and then, you know, got straight A's for the rest of their lives, you know, was always the top of their class and eventually became an astronaut.

[181] My experience was much different because I was such a poor student when I was growing up.

[182] It was impossible for me to pay attention or do homework.

[183] I didn't do that well.

[184] I was able to get by.

[185] I think I'd have a lot harder time getting by now.

[186] I think school has gotten a lot harder.

[187] Yeah.

[188] Fortunately, I was able to kind of just squeak by and graduated in the bottom half of my high school class.

[189] Went to college, still not doing well, struggling.

[190] couldn't pay attention.

[191] Really, I was probably on the path to dropping out after my freshman year.

[192] And then I just happened to come across Tom Wolff's book, The Right Stuff.

[193] And it really spoke to me in many ways and inspired me that if I could just improve my study skills, maybe I could graduate from college with an engineering degree.

[194] Maybe I could become a pilot in the U .S. Navy.

[195] And if not the Navy, maybe the Air Force.

[196] Yeah, second choice.

[197] Yeah, Air Force guys.

[198] love that joke.

[199] Okay, now, my first identical twin question.

[200] Yeah.

[201] Was your identical twin also bad in school?

[202] If he was, did it give you the confidence to just go, oh, who gives a shit?

[203] He's doing bad, too.

[204] Was there strength in numbers?

[205] Yeah, it did at first.

[206] And then, like, we go into the 10th grade and, you know, over one summer, he goes from being a bad student like I was to getting straight A's, like for the rest of high school.

[207] He abandoned you.

[208] Yeah.

[209] And a few years ago, I said, hey, how did you do that?

[210] Like, what happened?

[211] And he goes, you don't remember our dad sitting us down like right before high school and saying how we were such bad students?

[212] He was going to start thinking about a technical education and career for the two of us looking into that.

[213] I was like, no, I don't remember that at all.

[214] Probably only because there was like a squirrel running outside the window.

[215] Right.

[216] Had it not been for that squirrel?

[217] I'm pretty sure I would have went to Harvard.

[218] So, yeah, you had some probably ADHD issues maybe or something.

[219] Yeah.

[220] And you missed the pep talk, but your brother got it and he put it into action, which is impressive.

[221] Were you resentful at him because of that?

[222] Were you like, what are you doing, studying and getting all A's?

[223] What's wrong with you?

[224] Who are you trying to impress?

[225] No, I don't think I was resentful.

[226] It was more embarrassing than anything else that he was able to do well.

[227] And I wasn't not knowing why.

[228] or, you know, having no idea what the issue was.

[229] This is one of my favorite things about our country is that it really is a place of a bazillion second chances if you pursue them.

[230] So despite that stutter step, start of yours, you do find your way into this program.

[231] You now were talking, you've spent more time in space than any other astronaut in the history of mankind, 520 days in space.

[232] No, you're shaking your head.

[233] Have you been surpassed?

[234] I've spent more time at one time than any.

[235] Any other astronaut, with the exception of me and my friend, Misha, who I was there for nearly a year with.

[236] So Misha Kornienko and I have the record for the longest flight on the space station of 340 days.

[237] There are other astronauts that have more total time in space than I do.

[238] Two of my classmates, actually, Peggy Witson and Jeff Williams.

[239] You know, they did multiple missions, long -duration missions.

[240] And then there are a bunch of cosmonauts that have more total time.

[241] But Misha and I, our record is the, you know, the longest single flight on the space station.

[242] Okay.

[243] Now, you might ask yourself, well, how is this super rare experience going to translate into anything applicable here on Earth or in the lives of anyone that would be listening?

[244] But there weirdly is so many.

[245] And one that's exciting right out of the gates for me is the notion that when you were an F -14 pilot, most certainly the adversary you were training for, was.

[246] Russia, right?

[247] Is that safe to say most of your planning was the inevitable conflict between us and the USSR?

[248] Yeah, as a matter of fact, the F -14 Tomcat was developed basically to protect the aircraft carrier battle group from long -range Soviet bombers and their, you know, accompanying fighter planes that were sent to protect them.

[249] So yeah, our whole mission was air -to -air combat primarily designed against the Soviet Union.

[250] And at the time when I was flying, Interestingly enough, you know, at one point, one of my guys I flew in space with, the Russian cosmonaut, Dimitri Kondyv, was a MIG -29 pilot, basically on the other side of the Norwegian border with the Soviet Union.

[251] So had we ever got into any kind of a shooting war in that place and time, it's possible I would have been fighting a guy that years later I spent several months in space with.

[252] Yeah, it's really wild.

[253] And also, you know, there's a very well -documented approach to help men wage war.

[254] And one of the features of that is to really delineate your enemy as others.

[255] So it's us and it's them.

[256] And we gave the Germans nicknames.

[257] We gave the Japanese nicknames.

[258] We gave the Vietnamese nicknames.

[259] This is Vietnam.

[260] That's my nickname that I gave them.

[261] You know, there's all this kind of structured and intentional.

[262] otherness.

[263] And I have to imagine that at the height of your involvement and you're spending all your time and energy preparing for this, you had to have had a notion of who they were as the enemy.

[264] Did you fall into that?

[265] You couldn't have been that enlightened to not fall into that, or were you?

[266] Yeah, we were actually taught about, you know, who our enemy might be, who you would be fighting against from, you know, cultural perspective, what their lives are like, what their motivation is, which is, I think, important when you're training to potentially be.

[267] in combat with somebody for you to understand what they're like.

[268] Yeah.

[269] I think it makes you a better adversary, a better opponent.

[270] So yeah, we were aware of that.

[271] And at the time, you know, when I was flying fighters, most of our effort was designed to counter the Soviet Air Force.

[272] And so what some people might not know is that we don't send anyone to space anymore.

[273] Or we now, as you pointed out, are going to be doing it privately and there'll be contractors that do it.

[274] But for a very long time, the only route into space was through Star City in Russia.

[275] And so as you become an astronaut and you take your very first trip into space, do you set out on that trip with one notion or fear or expectation that then changes?

[276] Well, when I became an astronaut, my expectation was I would fly, you know, four times at least on the space shuttle.

[277] And then hopefully by the time that part of my...

[278] my career was over, I would potentially have a chance of flying to the space station, again, launching on a space shuttle and spending a, you know, extended time out there.

[279] But sometimes reality doesn't meet your expectations initially.

[280] And things changed.

[281] I flew my first flight in 1999 and I come back for that mission.

[282] And all of a sudden, they're trying to send me to Russia to be the head of NASA's office in Star City.

[283] And I was like, what is this all about?

[284] I want to be a space shuttle pilot and space shuttle commander.

[285] I want to drive a Corvette.

[286] Yeah.

[287] My philosophy has always been that when you're asked to do something that you don't want to do that's challenging, you know, you make an argument, you know, why you might be the wrong person, which is what I did, why I would prefer to do something else.

[288] But in the end, you know, if your boss, your leadership is asking you to do the tough job, you take it and you do the best job you can.

[289] So that's what I did and got me this Russian experience that I think, in retrospect, was very helpful because my space flight career was very diverse, much more varied than other people.

[290] Like, you know, even my brother, Mark, you know, he's flown in space four times.

[291] He was the commander of the space shuttle twice, the pilot twice, all to the international space station, whereas my career was much different.

[292] I went to the Hubble Space Telescope.

[293] I was the commander of a shuttle mission to the space station.

[294] but then I lived on the space station for over 500 days and got to do some space walks.

[295] Just had a much different experience.

[296] So, you know, even though you might not appreciate or like the cards you're dealt at the time, you never know what when you look back many, many years later in retrospect and what really the privilege that I had, having had, you know, one of the most diverse careers, I think, of any astronaut.

[297] Yeah.

[298] Now, I want to gild the lily.

[299] just one bit on this.

[300] And then I want to get into the fun stuff that happens at the International Space Station.

[301] I guess this is promoting my own personal agenda.

[302] You have a literal enemy in Russia.

[303] And then you get into this environment where your survival depends on one another.

[304] And these two humans in this insane device that's orbiting Earth, your humanness is so front and center, right?

[305] You both need to stay alive.

[306] We're all five of you.

[307] How many people are up there that all these little layers we've added i feel like just melt in the reality of what's really going on is you're in this together in any of that other shit is just a mental abstraction i just want to put it on us the notion that the people of this country would see themselves as such enemies that they can't see they're all in this together and we have to do it together to survive it's got to be maddening knowing what you went through in this that you're there with the real Cold War enemy, and yet you find a way to be productive and cohesive.

[308] Yeah, it's something that, you know, some people have a hard time understanding, but when you're in a situation where you have to rely on each other for, you know, helping with your work, for emotional support, for friendship, in some cases, you know, you have to rely on each other literally for our lives in an emergency.

[309] That transcends any earthly conflict that may exist between our two countries.

[310] And certainly, you know, I think there are situations if things got really, really bad, it could affect the relationships between the astronauts and the cosmonauts, but it would have to be significant because, you know, your friends, your colleagues, you know, I'm friends with some of these cosmonauts.

[311] You know, there's some of the best friends I have now, even though I don't work at NASA any longer.

[312] And I think they feel the same way.

[313] So the earthly politics and conflict doesn't necessarily translate out into space, which is great.

[314] It was one of the great things about the Space Station, the International Space Station, gives the opportunity for countries that have not always been the best of friends to work in a peaceful, cooperative way.

[315] Oftentimes, it's nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

[316] Yeah.

[317] Hasn't won yet.

[318] I hope someday it will.

[319] I think it should.

[320] I agree.

[321] Okay.

[322] I have some real dumb and fun questions about when you're up there.

[323] And of course, we're going to talk at length with lessons from a life and space, which is available on Knowable, where you teach an audio course about all the different lessons you've learned that are applicable to all of us.

[324] We'll get into that.

[325] But before we do, I have some curiosity questions, okay?

[326] How do you bathe up there?

[327] You don't.

[328] You do not bake.

[329] Not in the traditional sense.

[330] So basically, you get a washcloth wet that has some no -wrench soap on it.

[331] Uh -huh.

[332] And basically what you do is you kind of just rub all the dirt around on your body.

[333] Sure, sure.

[334] It kind of makes you feel like you're getting clean.

[335] Makes you feel a little bit better about yourself.

[336] Old -fashioned whoresbath.

[337] Hey, I didn't say it.

[338] No, I said it.

[339] I said it.

[340] But you laugh, so that makes you guilty of something.

[341] Now, do you watch TV while you're up there?

[342] Yeah, you can watch live TV.

[343] You can't change the channel.

[344] The ground has to change the channel for you.

[345] I don't know if it's still.

[346] that way.

[347] Hopefully, technology has improved.

[348] It's not really good quality video.

[349] I would generally have the news on during the day in the background, just kind of like I do in my house generally.

[350] Right.

[351] But they'll send up movies and TV shows that are much higher quality, like HD quality stuff.

[352] Aren't you like a nine iron away from the actual DirecTV satellite?

[353] Shouldn't you be able to get like the best direct TV signal of all time?

[354] Yeah, you're moving pretty fast, though.

[355] You're a little closer, clearly, but, you know, DirecTV is not designed for a vehicle that's going 17 ,000 miles an hour, so you'd have to have some pretty good tracking of that satellite somehow.

[356] I'm about to buy a motorhome that has a tracking dish, so maybe we could get that at the ISS.

[357] That on steroids.

[358] Now, okay, so on to that.

[359] So the thing is going 17 ,500 miles an hour or something like that.

[360] And the Earth is roughly, what, 24 ,000 miles around?

[361] Yeah, 25, I think.

[362] You're going around it.

[363] You're doing a full lap of it, what, in like 75 minutes or something?

[364] 90, yeah.

[365] 90 minutes.

[366] Oh, right, because you're then a bit outside of that 25.

[367] I get it.

[368] I know geometry.

[369] Okay, so you're probably making like a 30 ,000 mile lap or something.

[370] 17 ,500 miles an hour.

[371] Yeah, times 90 minutes.

[372] Times divided by 25 ,000 miles times 60 is 90 minutes.

[373] I guess the point is I'm making is the earth's whipping by, right?

[374] Like you're seeing Africa and then you're seeing India and then you're seeing Asia.

[375] It's moving, right?

[376] I have to imagine, it's pretty stimulating.

[377] It's about five miles a second.

[378] So it's not the kind of sensation of speed you would get like on a jet ski or on a motorcycle going 100 miles an hour.

[379] Right.

[380] But conceptually, it's pretty significant sense of speed in that you're flying from one side of the continental United States to the other.

[381] about 15 minutes.

[382] So you feel like you're going fast because of that.

[383] I think the fastest I've ever felt was not in the space shuttle or the space station.

[384] It's not in, you know, launching off the flight deck of an aircraft car, which is impressive.

[385] And you accelerate pretty fast.

[386] It was the one time I got a ride in the backseat of an indie car.

[387] Uh -huh.

[388] And, you know, went 200 miles an hour.

[389] I've been on that ride, too.

[390] Yeah, that's pretty fast.

[391] I thought you were going to say, because I also was lucky enough when I worked for GM to be a passenger in a NASCAR, and when you get on that bank, because the asphalt is only like 14 inches out the passenger side window, and then so much your peripheral vision is taken up by that thing, that's the fastest I've ever felt like I was going.

[392] Yeah, so even though I've gone 17 ,500 miles an hour, the fastest I've ever felt was 200 miles an hour in that Indy car.

[393] Yeah.

[394] It's all relative.

[395] When you're in the space station in your weightless, are you at zero gravity or is there some percentage of 0 .2 ATM?

[396] Yeah, it's microgravity, so it's 10 to the minus, whatever, 6.

[397] 90 minutes, okay.

[398] Whatever.

[399] Whatever.

[400] Camden, man. Because of that, when you are weightless, my first question is, do you immediately just feel the most relaxed your body's ever felt?

[401] No, you feel like all the blood is rushing to your head.

[402] And that's kind of an uncomfortable feeling at first.

[403] And it takes a while to get used to.

[404] Is that because your body is designed to be pushing blood up to fight gravity?

[405] And then without gravity, it's just putting too much up there?

[406] Yeah.

[407] Yeah, our cardiovascular system is designed to, you know, squeeze and push blood up to our vital organs and to our brain away from the force of gravity.

[408] So when you get up to space, it's still doing that because it hasn't figured out that, hey, I don't need to work as hard.

[409] Yeah.

[410] We also have more blood and fluid in our bodies than we need once we get into space because it's now easier to move around.

[411] So that big -headed astronaut is not just about like ego.

[412] It's about like your head is actually swollen.

[413] Oh, my goodness.

[414] So is it painful?

[415] Do you feel like you have a mild headache the whole time?

[416] It's like standing on your head.

[417] Oh, God.

[418] God, because you know what's so funny is my question?

[419] was designed to be the opposite, which is I thought potentially an exciting aspect is that when you were upside down, you wouldn't get that rush of blood to your head like you normally get upside down.

[420] But in fact, it's the opposite and it's all the time.

[421] Yeah, well, you know, it gets better over time.

[422] Like your body gets adapted.

[423] You purge a lot of that excess fluid.

[424] But even after being on the space station for 340 days at one time, my head still felt a little bit swollen and still had, you know, excess fluid in it.

[425] So you never actually feel quite normal.

[426] Oh my gosh.

[427] So you better tell the people buying a ticket about this because I think they might want to refund when they get there.

[428] Because my fantasy was I was going to feel like I was in the ultimate lazy boy the whole time.

[429] No. It's fun.

[430] You know, the floating's fun.

[431] It's hard to do stuff at first.

[432] It takes a while to get used to it.

[433] You know, once we do start flying more people into space for tourism, I think people need to realize, it's ain't an experience for everybody, especially living there for a long period of time.

[434] And it is, it's an extreme adventure.

[435] Some people love it, but other people will probably not like it very much because of, you know, the fluid shift.

[436] The carbon dioxide can be high on the space station is uncomfortable.

[437] Your digestive system doesn't work all that great in the absence of gravity because, you know, we just evolved to have gravity helping our, digestion.

[438] Let's say it, pulling the food through your intestines down to your butthole.

[439] That's not happening that force.

[440] Yeah, it's a vector, I think, for our digestion to know which way to move things.

[441] So what's the remedy for that when you're on the space station?

[442] You just poop once a month or something?

[443] The Russians have some really great colloquial expressions, and they have some space ones, too.

[444] And it's the one about, like, if you can't go to the bathroom in space, just eat more food.

[445] Okay.

[446] So eventually, it's going to come out of one end, I guess, is the method.

[447] It's such a Russian way to look at things.

[448] Get a bigger hammer.

[449] Yeah.

[450] Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

[451] We've all been there.

[452] Turning to the internet to self -diagnose our inexplicable pains, debilitating body aches, sudden fevers, and strange rashes.

[453] Though our minds tend to spiral to worst -case scenarios, it's usually nothing, but for an unlucky few, these unsuspecting symptoms can start the clock ticking on a terrifying medical mystery.

[454] Like the unexplainable death of a retired firefighter, whose body was found at home by his son, except it looked like he had been cremated, or the time when an entire town started jumping from buildings and seeing tigers on their ceilings.

[455] Hey, listeners, it's Mr. Ballin here, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast.

[456] It's called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.

[457] Each terrifying true story will be sure to keep you up at night.

[458] Follow Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts.

[459] Prime members can listen early and ad -free on Amazon Music.

[460] What's up, guys?

[461] It's your girl Kiki, and my podcast is back with a new season, and let me tell you, it's too good.

[462] And I'm diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest, okay?

[463] Every episode, I bring on a friend.

[464] and have a real conversation.

[465] And I don't mean just friends.

[466] I mean the likes of Amy Poehler, Kel Mitchell, Vivica Fox.

[467] The list goes on.

[468] So follow, watch, and listen to Baby.

[469] This is Kiki Palmer on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.

[470] Now, you said this on Colbert.

[471] You talked about how it fucks with your sleep.

[472] Well, there are certain things about sleeping in space that you might think makes it more comfortable.

[473] And it is true.

[474] Like, I have issues with my shoulders that when I sleep, they bother them.

[475] me because I have like torn rotator cuffs and things like that.

[476] But in space, that's not going to be an issue because, you know, you're just kind of floating like this and your arms are just floating out in front of you.

[477] So that's not an issue.

[478] But then, you know, you'll have back pain as an example because now your spine in the absence of gravity is elongated.

[479] You know, there's issues of the environment.

[480] Like I said, the carbon dioxide might be high.

[481] It could be loud.

[482] It could be warm.

[483] It could be cold.

[484] You don't maybe not have as much control over the temperatures.

[485] I remember my first spaceflight, it was only seven days, but I get up to space.

[486] I'm like, okay, I'm going to try to just sleep with no assistance at all, meaning I was going to get in my sleeping bag and just kind of float there.

[487] And then after every day I was kind of adding something to it, I'm putting an eye mask on, I have ear plugs in.

[488] My head seems like, at least for my first flight, it had two neutral positions, and it felt, like it had to be in one of these two.

[489] And one of those positions was like right here.

[490] And the other one was like also right here.

[491] And they were like a couple millimeters apart.

[492] And I felt like I would have to, after a while, my head wouldn't be comfortable.

[493] I have to move it a little bit back.

[494] So eventually, you know, my head's strapped to a pillow.

[495] Oh, wow.

[496] So I have my knees kind of strapped up towards my chest a little bit.

[497] Yeah.

[498] And then you take an ambient eventually.

[499] Yeah, I was going to say this sounds maddening.

[500] I would probably opt for some medical assistance.

[501] Oh, and especially on the Hubble mission, when you're much higher, you see a cosmic rays with your eyes closed hitting your eyeball, which is kind of distracting when you realize, hey, not only that cosmic ray just hit my eyeball, it actually went completely through my brain.

[502] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[503] Is there any long -term studies on astronauts?

[504] Do they have a higher rate of brain cancer or anything?

[505] I don't know how brain cancer, but I think a few years ago.

[506] when I was still at NASA, we tripped over the point of statistical significance for cancers in that population of people.

[507] I don't know by how much, but yeah, so it is a risk.

[508] There's not any eyewear you could put on that would block out those rays or that would intercept those?

[509] Maybe lead, I don't know.

[510] I don't know physics around how protecting against cosmic rays.

[511] I think they're pretty hard to protect against.

[512] Okay.

[513] Aluminum foil wouldn't do it.

[514] Beer goggles, maybe.

[515] I don't know.

[516] Okay.

[517] Buckle up for this one.

[518] Have people made love up there?

[519] And that might be misleading.

[520] Maybe it's fucking.

[521] But have people had intercourse up there?

[522] As far as I know, no. Is it technically possible?

[523] Yes, absolutely.

[524] Is it likely to happen someday?

[525] I think so.

[526] We are all humans after all.

[527] But no, I don't have any evidence that that has actually happened.

[528] Well, I can tell you, when I fantasize about your role, first stop in my fantasy is looking out the window.

[529] earth for a couple hours and then it's turning and getting straight to some zero gravity fucking if i'm just being dead honest that seems like the two most appealing aspects of potentially going up there are zero gravity sex and looking out at earth what would be better about it in zero gravity you could just spin the person around you could just you know every the sky's the limit and guess what you're beyond the limit of the sky it seems kind of hard like they might float away from yours like you'd have to really it'd be a little game of cat and mouse.

[530] Oh, wow.

[531] Yeah, I think it'd be pretty, pretty fun.

[532] Sorry, Scott.

[533] Okay, so you haven't and you don't know that anyone has, but, you know, also there's probably rumors, I would imagine.

[534] There's always rumors.

[535] Yeah.

[536] I'm not a rumor guy, though, so I can't share them with you.

[537] Okay.

[538] Now, I remember a long, long time ago, one of the first Russian guys, and maybe it was Misha, I don't know, maybe I'm conflating some things, but I had read that, yeah, his spine had uncompacted to the point where he was like six inches taller when he landed?

[539] Is that possible?

[540] Were you taller when you landed?

[541] I stretched an inch and a half while I was in space.

[542] And as soon as I got back down, I compressed back down to my normal six foot five.

[543] Right.

[544] Four percent body fat frame.

[545] No, but so you gained an inch and a half and how quickly after you land, well, this is another thing I think people might not know is that your muscles are solely there to pretty much battle gravity.

[546] So in the absence of them.

[547] Don't you have to exercise in a tremendous amount while you're up there just to not deteriorate?

[548] Yeah, if you did no exercise, you would lose about 1 % of your bone mass every month and, you know, probably an equivalent amount of muscle mass as well.

[549] So, yeah, we exercise a lot to prevent that six days a week, seven days a week for some people, if they can do that much.

[550] Also, your heart gets deconditioned, too, because, you know, it doesn't have to work as hard anymore.

[551] So So you also lose muscle mass in your heart.

[552] Yeah.

[553] But the exercise equipment's good.

[554] And we figured out a good way to mitigate those risks, but it is a risk.

[555] Bowflex?

[556] Similar.

[557] Well, much better, actually.

[558] No offense to Bowflex.

[559] I've never used one.

[560] But the thing we have is like very well designed hardware that uses evacuated cylinders to create resistance.

[561] So actually feels like you're lifting real weight.

[562] If I could, I would have one of these things in my house.

[563] But, you know, it's a NASA made thing.

[564] Probably cost a gazillion dollars.

[565] It'll trickle down, though, into our workout technology.

[566] Seemingly every NASA invention does.

[567] Is drinking permitted in the space station?

[568] Alcohol, I mean.

[569] No, it's against the rules.

[570] Okay, that's like internationally agreed upon no drinking up there.

[571] The rules are there is no drinking up there.

[572] Okay, all right.

[573] So the rules are no drinking, which is not to say that drinking hasn't happened.

[574] I once watched a documentary about these MIG pilots, and they were pounding shots of vodka just prior to 10.

[575] Takeoff.

[576] I was really amazed by it.

[577] I can't remember what documentary it was.

[578] But, of course, I immediately wondered if there was some vodka up there at the space station.

[579] No vodka.

[580] No vodka.

[581] Okay.

[582] Before we applaud all the many aspects of the partnership with Russia, I want to know this will feed into what you ultimately are doing, I believe, with lessons from a life in space, which is how do you compartmentalize fear?

[583] And are you even aware that you're compartmentalizing?

[584] My case would be, I can't imagine the first time you blasted off in a Russian rocket.

[585] You've just left Star City.

[586] You see how most of the mechanical things are working in that area.

[587] It's probably not super confidence -inducing.

[588] And then now you hop into this enormous rocket and you just pray, oh, I hope they built this like Toyota builds their cars.

[589] I hope this is the one thing they decided to build perfectly.

[590] Are you not afraid that first time you're on the Russian rocket?

[591] Well, I would go back to just the first time you launch in the space, especially on the space shuttle.

[592] I mean, the space shuttle is the most complicated thing ever built, complicated vehicle, aerospace vehicle, and, you know, the amount of energy involved to get a space shuttle that weighs over 200 ,000 pounds with the external tank and all the fuel and the solid rocket motors, it's 5 million pounds.

[593] It takes 7 million pounds of thrust.

[594] It's just, you know, operating at extremes of temperatures and pressures.

[595] And the fact that you're not on the top of it, you know, you're on.

[596] on the side of it.

[597] Yeah, yeah.

[598] On all of that fuel.

[599] So launching on the shuttle, especially the first time, I was more apprehensive and nervous about it than the first time launching on the Russian Soyuz because the Soyuz doesn't have the solid rocket motors.

[600] Those solids, you turn them on, and that's it.

[601] You can't turn them off.

[602] You can't control the thrust that comes out of them.

[603] Yeah, it's like getting unprignant.

[604] Yeah, there's nothing you can do to stop it.

[605] Right.

[606] And in the case of the Soyuz, it's liquid engines, and you're on the top, and there's an emergency escape system.

[607] So you felt a little more safe.

[608] A little more comfortable, actually, not physically comfortable because it's painful in the position you sit in and the fact that you can't really move hardly at all.

[609] Then you're kind of like locked into this one position for many, many hours.

[610] But from the perspective of like being scared or nervous or worrying that something's going to happen, the shuttle is more risky in that regard.

[611] Okay, so when that's happening, are you in the mode of like when you're a kid and you jump off a tall bridge into water?

[612] Do you just go like, yeah, I'm terrified, but I already know I'm going to do this.

[613] And now I'm just going to put that in a little vault in my head and not think about it.

[614] What's your strategy to navigate that stressful situation?

[615] You know, I think fear is a natural emotion to have.

[616] I think it can be helpful.

[617] You know, it allows you to focus on.

[618] you know, the stuff that's important.

[619] In the case of me flying in space on the space shuttle, especially the first time, you know, you think this is quite possibly the last thing I ever do in my life, meaning I could die.

[620] Yeah.

[621] And, you know, it could blow up and that's it.

[622] But eventually, you know, you come to terms with, I'm actually going to do this.

[623] And then you realize, is it helpful to be scared about it?

[624] Probably not.

[625] And then when you get into the rocket, you're more concerned or when we're scared that you're going to mess something up, then the rocket's going to blow up, and it allows you to kind of compartmentalize away that fear.

[626] Yeah, getting focused on the task at hand.

[627] What actually are you doing as the pilot of that thing?

[628] I mean, there's no steering involved or anything, is there?

[629] On the shuttle launch, if everything goes normally, for that eight and a half minutes, you throw one switch, and you don't touch the controls.

[630] But you can, in an emergency, actually fly the space shuttle with the control stick after about 90 seconds.

[631] So still when you're on the solid rocket motors, you fly it from Mach 1 to the ground to land it.

[632] Uh -huh.

[633] But what you're primarily doing is monitoring the systems and being prepared for what happens if the engines fail at this time, you know, what options do you have to abort, where can you go land, what do you need to do?

[634] And the systems were so complicated and interrelated that it's really the most complex puzzle.

[635] basically that you're working continuously, you know, in your mind with your crew members, always trying to think ahead and what's the next worst thing that could happen, next worst failure, how does that affect these other systems?

[636] So even though you're only throwing one switch, you're really busy.

[637] Yeah.

[638] Now, once you're up there on the space station, how much free time do you have during the day?

[639] You generally, in the evenings, I would have, you know, a couple of hours between like nine and 11 o 'clock when I would generally go to sleep to do some personal things to get on the phone, to do email, to maybe watch a TV show or something or read.

[640] On the weekends, one day is really a work day.

[641] And then, you know, usually at least, at least a half a day off on the weekends, sometimes a full day.

[642] But, you know, your time up there is very valuable.

[643] So it's not like you would want a lot of time off anyway.

[644] Yeah.

[645] How often do people visit?

[646] It varies.

[647] So I've been up there for one period of time with two Russian guys for six weeks, me and just Ganadi Padalka and Misha Kornienko.

[648] Generally speaking, there's six people up there and they swap out in groups of three.

[649] So every, you know, two months or four months.

[650] So you might be up there with the same group of people for about three or four months.

[651] Is it so exciting when someone else comes?

[652] I would imagine like even the least boring person arriving after three months of no visit.

[653] Yeah, when a space shuttle crew comes up there or the new Soyuz comes up, I had a Soyuz come up that was a couple of guys that were only going to be there for a week.

[654] But it's kind of like when your relatives visit during a holiday, you're like excited to see them.

[655] Yeah, yeah.

[656] And then you're also excited to see them leave.

[657] Yeah.

[658] I guess it gets pretty cramped in there pretty quickly, I'd imagine.

[659] Especially when they're only going to be in space for a short period of time because it really takes about a month to get used to living in space.

[660] You know, you're not bouncing off the walls or kicking stuff or losing stuff or getting your space legs underneath you.

[661] It takes a while.

[662] Yeah, well, I have a question about that.

[663] I watch you float through the space station.

[664] I recognize how many things you could bump into, how many switches you could bump into, cords you could get entangled in.

[665] And I was wondering, I guess you kind of just said the opposite.

[666] I was wondering if as you grew accustomed to being in there and things become routine, if it gets a little more dangerous because you kind of drop your guard a bit.

[667] Is that an issue?

[668] No, I would say you're always getting better.

[669] I mean, the risk in the beginning, not only are you at risk of breaking something, but you're at risk of hurting yourself, like bumping your head into something if you're going too fast and out of control.

[670] So, yeah, I would say the longer you're there, the more safe and controlled you are.

[671] Yeah.

[672] Now, when you're going to bed, you had to have not.

[673] nights where you would acknowledge how incredibly vulnerable you are.

[674] And did you ever have to fight off like panic setting in?

[675] No, I've never really had feelings of panic.

[676] You certainly recognize, you know, when you're in space, you're at risk.

[677] You know, you're always at risk of there being a fire, a depressurization.

[678] The space station uses some high pressure ammonia to cool the systems.

[679] Generally, it's on the outside, but there is risk that it could get inside.

[680] It could be very deadly, very quickly, you know, orbital debris is an issue.

[681] So, yeah, you recognize you're at risk, but you do everything you can to mitigate that risk and prepare for it.

[682] And, you know, like launching on the shuttle and knowing that it could blow up, you come to terms with it.

[683] So it's not something I would really think about.

[684] Right.

[685] Okay.

[686] Now, when you do a spacewalk, crawl outside and you're in a vacuum and Earth is, you know, 250 miles below and you're attached by this little very thin tether, you realize you're in kind of, you're in kind of, of a precarious position.

[687] Great, because I wanted to ask, what is the most dangerous duty that you had to perform routinely on that?

[688] Is it the spacewalks?

[689] Yeah, the spacewalks are, you know, launch landing and spacewalk.

[690] I would say the launch and the landing are the most risky, but spacewalks are pretty risky, fortunately.

[691] And surprisingly, you know, we've done so many now on the space station and no one's really ever been seriously injured.

[692] It's kind of shocking, actually.

[693] Once you overcome the uniqueness of it and the fear, is it exhilarating to be out there?

[694] Yeah, it's impressive to be on the outside of a spacecraft flying at those speeds in a vacuum and seeing Earth below you.

[695] And you're in this really what amounts to a small tiny spaceship itself, the spacesuit, all the life support systems and the cooling systems and the, you know, the protection it provides, a very complicated suit.

[696] you recognize it's no joke yeah yeah yeah okay other quick questions everyone wants to know what it's like to look at earth but i'm curious what is the view like looking out at space is it different than a super clear night yeah it's a good question so if the sun is up so if you're on the daylight side of the earth you really can't see anything uh -huh so the sky is not like pitch black it's more like a darkish gray.

[697] The sun is really, really bright and you can't really see much of anything.

[698] Sometimes you can see the moon, just like you can see the moon on Earth when the sun's up sometimes.

[699] Yeah.

[700] But when you're on the opposite side of the earth, if you turn the lights down, if the moon is not in the wrong place and it's really dark, and if the Milky Way galaxy has risen so it's, you know, in the part of the sky that you can see, it is absolutely spectacular.

[701] Like, you could see the Milky Way, kind of like how you might see it in pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope.

[702] You can kind of see that with your own eye.

[703] Oh, wow.

[704] You know what people don't realize, though, you know, it's really a privilege to be able to fly in Earth's orbit because the Earth blocks out the sun.

[705] Someday, when we have people that are going to Mars, and it's going to take 260 days to get there, you're going to look out the window.

[706] You're not going to see anything.

[707] Yeah.

[708] Because you're not going to see Earth.

[709] It'll be a tiny dot.

[710] going to see Mars.

[711] And your view of the sky is just going to be washed out because you're in perpetual sunlight.

[712] Yeah.

[713] Wow.

[714] There's so many bizarre thoughts about going to Mars like that.

[715] Kevin Pollock, it's taken me an hour, but that's who you remind me of, Kevin Pollock.

[716] Have you ever heard that?

[717] No. Okay.

[718] Similar voice.

[719] I've heard Phil Collins.

[720] Oh, well, visually.

[721] And Mark Kelly.

[722] That was a good one.

[723] I walked right into that one.

[724] All the satellites, are they all orbiting in the same direction?

[725] You don't ever see countering satellites, do you?

[726] Are they all going in the same direction?

[727] There are satellites that are in retrograde orbits, meaning like opposite where like the spin of the earth.

[728] I don't know how many, you know, we have satellites that are in polar orbit.

[729] So, you know, when we're kind of at a 51 .6 degree angle to the equator in the space stations orbit, there are ones that are just going, you know, pure north and south.

[730] But you don't really see a whole lot of satellites when you're in space, even though there's a lot of stuff up there.

[731] Oh, you don't?

[732] Because I was imagining, like, the combined 35 ,000 miles an hour of a whip by.

[733] Yeah.

[734] That could be exciting.

[735] Yeah, that'd be hard to see.

[736] That's 20 times faster than a bullet from a rifle.

[737] Yeah.

[738] Okay.

[739] Last one of these questions.

[740] Did you see anything while you were up there that defied explanation?

[741] I always wanted to.

[742] Yeah.

[743] I always hoped, like, I would.

[744] open the window and there'd be some like flying saucer hovering next to us, but never happened.

[745] Sometimes you would see something and you'd be like, that light is not behaving like I think it should if it was a satellite or a planet.

[746] It looked like it would have some motion that's not in its like normal trajectory.

[747] But then you realize as soon as you think, oh, that's, that's really weird.

[748] What is that?

[749] then you realize it's just something that's passing behind the lensing of the atmosphere and making it look like it's moving.

[750] So those things are always explainable.

[751] Yeah.

[752] Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare.

[753] Okay.

[754] Now, lessons from a life in space, which is an audio course.

[755] And Noble is it a site where people can go and learn about different peculiar topics?

[756] It's a new app, and it's for audio courses, kind of like Spotify is, but it's for learning.

[757] So, you know, different people have their own courses.

[758] Some new ones, Alexis O 'Hanian, Chris Paul, mine, of course, which can be found at knowable.

[759] fyi forward slash Scott.

[760] All right.

[761] Knowable .comi forward slash Scott.

[762] And, you know, my course is about like things I learned throughout my career.

[763] that hopefully, you know, might help people.

[764] I think there are probably lessons learned that will help people.

[765] Hopefully also to be a little entertaining.

[766] Well, right now, I mean, a couple of things that immediately come to mind is we've all been in some level of quarantine for the last 10 months, right?

[767] And people are really struggling with that.

[768] I know I am and everyone I know is.

[769] So, you know, the challenges of a prolonged period of solitude and isolation is something that you know a tremendous amount about.

[770] Are you almost laughing at people that are unraveling here in quarantine?

[771] Like, get over yourself?

[772] No, you know, I get it.

[773] It's hard.

[774] My daughter said to me recently turned 26, she's complained.

[775] She goes, I have absolutely no social life.

[776] I said, Samantha, neither does every other person on the planet.

[777] This is a worldwide pandemic.

[778] All of our social lives are gone.

[779] She goes, oh, okay.

[780] Well, that makes me feel a lot better.

[781] Thank you.

[782] As long as I'm not missing out on some big social party.

[783] The FOMO.

[784] It's not like there's another planet you can go to without the pandemic.

[785] But yeah, did you have an actual structured approach to dealing with your feelings of isolation and loneliness?

[786] Did you have a routine or a schedule?

[787] Yeah, so, you know, I flew a flight that was six months long.

[788] And towards the end of it, like the last couple of months, I felt like the walls were closed in and a lot of little bit and you know the anxiety is building and then I had the opportunity to fly in space for a year or nearly a year and I wasn't that interested at first but eventually I realized you know I want to fly in space again I want it to be different I want it to be challenging and what could be more challenging than the hardest thing about being in space for a long time which is being in space for a long time yeah where you have you know very little control over your daily routine your schedule very little freedom of choice being with the same people a lot, even though the people I've flown in space with are all great, not being able to go outside, no nature, no sun, no rain, no wind, all those challenges, you know, working in the same place that you're living.

[789] And, you know, a lot of those things are things that people are experiencing right now.

[790] But I put a lot of thought into it prior to me flying.

[791] And that was things like, first of all, recognizing that this was my job.

[792] It was my mission to be there for a long time.

[793] And I think now people can kind of look at.

[794] at this pandemic and think, you know, this is our collective mission.

[795] The first time in our lives that we've all been engaged on one singular thing ever in our lifetimes is this pandemic.

[796] And I think people should recognize that this is our job, this is our mission, to do this the right way, be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

[797] So I think having that perspective is important.

[798] I think it's important to pace ourselves.

[799] I think it's important to recognize that this will be over someday.

[800] Not sure when, but it will be over someday.

[801] And when it is, you know, do you want to look back on this experience in a positive way with pride of how you performed?

[802] Like I said, you know, are you a part of the solution or part of the problem?

[803] And then, you know, what I did was I tried to follow a schedule very closely.

[804] It's kind of easy to do when someone's making your schedule on the space station, but also, you know, schedule time for rest, for hobbies, for connecting with people in various ways, getting time for yourself, which I think is, even though we're in a pandemic, I think a lot of people probably struggle with that, that they're, you know, everyone's living situation is different.

[805] But there are things that I think we can do that make this easier and get to the end.

[806] My goal when I was in space was to get to the end of the mission with as much energy and enthusiasm as I had in the beginning.

[807] And I think I was pretty successful at that for my year -long flight.

[808] I wasn't as successful when I was in space for only six months.

[809] And it's because I really didn't have a plan and how to cope and deal with it.

[810] And then also ask for help.

[811] You know, people need to realize there's nothing wrong with asking for help if you're having, you know, issues and you're struggling with this.

[812] And NASA, they don't even give us a choice.

[813] We have to talk to psychiatrists and psychologists every two weeks, whether we like it or not when we're in space.

[814] And that could be very helpful.

[815] Oh, I think that's fantastic.

[816] Yeah.

[817] The game plan is so important, I think.

[818] I'm struck when you're talking about this that there's almost physically no difference between what you did in being in prison for a year, other than the story you're able to tell yourself, which is, well, I'm here with purpose.

[819] And when you're in prison, it's very hard to find purpose.

[820] But that's the only difference.

[821] You guys are basically living the same lives, but you have different stories in your head, and that's the difference.

[822] I think there are some parallels.

[823] I've actually thought about that.

[824] The big difference is, is you're there by choice, and you're serving a purpose larger than yourselves.

[825] We're in prison, probably not choosing to be there.

[826] and your purpose is just either rehabilitation or punishment.

[827] So you might not feel as good about the purpose.

[828] But I've actually thought, you know, the challenge of reintegrating yourself back into life after being in space for a year is not insignificant.

[829] It exists.

[830] And it's probably similar to how people feel when they get out of prison, particularly with regards to the schedule.

[831] Like one of the challenges of getting used to living in space for a long time is following this very tightly controlled schedule.

[832] It's also a similar challenge when you get home is then no longer having that and not having someone telling you what to do all the time.

[833] And I think people that are getting out of prison probably feel the same way.

[834] Now, another thing you cover and lessons from a life in space is how essential truth and science are.

[835] The one thing that I hope people understand about us going to space is this isn't something that you can trial and error or actually research and develop in a traditional way.

[836] When we sent a rocket there, these were all the theories of how things would operate in space, how they would move, how we could turn things around.

[837] These were all theories that were learned from here, that we figured out from here.

[838] And by God, we did it.

[839] We understood what it would take to go there and return without being able to experiment, really.

[840] Other than, you know, there's obviously some controlled experiments here on Earth.

[841] But in general, that whole thing succeeds on the power of our scientific research and understanding.

[842] Doesn't it more than any other thing we've ever done, maybe?

[843] You know, if it wasn't for science, we wouldn't exist.

[844] And, you know, it's why we live in this world we live in today.

[845] It's why, you know, the human species has been able to evolve to, the point we're at now.

[846] And, you know, everything we have, really, I think is due to science.

[847] And I don't know how we've gotten to the point where now people think science is political or it's subject to some kind of a debate, its opinion and not, you know, fact.

[848] I mean, science always evolves, but it's based on processes and, you know, objective observation, evidence, experimentation, peer review.

[849] And, you know, I see people all the time now.

[850] You're like being interviewed about things or people with their opinion.

[851] They're like, oh, yeah, I don't believe that.

[852] Right.

[853] Why don't you believe it?

[854] I don't know.

[855] I just don't.

[856] Yeah.

[857] Like, what happened to us where stuff that used to be revered and considered facts and knowledge and is now by a certain demographic look upon with disdain and skepticism?

[858] And it's dangerous.

[859] Yeah, it's very unfortunate.

[860] It's gotten coupled to this notion of elitism or some kind of condescending nature to it when it doesn't have any agenda other than discovering the truth.

[861] And my main pet peeve with it is the a la carte nature of people believing in science or not.

[862] When they get in their car and they turn the key, well, they certainly believe in science in that moment or they wouldn't have planned their day knowing they're going to drive their car.

[863] And then they get on their iPhone to tweet that they don't believe in science, I think, well, okay, well, you believe in that part of science, and it's kind of the a la carte approach that I find frustrating.

[864] Yeah, I've never heard it put that way, but that's a very good point.

[865] I mean, people choose to believe the parts that they want to believe for some, you know, political reason or cultural reason or whatever.

[866] I don't even get it.

[867] Like, and some of it's like, you know, people do it as a joke, like the, I hate to even mention their names because I don't want to encourage them, but like, you know, the flat earthers.

[868] Yeah, it's funny.

[869] make believe the earth is flat, whatever.

[870] But if you're willing to believe the earth is flat or, you know, encourage other people to believe the earth is flat, you'll believe anything.

[871] I'd argue you got to go now all the way back to when that was an agreed upon premise.

[872] So no more electricity for you, no indoor plumbing.

[873] You can't just decide I'm going to have a 13th century understanding of the planet and a 21st century understanding of how to get an Uber somewhere.

[874] You got to pick your lane.

[875] Yeah, that's a good point.

[876] I'm going to use that.

[877] Please do it.

[878] There's some I'm confronted by a flat earth.

[879] Now, could you tell us what you've learned about failure?

[880] Well, I think failure is something that is important in life.

[881] Like, if you never fail, I think you're not trying hard enough.

[882] Your goals are not high enough.

[883] Yeah.

[884] I have not always been the best at anything when I started.

[885] But I've always gotten good, and I've always challenged myself.

[886] And I've always taken risks knowing that, hey, it's quite possible.

[887] I may not be able to do this, but being willing to take that risk and see what you're capable of achieving is what makes a lot of people very successful in their lives, is that kind of risk -taking, and failure is a big part of it.

[888] Not only does it allow you to, understanding that we sometimes fail, allow you to set lofty goals, but also is a learning point, too.

[889] And, you know, just because you failed it something doesn't mean you can't pick yourself up, you know, dust yourself off and try again.

[890] have you had a failure that you can think of that ended up leading to your greatest success one that that always comes to mind is just trying to land on an aircraft carrier with the f -14 tomcat the first time and failing miserably with my first arrested landing attempt and you know the hook of the airplane hitting the back of the ship oh boy basically almost crashing oh he'll being sent home oh and then given the opportunity to go fly like an airliner for the navy uh -huh thinking that maybe you're not cut out for this.

[891] And I actually thought, well, I might fail at that too.

[892] Who knows?

[893] But if I don't try, I'll never know whether I was actually capable of doing this.

[894] And just because you failed doesn't mean you can't be the best at something that you fail at initially.

[895] It's possible.

[896] I would have never guessed I would have had the opportunity to fly in space after being such a failed student, right?

[897] Yeah.

[898] I can't imagine the stress of having to land that plane and get the hook on the cable.

[899] It has to be the most harrowing thing that's done in aviation over and over again, yeah?

[900] Yeah, that airplane, you know, was a great plane for a lot of reasons, but one of them was not because it was easy to land aboard the ship.

[901] It was probably the most challenging airplane ever.

[902] And at night, I would say about half the time, it was just downright scary.

[903] Oh, I bet.

[904] And again, it's one of these things, it's almost like a baby bird.

[905] jumping out of its nest.

[906] There's no way to inch yourself closer to landing on the aircraft carrier, right?

[907] You just have to commit and fucking try to land on it.

[908] There's no inching closer or going one mile an hour faster over the jump each time.

[909] Yeah.

[910] There's no training version of the airplane that has a control stick in the back.

[911] Right.

[912] You know, when you're doing it, you're the guy, the first time or the girl, the first time.

[913] And, you know, it's all in your hands.

[914] Success or failures is all completely up to you, especially when you're young doing that too.

[915] I think I'd have a much easier time with it now after all the experiences I've had of regulating your heart rate.

[916] Yeah, when it's 23 years old.

[917] Oh, man. It's so impressive.

[918] Do you fancy yourself a good car driver?

[919] Like a race car driver?

[920] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[921] Are you skilled behind the wheel of an automobile?

[922] I can drive a stick.

[923] Oh, okay.

[924] That's good.

[925] I did the Richard Petty driving experience.

[926] Oh.

[927] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[928] And Waco?

[929] Is that where you went?

[930] No, in Orlando.

[931] Oh, okay.

[932] A long time ago.

[933] Okay.

[934] Because I think because I'm good behind the wheel of an automobile that I would be good to land a plane in an emergency.

[935] And Monica disagrees immensely.

[936] And you haven't helped my cause.

[937] You're not saying that there's a lot of shared DNA between the two skill sets.

[938] Well, maybe a little bit, but I think you would have to go fly an airplane to really see.

[939] Yeah.

[940] Well, I'll wait for my first flight to when I have to land because there's something wrong with the pilot.

[941] I like a high pressure situation.

[942] Well, Scott, you're an incredible human being.

[943] I don't think I'd ever grow up to talk to somebody who spent over 500 days in space.

[944] What a unique experience.

[945] And I really hope people check out lessons from a life in space, which is available on knowable.

[946] So go to knowable .fyi forward slash Scott.

[947] And you can listen to lessons from a life in space.

[948] and find out the many similarities between what he went through and what we're all kind of slogging through now.

[949] I think it's incredible timing for this.

[950] So, Scott, thanks so much for talking to us.

[951] If you ever want to unload that Russian space suit, please get a hold of me. Make me an offer.

[952] Okay, before you put it on eBay, just reach out, okay?

[953] All right.

[954] All right.

[955] Be well.

[956] All right.

[957] Take care, guys.

[958] And now my favorite part of the show, the fact check with my soulmate Monica Padman.

[959] Hi, Moni.

[960] Hi.

[961] Good morning.

[962] Morning time.

[963] Good morning, Aaron.

[964] Good morning.

[965] Dad and Moni.

[966] Aaron's here for our fact check.

[967] Fact check popping bubbly.

[968] I just want to apologize on here.

[969] I'm so sorry.

[970] I'm late.

[971] I set my alarm.

[972] I moved at 15.

[973] I should have moved at 30.

[974] I was being too optimistic.

[975] And then there was a new remote controls purchased that the cable didn't work.

[976] And I had to fix for the girls.

[977] And then it just, I got to improve.

[978] I got to get better.

[979] I'm sorry.

[980] I understand.

[981] I do understand.

[982] But it's still offensive.

[983] It bothers me. I know.

[984] I don't want it to bother me, but it does because I know it's not true.

[985] But I feel then like you don't think my time is as valuable.

[986] I certainly do.

[987] And the whole ride here, I was in a fit of anxiety.

[988] And I am for real.

[989] And then as the stupid coffee machine is taking forever, I'm building more.

[990] more anxiety.

[991] I'm really sorry.

[992] I really value your time.

[993] I'm just kind of committing to too much in the morning.

[994] I should have just said, let's meet at 1145 and giving myself a nice big pad.

[995] Yeah.

[996] Yeah.

[997] I blew it.

[998] That's okay.

[999] We live and we learn.

[1000] Well, this will be, we're coming up on a New Year's Eve Resolution time and I'm always looking to improve.

[1001] So that's a good one, actually.

[1002] I'm going to do it.

[1003] Okay.

[1004] I like that.

[1005] Yeah, I'm going to be brutally pessimistic with my time estimates.

[1006] You know?

[1007] Give yourself extra.

[1008] A buffer.

[1009] A buffer's always good.

[1010] And then, yeah, I might not be able to do some things in a day, and that's fine.

[1011] And you will be a little less stressed.

[1012] Yes.

[1013] My anxiety was building as well.

[1014] Thinking of Monica sitting there.

[1015] Oh, yeah.

[1016] How are you on time management, Aaron?

[1017] Pretty good.

[1018] No complaints recently.

[1019] Yeah.

[1020] I'd say in the course of our lifetimes, like for work.

[1021] Aaron was always early.

[1022] I was the one that was always 5 -10 consistently late.

[1023] Uh -huh.

[1024] Yeah.

[1025] I really dropped the ball parenting for a while.

[1026] With the pickups and stuff?

[1027] Yeah.

[1028] Oh, sure.

[1029] But I've gotten really good at that.

[1030] So I guess I am pretty good recently.

[1031] That's good.

[1032] You do not need to put it on your New Year's resolutions.

[1033] No. No. I'll just maintain what I got going.

[1034] Yeah, your resolution should be keep nailing it.

[1035] Yeah.

[1036] Always nailing it.

[1037] Failure appointments.

[1038] Who are we fact -checking?

[1039] Scott Kelly, the astronaut.

[1040] Oh, my God.

[1041] I told Aaron so many of the things about this episode.

[1042] Mind -blowing.

[1043] Yeah, I don't want to be an astronaut anymore.

[1044] No. I don't either.

[1045] I've never had any desire to go to space, but now I have even less.

[1046] I've had a great, great desire to be weightless.

[1047] I think because I'm tall and I have some injuries.

[1048] The notion of just being your body's completely relaxed at all.

[1049] times doesn't need to do anything well that's how you feel in your lazy boy damn near yeah and that's why i covet i love it so much yeah and coveted it but not really love it and covet it because i have it so i can't covet well you do you want more i do want more i want every chair i ever sit in lazy boy it's the truth i know we watched that lousy fight last night and um the only thing that got me through it was the lazy boy so what happened oh man i don't want to be disparaging because i love Mike Tyson.

[1050] I really think he's kind of a pillar of humility at this point.

[1051] His outlook on life and why he suffered and why he was miserable because he felt entitled and he had expectations and now he has no expectations and he embraces whatever anything will be.

[1052] So I really like him.

[1053] Yeah, I like that a lot.

[1054] But it was not it was not a fight.

[1055] It was kind of like some dancing, I guess.

[1056] Hugging.

[1057] Hugging.

[1058] Snoop Dogg, who was a commentator.

[1059] Oh my.

[1060] He had the best comment at all.

[1061] He said, He said, oh, this looks like two of my uncles fighting at a barbecue.

[1062] Oh, my God.

[1063] If you've ever seen some uncles fight at a barbecue, it's just a mass. Both guys are tough guys, but neither really is a tough guy.

[1064] Usually drunk.

[1065] Oh, man. I'm fighting at a barbecue.

[1066] That's pretty funny.

[1067] You know I did a commercial with Snoop.

[1068] I sure do.

[1069] Fast food, right?

[1070] Yeah, Burger King.

[1071] The King.

[1072] It was a long time ago, yeah.

[1073] Yeah, he's so great.

[1074] You know, if not for him, the entire night would have been.

[1075] been probably a bust totally yeah he he did save it again i don't want to talk disparagingly but let's just say there was some other musical offerings and they weren't our taste or whatever uh and they and they were long well there was like between fights you'd watch six seven songs from somebody i'd never heard of again no disrespect to anyone that i'm sure it was hard dude there was no audience oh they're singing by themselves in a black box and it's they're feeling awkward now we're feeling it was kind of like watching bad stand -up oh boy oh no one was no one was no one was set up to win that's for sure like everyone and then the commentator he had such heavy lifting to do because like I don't think it was on schedule oh this guy was trying to fill the whole time and his sidekicks didn't have a lot to say nothing to say no I mean oh we should have done it honest to God I said it at one point I said we put on a much better live show than this huge production.

[1076] That thing was dragon.

[1077] No one had anything to say.

[1078] Anywho, and then the fight, it just wasn't a fight.

[1079] Like, clearly Tyson could have knocked him out in one second.

[1080] Oh, he could have.

[1081] Yeah, you felt his power.

[1082] Oh, then why didn't he?

[1083] Because it was an exhibition, I think, to get it, like, sanctioned by the WBA or one of these fight organizations, they had to call it an exhibition.

[1084] But I think all of us going into it thought, Well, his nature and training will just take over.

[1085] Oh, sure.

[1086] And he just won't be able to resist knocking him.

[1087] Oh, I see.

[1088] But he was able to resist.

[1089] But he followed the rules.

[1090] Okay, I like that.

[1091] I mean, I don't, I don't like it for the audience, but I like it for him.

[1092] Well, I like it for Roy Jones, juniors, who I like at the most part.

[1093] For sure, because Roy came in dead asleep.

[1094] They looked like they woke him up and shook him awake.

[1095] Yeah, and he was walking out to the ring like, oh.

[1096] You know, it was like, you know, it was like.

[1097] Couldn't wake up.

[1098] You know, those mornings you can't wake up?

[1099] He needed a fucking hot cup of Fulgers.

[1100] That would have been the best part of him waking up.

[1101] Mind you, you can hear everything because there's no audience, Monica, which is so weird.

[1102] Oh, boy.

[1103] Oh, God.

[1104] That reminds me of the first.

[1105] But just, we're not claiming this, so don't sue us.

[1106] But we think the ref farted in his pants right before.

[1107] He went, oh, and grabbed his stomach.

[1108] Oh, my God.

[1109] And, I mean, seconds.

[1110] before the bell rang and it was so quiet and uh we thought he must have just to do it yeah we're like oh he's just fucking farted man in the ring and then i read this morning i wanted to see what the kind of the consensus was about it which which was really positive i read like all these different sports publications and they everyone liked it that's great i'm reading for everyone involved It was well substantiated that Tyson had smoked a bunch of weed before the fight, which he said so that he can kind of numb his body.

[1111] So he was, which is interesting, because when he was in the corner, side note, they couldn't get his stool out.

[1112] Eight rounds.

[1113] They couldn't find his stool.

[1114] Yeah.

[1115] And when they found it, they couldn't get it in the ring.

[1116] Anyways, so half the time he was just standing, waiting for a stool.

[1117] And then he had a very, very placid look on his face every time they'd cut to him in the corner.

[1118] And I thought, he is so placid.

[1119] And now I realize he was pretty bagged, I think.

[1120] Yeah.

[1121] I love him, though.

[1122] I know.

[1123] I like that story.

[1124] I mean, it was nice that he, like, playfully, between rounds, would either, like, hug him or tap him, tap Roy Jones a little.

[1125] And it was real playful and very unlike the Tyson we're used to seeing in the ring.

[1126] Yeah.

[1127] So although that was nice, I think, like, when I want to.

[1128] Watch boxing, the animal and me takes over.

[1129] And I straight up want to see violence.

[1130] And I've always loved boxing, and I've loved watching Tyson turn into that person that is so scary.

[1131] And it just, we're hoping maybe he was saving it for the last round to just knock him out.

[1132] To give us our money.

[1133] They just danced and hugged and whatever.

[1134] Evolution.

[1135] I get it.

[1136] I also want to acknowledge our privilege.

[1137] like we were saying afterwards, you know, if I had $200 in my bank account and I had spent $50 for that fight, I'd probably be pretty bummed today.

[1138] Yeah, that's true.

[1139] And I wasn't bummed.

[1140] So I was just very grateful.

[1141] Something to be thankful for.

[1142] It was.

[1143] Thanksgiving.

[1144] Ding, ding, ding, ding.

[1145] A lot of gratitude.

[1146] Another ding, ding, ding, ding, speaking of can't get your stool out.

[1147] Oh, oh my God.

[1148] What a great segue.

[1149] A lot of people in this room, not me, can't get their stool out.

[1150] It's a problem.

[1151] It's the shepherd house is full of people who can't get their school.

[1152] Yeah, we don't want to out any Hollywood starlets or anything.

[1153] Oh, she did.

[1154] Okay, okay, okay.

[1155] Yeah, she's pretty impacted, it seems.

[1156] Yeah, so interesting.

[1157] Even the dog?

[1158] We took the dog on a hike, and Frank made a donger, and it was, it looked like a cork from a wine bottle.

[1159] Yeah.

[1160] Almost petrified.

[1161] Yeah, felt bad for him.

[1162] Yeah, and then about, I don't know, 12 minutes later, he had a little mustard can't out.

[1163] Oh, okay.

[1164] So he got his out.

[1165] Well, yeah.

[1166] I mean, I just, I had a hunch.

[1167] There was a ton more of the mustard.

[1168] I don't know what's going on with him, but everyone was, yeah, there was some binding agent in our food.

[1169] Oh, it's like a Veronica Mars style mystery.

[1170] Oh, she should solve her.

[1171] She should.

[1172] She should.

[1173] She should.

[1174] It's interesting, because some of us who had the Thanksgiving dinner are fine.

[1175] You?

[1176] Myself.

[1177] I mean, I could get more out, but I always could.

[1178] So that's where I'm at.

[1179] I have motion or I have activity, but it's just unsatisfying.

[1180] It's like every time I'm like, that's probably 50%.

[1181] I don't have that like leap off the bull feeling.

[1182] Like I'm light and airy.

[1183] Yeah.

[1184] Oh, but ding ding ding, Scott Kelly can't poop in space.

[1185] Exactly.

[1186] Is that what you were about to do?

[1187] Did I steal your ding ding ding?

[1188] No, you didn't.

[1189] You didn't.

[1190] That was great.

[1191] Mine is just an update about my body.

[1192] Oh.

[1193] I've switched anti -depripped.

[1194] presence, just since my, the listeners sometimes are on this ride with us.

[1195] Oh, yeah.

[1196] I've switched because I was having some effects that I wasn't crazy about.

[1197] Yeah.

[1198] So I switched and I like the one I'm on now more, much more.

[1199] Oh, good.

[1200] It's a process.

[1201] And which one is it now?

[1202] Zoloff.

[1203] Oh, so we're on the same one.

[1204] Yeah.

[1205] Okay, great.

[1206] And not as sleepy?

[1207] I'm not as sleepy.

[1208] I mean, I still want to sleep all day, but I'm up.

[1209] Like, I wake up.

[1210] And then I just decide to go back in my bed to roll around a little.

[1211] Right.

[1212] It's a life child.

[1213] Yeah.

[1214] What were you on before?

[1215] I was on Lexapro.

[1216] Which one are you on?

[1217] Lexapro.

[1218] Oh.

[1219] I know a lot of people who like it.

[1220] Yeah, Halsey loves Lexi.

[1221] Yeah.

[1222] Yeah, I've been on it a little over a year.

[1223] And I would never even think to try another one just because Because everything seems to be working.

[1224] Yeah.

[1225] I'm going to admit it now in this context, but, you know, one of my efforts to break my codependency with you is I wanted to ask you if you were still taking it about six days ago.

[1226] And then I stopped myself.

[1227] Yeah.

[1228] But now I found out.

[1229] I didn't have to.

[1230] I just thought like, oh, I hope he still takes that.

[1231] I, you know, the whole, if it's not broken, don't try to fix the thing.

[1232] They always refill it.

[1233] And no one seems to ask.

[1234] I'm not seeing a psychiatrist anymore since COVID, but I haven't been depressed in a year.

[1235] Oh, that's great.

[1236] And I assume, along with other things, that has something to do with it.

[1237] Well, a lot of different behavioral changes and maybe some chemical changes.

[1238] Oh, man, I'm so, I get, I'm just so grateful for you.

[1239] I love you.

[1240] I love you more.

[1241] I'm so happy to hear you.

[1242] I'm been depressed in a year.

[1243] Yeah.

[1244] Okay, I'm going to start my facts.

[1245] So you said that nobody saw Zethora, 65 .1 million worldwide?

[1246] U .S. No. U .S .D. box office.

[1247] It says it right here.

[1248] It says 65 million?

[1249] Yes.

[1250] Dude.

[1251] I don't think that's right.

[1252] Well, look, I'm sorry.

[1253] I thought it did worse than that.

[1254] It says U .S. dollars.

[1255] Yeah.

[1256] So that could be worldwide number.

[1257] Oh, really?

[1258] Yeah, I don't think here it, it didn't make as, I don't even think I made as much as a little without a paddle here.

[1259] So U .S. dollars is still worldwide?

[1260] Well, it could be either.

[1261] It could just, oh, U .S. domestic?

[1262] Let me look it up one more time.

[1263] I'm so sorry.

[1264] This is the one issue that Monica and I can never agree on.

[1265] This is the one issue?

[1266] Okay.

[1267] Are you what it did at the box office?

[1268] That's what you're talking?

[1269] Yeah.

[1270] It's so funny because, you know, my personal experience with that movie was I was in without a paddle and it made like $59 million bucks.

[1271] and then the next movie I was in that came out was Zethora, and I went to the screening of Zethora, and I was like, this movie's incredible.

[1272] Like if, without a paddle made $50, whatever million, this thing's going to make $150.

[1273] Yeah.

[1274] My expectations were really high.

[1275] I guess they should have been because...

[1276] It's a damn fucking good movie.

[1277] Oh, my God.

[1278] My kids have seen it 10 times each.

[1279] I think it's probably the best movie I'm in.

[1280] Okay, you're right.

[1281] Okay, what was it?

[1282] Zethora ended its theatrical run with...

[1283] 35.

[1284] gross of 30, basically.

[1285] The international box office total was 35, bringing its total worldwide gross to 65.

[1286] Okay.

[1287] They shouldn't put USDA by that.

[1288] I have a grievance now.

[1289] Okay.

[1290] I would have felt crazy because then I'd be like, oh.

[1291] You would have said it did great.

[1292] Yeah.

[1293] Yeah.

[1294] I think that's what it cost.

[1295] So it would have been like, oh, it broke even.

[1296] And it's had a great life on DVD, I'm sure, ancillary income.

[1297] and what are they, residuals.

[1298] Residials amortized over time.

[1299] Yeah.

[1300] I felt bad for myself, of course.

[1301] But really, the person I should have felt bad for is Favro because he put his life into that movie.

[1302] That was two years of his life.

[1303] And it was fucking great.

[1304] Well, at the time.

[1305] I know.

[1306] And it was great.

[1307] And because the movie was unpronounceable, that's my big takeaway.

[1308] You know, while we remark, while we, while they were marketing that movie, one of the things they discovered was people are really having a hard time with this name.

[1309] And so I think they did an episode of like Celebrity Apprentice or The Apprentice where people had to come up with an ad campaign to help people pronounce it.

[1310] And even on the show, none of them could pronounce it.

[1311] I was like, this is this back.

[1312] What?

[1313] It's not that hard to say.

[1314] Also, it's weird because isn't it kind of like Jumanji?

[1315] It is Chris Von Olsberg book just like Jumongi.

[1316] And Jumongi is also a strange.

[1317] It's not quite as fun to say.

[1318] Jumanji.

[1319] I love Jumanji.

[1320] Yeah.

[1321] I watch it for the first time the other day with the kids and it's phenomenal.

[1322] For the first time?

[1323] Oh my gosh.

[1324] I love it.

[1325] And it holds up, huh?

[1326] Yeah, it really does.

[1327] Oh, good.

[1328] It really does.

[1329] It's not like I've never not thought Robin Williams was brilliant, but just so many movies you revisit now you realize, oh, there's no movie without him.

[1330] Like you cast someone else in the movie, it's not even a fucking movie.

[1331] Like Mrs. Doubtfire?

[1332] Oh, I know.

[1333] The premise, oh, guy dresses like.

[1334] You know, yeah.

[1335] He brings so much heart to everything.

[1336] And Aladdin?

[1337] Yeah, Aladdin.

[1338] And 90 % of that is clearly improv.

[1339] Yeah.

[1340] Oh, it's so tragic.

[1341] Yeah.

[1342] It really makes me sad.

[1343] Yeah, me too.

[1344] Ding, ding, ding, depression.

[1345] Oh, no. Okay.

[1346] So you said that not a lot of people have graced the cover of Time magazine because Scott Kelly did.

[1347] Uh -huh.

[1348] So I started to count, and I couldn't.

[1349] Can I guess?

[1350] Well, I don't know the answer because I started to count.

[1351] They do an issue every month, so 12 a year.

[1352] It's been around for 100 years.

[1353] So 120 people.

[1354] I'm sorry, 1 ,200 people.

[1355] Ooh, fast math.

[1356] Good job, Aaron.

[1357] There's faster mathers here.

[1358] Oh, my gosh, faster math.

[1359] Faster mather.

[1360] Okay, so it started in 1923.

[1361] The first year had 44 people.

[1362] Oh, it must have been like, multiple episodes a month.

[1363] Well, the second year at 52, then 53, then 52, then 56.

[1364] I was counting.

[1365] And so I had to stop because I was only at 1927.

[1366] It's thousands.

[1367] If it used to be weekly, maybe is it still weekly?

[1368] Yeah, I think time is weekly.

[1369] Oh, it is.

[1370] Well, we got times 1 ,200 by 52, which is 5 ,200 plus the 2 is another 1 ,6 ,000.

[1371] 300.

[1372] But sometimes there's two people on one cover.

[1373] And recently they've, you know, had covers without people.

[1374] You know, there was like a corona one.

[1375] There was the earth.

[1376] And like they have repeats.

[1377] Okay.

[1378] So we'll never know the answer.

[1379] I mean, we could count, but I'm never going to count.

[1380] If you had to guess who had been on the cover the most times, who would you guess?

[1381] Unfortunately, I believe it's Trump.

[1382] Oh, oh, really?

[1383] Yeah.

[1384] I thought you were going to say Hitler.

[1385] Wasn't you famously person of the year of one of these publications, I think, regrettably so?

[1386] Let me, should I look it up?

[1387] That's not something you can ask Searing?

[1388] Yeah, let's see.

[1389] Okay, this says former president Richard Nixon has been among the most frequently featured on the front page of time, having appeared 55 times.

[1390] Oh my God.

[1391] Wow.

[1392] Wow.

[1393] Every week.

[1394] See, they're saying among because they didn't want to count either.

[1395] I love how much your hailing, You're nailing the G and among.

[1396] Among.

[1397] Amonga?

[1398] They're saying among.

[1399] They are.

[1400] Amongga.

[1401] Oh, my goodness.

[1402] Amongica Padman.

[1403] Well, anyway.

[1404] But I don't know when this was accumulated because I do think Trump is, he's been on it a lot.

[1405] Oh, he has.

[1406] Yeah.

[1407] I love him over there.

[1408] Let me see.

[1409] I want to just ask, was Hitler?

[1410] Times Man of the Year Hitler named Time Magazine's Man of the Year And on this day in 1938 Adolf Hitler was awarded Man of the Year by Time Magazine Yeah That makes sense They're probably Can you imagine Ombarous Well, it's not saying They're the best It's not saying they're the best Exactly Well they got that right then Mm -hmm Yeah okay All right I think that's why I think Trump is probably also won it for the same reason.

[1411] Do you want to hear the five of the most controversial choices of timing?

[1412] Yes.

[1413] All right.

[1414] So Trump, yeah.

[1415] Adolf Hitler, he's number one, as you would expect.

[1416] Sure.

[1417] Joseph Stalin, that's a rough.

[1418] Yeah, he also certainly impactful.

[1419] Nikita Khrushchev, Dick Nixon, Tricky Dick.

[1420] Ooh, the Ayatollah Khomeini.

[1421] Mm. Hmm.

[1422] The Ayatollah Assahola?

[1423] Is that a rap lyric?

[1424] Also, this is obvious, but many, many royals have been on time.

[1425] Oh, yeah.

[1426] I asked Monica last night if she wished to be a royal.

[1427] Yeah.

[1428] I said I can't pull off the hats, so no. And that's one of the main perks.

[1429] And then I said, just don't have a driver.

[1430] And then we thought, you could really be a princess of the people if you drove yourself, especially in your Toyota Prius.

[1431] I know.

[1432] Oh, I've never been happier that I had a Prius.

[1433] Yesterday, I got a Christmas tree.

[1434] Mm -hmm.

[1435] And it went to Home Depot and they brought it out.

[1436] And they said, do you have any cloth or anything to put it on top?

[1437] And I was like, no. But who cares?

[1438] Are you?

[1439] Just use it like a pickup.

[1440] Yeah.

[1441] Like, I don't have to worry.

[1442] about it.

[1443] I was so happy I didn't have a white Mercedes.

[1444] Yeah.

[1445] White Merck.

[1446] Well, when I buy you that white Mercedes, you probably keep the Prius around just for all your, um, my God.

[1447] Home Depot runs.

[1448] Yeah.

[1449] The tiny free is.

[1450] Hardware store.

[1451] Your HDRs.

[1452] Okay.

[1453] Yeah.

[1454] And you can be like, pop the hatchback and just fill it with sod or gravel.

[1455] Yeah.

[1456] That's a great idea.

[1457] I was so happy.

[1458] Unfortunately, it's a weak car.

[1459] So, well, I shouldn't say that.

[1460] Not to the the toy.

[1461] But this is what I mean.

[1462] They strapped the trion and they used string, obviously.

[1463] Yeah.

[1464] And my doors were upset.

[1465] It could feel the string and it kept saying the doors weren't closed.

[1466] Okay.

[1467] And so it made that horrible noise the whole ride home.

[1468] Oh, ding, ding, ding, ding.

[1469] Yeah, it was a bad ding, ding, ding, ding.

[1470] All the way home.

[1471] This reminds me of one of Brie and I's most trashy things we ever did, which was a bad ding, was we got just bombed drunk leading up to the holidays.

[1472] And we decided we should go liberate one of the Christmas trees from in front of Vons.

[1473] And so we went up there and we took her Toyota Corolla.

[1474] And we just stuck the Christmas tree in a panic.

[1475] Wait, you stole it.

[1476] Well, I'm going there with it.

[1477] And so we shoved it in the back seat.

[1478] Mine is like two in the morning.

[1479] It is two blocks away.

[1480] It's deplorable we had been drinking and we were driving, but I'm just telling you the truth.

[1481] Yes, thank you.

[1482] The tree would not fit in the back.

[1483] So the door was wide open with the tree hanging outside and we're trying to not get pulled over because we're obviously drinking.

[1484] And mind you, it's only a couple blocks away.

[1485] But anyways, we get home.

[1486] We race into the back of the parking thing and then we drag it in the house.

[1487] Anyways, we wake up, both of us, you know, we barely remember any of it.

[1488] And we wake up and there's a Christmas tree laying on that side in the living room.

[1489] and then you open the door and the whole there's just needles all the way down to the car and the rear door is still open oh wow had anyone seen us would have been the easiest to bust us wow oh wow oh boy sorry everybody what a life you've lived didn't have to be a detective to solve that one no no you don't have to be a Ron Mars Okay, let's see.

[1490] Okay, how many miles around is the Earth?

[1491] I'm not good at physics, so when I read, I had to look this up on multiple sites because I didn't like the answer.

[1492] Just over 24 ,901 miles.

[1493] Right.

[1494] That does not seem right.

[1495] How come?

[1496] I don't know.

[1497] Is he not enough or too much?

[1498] Yeah, not enough.

[1499] Do you know how I remember it?

[1500] How?

[1501] Because the earth is spinning at about a thousand miles an hour.

[1502] Uh -huh.

[1503] And so there's 24 hours in a day.

[1504] Oh, yeah.

[1505] Yeah.

[1506] But there's a tiny bit more than 24 hours in a day.

[1507] Well, yeah.

[1508] That why we have a leap year.

[1509] And why it's a little over 24.

[1510] Uh -huh.

[1511] I still don't think it's a big enough number.

[1512] Okay.

[1513] Just tell.

[1514] I don't know what to do about it.

[1515] I'm telling you about that.

[1516] Break the ruler out.

[1517] Yeah.

[1518] Because the radius is 3 ,958 miles.

[1519] Mm -hmm.

[1520] That does not seem right.

[1521] Well, the radius is just half of the width.

[1522] I know.

[1523] But 3 ,000 miles is from here to Georgia.

[1524] Yeah.

[1525] Yeah.

[1526] Doesn't see.

[1527] None of this makes sense to my brain that that is the same amount.

[1528] But that's just looking at the side.

[1529] I know, but still, it should be much, much, much more than that.

[1530] What would, like, what do you want it to be?

[1531] 100 ,000 miles around?

[1532] A million.

[1533] Oh, my gosh.

[1534] Okay.

[1535] I mean, it's the earth.

[1536] It's a substantial place.

[1537] Yeah.

[1538] I don't know.

[1539] And we're 93 million miles from the sun.

[1540] 93 million miles divided by 24 ,000.

[1541] I can't even do that math.

[1542] Can faster math are doing it?

[1543] Oh, my God.

[1544] I don't have Aaron just shit it out.

[1545] Wow.

[1546] 126 .97.

[1547] Space is definitely something that my brain has a big blind spot.

[1548] Like when Eric teaches us about astronomy, I don't understand any of it.

[1549] You don't.

[1550] None.

[1551] None of it.

[1552] Well, I'm glad that you have a little, to be honest, a little weakness.

[1553] I'm fine with it.

[1554] I don't feel like I need to know more.

[1555] Yeah.

[1556] Because it's a mystery.

[1557] Not a Ron Mars mystery.

[1558] Like one, I don't need to know the answer to.

[1559] I remember more from any class in college from astronomy.

[1560] And it wasn't even an interest of mine.

[1561] But learning how they figured all this out is, to me, so fascinating.

[1562] Because they have one single thing to go on.

[1563] Their one clue is light.

[1564] Yeah.

[1565] Which is incredible.

[1566] I know.

[1567] It's crazy.

[1568] It's crazy.

[1569] And they can figure out what the stars burn.

[1570] how far away it is, whether it's going away from us, whether it's coming towards us, all that from looking at light.

[1571] It's unbelievable.

[1572] I'm impressed.

[1573] Good job, astronomers.

[1574] Okay, can I tell you, because you says zero gravity.

[1575] Uh -huh.

[1576] And he did correct, but I'm just going to elaborate a little bit.

[1577] Microgravity is what it's called.

[1578] So like 0 .1 ATM or something?

[1579] It doesn't say the exact amount.

[1580] I tried to look.

[1581] Okay.

[1582] It's called zero gravity, but it's misleading because it's not zero gravity.

[1583] but it does cause you to float and appear weightless.

[1584] Yeah, that's why you're on the moon when you see that footage, they do come back down to the moon, but they can just jump for 60, 70 feet.

[1585] I know.

[1586] Oh, I love it.

[1587] I want to dance around up there.

[1588] Oh, maybe like Mike, they should do a boxing on the moon.

[1589] That would be a mess because they would throw a punch and it would take them spinning somewhere.

[1590] They'd have to put leashes on their ankles and keep bringing them back towards each other.

[1591] Also, how could you get knocked down?

[1592] You couldn't get knocked down.

[1593] You'd just get knocked away.

[1594] You're right, yeah.

[1595] There'd be boundaries, but how would you even make boundaries?

[1596] Yeah, maybe it'd be like you're fighting in a steel hemisphere.

[1597] Okay.

[1598] Like a big steel ball.

[1599] Connected to the shuttle?

[1600] And then when you get hit and you hit the mash, whether it's up or down or sideways, and then you stay on the mesh for three seconds.

[1601] That is, okay.

[1602] Not three, 10, sorry.

[1603] No need to shorten it.

[1604] This isn't WWF.

[1605] No, it is anything but.

[1606] Think how spectacular, that would be, though, at 0 .1 % gravity.

[1607] How do they actually go to the bathroom?

[1608] Like, do they strap themselves down?

[1609] I have to imagine there's a vacuum involved.

[1610] Okay.

[1611] There has to be.

[1612] They're, hey, look.

[1613] right because they'll flow off the toilet oh my god i don't understand you had honest rio oh oh my god it's every i mean oh my god what if someone was like knocking on the capsule like are you done in a fucking cloud of their honest rias gross keep me away from space to go there you couldn't pay me to go I am not going I panicked you'd be if you felt a little Lucy in this in there there has that's what there must I wish I had asked him I thought everyone knew I felt stupid asking that well and I did ask him but it didn't seem to want to elaborate he just said it's very hard to poop up there and the Russians say eat more food if you want to poop right oh you were asking logistics I also assumed what he assumed which is you were just like asking about that's what did that you told me the other day that he said, yeah, you just have to eat until it comes out.

[1614] Oh, my God.

[1615] Yeah.

[1616] Well, and that's what Christian's trying to do.

[1617] That's the approach she's taking.

[1618] She's taking her cues from the Russian cosmonaut.

[1619] That's right.

[1620] So astronauts in cancer, it seems like there was some studies saying it was a little more prevalent.

[1621] Thank you.

[1622] But there's a new study that says space radiation doesn't seem to increase.

[1623] astronaut's risk of death from cancer or heart disease, at least not at the doses they experienced during historical missions.

[1624] Longer missions, such as a mission to Mars, will likely come with a much greater radiation doses that could pose larger health risk.

[1625] Not great for Scott Kelly because he was there like the longest.

[1626] 540 all told or something.

[1627] But he is the longest.

[1628] Uninterrupted.

[1629] Correct.

[1630] Well, with his partner.

[1631] Yeah, Misha.

[1632] Misha.

[1633] Good memory.

[1634] Ding, ding, ding ding.

[1635] Thanks.

[1636] Ding dong ding -d -dong -d -don.

[1637] Now, I have to tell one joke before we complete this.

[1638] Oh, is it an astronaut joke?

[1639] Oh, it's not a joke.

[1640] I'm sorry.

[1641] Because you guys are Seinfeld people, you're not going to know this.

[1642] This is a Friends reference.

[1643] Oh, okay.

[1644] One of my favorite lines from Friends is because Scott's a twin.

[1645] Yes, he is.

[1646] So this is why I'm connecting it.

[1647] He's an identical twin, and Phoebe has an identical twin on Friends.

[1648] And there's one episode where Phoebe wants to buy all the furniture at a flea market and Rachel wants to buy it from pottery barn.

[1649] So Rachel starts lying and saying the stuff she's buying from pottery barn is from the flea market.

[1650] And then Ross comes over.

[1651] He admired the furniture.

[1652] And then Rachel told him it was from pottery barn and that he had to lie about it.

[1653] And he said, twins are so weird.

[1654] Wait, let me get this right.

[1655] Oh, my God.

[1656] This is very upsetting.

[1657] We can edit.

[1658] I used to know all the words.

[1659] Fuck.

[1660] Fuck.

[1661] He said, you know why?

[1662] It's because she's a twin.

[1663] Twins are weird.

[1664] And Rachel says, she's not weird.

[1665] She just likes for things to be one of a kind.

[1666] And he said, you know what's not one of a kind?

[1667] A twin.

[1668] Uh -huh.

[1669] Yeah.

[1670] There we go.

[1671] That's really good.

[1672] Yeah.

[1673] Oh, so it wasn't a space joke as much as a twin joke.

[1674] It was a twin joke.

[1675] Okay, crap.

[1676] Yeah, still connected to this episode.

[1677] Very much so.

[1678] Yeah.

[1679] Really nice.

[1680] That's all.

[1681] All right.

[1682] All right.

[1683] Love you guys.

[1684] Bye.

[1685] Follow armchair expert on the Wondry app, Amazon music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[1686] You can listen to every episode of Armchair expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

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