Episode #478

News Items

    Science or Fiction

    • Item #1 Science

      The record for most time spent in space is held by cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev who has spent 2.2 years in space.

    • Item #2 Fiction

      In 1962, astronaut John Young, as pilot of Gemini 3, smuggled his pet hamster onto the spacecraft. The pet became loose and when NASA was informed they ordered Young to evacuate the capsule before the hamster could cause any damage.

    • Item #3 Science

      The Vostok 1 carrying Yuri Gagarin on the first manned space flight was not designed to land with an occupant, so Gagarin had to eject at 4 miles up.

    Skeptical Quote of the Week.

    Sir Isaac Newton’s last words – “I don’t know what I may seem to the world. But as to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself now and then in finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than the ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”