WEBVTT 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:09.040 Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:12.720 StarTalk begins right now. 00:00:15.280 --> 00:00:16.900 This is StarTalk. 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:23.020 I'm your host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist, and today we're doing Cosmic Queries. 00:00:23.360 --> 00:00:30.980 We're going to start off in the first segment with a grab bag, and my guest co-host today is Jordan Klepper. 00:00:31.360 --> 00:00:32.980 Did I say your name? 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:33.580 Klepper. 00:00:33.580 --> 00:00:34.560 Klepper, yes. 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:36.060 Klepper. 00:00:36.660 --> 00:00:37.580 Take it slow, Neil. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:41.100 I know there's consonants, there's syllables in there. 00:00:42.500 --> 00:00:43.380 It takes a while. 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:44.340 We're going to get through this. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:45.520 We'll get through this. 00:00:45.540 --> 00:00:47.900 Wait until there's questions about a gravitational field. 00:00:48.120 --> 00:00:50.420 This is the easy part, Neil. 00:00:51.360 --> 00:00:52.220 So, Jordan, I missed you. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:54.260 We haven't had you on the show all since COVID. 00:00:55.780 --> 00:00:56.580 It's been a while. 00:00:56.740 --> 00:00:57.400 I've been waiting. 00:00:57.420 --> 00:00:58.040 Brady told me... 00:00:58.420 --> 00:00:59.840 I've had nothing to do, Neil. 00:00:59.860 --> 00:01:00.960 I've had nothing to do. 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:05.300 Sour bread, children, all sorts of stuff. 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:09.380 It's called sour dough bread, not sour bread. 00:01:10.860 --> 00:01:14.120 I haven't been paying attention to what the kids are into these days. 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:16.100 And you also cranked out a COVID baby. 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:17.660 I got a COVID baby at home right now. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:18.620 Congratulations. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:19.600 Thank you. 00:01:19.860 --> 00:01:22.000 And you're still a correspondent at The Daily Show. 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:22.940 I am, yes. 00:01:23.720 --> 00:01:24.580 Excellent, excellent. 00:01:24.600 --> 00:01:32.180 Still going out into the field, talking to people who are anti-vax, anti-mask, anti-express. 00:01:32.200 --> 00:01:34.120 Explosing the irrationality of the world. 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:34.580 Exactly. 00:01:34.600 --> 00:01:37.520 That's why this, I need this, Neil. 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:45.200 The ability to have an articulate conversation about things that aren't happening on this planet is... 00:01:45.360 --> 00:01:46.740 Excellent. 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:47.460 Let's do this. 00:01:47.540 --> 00:01:50.220 And we've got a grab bag of questions for this one. 00:01:50.240 --> 00:01:51.300 So this is going to be a potpourri. 00:01:51.800 --> 00:01:53.320 And you have the questions, I haven't seen them. 00:01:53.320 --> 00:01:55.660 If I don't know the answer, I'll just say, I don't know, go to the next one. 00:01:56.340 --> 00:01:57.220 And so give it to me. 00:01:57.240 --> 00:01:59.080 And tell us who asked the question as well. 00:01:59.100 --> 00:02:03.020 We know they're all from Patreon, who are our most devoted supporters. 00:02:03.660 --> 00:02:05.860 And so give it to me. 00:02:05.880 --> 00:02:06.240 What do you have? 00:02:06.260 --> 00:02:07.620 Kudos to you, Patreonics. 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:08.420 Do they have a name? 00:02:08.940 --> 00:02:09.920 Is that shorthand? 00:02:09.940 --> 00:02:10.740 Oh, no, we don't. 00:02:10.760 --> 00:02:11.120 I like that. 00:02:11.140 --> 00:02:11.860 The Patreonics. 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:12.760 I like that. 00:02:12.920 --> 00:02:15.100 It sounds like an old school R&B group. 00:02:18.940 --> 00:02:19.740 The Patreonics. 00:02:20.600 --> 00:02:24.620 Give it up for Gladys Knight and the Patreonics. 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:25.140 I like it. 00:02:25.220 --> 00:02:26.360 She moved past the pips. 00:02:26.380 --> 00:02:27.760 They were asking for too much money. 00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:28.980 The Patreonics. 00:02:29.060 --> 00:02:29.880 Let's bring them in. 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:30.880 I love it. 00:02:30.920 --> 00:02:31.420 I love it. 00:02:31.420 --> 00:02:32.020 All right. 00:02:32.040 --> 00:02:32.520 So what do you have? 00:02:32.540 --> 00:02:44.180 Our first patriotic is Sandra Pagliani, and she wants to know, knowing what we know now, do you think we have all that we need to be able to safely send humans to Mars today? 00:02:44.540 --> 00:02:46.300 If not, what are we missing? 00:02:46.980 --> 00:02:47.320 Yeah. 00:02:47.340 --> 00:02:48.320 So great question. 00:02:48.340 --> 00:02:49.500 So the answer is yes. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:52.740 No one is saying we can't go to Mars because we can't figure it out. 00:02:52.760 --> 00:02:53.980 That is not the issue. 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:55.820 The issue is it's expensive. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.180 Do people want to do it for that much money? 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:02.620 And there'll be dangers because there'll be some unknowns and some unknown unknowns. 00:03:02.640 --> 00:03:03.120 We get it. 00:03:03.640 --> 00:03:10.160 But probably the last thing that we haven't fully figured out, but if you task some engineers to it, they'll be on it. 00:03:10.180 --> 00:03:22.900 I'm not worried about this, is when you leave the protective magnetic blanket that we enjoy here on Earth's surface that shields us from some ionizing radiation from the sun. 00:03:23.140 --> 00:03:24.740 The sun is a very active place. 00:03:24.760 --> 00:03:29.840 The solar wind has all these charged particles that are not good for human physiology. 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:33.300 The atmosphere and the magnetic field protects us from that. 00:03:33.580 --> 00:03:37.760 You leave that and go on a long voyage, then you are now susceptible. 00:03:38.100 --> 00:03:41.720 So we need radiation protection along the way. 00:03:42.200 --> 00:03:45.360 And so the engineers would figure that out, figure out what materials... 00:03:45.440 --> 00:03:47.000 By the way, you know what absorbs that radiation? 00:03:47.180 --> 00:03:47.560 Water. 00:03:48.420 --> 00:03:56.420 So imagine a spaceship where there is a layer of protective water that cycles through you. 00:03:57.880 --> 00:04:01.300 So you would drink it, you pee it out, filter it, go back in. 00:04:01.320 --> 00:04:08.860 So you would have this system where life-sustaining water is also your shield. 00:04:09.220 --> 00:04:10.600 Then you get to Mars. 00:04:11.040 --> 00:04:16.260 Mars doesn't have a magnetic field to protect it, so you need to live underground or something. 00:04:17.440 --> 00:04:21.500 You feel confident that we just throw some engineers at that and they can figure it out? 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:26.580 There's still not the technology to figure out how to send me to Phoenix safely. 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:30.700 I've tried SPF, I've tried thick clothing. 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:32.840 My body doesn't withstand the heat. 00:04:34.440 --> 00:04:43.080 If Phoenix, latest research shows, is like a quarter mile from the surface of the sun, so you need special SPF one billion for that. 00:04:45.080 --> 00:04:49.300 I think engineers, what they need is, what is the challenge? 00:04:49.320 --> 00:04:51.120 How much money do you have and how much time do you have? 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:56.980 And then that's where ingenuity feeds the engineer. 00:04:57.420 --> 00:05:01.080 And they solve problems that previously might have thought to be intractable. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:11.000 So we don't have a field, we don't have discovery without engineers sitting in the next room helping us figure out how to build the thing. 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:13.100 So yeah, there's nothing in the way except money. 00:05:13.140 --> 00:05:13.420 Right. 00:05:13.780 --> 00:05:15.920 So we're basically there. 00:05:15.940 --> 00:05:18.340 In a capitalistic society, consider us on Mars. 00:05:19.640 --> 00:05:21.000 Well, that's the little... 00:05:21.940 --> 00:05:31.280 I would say a capitalist society with vision and a sense of wonder and exploration, we're already on Mars. 00:05:31.760 --> 00:05:32.280 I'll take it. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:34.320 Let's hear from our next patriotic. 00:05:34.340 --> 00:05:35.860 This is TJ Monroe. 00:05:35.880 --> 00:05:36.520 He says, Dr. 00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:42.520 Tyson, could you explain the relationship between the plane of our solar system and the plane of our galaxy? 00:05:42.900 --> 00:05:48.140 I know that our sun is moving south, but how does that relate to the galactic disk? 00:05:48.840 --> 00:05:49.740 Oh, okay. 00:05:49.760 --> 00:06:01.580 The sun's spin axis and the disk in which all the planets orbit, except Pluto, which is tipped 30 degrees out of the plane of all the other planets. 00:06:01.760 --> 00:06:07.600 That's another reason we never even listed for you why Pluto never, Pluto had it coming. 00:06:07.840 --> 00:06:10.560 Okay, so, and don't get me started. 00:06:10.580 --> 00:06:12.540 Neil, you got to get off the Pluto thing, all right? 00:06:12.700 --> 00:06:14.080 The patriotic has spoken. 00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:15.780 It's time to move on from the Pluto thing. 00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:18.000 moveon.org. 00:06:20.840 --> 00:06:27.400 So, the angle that the solar system makes to the plane of the galaxy, it's like, what is it, 90? 00:06:28.580 --> 00:06:36.760 It's more than fully tipped, and so we're actually sort of dragging through the galaxy as we orbit it. 00:06:36.780 --> 00:06:40.020 It takes a couple hundred million years to complete an orbit. 00:06:40.100 --> 00:06:41.120 But here's what's cool. 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:59.120 The cool part is, as the solar system moves through the galaxy, if you track the paths through space that the planets are making, it's a corkscrew through the fabric of space and time. 00:06:59.960 --> 00:07:03.580 Because we're going around the sun, but we're also moving sideways. 00:07:03.960 --> 00:07:08.600 So if you combine circular motion with motion sideways, you get a corkscrew. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:13.840 And so all the planets are corkscrewing around the sun as it moves through the galaxy. 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:16.040 It's a beautiful thing to watch when you see it mapped out. 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:20.140 You could also say it's like a toilet bowl, but then it wouldn't be a beautiful thing. 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:24.160 Corkscrew was the right call, is what I'm saying. 00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:25.120 Yeah, I think so. 00:07:25.140 --> 00:07:28.480 Yeah, I'm sticking with the corkscrew on that. 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:31.400 This is from Rick Carlson. 00:07:31.940 --> 00:07:32.520 Hi, Dr. 00:07:32.540 --> 00:07:33.960 Tyson and friends. 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:35.260 I'm one of the friends. 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:36.600 Klepper is how it's pronounced. 00:07:36.620 --> 00:07:37.040 Klepper. 00:07:38.900 --> 00:07:47.580 Because we can detect gravitational waves from massive astronomical events, LIGO and Virgo, that obviously didn't tear the place up. 00:07:47.960 --> 00:07:53.680 Is there a distance from the events that would be considered safe, but would still allow you to notice slash feel it? 00:07:54.740 --> 00:07:55.020 Ooh. 00:07:55.480 --> 00:08:10.620 You know, I never thought about that because you occupy a volume in the fabric of space and time, and a gravitational wave washes over you, distorting the fabric of space and time. 00:08:11.420 --> 00:08:14.840 But you are occupying the space and time. 00:08:15.520 --> 00:08:23.880 So how would you know if you had a wave move across you, if you become part of the wave that moves across you? 00:08:25.640 --> 00:08:27.740 That's, I don't have an answer for that. 00:08:28.780 --> 00:08:32.920 So you ever see a duck sitting on the ocean and then a wave comes by? 00:08:32.940 --> 00:08:35.300 The duck just goes up and down, right? 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:39.000 Does the duck even know or care that it's a wave went under it? 00:08:39.520 --> 00:08:42.360 And so I don't know that you would feel it. 00:08:42.820 --> 00:08:48.220 This is why I get stoned before doing these things. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:48.980 No, think about it. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:53.020 Consider you have an ant walking on a sheet of paper, okay? 00:08:53.040 --> 00:08:54.540 And the ant is just minding something. 00:08:54.560 --> 00:08:56.660 And you take the piece of paper and curve it. 00:08:57.400 --> 00:08:58.860 The ant is just still walking. 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:03.860 Does it even know or care that you put curvature in its universe? 00:09:04.140 --> 00:09:06.220 You would have no idea if you're the ant. 00:09:08.760 --> 00:09:13.620 Unless you made a kink in it, then the kink is sharp compared to its own body. 00:09:13.780 --> 00:09:18.920 But if it's a wave moving through, I wonder if we would notice at all. 00:09:19.400 --> 00:09:22.920 And you need the special instruments to make this measurement. 00:09:22.940 --> 00:09:24.880 That's why. 00:09:25.460 --> 00:09:27.120 You're measuring at two right angles. 00:09:27.900 --> 00:09:37.500 And so you look at what the length of one of these is relative to the length of the other as the wave moves across it because it stretches in one direction and not the other. 00:09:38.040 --> 00:09:41.120 And for you to notice that, I don't know. 00:09:42.500 --> 00:09:43.300 That's a good question. 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:45.280 I don't have a firm answer for it. 00:09:45.880 --> 00:09:46.280 I like it. 00:09:46.300 --> 00:09:48.640 But nor do I want to do the experiment to find out. 00:09:48.660 --> 00:09:51.220 You don't want to ride that wave? 00:09:51.780 --> 00:09:53.660 Yeah, no, I don't want to ride that wave. 00:09:53.800 --> 00:09:55.840 No, no, no. 00:09:56.860 --> 00:09:58.780 Let's check in with Roman Prekop. 00:10:00.680 --> 00:10:05.120 Roman says, is there any scientific reason for the shape of the Enterprise ship? 00:10:05.540 --> 00:10:10.880 If it is just an artistic impression, would it actually hold up as an effective shape out there? 00:10:10.900 --> 00:10:20.040 Yeah, so first of all, all these aerodynamic shapes in space, completely pointless because there's no aerodynamics in space. 00:10:20.380 --> 00:10:24.080 So they're cool and badass looking, okay? 00:10:24.540 --> 00:10:33.180 But that ship was built in dry dock in space and launched from space, so it didn't have to move through our atmosphere to get there, right? 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:43.260 Whereas the space shuttle, the orbiter, because it had to actually come out of orbit and navigate through our air, there's some air surfaces on it. 00:10:43.280 --> 00:10:47.400 It's got wings, it's got a nose cone, it's got things that matter when you're moving through the air. 00:10:47.580 --> 00:10:52.920 So the Enterprise, badass as it looks, did not have to be that bad. 00:10:52.940 --> 00:11:01.400 It could have been just an angular thing that could have looked like anything and would have been no less effective achieving warp speeds. 00:11:01.660 --> 00:11:03.520 Here's a question I'm going to add on to this for you, Neil. 00:11:04.540 --> 00:11:27.900 So in this world where the Enterprise is being built in space from a more advanced civilization, time period wise, they had the technology to build the Enterprise, do you think the people at that time, even though they could build a more functional ship, the people at that time would still need an aesthetically cool ship to want to support such a project? 00:11:28.060 --> 00:11:28.420 Yes. 00:11:31.680 --> 00:11:34.120 Because you want people to rally around it. 00:11:34.140 --> 00:11:35.780 You want it to feel like the future. 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:38.280 Otherwise, what's going to motivate you? 00:11:38.520 --> 00:11:39.380 What's going to do? 00:11:39.780 --> 00:11:41.560 So I'm into design. 00:11:41.700 --> 00:11:42.500 I love design. 00:11:42.520 --> 00:11:43.360 I love good design. 00:11:43.500 --> 00:11:47.360 I love design that says, yeah, I want to be in that. 00:11:47.580 --> 00:11:50.660 I want to be a part of that future. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:55.780 Because what is the future if not something that doesn't look like anything we've ever designed before? 00:11:56.540 --> 00:12:04.640 Do you think human beings will ever evolve past the need for design to be over function or is that inherent to us as humans? 00:12:04.780 --> 00:12:06.080 Oh, yes, a good question. 00:12:06.400 --> 00:12:12.200 I know that once we control the human genome, you can put more of it in or take it out, I guess. 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:13.980 I don't know. 00:12:14.260 --> 00:12:17.260 I know some people who don't care about design at all. 00:12:17.540 --> 00:12:18.700 We all know such people. 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:23.340 They're not following the latest fashions or trends or anything. 00:12:23.340 --> 00:12:24.920 They're just living, all right? 00:12:24.940 --> 00:12:25.900 And that's cool. 00:12:26.220 --> 00:12:26.800 That's cool. 00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:30.120 But we happen to live in a world where there are people that care about what things look like. 00:12:31.340 --> 00:12:34.120 And I'm glad some of them are designing our spaceship. 00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:37.040 So, Jordan, we're going to take a break. 00:12:37.060 --> 00:12:45.860 And when we come back, we're going to bring in Nicole Scott, who has a new book on what Earth looks like from space. 00:12:45.880 --> 00:12:46.780 Because guess what? 00:12:47.340 --> 00:12:48.980 She's been in space, okay? 00:12:49.760 --> 00:12:57.700 And she's also an artist and thinks a lot about the effects of having these views of the universe on one's creativity. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:03.920 So we're going to look into that and continue Cosmic Queries into those topics when StarTalk returns. 00:13:16.151 --> 00:13:18.831 I'm Joel Cherico, and I make pottery. 00:13:19.371 --> 00:13:22.791 You can see my pottery on my website, cosmicmugs.com. 00:13:23.011 --> 00:13:26.471 Cosmic Mugs, art that lets you taste the universe every day. 00:13:27.091 --> 00:13:29.091 And I support StarTalk on Patreon. 00:13:29.571 --> 00:13:31.771 This is StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson. 00:13:45.234 --> 00:13:50.314 We're back, StarTalk Cosmic Queries Edition, and I got my co-host, Jordan Klepper. 00:13:50.334 --> 00:13:51.134 Jordan. 00:13:52.074 --> 00:13:53.114 Let's bring in friends, Neil. 00:13:56.814 --> 00:13:58.414 Jordan, do you have a social media presence? 00:13:58.434 --> 00:13:59.434 Why don't you tell us what that is? 00:13:59.454 --> 00:14:00.774 Do I have a social media presence? 00:14:00.814 --> 00:14:02.574 I think I'm all over that place. 00:14:02.674 --> 00:14:09.354 You can get at me at Twitter, at Jordan Klepper, get at me at Instagram, also my name. 00:14:10.094 --> 00:14:10.414 Yeah. 00:14:10.434 --> 00:14:11.514 Jordan Klepper, very clever. 00:14:11.534 --> 00:14:12.954 They both have the same handle. 00:14:13.734 --> 00:14:16.594 Exactly, you got to be clever with this kind of a thing. 00:14:16.614 --> 00:14:22.414 It's a nice chance, it's an invitation to see more of my life and my insights and hopefully- 00:14:22.434 --> 00:14:27.734 Well, we love your dispatches on Comedy Central's daily show, so keep those going. 00:14:28.154 --> 00:14:36.794 That's right, and what that means is the day that rationality takes over the world, you won't have a job because the people- 00:14:37.054 --> 00:14:41.094 Once this world becomes a rational, peaceful place, I'm out of work. 00:14:41.214 --> 00:14:43.334 But until then, business is booming. 00:14:43.914 --> 00:14:44.954 Business is booming. 00:14:45.554 --> 00:14:49.094 All right, so in this segment, we're bringing in Nicole Scott. 00:14:49.114 --> 00:14:58.214 Nicole is an engineer and artist and a retired NASA astronaut, put in 104 days in space. 00:14:58.234 --> 00:15:00.134 So that's up there doing some stuff. 00:15:00.954 --> 00:15:15.594 And also, I remember we had these, the NASA Aquanaut, all right, spending 18 days underwater in the Aquarius Undersea Laboratory, and I'm very pleased to know that we're doing some work there at the bottom of the ocean. 00:15:16.434 --> 00:15:17.654 But here's what I love about it. 00:15:18.354 --> 00:15:23.294 Nicole, you're the first person to paint in watercolor in space. 00:15:24.254 --> 00:15:25.234 What's up with that? 00:15:25.274 --> 00:15:29.794 And tell me about this Space for Art Foundation that you're director of. 00:15:30.434 --> 00:15:31.194 Yeah, thanks. 00:15:31.474 --> 00:15:32.694 Great to be here with you guys. 00:15:33.254 --> 00:15:35.334 And yeah, painting in space. 00:15:35.894 --> 00:15:38.494 I don't know that I would have figured out to do that on my own. 00:15:40.234 --> 00:15:49.594 One of our people that I thank every time I see her, Mary Jane Anderson, she was the person who helps us put all of our stuff together that we're going to take to space. 00:15:50.114 --> 00:15:56.494 And she encouraged me, she's like, you know, Nicole, you're going to be living there, not just working there, bring something with you that you enjoy doing on earth. 00:15:56.814 --> 00:15:58.354 And so I chose watercolors. 00:15:58.374 --> 00:16:00.814 Wait, wait, something that fits in a small bag. 00:16:03.774 --> 00:16:09.594 Although there are others who have gotten away with bringing keyboards and guitars and other things up there. 00:16:09.614 --> 00:16:11.514 Peloton, the peloton might not make it up. 00:16:15.854 --> 00:16:22.874 But it was awesome because, you know, I think about it now in hindsight, it's like, man, that's what we need to do to put the human in human space flight, right? 00:16:22.894 --> 00:16:24.814 We need to recognize that we're living there. 00:16:24.834 --> 00:16:26.414 We need to bring our humanity with us. 00:16:26.434 --> 00:16:27.974 That should be stuff that we enjoy. 00:16:27.994 --> 00:16:33.194 And you should enjoy yourself when you're in space on a spaceship, but you know, as well as here on earth. 00:16:33.434 --> 00:16:42.634 Is this part of the themes that fed your latest book Back to Earth, What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet and Our Mission to Protect It? 00:16:42.654 --> 00:16:46.034 Because that all sounds like it's drawn from the same thematic pot. 00:16:46.494 --> 00:16:47.554 Yeah, I think so. 00:16:47.614 --> 00:16:54.434 You know, we go, and you guys talk about this all the time, complexities that are just beyond my total understanding. 00:16:54.454 --> 00:17:01.034 But for us to fly in space, to live and work in there, even for a short period of time, it's a pretty complex thing. 00:17:01.054 --> 00:17:04.994 But for me, in the end, it all came down to simple lessons. 00:17:05.074 --> 00:17:07.134 Like, oh my gosh, we live on a planet. 00:17:08.454 --> 00:17:10.654 Who knew, you know, we're all- 00:17:10.674 --> 00:17:11.594 Wait, wait, Nicole. 00:17:12.494 --> 00:17:18.414 We have to spend $100 million to put you in space to tell me we live on a planet, really? 00:17:18.854 --> 00:17:21.214 There's taxpayers listening to this right now. 00:17:21.234 --> 00:17:22.614 The taxpayers listening. 00:17:22.634 --> 00:17:26.034 Yeah, there's going to be an alert put out now, right? 00:17:26.054 --> 00:17:30.334 We gotta use that money for the American education system, clearly. 00:17:31.794 --> 00:17:34.974 However, it's this thing, we all know these things, right? 00:17:34.994 --> 00:17:41.794 We know we live on a planet, we know we're earthlings, we know that the only border that really matters is that thin blue line of atmosphere. 00:17:41.814 --> 00:17:55.374 And yet that time in space for me made that really real to me, made me realize that, wow, we are doing things, complex things as an international community, peacefully, successfully, on this mechanical life support system. 00:17:56.214 --> 00:17:56.854 That is- 00:17:56.934 --> 00:17:57.974 The International Space Station. 00:17:57.994 --> 00:17:59.234 The International Space Station. 00:17:59.594 --> 00:18:03.634 We've built it, right, to mimic as best we can what Earth does for us naturally. 00:18:05.314 --> 00:18:10.374 And it's just the most wonderful example for how we should be living like crewmates here on Spaceship Earth. 00:18:11.374 --> 00:18:14.054 And that, I mean, that really became the reality of it for me. 00:18:14.094 --> 00:18:29.774 What are the ways we do that in space, you know, as the crew of six or seven on the Space Station, the tens of thousands of people across the agencies here on Earth, that we can share that might encourage people to behave that way as crewmates and not passengers? 00:18:29.794 --> 00:18:31.934 Wait, wait, so what does art have to do with it? 00:18:32.154 --> 00:18:37.994 And plus, I'm a little worried, because that thing hanging behind you on the wall, was that a spacesuit that an artist got ahold of? 00:18:38.894 --> 00:18:46.134 I painted in space, came back to Earth thinking, okay, I'm going to use, after retiring from NASA, I'm going to use my artwork to share the experience, right? 00:18:46.154 --> 00:18:51.294 Get people knowing about all this work we're doing in space that's ultimately about improving life on Earth. 00:18:52.034 --> 00:19:12.594 And that evolved into working with kids in hospitals and refugee centers around the world and creating these really, I mean, they are works of art, art spacesuits, and partnering with teams like the folks here at ILC Dover, the spacesuit company who quilt these kids' art together for us. 00:19:12.934 --> 00:19:14.094 That's where you are in this moment? 00:19:14.134 --> 00:19:15.454 That's where I am right now, yeah. 00:19:15.474 --> 00:19:24.914 Really kind of cool today, you know, as a, even as a former astronaut, it's like anytime you can get in a spacesuit, that's a good day, okay? 00:19:24.934 --> 00:19:31.914 I got to do that, got to get in one of the new designs and move around and see what it's going to be like and imagine myself walking around on the moon or Mars. 00:19:33.614 --> 00:19:39.274 So you're not the first astronaut to bring art to the forefront of people's attention. 00:19:39.374 --> 00:19:41.734 We go back to the Apollo era and we get to Alan Bean. 00:19:41.754 --> 00:19:43.494 I mean, he published books on art. 00:19:43.514 --> 00:19:43.734 Yeah. 00:19:43.874 --> 00:19:51.134 So should we be sending more artists into space because they would communicate a different kind of life experience than an engineer would? 00:19:51.754 --> 00:19:53.414 And you have the benefit of being both. 00:19:53.434 --> 00:20:05.774 Yeah, I think, and what's interesting to me is I've kind of, through my NASA career, watched the people around me and tried to get a sense of what they enjoy, the kinds of things they're doing outside of the technical work area. 00:20:06.274 --> 00:20:08.974 And I think for most of us, there's some creative outlet. 00:20:09.574 --> 00:20:17.774 And you mentioned Alan Bean, Apollo fourth guy to walk on the moon, who comes back, retires from NASA and paints the experience for people. 00:20:18.334 --> 00:20:32.394 You can go back even further to Alexei Leonov, who wanted to be an artist before he wanted to be a cosmonaut and took colored pencils with him and sketched orbital sunrises, drew portraits during the Apollo Soyuz mission. 00:20:32.714 --> 00:20:37.634 And it's just in us to want to share the experience in different ways. 00:20:37.814 --> 00:20:39.234 And I'm absolutely open. 00:20:39.254 --> 00:20:40.194 We should be sending artists. 00:20:40.214 --> 00:20:41.074 We should be sending- 00:20:41.094 --> 00:20:42.594 Senterical comedians. 00:20:42.614 --> 00:20:45.074 All kinds of people to space to share it. 00:20:45.094 --> 00:20:46.374 We should be sending Jordan. 00:20:48.714 --> 00:20:53.294 I tell you, what you're describing, you go away just to understand that the earth is beneath us. 00:20:53.314 --> 00:20:55.214 You get to quilt, you get to paint a little bit. 00:20:55.574 --> 00:20:58.374 I feel like this sounds like an ayahuasca trip, and I am in. 00:20:59.834 --> 00:21:02.554 And we'll need some earth jokes when we get back. 00:21:04.414 --> 00:21:07.254 New material for that standup routine you got going. 00:21:08.134 --> 00:21:14.774 So Nicole, your book is Back to Earth, What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet and Our Mission to Protect It. 00:21:15.154 --> 00:21:20.754 And we solicited questions for you from our fan base, from our Patreon fan base. 00:21:20.774 --> 00:21:25.494 And in this program, Jordan has renamed this community, the what did you call them? 00:21:25.514 --> 00:21:26.994 It's the Patrionics, you know. 00:21:27.694 --> 00:21:30.014 Ladies and gentlemen, Gladys Knight and the Patrionics. 00:21:31.414 --> 00:21:32.174 So here we go. 00:21:32.194 --> 00:21:38.414 They're our most loyal supporters and they get to get their questions submitted and answered. 00:21:38.574 --> 00:21:39.954 So Jordan, what do you have for us? 00:21:39.974 --> 00:21:43.454 I got Ben Moore and Ben wants to know, he says, Hi Dr. 00:21:43.474 --> 00:21:51.354 Tyson and Nicole, my question is for Nicole and I was wondering if you could give us an insight into what it's truly like to look back at Earth from space. 00:21:51.694 --> 00:21:55.834 It's been a dream of mine and I can barely begin to comprehend what that must be like. 00:21:55.994 --> 00:21:56.674 Thanks for your time. 00:21:57.454 --> 00:22:01.174 And Nicole, before you answer that, let me just, I have to put this in. 00:22:01.474 --> 00:22:13.614 There are people who are going in the suborbital sort of joyride, the billionaire joyrides and to a schoolroom globe, they went up the thickness of two dimes, okay? 00:22:13.634 --> 00:22:14.774 I did the math on that. 00:22:15.154 --> 00:22:18.474 And so not even in orbit and even that low. 00:22:18.954 --> 00:22:28.094 Is there some distance above which you do feel like, yeah, I'm an astronaut and I'm looking down on earth rather than I'm just in a very high airplane? 00:22:29.074 --> 00:22:31.274 You know, I don't know what that number would be. 00:22:31.294 --> 00:22:44.374 I can tell you nothing prepared me for what I was gonna see, what I was gonna feel, how it was gonna get in me, this sense of our home as a planet, as one place in space. 00:22:45.294 --> 00:22:57.014 I don't know, I mean, I was the farthest I've ever been from home, and I felt more connected to that place and everything below me than I had necessarily ever felt with my feet right on it, and I want people to feel that. 00:22:57.554 --> 00:23:00.274 So, Nicole, can you tell me an IMAX movie can't do that for you? 00:23:00.874 --> 00:23:01.934 There's a sense of it. 00:23:01.954 --> 00:23:02.954 Because that's cheaper. 00:23:02.974 --> 00:23:05.314 That's cheaper than going to the space station. 00:23:06.194 --> 00:23:07.874 We got Brian Lacey here. 00:23:08.494 --> 00:23:11.554 Brian says, art is the expression of emotional power. 00:23:11.694 --> 00:23:15.874 What object in the universe makes you feel emotional power? 00:23:17.234 --> 00:23:18.574 Emotional power. 00:23:18.694 --> 00:23:30.914 Wow, I think I would have to come back to this view of Earth, this sense of home that comes from that. 00:23:30.934 --> 00:23:34.454 And I don't know, I think it's emotionally powerful. 00:23:34.494 --> 00:23:39.294 I don't know if it necessarily gives me emotional, but it's emotionally powerful. 00:23:39.434 --> 00:23:40.954 And you guys talk about power. 00:23:40.974 --> 00:23:43.974 Powerful on you is different from feeling power, right? 00:23:44.034 --> 00:23:45.034 That's a different thing. 00:23:45.414 --> 00:23:46.234 So is it humbling? 00:23:46.574 --> 00:23:47.954 Oh my gosh, absolutely. 00:23:48.534 --> 00:23:49.214 Absolutely. 00:23:49.254 --> 00:24:01.854 And you know, this almost unfathomable size of our universe, what we know of the universe, this sense of, oh, we're this tiny little dot kind of thing and the grand scheme. 00:24:01.874 --> 00:24:06.174 And that always worried me that I'd have this feeling of insignificance associated with that. 00:24:07.034 --> 00:24:08.054 Absolutely not. 00:24:08.594 --> 00:24:25.434 I mean, thinking about our planet perfectly placed from the sun, you know, doing all it needs to do, like it's the spaceship to take care of us, that's significant to me, that we're meeting each other today because there's some significance in all of this that's going on around us in this place. 00:24:25.794 --> 00:24:30.554 And that's, I don't know, that's a pretty powerful, emotionally powerful thing to consider. 00:24:31.714 --> 00:24:33.974 So your book has a new age chapter then. 00:24:34.134 --> 00:24:37.314 Yeah, there is the stay grounded chapter, yes. 00:24:38.734 --> 00:24:40.594 We're all spiritually connected. 00:24:40.774 --> 00:24:48.914 I'll tell you what object makes me feel emotionally powerful and wields power over me, it makes me feel insignificant. 00:24:48.914 --> 00:24:49.994 It's Instagram. 00:24:52.594 --> 00:24:54.114 Immediately I feel like... 00:24:54.134 --> 00:24:55.694 We need top people to look into that. 00:24:55.714 --> 00:24:56.774 Exactly, I feel like... 00:24:56.794 --> 00:24:57.974 The Instagram effect. 00:24:57.994 --> 00:24:59.714 You can't look away from it. 00:24:59.734 --> 00:25:04.414 You stare at it and yet you feel small in comparison to your friends who went to Tulum. 00:25:07.154 --> 00:25:08.114 All right, keep them coming. 00:25:08.134 --> 00:25:08.674 What do you have? 00:25:08.694 --> 00:25:10.774 This is from Chester Lipschitz. 00:25:11.494 --> 00:25:19.054 Would it even be practical to use the mediums we use today to create art in zero gravity as in orbit or low gravity such as Mars? 00:25:19.394 --> 00:25:26.234 Would we have to develop a whole new set of materials to continue to use our human creativity to express the environment that surrounds us? 00:25:27.174 --> 00:25:27.854 I love that. 00:25:27.874 --> 00:25:33.394 Yeah, what role does zero G play in your artwork or even like 40% G, what you'd get on Mars? 00:25:34.814 --> 00:25:45.434 Yeah, I think we will try to continue using the same medium that we have and then we'll just realize that that environment allows us to do a lot more creative things with it. 00:25:45.694 --> 00:25:48.334 And I mean, I even found that on the space station. 00:25:48.354 --> 00:25:51.514 You know, I didn't have a cup of water that I could dip my brush into. 00:25:51.534 --> 00:26:07.314 I had to squirt a little ball of water out and watch it floating and, you know, go to dip the brush and then, and maybe you guys can, once and for all somebody can explain to me, but that floating ball of water, even before the tip of the brush touched it, it's like it wanted to move onto the end of the brush. 00:26:07.414 --> 00:26:12.874 And then I'm watching this floating ball of water onto the brush and I move it down to the paints and the paints kind of pulled it away. 00:26:12.894 --> 00:26:20.694 And, you know, in my simple mind, I'm thinking, what's this super mysterious attraction thing that's going on between these materials? 00:26:20.714 --> 00:26:21.814 Yep, surface tension. 00:26:22.914 --> 00:26:27.194 I know, and it is, and that's like the surface tension is that's really, really cool, you know? 00:26:29.034 --> 00:26:31.694 And I tried to paint the way I paint on Earth. 00:26:31.934 --> 00:26:38.574 And yet, if I touch the brush to the paper, that whole blob of colored water would go into the paper and I'd start over. 00:26:39.074 --> 00:26:39.934 And it turned out... 00:26:39.954 --> 00:26:41.494 Oh, so your tactics have to be different. 00:26:41.514 --> 00:26:44.894 Yeah, you know, and you're floating and everything has to be organized. 00:26:44.914 --> 00:26:48.754 And I found I was just like dragging the colored water along the paper to create. 00:26:49.114 --> 00:26:50.034 So in some way... 00:26:50.054 --> 00:26:52.994 Okay, so what we need to see is your, we need to see your first painting. 00:26:53.014 --> 00:26:54.634 That's the one where you're adjusting. 00:26:55.174 --> 00:27:01.674 Yeah, I wish I had activated in my brain cell to not throw those things away, to eat them. 00:27:01.694 --> 00:27:04.394 My first painting in zero G, that's what that is. 00:27:05.314 --> 00:27:17.654 And another little point, unappreciated perhaps, is on the moon or on Mars, you can construct sculptures that are multiple times larger than you can on Earth, because they don't weigh as much. 00:27:18.054 --> 00:27:22.034 And so they won't sort of structurally, they can hold themselves up to larger sizes. 00:27:22.974 --> 00:27:24.274 And so, you're right. 00:27:27.254 --> 00:27:30.894