2min chapter

No Such Thing As A Fish cover image

243: No Such Thing As Jean-Paul Sartre's Crabs

No Such Thing As A Fish

CHAPTER

Max Q

The ban was set up after the Challenger rocket exploded on the way to space. They decided to throw a big fun day to get morale up and throw a big party, and they'll have acts come on stage. And Max Q was formed in that moment. I was looking at what some other things that astronauts do to relax. So here's one thing that they do: They play Scrabble. But obviously... They might be like, Scrabble Scrabble, right? Well, they're in a microgravity environment, so they have Velcroed onto the back of every single piece,. A tiny patch of acro is attached to the ceiling in the dining room.

00:00
Speaker 3
Yeah, it is a big part of their culture, apparently, to the point where there's an inside thing that's said that whenever astronauts are being interviewed, potential astronauts are being interviewed by NASA, one of the questions that comes up is, do you play a musical instrument? It's that much of a thing.
Speaker 7
Does it affect your
Speaker 2
chances of getting in? Yeah.
Speaker 4
No, no, no. No.
Speaker 1
Like, it does. They just, like, yes, the organ. And I'd love one up there.
Speaker 7
Well, we'll give you a call if anything opens up.
Speaker 3
It's not like Buzz Aldrich. We would have let you go on first, but Neil plays the banjo, and he's just
Speaker 4
more qualified to step out first.
Speaker 3
But it's quite a nice story about how Max Q came about to begin with, because the ban was set up after the disaster of the Challenger, when the Challenger rocket exploded on the way to space. And actually, there was an astronaut on board who was going to be the first person to record music up in space for an album. So he was on board the Challenger, and he had his saxophone with him, and that obviously exploded, so, unfortunately, that never happened. And so what they ended up deciding to do was, why don't they throw a big fun day to get morale up and throw a big party, and they'll have acts come on stage, and they'll do stuff. And Max Q was formed in that moment. I
Speaker 4
was looking at what some
Speaker 2
other things that astronauts do to relax. Yep. So here's one thing that they do. They play Scrabble. But obviously... They must be like... They might be like, Scrabble Scrabble, right? Well, they're in a microgravity environment, so they have Velcroed onto the back of every single piece, a
Speaker 7
tiny patch of acro on,
Speaker 2
and the board is attached
Speaker 4
to the ceiling in the dining room. So you can just look up while you eat and ponder your next move.
Speaker 1
With the microgravity thing, I was reading an interview with Samantha Christophertti, who broke the record for the longest time of women has spent in space a few years ago. It was 200 days. And she was talking about when you come back after being in a zero gravity environment, and how it feels. And she did say, I step out of the module, and it feels like there's some kind of evil giant trying to press me into the ground. And for weeks and weeks, you'll like that. And I think it took her a couple of years to get back to normal. And she said, walking is like lifting tree trunks, but also you have trouble speaking, because your tongue is so used to being weightless, that lifting it up off the bottom of your mouth is too much effort. So you just like...

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