Dark Side of the Earth

58 snips

Dec 13, 2024

An astronaut recounts his first breathtaking spacewalk, sharing the stark contrasts of darkness and light as he orbits Earth. With humor, he describes floating in pitch-black space, only to be dazzled by the sunrise moments later. The tension escalates when he and a fellow astronaut become stranded due to an airlock failure, resulting in a gripping fight for survival. Their emotional reflections and the beautiful memories of space also highlight the bond between space explorers, creating a captivating journey through both physical and emotional extremes.

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ANECDOTE

First Spacewalk

Dave Wolf, on his first spacewalk, experienced the stark contrast of light and dark.
In the Earth's shadow, he couldn't see the planet below, only the absence of stars.

ANECDOTE

Sunrise in Space

The sunrise in space is instantaneous due to the high orbital speed, causing a sudden 400-degree temperature increase.
This rapid transition from dark to light made Wolf feel a dramatic sense of height and speed.

INSIGHT

Disorientation in Orbit

Astronauts experience 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours in orbit.
This constant shift can be disorienting, making it essential to maintain focus during spacewalks.

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Back in 2012, when we were putting together our live show In the Dark, Jad and Robert called up Dave Wolf to ask him if he had any stories about darkness. And boy, did he. Dave told us two stories that became the finale of our show.

Back in late 1997, Dave Wolf was on his first spacewalk, to perform work on the Mir (the photo to the right was taken during that mission, courtesy of NASA.). Dave wasn't alone -- with him was veteran Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev. (That's a picture of Dave giving Anatoly a hug on board the Mir, also courtesy of NASA).

Out in blackness of space, the contrast between light and dark is almost unimaginably extreme -- every 45 minutes, you plunge between absolute darkness on the night-side of Earth, and blazing light as the sun screams into view. Dave and Anatoly were tethered to the spacecraft, traveling 5 miles per second. That's 16 times faster than we travel on Earth's surface as it rotates -- so as they orbited, they experienced 16 nights and 16 days for every Earth day.

Dave's description of his first spacewalk was all we could've asked for, and more. But what happened next ... well, it's just one of those stories that you always hope an astronaut will tell. Dave and Anatoly were ready to call it a job and head back into the Mir when something went wrong with the airlock. They couldn't get it to re-pressurize. In other words, they were locked out. After hours of trying to fix the airlock, they were running out of the resources that kept them alive in their space suits and facing a grisly death. So, they unhooked their tethers, and tried one last desperate move.

In the end, they made it through, and Dave went on to perform dozens more spacewalks in the years to come, but he never again experienced anything like those harrowing minutes trying to improvise his way back into the Mir.

After that terrifying tale, Dave told us about another moment he and Anatoly shared, floating high above Earth, staring out into the universe ... a moment so beautiful, and peaceful, we decided to use the audience recreate it, as best we could, for the final act of our live show.

We have some exciting news! In the “Zoozve” episode, Radiolab named its first-ever quasi-moon, and now it's your turn! Radiolab has teamed up with The International Astronomical Union to launch a global naming contest for one of Earth’s quasi-moons. This is your chance to make your mark on the heavens. Vote on your favorites, here: https://radiolab.org/moon

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