December 20, 2018 8:00 pm

The Space Race, Time Travel, Wormholes, and More as Neil and Chuck Answer Cosmic Queries

On this week’s episode of StarTalk Radio, we’ve extended Cosmic Queries: The Space Race with a bevy of enticing new questions on time travel, wormholes, black holes and more. Basically, all the fan favorite topics we cover on StarTalk.

In the new segment, we discuss if it would be easier to move forward or backward in time. Find out why Neil thinks Back to the Future and Doctor Who are the most accurate film and TV shows when it comes to time travel. We also talk about the relativity correction being used in GPS devices. Learn more about wormholes and what would happen if you come out the other side of a black hole. Is there a black hole in the middle of our universe? Neil gives us a definitive answer.

Neil also tells us how we would defend the Earth from asteroids. And, as usual, Bruce Willis and Armageddon make their way into the conversation. At this point, I feel it’s my duty to address the constant reminders we get that this movie exists. Is it that bad? Well, that’s for you to decide. However, I will say, as someone who loves space movies, I don’t consider it a movie.

Neil Armstrong's photo of Buzz Aldrin on the moon, July 20, 1969. Credit: NASA.

Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. photographed on the moon on July 20, 1969 by Neil A. Armstrong. Credit: NASA.

If you haven’t listened to the original episode, join us as we dig into the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, and whether or not politics and the Cold War had anything to do with the Space Race. (Spoiler Alert: they did!) Besides the Moon landing, find out the greatest accomplishments of the Apollo program. Explore John F. Kennedy’s role in advocating for the lunar landing. Was he as influential as history leads us to believe? Neil also tells us who he thinks “won” the Space Race.

Lastly, we talk about the formation of the moon and if we can mine the moon for Helium 3. All that, plus, you’ll find out what cosmic event Neil would want to witness if he could travel back in time.

Please join us tomorrow night for Extended Classic – Cosmic Queries: The Space Race at 7pm ET right here on our website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep looking up!
-Ian Mullen

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