September 20, 2013 9:09 pm

This Sunday: The Conclusion of “StarTalk Live at Town Hall with Buzz Aldrin (Part 2)”

Photo of Buzz Aldrin, John Oliver, Eugene Mirman, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Andrew Chaikin at StarTalk Live at Town Hall

When Buzz Aldrin’s microphone malfunctioned at StarTalk Live at Town Hall Feb 27, 2013, John Oliver and Eugene Mirman raced to his rescue, while Andrew Chaikin and Neil deGrasse Tyson looked on and laughed.

This Sunday’s podcast is the conclusion to our first StarTalk Live at Town Hall, which featured with Neil deGrasse Tyson, co-host Eugene Mirman and guests Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, comedian John Oliver and space journalist Andrew Chaikin.

If you’ve listened to Part 1 already, you know that this StarTalk Live is as funny as it is informative. With that in mind, here’s a little pop quiz for you.

Which StarTalk Live participants said the following?

“Yippee-Ki-Yay Mother-Asteroid!”

            “America is built on doing something that makes almost no sense to anyone at the time.”

            “Can you frack a gravity wave?”

            “America doesn’t lead unless someone is chasing us.”

            “I want to see what Donald Trump’s hair does in zero gravity”

            “Try milking a cow in a spacesuit.”

            “If only that dog could understand the concept of fame, and not just the concept of, “Oh my god what’s happening to me?”

Not so easy, is it?

As funny as Part 1 was, the conclusion is even more freewheeling and far-ranging, touching upon Columbus… the Pilgrims… Spiro Agnew… Margaret Thatcher… Laika, the Soviet space dog… Bruce Willis… cows wearing spacesuits… zero point energy and gravity wave propulsion… Star Trek and Klingons… NASA… the U.S. Senate… Donald Trump’s hair… and so much more.

In between the laughs, the group dives into the subjects of asteroid deflection, space exploration, the Voyager missions and especially the colonization of Mars. You’ll hear them discuss building a base on Phobos as an interim step, terraforming, and the validity of Carl Sagan’s plan to create an atmosphere on Mars.

The show was recorded on Feb. 27, the same day that Dennis Tito held his press conference announcing that he was starting a project to send a married couple on a flyby around Mars in 2018. Needless to say, Tito’s plans came up during the evening.

You can listen to StarTalk Live at Town Hall with Buzz Aldrin (Part 2) this Sunday at 7:00pm ET on our website, and on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher by 7:30pm ET.

By the way, you can still get tickets for our next StarTalk Live at Town Hall on Nov. 4th. Presale is over, but seats are still available… though they’re going fast. Get them here.

Oh, I almost forgot. This was the night that Neil also did his now-famous moonwalking across the stage. If you haven’t seen it, here it is. (Even if you have, why not watch it again?)

 

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

 

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