Would You Be a Space Tourist?

Richard Branson has formed Virgin Galactic and is now taking reservations aboard the maiden voyage of SpaceShipOne. Would you spend the estimated $200,000 for a 45-minute trip into space? Neil and Lynne also discuss the mechanics of sex in space. NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://www.startalkradio.net/all-access/would-you-be-a-space-tourist/?_sf_s=would+you+be+a+space+tourist

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  ... 7.6, but I...

• 0:20Speaker 01

  Our universe is filled with secrets and mysteries, leaving us with many questions to be answered.

• 0:33Speaker 01

  Now, more than ever, we find ourselves searching for those answers as the very fabric of space, science, and society are converging.

• 0:44Speaker 01

  Here, for the first time, these worlds collide as we give you the knowledge that breaks the barrier between what is science and what is merely pop culture. This is StarTalk. Now, here's your hosts: astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Lynn Copeland.

• 1:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Welcome to StarTalk.

• 1:12Speaker 03

  Welcome.

• 1:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Lynn, how are you today?

• 1:15Speaker 03

  I love our intro.

• 1:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, comedian.

• 1:17Speaker 03

  Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and the hooker with a heart of gold.

• 1:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, actually, I have a day job. I'm the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City.

• 1:26Speaker 03

  I know, and I don't have a day job. I'm a comic. I'm just a funny monkey who's here to add some color to this. What are we talking about today?

• 1:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So comedians don't have day jobs, they have night jobs. You guys work... No one goes to comedy shops at 10:00 in the morning.

• 1:41Speaker 03

  No, not if you're normal.

• 1:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Right.

• 1:44Speaker 03

  Neil, what is today's show?

• 1:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Today, we're talking about space tourism, because it's the holidays, people go on vacation, and we are not that far away from going into space as a choice among your vacation destinations.

• 1:59Speaker 03

  Can we do that now?

• 2:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No.

• 2:01Speaker 03

  I mean, this is very exciting, because I have some people I'd like to send up in space right now.

• 2:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, there are people who are taking it very seriously, entrepreneurs with a lot of money. One of them, Richard Branson. You know Richard Branson?

• 2:11Speaker 03

  Yes, Richard Branson is a Virgin Atlantic guy.

• 2:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Virgin Atlantic guy? Well, he's being entrepreneurial, and he started Virgin Galactic.

• 2:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Which won't only, it won't only take you from one country to another, it'll take you into space.

• 2:24Speaker 03

  Okay, but this is what gets me about this. When, when is he planning on doing this? In 2009, you told me?

• 2:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, no, well, no, they have, they need a working spacecraft to make this happen, and they don't have one yet.

• 2:34Speaker 03

  But he's already collecting money, crap.

• 2:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  People have already bought their seats.

• 2:37Speaker 03

  How much now?

• 2:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Couple hundred grand.

• 2:39Speaker 03

  A couple hundred grand?

• 2:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Couple hundred grand.

• 2:41Speaker 03

  How many seats has he sold already?

• 2:42Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Uh, more than a hundred, but more than would fit on his first flight, so...

• 2:46Speaker 03

  So, he's already, he doesn't even have this made up yet? He doesn't even, he hasn't even made a vehicle?

• 2:51Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But he's collecting money to do so.

• 2:53Speaker 03

  Okay, people listening, they should know that they can, listening to us right now should know that they can call in, because I, I don't know if anyone else is, is interested as I am, and you know I went and interviewed people on the street, but I think that this is crazy.

• 3:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Crazy, you think it's crazy?

• 3:09Speaker 03

  Well, it's, first of all, it's a maiden voyage.

• 3:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You can call StarTalk at 1-888-520-9710. Oh, and by the way, Lynn?

• 3:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I told my publisher that I'm doing the program, and they offered like, free books for all callers who call into this show.

• 3:22Speaker 03

  Your book?

• 3:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  My recent book, Death by Black Hole, inscribed. If you call in, you get a free book, and you get a free membership, one-year membership to the Planetary Society.

• 3:32Speaker 03

  Well, that's very nice.

• 3:33Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 3:33Speaker 03

  Wow, we're offering fancy stuff.

• 3:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We are, we are.

• 3:36Speaker 03

  But we have to, I, I don't think you should just be able to get, these are nice gifts, so I think we have to really feel that your question was a good question.

• 3:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, well, you can, you can judge that, I'm not that mean.

• 3:45Speaker 03

  I'll be the judge, and I'm sorry for giggling at your title of your book, but Death by, I feel like it should be called Death by Black Hole, or How to Get Rid of Your Mother-In-Law.

• 3:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, you know, I bumped into, uh, Bill Nye about this, he's an old bud of mine, you know, he's an engineer, and he's thought a lot about trying to go into space.

• 4:02Speaker 03

  Bill Nye the Science Guy?

• 4:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The Science Guy. Bill Nye the Science Guy. Let's see what he has to say about this.

• 4:07Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 4:08Speaker 04

  Hey, hey, Bill Nye the Science Guy here. I know what you're thinking. What does the Vice President of the Planetary Society think of space tourism? Well, it's fine if you've got 20 meg, 20 million dollars US, so maybe it's not for everyone, but the current space tour guides are trying to build a rocket that may take us all closer to solving the old beer can problem. See, an airliner, like the one you might take to a Talk FM Radio listeners convention, is about 90% people in plane and only 10% fuel.

• 4:38Speaker 04

  Well, for some future space plane to take off from a runway, fly around in space, and get back, it would have to be 95% fuel. Just 5% for rocket frame, your friends, and you. That's a ratio akin to that of liquid to metal in a soft drink or a beer can. We'll need new materials and new ways to put them together. Maybe the new space tour designers, working away from the old aerospace world, will help us come up with these innovations. A ticket to space may be a way to create a new kind of rocket science. Well, I got a fly. Bill Nye on the sky.

• 5:10Speaker 03

  All right, Neil, well, here's the good news. We found someone who's a bigger geek than you.

• 5:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We are all card-carrying geeks out there, let me tell you.

• 5:19Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh, Bill Nye.

• 5:20Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  He's our man, Bill Nye. He's like the nation's science teacher.

• 5:23Speaker 03

  Okay, he's an engineer.

• 5:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  He's an engineer.

• 5:26Speaker 03

  And you're, I'm just trying to just wrap my little, simple brain around all this. And you're an astrophysicist.

• 5:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  An astrophysicist.

• 5:31Speaker 03

  So you can't turn the TV on these days, Neil, without, without some sort of show about people stranded on an island, or...

• 5:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, okay.

• 5:39Speaker 03

  So I want to know, who would be more important to have on the island, you or Bill Nye?

• 5:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, I could certainly give you some romantic nights, pointing out this guy, but I have to confess, I would pick Bill Nye over me.

• 5:49Speaker 03

  So you could say, this looks bad, but Bill could actually create something to get you off the island, maybe?

• 5:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  He will create the machine out of the coconuts that'll help you get off the island.

• 5:58Speaker 03

  So he would be like the professor?

• 6:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Like the professor on Gilligan's Island.

• 6:01Speaker 03

  And you would be the movie star.

• 6:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  For sure. You can call in and tell us what you think. 1-888-520-9710. Get yourself a free book and a free year subscription to the Planetary Society, of which Bill Nye serves as the vice president, as he duly helps.

• 6:19Speaker 03

  So what is, this, this thing that Bill Nye was just talking about, and, and people listening, tell me if you, you get it. Maybe I'm just simple. Maybe people out there are just much smarter, you know, but it's weird, because you and I are the two sides of the spectrum. You're the genius, and I'm the not genius. So here's my question. His beer can theory, is Bill Nye basically saying that, that this can't happen yet?

• 6:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, yes, he's saying it, heck, because we don't have spacecraft that are 95% fuel that can just sort of take off from a runway and then land on that same runway.

• 6:49Speaker 03

  And so he's saying that Richard Branson's idea... It's kind of crazy considering to take that much money from that many people when you might be have to send them out two at a time, am I right?

• 6:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Consider them investors.

• 7:02Speaker 03

  Investors.

• 7:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I don't, they're not probably thinking of themselves that way, they're thinking of themselves as first passengers, but...

• 7:07Speaker 03

  They're rich and crazy is what they are.

• 7:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Crazy rich people, that's exactly what that is.

• 7:11Speaker 03

  That's scary to me.

• 7:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And, you know, when you're up in space, if they finally gets it done, you get a few minutes of weightlessness and a gorgeous view of the earth.

• 7:20Speaker 03

  That's, that's it? Do you, what kind of seat do you get?

• 7:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, I don't know, you hope you get a window seat.

• 7:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, for 200 grand, because here's the deal, this is what really ticks me off.

• 7:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Uh huh.

• 7:29Speaker 03

  You've got, he sold 100 and whatever seats, 175 fares, and that means like 170 of those people are probably rich.

• 7:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay.

• 7:37Speaker 03

  And then five are spending their pension to go up there.

• 7:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Of course, that's right.

• 7:41Speaker 03

  And invest to be part of this.

• 7:42Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's right.

• 7:43Speaker 03

  Is there a screening process to make sure crazy, because I don't want to be sitting next to Britney Spears who gets a window seat? And all I have is a picture of her bald head with a slice of the earth behind her.

• 7:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And of course, you know, when you're weightless, a lot of people get queasy stomach and they might throw up, and it turns out when you're weightless, if you throw up, the vomit kind of floats around the air, it could get caught in your hair and things. So, these are things that are not yet fully resolved in this.

• 8:05Speaker 03

  Why would you buy, oh my gosh, am I the only person in the world who would not do this first?

• 8:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Did you, did you go in the street and talk to people about this?

• 8:14Speaker 03

  I did, and funny enough, most of them said they would do it.

• 8:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, let me, let me hear what, let me hear what you got there.

• 8:20Speaker 03

  First question is, would you want a seat on it if you had 200,000?

• 8:24Speaker 05

  Um, if that was the best thing I could think of to do with 200,000 dollars, um...

• 8:29Speaker 03

  It's a maiden voyage to go out into space.

• 8:32Speaker 05

  It would be fun, sure.

• 8:34Speaker 03

  Does it scare you that it's, it's the first time it's ever gone out?

• 8:37Speaker 05

  Someone has to be on the first one.

• 8:39Speaker 03

  Well, he's sending his mother. If you could send just anyone out to space, who would you send?

• 8:46Speaker 05

  Depends whether or not they're gonna come back.

• 8:50Speaker 05

  I would like to go.

• 8:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  When?

• 8:54Speaker 03

  Do you see what I'm talking about?

• 8:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Right, right.

• 8:57Speaker 03

  But he's not, everybody said that they would want to go. And most everybody, except for one lady, who was like 80. She said she wouldn't go, which I was surprised.

• 9:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Why not?

• 9:06Speaker 03

  For the same reason I wouldn't go.

• 9:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  If you're 80, you're 80. Dude, take on life if you're 80.

• 9:11Speaker 03

  Because she's wise, Neil. Listen to me. Two words: maiden voyage. Was Titanic not a maiden voyage?

• 9:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It was.

• 9:17Speaker 03

  He doesn't even know, am I wrong? Let me just, let me get all the details for people who are listening.

• 9:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay.

• 9:24Speaker 03

  Branson is taking this money. We don't know.

• 9:27Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  200 grand per person.

• 9:28Speaker 03

  Right. At this point, there's no spacecraft built yet.

• 9:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's correct.

• 9:32Speaker 03

  We have no idea what kind of security.

• 9:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There's not even a spaceport for it yet. That's correct.

• 9:37Speaker 03

  And NASA is not involved in this, right?

• 9:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  They are not involved. The whole point is that it's entrepreneurs doing it basically in their garage.

• 9:43Speaker 03

  Okay, and you don't find that even a little frightening?

• 9:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, because...

• 9:47Speaker 03

  Would you do it? Would you go up now?

• 9:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, because I'd wait for like the first few hundred to do it. Because I'm not, you know, I was like the second or third out of the cave, not the first one.

• 9:57Speaker 03

  Okay, and you're an astrophysicist, which makes you practically a genius, and you wouldn't do it?

• 10:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, not yet. I'm, you know, because a lot of people, you know, die trying. And so I don't want to be the first one to be on the list of those who were the pioneers who died.

• 10:11Speaker 03

  I want to know if Branson is close to his mother. If anyone knows if Branson is close to his mother, call us. Because I don't like that Branson is touting this as like, "I'm sending my mother." Really? That's great. But if you don't like your mom, then what's the big?

• 10:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I want to know if you're gonna, if you would spend 200 grand to go. Give us a call here at 1-888-520-9710 and get a free book, Death by Black Hole, my recent book, supplied by the publisher, WW Norton.

• 10:37Speaker 03

  Death by Black Hole or Dating Lincoppa.

• 10:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Actually, I don't know if you give a gift called Death by Black Hole to some, do you get that to someone you like or someone you don't like?

• 10:45Speaker 03

  Someone you don't like. Or someone who's just really into science. But that's another good reason to call and win the book because it's a great re-gift for like your father or something like, and with the holidays here.

• 10:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, we got Jerry calling from Long Island on line one. He wants to know about like whether travelers go through the same training. Let's hear, let's hear your question, Jerry.

• 11:05Speaker 06

  Well, you know, I, I saw the movie The Right Stuff and I saw what they, what they did to all those guys.

• 11:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, that was quite a, that was quite a sight.

• 11:13Speaker 03

  Yeah, this is gonna be the wrong stuff, Jerry.

• 11:15Speaker 06

  It's a little scary. I'd, I'd be a little scared to actually, if I was gonna send my mom up into space to have her go through all that. But if, if you did wanna go up and take a tour, would you have to go through that kind of testing process and would they poke and prod you?

• 11:27Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, in fact, this is excellent question. And it turns out, a lot of that training in the old days was in case the ship did like an emergency landing in the desert and then they had to survive until they were picked up. Today, you know, you're picked up within minutes by rescue vehicles. You don't have to like eat lizards.

• 11:44Speaker 03

  No, but Jerry has a great question. I mean, couldn't, Jerry, are you also, like, are, are you with me on, could other things go wrong? Is that what you're kinda asking?

• 11:53Speaker 06

  Well, yeah, I mean, well, besides just what they would do to me before I got up there, I'd be a little afraid of what happened after I got up there.

• 11:58Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 11:59Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, well, they probably wouldn't, they probably want you to lose a little weight if you were a little bit overweight because that's sort of extra fuel they'd have to carry to take you up. But other than that, they'll give you some like airsickness or space sickness medicine. And no, you wouldn't need special training for this because they'd launch you and bring you right back. You land on the runway, you know, 45 minutes later.

• 12:18Speaker 03

  Neil, do you not realize how crazy that sounds? Like, you, you have to have special training to get on the airplane, right, Jerry?

• 12:24Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 12:25Speaker 03

  When you're in the airplane, don't they tell you?

• 12:26Speaker 06

  So is it 200 grand for 45 minutes?

• 12:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, yeah, it's not very long. But the question is, would you do, would you do, let's say you were worth a million dollars, would you spend a fifth of your net worth to do this?

• 12:35Speaker 06

  Not for 45 minutes.

• 12:38Speaker 03

  Thank you, Jerry. Jerry's on my side. One for my team. Guess what you won, Jerry? You won the Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson, because that was a good question and you're a smart man.

• 12:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Jerry, stand on the line. We'll get your name and address and tell me how you'd like it inscribed and we'll get it out to you.

• 12:53Speaker 03

  Thank you, my friend.

• 12:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right. So Lynn, you know, you get up there and I'd be concerned that if you were not on the side of the ship that would happen to be looking at the earth, because I'm never on the right side of the airplane. The Grand Canyon is off to your left and I'm on the right friggin' side of the airplane when that happens.

• 13:07Speaker 03

  What else can you see, Neil, that couldn't be good? Like, could you see an asteroid fly by and be like, "What's that?"

• 13:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You could, but we would have known that in advance. You would launch when an asteroid was not going to hit you large enough. But little ones, you don't know. Some are small and are not tracked.

• 13:20Speaker 03

  I was gonna say-

• 13:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And they're going 18,000 miles an hour.

• 13:22Speaker 03

  I mean, aren't there things going on in space that we don't know?

• 13:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There's floating debris, there are fragments of spacecraft, there are fragments of the Chinese space, Chinese, uh, what, they broke up their-

• 13:34Speaker 03

  Don't ask me, I have no idea what they are.

• 13:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  They tomahawked out of orbit, one of their satellites, and it broke into a gazillion pieces. Those pieces are in orbit now, 18,000 miles an hour. It's dangerous going into space.

• 13:44Speaker 03

  So that goes with Jerry's question. Why isn't there training?

• 13:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, you can't be trained to duck from something moving 18,000 miles an hour.

• 13:51Speaker 03

  No, but you can be told, like, first of all, are they wearing a spacesuit when they go up there?

• 13:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, it's not to be, it's not known yet whether there'll be a pressurized cabin, in which case you'd have a helmet, but then that'd be really nasty if you threw up. So, you would want a pressurized cabin, but maybe like a cool space outfit.

• 14:04Speaker 03

  Okay, Neil.

• 14:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What?

• 14:05Speaker 03

  Listeners, did you hear what Neil deGrasse Tyson just said? "We don't know if it's a pressurized cabin." So somebody, there are 175 dingbats out there that took, spent 100, that spent 200 grand and they don't even know if it's a pressurized cabin. I'm an idiot!

• 14:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right, call me. Tell me if you would go. We're here at StarTalk. I'm your host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, with comedian Lynn Koplitz. 1-888-520-9710. Then we've got Tricia calling in. She said she doesn't want to go. Line two, Tricia. Hello, Tricia.

• 14:36Speaker 07

  No, I wouldn't go. I think all of the points that you're making of reasons why it would be dangerous and it shouldn't be done are very valid. I wouldn't go if somebody gave it to me as a gift.

• 14:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But Tricia.

• 14:49Speaker 03

  That's a great idea.

• 14:51Speaker 07

  Like a good gift to me, floating around in my own vomit and other people's vomit? No.

• 14:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Wait, wait, but Tricia, does that mean that you're, you would be like the last one? Let's go back in time. You would have said, I'm not going out of the cave to see what's on the other side of the river because I might, something bad might happen. You'd be like back in the cave? Would that be you?

• 15:09Speaker 03

  Okay, first of all, Tricia, you don't even have to answer that.

• 15:12Speaker 07

  I don't know, but I have so much to go into space. I don't know. Maybe, maybe, maybe we are crazy. Maybe we're the too crazy one, Colin. I don't know.

• 15:19Speaker 03

  Yes, maybe, no, we are smart. Tricia, do not listen to Dr. Tyson over here because he's, he said he wouldn't go, so he'd be carrying in the cave with you.

• 15:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, wait, wait, wait. Tricia, if you were 80, would you go?

• 15:31Speaker 07

  No.

• 15:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Still not.

• 15:33Speaker 03

  No, you know what? You know why? Tricia, let me tell you why we're smart. Let me tell you right now. Because for 200 grand, people are already putting money up there. We are not, you're not screening out the crazy. We have no idea who's going to screw off their helmet and start losing it up there. And in 20 minutes, a lot can go on. Am I not wrong? A lot can take place in a minute.

• 15:51Speaker 07

  It could go downhill really quick if you get ugly.

• 15:55Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 15:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right, Tricia, thanks for that. We'll stay online, give your address, we'll get you the free book and the years' membership. Thanks, Tricia, for calling us.

• 16:02Speaker 03

  Another one on my team.

• 16:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, no, I found, there's Cheryl from Chatsworth, who apparently would love to go. Line three, Cheryl.

• 16:09Speaker 07

  Hello.

• 16:10Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Hello, Cheryl.

• 16:11Speaker 03

  Hello.

• 16:12Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You're, you're, you want to go?

• 16:13Speaker 07

  Oh, I would go in a heartbeat.

• 16:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There you go. See, here's something.

• 16:17Speaker 07

  I have always wanted to go into space, although my family says I'm there all the time, but.

• 16:22Speaker 03

  Exactly, that's the point. Cheryl, are you on any kind of medication? Are you nuts?

• 16:26Speaker 07

  No, no, I'm not, no. But you know what? I, I just, I love, I walk at night and I look at the stars and I just would love to be up there amongst it. I would go in a heartbeat.

• 16:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That is a beautiful, that's beautiful, and I'm glad there are those among us in our population who'd be the first to go. Like you may have heard me say, Cheryl, I would not be the, I'd be like the third to go.

• 16:46Speaker 07

  Oh, would I have to be the first?

• 16:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's a maiden voyage. That's the point. You'd be going up with, Cheryl, that's the scary part. You'd be going up with people.

• 16:55Speaker 07

  You know what? I still would go because I'm sure that they would do, you have to have some training and have to have some psychological evaluation. I would have.

• 17:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, I think so too. Some psychological stability test would be necessary. You don't go berserk in space.

• 17:07Speaker 03

  You do think that would happen?

• 17:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I would, I would hope so.

• 17:09Speaker 07

  I would hope, yeah, I would hope so.

• 17:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, but, but, okay, so you wouldn't be on the maiden voyage. I presume they'd send up other animals just to check out to see what would happen.

• 17:17Speaker 03

  Cheryl, tell me for 200 grand, what would, just tell me this, Cheryl. You're going up, you're spending 200 grand. What would you expect to get for your money? Give me three things you would expect to have happen.

• 17:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Because the whole thing is last, you know, at half hour. It's a half hour trip.

• 17:31Speaker 03

  What do you expect to have, get out of that?

• 17:33Speaker 07

  I would expect to just have the feeling of weightlessness, which you get. I would expect to just have an awe inspiring feeling of looking down at the earth and being in space.

• 17:46Speaker 03

  So you want to, you want a window seat?

• 17:47Speaker 07

  Absolutely. I'll push Britney Spears out of the way.

• 17:50Speaker 03

  And number three, one, you want to feel weightless, window seat.

• 17:52Speaker 07

  Um, and just something that when I'm 80 years old, I can look back and say, you know what? I did that and I was, I did it.

• 17:59Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There you go. I lo, I love it.

• 18:01Speaker 03

  I think you can get the same feeling from the rodeo.

• 18:03Speaker 07

  Not so much.

• 18:05Speaker 03

  I think we put you on one of those, one of those fake cow things. You'll feel a little weightless.

• 18:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And a little lightheaded at the end.

• 18:11Speaker 03

  You get a great story to tell when you're 80.

• 18:13Speaker 07

  And I think, I think the maiden voyage in space will be a much better story.

• 18:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, thanks Cheryl for calling in and we'll, we'll get you a book and a free year membership to the planetary system.

• 18:24Speaker 07

  Thank you very much.

• 18:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right. So, so Lynn, you know, other stuff, a lot of stuff.

• 18:27Speaker 03

  She was nuts. Just face it, she was crazy.

• 18:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, no, she's one of my peeps there, I think. She, she knows how to get out there.

• 18:34Speaker 03

  I mean, a nice lady, glad she called in.

• 18:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I'll tell you, other things you'll see out the window, you'll see the stars in broad daylight because the atmosphere would otherwise be lighting up your sky. That's kind of cool. You'll see the atmosphere of the earth and the curvature of earth's surface.

• 18:45Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 18:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And it's very cool.

• 18:47Speaker 03

  Could you take a picture?

• 18:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Uh, if, bring your camera, take a picture out the window, lean over the person next to you, even if it is Britney Spears. You're listening to StarTalk. Our toll free number is triple eight, five two zero, nine seven, one zero. We want to hear if you'll go into space. We'll be back shortly.

• 19:01Speaker 01

  The future of space and the secrets of our planet revealed.

• 19:12Speaker 01

  This is StarTalk. Whether you're a space cadet or a rocket scientist.

• 19:20Speaker 01

  We want to hear from you. The phone lines are open. Call now. This is StarTalk.

• 19:27Speaker 03

  Like that intro too. So you're the rocket scientist and I'm the space cadet. I'm taking it. So from the space cadet, Neil, and people who are still listening, you're telling me at the break that you could see, Neil told me at the break, guys, that you could look out the window on the Virgin Galactic and possibly see a wrench flying by.

• 19:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, there's some tools that got floated away from earlier space stations and things.

• 19:50Speaker 03

  Do you know how annoyed I would be if I bought, like my mother, a gift to go out in space and she came back with a picture of a wrench?

• 19:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Space is not empty. There is-

• 19:59Speaker 03

  A space wrench?

• 20:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Satellite parts and other things.

• 20:01Speaker 03

  Well, here's another thing. I started to ask you before we had to go right back on the air.

• 20:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 20:05Speaker 03

  You told me the story recently about how we sent, the name of the chimp we first sent up in space was called Ham.

• 20:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Ham, Ham, yeah.

• 20:13Speaker 03

  And Russia sent a dog-

• 20:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 20:15Speaker 03

  Named Laika.

• 20:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 20:16Speaker 03

  But we brought Ham back and they left Laika.

• 20:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, Laika was left to die in orbit.

• 20:20Speaker 03

  So could you look out the window and maybe see Laika, like in twister, just flying by?

• 20:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  A frozen Laika.

• 20:25Speaker 03

  Could you? No?

• 20:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, no. Laika long ago re-entered the atmosphere up in a puff of smoke. But we've got more people who are experts on this. There's people who are pioneers in space industry.

• 20:36Speaker 03

  Oh, we do?

• 20:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There's a guy named Bob Weiss, who some may know as a movie producer of some of the zaniest movies ever made. Kentucky Fried Movie, Undercover Brother, Naked Gun 2 and 1/2, Tommy Boy. He's got quite the profile.

• 20:47Speaker 03

  That's huge, Tommy Boy.

• 20:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  He's also a space geek and he's-

• 20:52Speaker 03

  I was gonna say, see, this is what gets me about you, about the space geeky people. It's like Canadians, like you have a Canadian friend and all of a sudden they're like, "Let's go, oot." And you're like, "Oh, my God, you're not American. You're a fake American." There's a lot of fake, like, people you don't know.

• 21:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  He's co-founder of the X Prize. Co-founder of the X Prize.

• 21:06Speaker 03

  What is that?

• 21:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, let's find out. And by the way, what is the XPRIZE Foundation?

• 21:11Speaker 08

  The XPRIZE Foundation was established originally to promote alternative ways of getting to space. I had-

• 21:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Alternative to NASA?

• 21:20Speaker 08

  Alternative to NASA.

• 21:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What's wrong with NASA?

• 21:23Speaker 08

  NASA's doing lots of good things, however, they're doing it with taxpayer money, of which there is not an unlimited supply.

• 21:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay.

• 21:30Speaker 08

  And they're doing them in a particular way that's steeped in their culture and history, and not necessarily addressing a lot of the things that should be addressed.

• 21:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So you want to create a new space culture?

• 21:41Speaker 08

  We do indeed, and we at the XPRIZE were interested in transforming how people thought about space and space travel.

• 21:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's Bob Weiss as a co-founder of the XPRIZE.

• 21:52Speaker 03

  He's a pretty, I mean, for a pretty cool guy, he is kind of a science geek.

• 21:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, but he's a cool science geek, I think.

• 21:57Speaker 03

  But now, let me get, let me just-

• 21:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I want to go to a call. We've got a caller who's ready. We've got John from Orange County. John, would you go up now?

• 22:05Speaker 09

  Um, it's pretty conditional.

• 22:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What are your conditions, John?

• 22:09Speaker 09

  Um, I would have to be really rich, and I'd want about three or four hundred safe flights before I went.

• 22:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Three or four hundred, that's a good number.

• 22:16Speaker 03

  So you would not do the maiden voyage?

• 22:19Speaker 09

  No, definitely not.

• 22:20Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, but how rich-

• 22:22Speaker 09

  Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you want to have a lot of flights on your belt before you went?

• 22:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We like experiment.

• 22:27Speaker 03

  Yes, he would, but he's kissing Richard Branson's butt.

• 22:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, but John, let me ask you, how much richer than a hundred thousand, than two hundred thousand dollars would you have to be to spend the two hundred thousand?

• 22:37Speaker 09

  I think I'd want to be in that set that's looking for ways to get rid of money, probably twenty million or so.

• 22:42Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Twenty million, okay.

• 22:43Speaker 03

  John, now you heard that, we were just talking about Bob Weiss has created this XPRIZE.

• 22:50Speaker 09

  Yep.

• 22:51Speaker 03

  And the prize is asking people to go out there and come up with ways to go out into space.

• 22:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, for that to happen, that's right. In fact, he's going to tell us what, how cheap he wants to get it. So let's see what Bob also tells us.

• 23:04Speaker 03

  Thank you so much, John.

• 23:05Speaker 08

  Well, what the marketing research shows is that people will spend an equivalent amount of money to the family car to be able to take the adventure of a lifetime.

• 23:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, so that's, so this is not just something you do every time, it is the one-time trip that you live for?

• 23:21Speaker 08

  Uh, pretty much, it's, um, I guess-

• 23:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, family cars nowadays, let's say, twenty thousand, twenty-five thousand?

• 23:26Speaker 08

  Twenty, twenty-five thousand dollars, that's the price point we would like to see at right now, just so you have a sense of scale, people are flying into space for twenty million dollars on hardware essentially left over from the Cold War or the first space raid.

• 23:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Leftover hardware, Lynn.

• 23:42Speaker 03

  Let me just get this straight, please.

• 23:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes, go.

• 23:43Speaker 03

  So, Bob Weiss is, his X Prize Foundation, he's offering ten to twenty million dollars-

• 23:50Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 23:50Speaker 03

  -for people who can like pimp your space mobile, is basically what you're saying?

• 23:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Basically, yeah, it's a prize, if you have the first vehicle, it'll take people into space for cheap.

• 23:58Speaker 03

  So, he's telling people to go out into their garage?

• 24:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 24:01Speaker 03

  And, so, so basically, no, so, no, you know, no, no, not clever people-

• 24:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It's clever people.

• 24:05Speaker 03

  No, just anybody, he said anybody can do this.

• 24:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, he did say anybody, I'm sorry.

• 24:09Speaker 03

  So, which means there's someone in like my hometown in Stanton, Virginia, right now, who just pulled out the duct tape and is like, "I got a great idea."

• 24:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right, well, do you, all right, Lynn, you got somebody who's got another idea? Let me hear it.

• 24:19Speaker 03

  Uh, well, I, I mean, I'm just saying, I, I, if, is there anyone out there, you know, I went on the street and I talked to someone.

• 24:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You did, okay, Lynn, what did you, you talking to people on the street again? What, what happened? Go.

• 24:29Speaker 03

  It was frightening. Do you have an idea? Any ideas? Another way, other than like a rocket, some cool new plane, rocket, shuttle thing that could get out into space? If I were a scientist, maybe I can come up with something. Okay, John, give me your idea for the X Prize, I like your idea.

• 24:46Speaker 10

  Okay, a Jiffy Pop popper.

• 24:48Speaker 03

  A Jiffy Pop popper for a human being?

• 24:50Speaker 10

  Absolutely.

• 24:51Speaker 03

  How would that work?

• 24:52Speaker 10

  Absolutely, I have no idea, but if you throw them inside the Jiffy Pop, throw a flame underneath them, they pop them right out.

• 24:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Lynn!

• 24:58Speaker 03

  Am I- Really, honestly, people listening, and like, I'm not even kidding, call because, am I, am I nuts? Am I really nuts? Is this what, is, is this a good idea, this commercial space stuff? Because I, I can't, I like NASA, I like things the way, I like having engineers, I like trained professionals going out into space. And the idea of, did you hear what I just got off the street? Jiffy Pop? Like, we're gonna, that was crazy. This was this guy's first idea.

• 25:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You're listening to StarTalk. I'm your host Neil deGrasse Tyson with comedian Lynn Copplitz. And we're just trying to find out what would get you to go into space.

• 25:33Speaker 03

  Or do you have a better idea for the X Prize?

• 25:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, I remember when I was a kid, looking at Jiffy Pop, it was like magic, watching this thing expand up on the sta- right on the stove.

• 25:41Speaker 03

  And Neil, tell me what, come on, tell me what you'd do with Jiffy Pop.

• 25:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It was magic.

• 25:45Speaker 03

  You heat it, and the bottom gets hot.

• 25:47Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I want to hear what you have to say. Call us at 1-888-520-9710. It may take more than just clever engineers in their garage to figure out how to go into space. Maybe sources of money not yet tapped for it.

• 26:02Speaker 03

  But what-

• 26:02Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I want to go back to Bob Weiss and find out what he tells us.

• 26:04Speaker 03

  Please.

• 26:05Speaker 08

  I remember when I saw the movie 2001, Stanley Kubrick's brilliant film.

• 26:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  1968, I guess that was.

• 26:10Speaker 08

  1968, exactly. And they depicted a future in space, then some 33 years in the future.

• 26:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We all remember those scenes.

• 26:18Speaker 08

  Exactly. And there was a ship that was traveling from the earth into space. And there was a logo of what at the time was a world-class commercial airline called Pan Am, now defunct. And there were things like Howard Johnson's on the space station.

• 26:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Hojos on the space station.

• 26:34Speaker 08

  Exactly. They had the Earth Light Room.

• 26:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I remember seeing that, and that worried me greatly. I thought, oh, there goes the neighborhood. No, but you had more commercial foresight than I did. I thought space should be left pure. But of course, you can only enable this if it becomes an industry. That's your point.

• 26:48Speaker 08

  Exactly right. And also, in that film-

• 26:50Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You didn't comment that every one of those businesses is now defunct.

• 26:53Speaker 08

  With the exception of Hilton.

• 26:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, Hilton is-

• 26:56Speaker 08

  They're, they're still in business. But that gave that whole film a reality. The fact that they were commercial interests involved.

• 27:03Speaker 03

  This is, this is good. I mean, I like, I like that Bob Weiss is trying to do this on the cheap. But I gotta tell you, of course, I mean, Starbucks and Gap, they show up everywhere. If you think there's gonna be some sort of sponsoring or advertising-

• 27:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Call us at Star Talk, 888-520-9710. And if you call in, you'll get a free inscribed book, Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Landings. I happen to write that book. My publisher heard I was going to be on the air and offered free copies for it.

• 27:32Speaker 03

  And that's very sweet.

• 27:33Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You also get a free annual subscription to the Planetary Society.

• 27:36Speaker 03

  Because I happen to know you're very cheap. So it's very nice of you to go.

• 27:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I gotta go to Greg on line five. He said he would go, but, Greg, but what?

• 27:44Speaker 11

  The basic thing is, is that I get a little queasy when I go on flights, just regular airline flights. So, um...

• 27:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But you would nonetheless go.

• 27:55Speaker 11

  I would go, but they give me like, you know, mega doses of like, you know, some kind of thing to take care of the queasiness or whatever.

• 28:03Speaker 03

  Dramamine.

• 28:05Speaker 11

  But I would need about a, I'd have to have, be about worth a hundred million dollars, I think, to spend the 200,000.

• 28:11Speaker 03

  Okay, well, if you were worth that much money, you would definitely have, you could get a shot of something that would not make you nauseous. But, but chances are, because I'm also get seasick and motion sickness, you would probably fall asleep from whatever they gave you.

• 28:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, that wouldn't be, that would be bad.

• 28:27Speaker 03

  So that would stink. It would be Dramamine. You'd be, you wouldn't remember it.

• 28:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That would be bad. But, yeah, but would you be the first to go?

• 28:31Speaker 11

  Uh, yeah, why not? I mean, why not?

• 28:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, let's find out.

• 28:35Speaker 11

  Somebody's gotta do it. Somebody's gotta do it. I mean...

• 28:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Somebody's gotta do it.

• 28:38Speaker 03

  Thanks, Greg.

• 28:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But Bob Weiss has a...

• 28:40Speaker 11

  Chuck Yeager had to be the first to go, you know, pass the speed of sound. You know, somebody's gotta try it.

• 28:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Somebody's gotta try it.

• 28:46Speaker 03

  That's right, but he wasn't throwing up the whole time.

• 28:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Not that we were told.

• 28:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, but see, this is my point, too. The people that are going up are going to be the pukers and the crazies.

• 28:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Let's find out what Bob Weiss said about dying trying.

• 28:55Speaker 08

  The prize gives them focus.

• 28:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  How many of them are just going to kill themselves trying?

• 28:59Speaker 08

  Well, we hope none. We were very fortunate in the International Space Program.

• 29:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Many people died at the dawn of aviation.

• 29:06Speaker 08

  Absolutely, and...

• 29:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So we're going to have to expect some of this.

• 29:08Speaker 08

  Uh, yes, and we're opening up a new frontier.

• 29:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  A new way to die.

• 29:12Speaker 08

  And, well, here's the thing, though.

• 29:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's what it is.

• 29:15Speaker 08

  Uh, it is, but it's in service of a good cause. And I think, uh, what's happened is the culture has become too risk averse. And when you try to play it safe all the time, then you don't get to stretch the boundaries.

• 29:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And then you never leave the cave.

• 29:27Speaker 08

  You do not leave the cave. And if that's okay with you and you're okay with the cave getting real flooded and dirty, you stay in there and it's kind of dark and a mess. But I think that a lot of us have more hope for the planet than.

• 29:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, it turns out, Lynn, Lynn.

• 29:40Speaker 03

  I'm fine with the cave.

• 29:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Lynn, the Wright brothers, we know of them, but there's surely people died before them.

• 29:46Speaker 03

  Surely, what about the Schultz brothers? We never heard about them. That's my point. The Wright brothers got all the press.

• 29:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  They got all the press.

• 29:53Speaker 03

  But there were a lot of wrong brothers.

• 29:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The wrong brothers. Oh, wow. Okay. Well, this, I gotta hear, I gotta hear from, who's this?

• 30:00Speaker 03

  We have another.

• 30:01Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I lost her. Where is she? She's from, Carmen, from Brooklyn. You said you would not go?

• 30:04Speaker 12

  No.

• 30:05Speaker 03

  Sensible Carmen.

• 30:08Speaker 12

  There's nothing you could do to get me there.

• 30:10Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Nothing?

• 30:11Speaker 12

  I don't, first of all, I don't go anywhere where there's not at least a three-star hotel. I, I get seasick on the subway. You're putting me in a station for 45 minutes? I'd be the one to throw up and they'd be like, great, the fat girl screwed it up for us. It would be horrible.

• 30:28Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 30:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Whoa.

• 30:30Speaker 12

  No, no. I think boundary's not a good thing. And I think like the atmosphere, oh, that's a boundary. And, and if a scientist is gonna go and they're gonna do some kind of ex, you know, expert mission or whatever, but me? I live a virtual reality life. I, I'm a pro golfer, tennis player, and boxer on my Wii, and that's good enough for me.

• 30:52Speaker 03

  Good girl, you have plenty to talk.

• 30:54Speaker 12

  We have high television television right now. I don't need to go.

• 30:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Carmen in the house from Brooklyn. Thanks, Carmen, for that.

• 30:58Speaker 03

  Thank you, Carmen. And I agree with you, and I think you're very smart.

• 31:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right. So what else does Bob Weiss have to say? I think we heard all we can from him. You're gonna die, you might, you know.

• 31:10Speaker 03

  Poor Bob.

• 31:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Let me see if I get one more call in in the last few seconds. Let's say Laura from LA, line two.

• 31:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Laura, you still there?

• 31:20Speaker 13

  Hello?

• 31:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, Laura.

• 31:22Speaker 13

  Hi, um, I just want to know, you know, Virgin's sort of known for the amenities. Because I would love to go.

• 31:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 31:29Speaker 13

  But are they gonna, you know, I mean, is there drink service? Is there like steward and service?

• 31:33Speaker 03

  I know, you know what Laura?

• 31:34Speaker 13

  Is there food, you know?

• 31:35Speaker 03

  Yes, that's what I want to know. Is there an Astro flight attendant?

• 31:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We'll pick that up. Let's pick that up after the break and we'll talk about whether they serve drinks and any other amenities.

• 31:44Speaker 03

  And keep listening because we're going to talk about sex in space too.

• 31:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Indeed.

• 31:47Speaker 03

  Stay with us.

• 31:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  StarTalk.

• 31:49Speaker 01

  Bringing space and science down to Earth. You're listening to StarTalk. Unlocking the secrets of your world and everything orbiting around it. This is StarTalk.

• 32:06Speaker 03

  Our last caller Neil was Laura and she does win a book, Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries, which she wrote, and the Planetary Society membership. Because she brought up a very good point, I thought, about how she wants to know what she's getting for 200 grand because she likes five-star hotels. And that's a great segue into the next thing I wanted to talk about.

• 32:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What is that Lynn?

• 32:27Speaker 03

  Sex in space.

• 32:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Lynn.

• 32:29Speaker 03

  Because we know you found it and you sent it to me Neil and we were talking about it. Pierre Kohler, who is a French scientist.

• 32:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 32:37Speaker 03

  He wrote this thing in his book, correct, about, apparently there's a little mission that NASA sent astronauts up in space to try out 10 sexual positions?

• 32:47Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, yeah. They had a list of 20, but they narrowed it down to 10.

• 32:50Speaker 03

  Can you imagine that day, people? When you're an astronaut and they knock on your door and ask and you find out you're like a piece of astronaut?

• 32:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Piece of astronaut.

• 32:58Speaker 03

  Because they want you to be one of the people that tries out the 10 positions. Anyway, so the point I'm making is that there's a sex, a NASA sex tape floating around out there, am I correct?

• 33:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, sort of, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's not, I don't know how floating it is, but it...

• 33:10Speaker 03

  But, but there were four sexual positions and I want callers to tell us what they think. Four sexual positions that were the good ones that could be used out of the 10 without help.

• 33:20Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, yeah, here's the problem. When you are weightless in space, a lot of things that go on between the sheets can't happen that way in space.

• 33:27Speaker 03

  So call in and tell us what you think would be the worst position, the hardest one in space, because we know which one they said was the hardest.

• 33:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We got Mike from Santa Monica on line one, we're just asking that outright. And Mike, you want to know if there ever has been sex in space? The answer is yes, the Russians did it first, and there were other missions for which that was the case. And so what we don't know is if any baby has been conceived in space. That's another thing to know.

• 33:51Speaker 03

  Really? Is Mike on the line right now?

• 33:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Mike, are you on the line, line one?

• 33:55Speaker 14

  Yes.

• 33:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah. So Mike, would this something you would do, I guess? Is that?

• 34:00Speaker 14

  Absolutely. But my question was that I've heard talk that there has been a lot going on in the International Space Station, not just with the Russians, and that there was in fact at least one pregnancy that transpired in the International Space Station that NASA and the European Space Agency have hushed up, and I was wondering if you knew anything about that.

• 34:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, I am not authorized to divulge.

• 34:18Speaker 03

  Seriously? Are there some space hoes out there that no one knows about?

• 34:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Space hoes?

• 34:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's what Mike has to know. Mike, do you have an idea on what you think would be the most difficult sexual position?

• 34:30Speaker 14

  I think female superior would be difficult, given the weightlessness.

• 34:34Speaker 03

  Female superior? I love how scientific you are. Does that mean girl on top?

• 34:39Speaker 14

  Yes.

• 34:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, well, yeah, that's an excellent point, because that one relies heavily on gravity to return to where you once were.

• 34:46Speaker 03

  So that's not the hardest one, though? But that's one of them?

• 34:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, I think that the standard positions, what happens is, if you remember your Newton's laws of motion, one of them...

• 34:55Speaker 03

  I'm sorry, I just fell asleep for a minute.

• 34:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Sorry if you don't remember it from your high school physics. Did you take high school physics, Lynn?

• 35:03Speaker 03

  Mike, are you still with us? Did you fall asleep?

• 35:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You got to remember, one of the laws of physics is...

• 35:08Speaker 14

  Oh, for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction.

• 35:12Speaker 03

  See, he remembered. See, he fell asleep for a minute, now he remembers.

• 35:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes, Mike, you remembered. And so in space, where there's no friction to hold you in place, any thrust in one direction, there's a recoil, and you end up flying apart from each other.

• 35:23Speaker 14

  Next thing you know, you have a broken nose.

• 35:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Exactly, exactly.

• 35:27Speaker 03

  Thank you, Mike. You have won a book, Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries and a year's membership.

• 35:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, a year's membership to the Planetary Society. Thanks for calling in, Mike.

• 35:36Speaker 03

  For Karen, thank you, and for letting us know that there might be someone who got knocked up out on the Russian space station.

• 35:42Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, the point is, the future of space tourism would include hotels and residences and this sort of thing. So typically...

• 35:49Speaker 03

  Could you spread someone's ashes out in space?

• 35:51Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That as well, but you hope you wouldn't have died in space to make that happen.

• 35:55Speaker 03

  But, see, again, that's a kook. You know, some kookaburra is gonna go up there and do just that. I'm taking my helmet off, I wanna go.

• 36:02Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We wanna know what you think on StarTalk. Our phone number is 1-888-520-9710. If you call in, you get a free inscribed book, Death by Black Hole, which I happened to write, but my publisher heard I'd be on the air this afternoon and offered free copies.

• 36:17Speaker 03

  I like that you said your publisher, because I happen to know you're a little tight in the wallet. It was very nice of your publisher, I'm just playing.

• 36:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You also get a free year's subscription and membership to the Planetary Society.

• 36:27Speaker 03

  Nearly. I like Mike, because what did he just call woman on top... what did he say? Female superior position?

• 36:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, he's got like lingo for this. I didn't know there was lingo.

• 36:36Speaker 03

  He's a nerd like you, I think.

• 36:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, maybe he's a student of positions. But if you are, and he remembers his Newton's laws, so maybe he's like more into this than we had thought.

• 36:45Speaker 03

  I'm glad, because I can maybe have sex in space, because I hate that position. It's exhausting, too much work.

• 36:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, that would be like the 200 Mile Club, if you needed to...

• 36:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, isn't it farther than that?

• 36:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Uh, no, low Earth orbit, anywhere between 200 and 300 miles will work for you. The space station orbits at 240 miles, around there.

• 37:02Speaker 03

  Oh, wouldn't that be cool? You could have like little kooky hotels, little kooky space stations, where you just check in for 15 minutes.

• 37:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, the point is, as we go into space, and there are hotels and restaurants and, you know, probably brothels will follow.

• 37:17Speaker 03

  How long is this gonna all take place?

• 37:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Because you should know that astrophysics, the study of the universe, is the second oldest profession. So, if we get you out there, the first oldest will probably take hold.

• 37:26Speaker 03

  Space hookers.

• 37:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Space hookers. That...

• 37:30Speaker 03

  This is precarious.

• 37:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  StarTalk. StarTalk was brought to you by the Planetary Society. Did you know that, Lynn?

• 37:36Speaker 03

  Can I just ask a question before we leave?

• 37:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What?

• 37:39Speaker 03

  What is the Planetary Society?

• 37:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It happens to be the largest space interest group in the world, Lynn. If you're a member, you participate in discovering new worlds, the search for life. They work with NASA. Oh, that really is cool. All of this. It makes space exploration happen at planetary.org. They're awesome, then. You've been listening to StarTalk. Tell us what you think at [email protected]. Give us your points of view. That's our show this week. I'm Neil deGrasse Tyson. And I'm Ning Cupless. Saying goodbye.

• 38:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

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