The forgotten NASA history… and some slackers

You may have heard of the Mercury 13, women who were trained for space flight back in the heyday of the Space Race, and then largely forgotten.

But did you know of the forgotten — some say suppressed — black astronaut program? You may want to watch the brilliant video The Old Negro Space Program. Listening once again to the adventures of Loopy Louie and Wallace "Suitcase" Jefferson brought me right back to the high adventure of the race to the Moon. Warning: movie contains adult language. Also requires senses of humor and social irony.

Speaking of which, you may not know the tale of the astronaut accidentally left on the Moon, stranded by a locked latch on the Lunar Module. Here are his tales. Warning: adult themes, some childish humor (which cracked me up), and lots of “bleeps”.

Finally, I was on Slacker Astronomy once again, because, evidently, repeated blows to their heads have permanently damaged Pamela’s, Travis’s’s, and Aaron’s cognitive abilities. Here’s the interview, where I am even crueler to Tom Cruise than I am in my War of the Worlds review. Warning: outrageous and inappropriate (and gratuitous) sexual innuendo abounds in the interview.

August 18th, 2005 10:56 PM by Phil Plait in Time Sink | 5 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

5 Responses to “The forgotten NASA history… and some slackers”

1. Tensor Says:
August 19th, 2005 at 12:42 am

LOL, thanks Phil, I needed some laughs. You somehow missed Jose though.
2. Tim G Says:
August 19th, 2005 at 6:10 am

I hope Ken Burns sees “The Old Negro Space Program”.

Anyone who likes that short may want to check out the book “Our Dumb Century” by the publishers of “The Onion”.
3. Axiom Says:
August 19th, 2005 at 7:43 am

Brief Brief History is really funny (if you know

I ended up reading this commentary via the recent podcast at Slacker Astronomy wherein, among other wacky hijinks, they read aloud from the Brief Brief History of Time and Phil Plait (of Bad Astronomy) mocks Tom Cruise and draws parallels between War…
4. Patrick Says:
August 19th, 2005 at 8:42 am

Recently heard you on Skepticality as well…
5. Anthony Says:
August 19th, 2005 at 1:36 pm

OMG. I love the “Sullivan Carou”, the “letter” spoffing Sullivan Ballou’s. The minute it came out of the narritor’s mouth, I busted out laughing.

About Bad Astronomy

If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.

Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.



		Bad Astronomy was chosen as one of Time.com's Best Blogs of 2009.

		Open Lab 2008 is a collection of the best blog posts of the year, all in one place. Are you a science junkie? Yeah, you want it.

Death from the Skies!

Order a copy of Death from the Skies! from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders.

"If things worked the way I wanted them to, any reporter about to do another 'sensational' story on deadly meteors would consult this volume, and bang! common sense would find its way into the news. How strange would that world be?"
-- Adam Savage, Mythbusters

"Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, but oddly exhilarating."
-- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising

Blogs / Bad Astronomy