Comments on: Yuri’s Night video hope

By: LSandman24

LSandman24 — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:35:11 +0000

@ Erasmussimo:

We’ve been destroying ourselves for thousands of years. We just happen to be better at breeding.

I suppose nukes do speed-up the process, though.

By: Erasmussimo

Erasmussimo — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:13:58 +0000

Hmm… I’m not sure I like the “history divided into two parts” claim because it intrudes on the similar but (IMO) much more important division of history by the atomic bomb. Somebody in the 1950s noted that the atomic bomb divided history “like a knife”, because now the human race could destroy itself.

By: MadScientist

MadScientist — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:13:07 +0000

@Liz D: The dog’s already done it – ever seen “A Grand Day Out” featuring Wallace and Gromit? Wallace could never have finished that space ship on his own; it’s Gromit’s genius that got them to the moon and back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Grand_Day_Out

Wow … it’s been decades since that show was produced.

By: MadScientist

MadScientist — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:08:40 +0000

@Bob from Easton: You mean “Wanz ze rockets go up, who cares vere zey come down? Ees not my department, says Werner von Braun.” I like the intro though: Ever wonder what made it possible to spend millions of dollars to send some monkey to the moon? Good old American Know-How, that’s what. As provided by good old Americans like Werner von Braun.

By: John Paradox

John Paradox — Tue, 12 May 2009 06:25:33 +0000

# Lauren Says:
Ahhh, strategically placed “Death from the Skis”! Love it!

I didn’t even know BA skis!

J/P=?
Spelling/grammar neonazi

By: bassmanpete

bassmanpete — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:09:17 +0000

I could have used a Smiley but I know a lot of people don’t like them and anyway, I thought it would be obvious I was joking.

By: Liz D

Liz D — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:55:25 +0000

Very well said!

I love the fact that we can travel to space, even if it’s just to the moon and the ISS… or even just in orbit.

bassmanpete- I’ll be non-speciesist the day a dog builds a space shuttle and launches itself into orbit, and survives. Or the day a camel builds a pyramid, or a horse constructs a cathedral. Tell me the day a bird sings an opera or a cat invents calculus.

Animals are cute, but humans rock, man.

By: bassmanpete

bassmanpete — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:43:13 +0000

@MadScientist – she died within a few hours, apparently from stress & overheating, but the Soviets reported at the time that she survived for some days.

By: MadScientist

MadScientist — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:17:22 +0000

Hmm … must keep that hidden from the nieces and nephews. I told them that Sputnik and Vanguard were such a big deal. Sure spacecraft need to be very different to support humans, but I see all the space probes as being successors of Sputnik and Vanguard, not of the successful orbits of Yuri.

@bassmanpete: Laika did not survive reentry though (was she even alive during reentry?) The launch of Yuri was nothing like that of Laika.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:01:35 +0000

Ahhh, strategically placed “Death from the Skis”! Love it!

By: Woof

Woof — Mon, 11 May 2009 23:27:36 +0000

Really, Mr. Pete!

Laika is my hero.

By: bassmanpete

bassmanpete — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:56:23 +0000

Ah, humans are so speciesist! What about Laika? She was in orbit more than 3 years before Yuri blasted off.

By: Unicorndeer

Unicorndeer — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:17:15 +0000

Hey Phil what about a Live Chat in the near future? That was always awesome.

By: Davidlpf

Davidlpf — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:50:16 +0000

Mrs. BA is trying to figure out which color goes with BAs new Jenny McCarthy poster.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:43:28 +0000

This is such a sweet video!

By: BigBadSis

BigBadSis — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:35:54 +0000

So which paint color did Mrs. BA sister-in-law decide to paint your computer room? (Conspicuous Mrs. BA paint swatches on wall behind you.)

By: QUASAR

QUASAR — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:25:42 +0000

Ah, how I wish that the Soviet Union was still around these days!

By: IVAN3MAN

IVAN3MAN — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:24:25 +0000

Damn it! I messed up that last link. Try this: Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin. Oh, for the want of a preview/edit facility. *Sigh*

By: Bob from Easton

Bob from Easton — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:19:03 +0000

I thought we owwed it all to Werner “I shootz zee rockets up….ver dey come down I don’t care” Von Braun.

That being said, I think this is one of the most important pictures in the history of mankind.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0407/moussette_aur16jul1_full.jpg&imgrefurl=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040730.html&h=912&w=1440&sz=154&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=DzRaLcp1NMGqrM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnorthern%2Blights%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rls%3DGGLJ,GGLJ:2006-43,GGLJ:en%26sa%3DN

By: mandydax

mandydax — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:15:29 +0000

Well put, Phil. Also, I went out looking for the ISS with help from Heavens-Above.com, and saw two sats pass by and thought they were impressive. Then the ISS went by almost straight overhead at mag -2.1. I tweeted that it was so bright that it looked spiky, like Sagan’s Ship of the Mind. You’ll know it when you see it. I encourage everyone to find a time when it’ll be overhead at their location.

By: Michael L

Michael L — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:49:28 +0000

Obvious product placement is Obvious!

By: IVAN3MAN

IVAN3MAN — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:49:01 +0000

Hey, Phil, don't forget the "Chief Designer", Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov , of the R-7 Semyorka rocket that launched Yuri Alexeevich Gagarin into orbit on April 12, 1961.

By: LarianLeQuella

LarianLeQuella — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:48:12 +0000

I know IVAN3MAN. I never would have known about it! Can you imagine someone like this “Phil” guy on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report?

By: Michael L

Michael L — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:18:09 +0000

I love your enthusiasm, Phil. keep up the amazing work!

By: IVAN3MAN

IVAN3MAN — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:17:38 +0000

You wrote a book?!