SMARTER EVERY DAY AND SPACE!!!! - 129

Hey, it's me Destin, welcome back to Smarter Every Day. So of everything I've studied on Smarter Every Day, if you know anything about my educational background or my family history, you know that space is this holy topic. It's something that must be approached with reverence and respect, right? That's why I've never really done a series on Smarter Every Day about space. It's like it was never good enough or the timing wasn't right.

Well, I'm telling you right now the timing is right. I would like to convince you to subscribe to Smarter Every Day because I'm about to start a space series and it's unlike any space series on the internet. A lot of space education I'm unsatisfied with because it's like reading a dry Wikipedia article. Well, we're not going to do that. We're gonna do something different. We're actually gonna go to the hardware. Like wherever on earth the hardware is, we're going.

And we're gonna check it out and we're gonna learn stuff about it and it's gonna be amazing, at least for me. But think about this. The hardware doesn't build itself. It's made by people, and it's operated by people. So in my mind, all of this would be a waste of time if we didn't make that personal connection, and get to know the people that are actually making this happen.

Hey, it's me Destin, welcome back to Smarter Every Day or something. [Woman laughing] I'm at astronaut Don Pettit's house.

• So this is my driveway.
• Right.
• OK, and I like to set my telescope up here in the driveway and look at what you can see from the Houston area, and that street light.
• That street light right there?
• That street light right there. It's right at the end of my driveway and it messes up your astronomical wahh, and so... I... I have this little surplus laser I got from a junkyard. And I made this little mount, and it points at the street light, and I'm gonna plug this guy in.

(Male voice) I was wondering what the heck that was when I walked in.

• OK.

And so...

• It shoots... OK there's the laser beam and this laser beam should be pre-oriented through my nice little precision mount at the street light. You can see it there on the sensor. And let's just wait a... [laughter]

(Destin) I've ahh... That's amazing.

• And now, for those who might want to do this, a green laser does not work.
• OK.
• That sensor is shifted more towards the near infrared and the red part of the spectrum, so if you try a green laser you're gonna have trouble turning it out, but a red laser...
• Well how do you know this Don?
• Because I tried it with a green laser.
• [laughs] That's right. So you actually... This is helium-neon right?
• Yep.

Do you understand what this means? We are about to hang out with astronauts, which is amazing for me personally, because I want to be an astronaut and it's like I get to hang out with the people I want to be like.

Anyway, so no matter if you're over here on the space knowledge spectrum, and you think that the space program was cancelled when the shuttle was, it wasn't by the way but some people think that. Or if you're way over here on the knowledge spectrum and you're a rocket scientist and you know that the orbital inclination of the space station is 51.6 degrees and you know why. No matter where you're at, this is gonna be awesome because space is finally gonna make sense in a much more real way.

So this is how I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna put a space video up every month and I'm gonna put a normal Smarter Every Day video up with an ad every month. You can help any way you want but just share this stuff. You can support directly on Patreon, or if you push out that traditional video I get to use that ad money to pay for the space video but by all means share the space video because I want people to care about space at least half as much as I do.

Anyway, that's what's going down. So now I will show you a teaser for what's coming up, because over the last several years I've shot stuff all over the world. These are some of the videos that are gonna be released in the Smarter Every Day space series. Not all of them, but I just want you to subscribe and go to space with me. I'm Destin, you're getting Smarter Every Day, let's go to space. Have a good one. [music]