Space Oddities: Recent Episodes
Joe Cuhaj
Space Oddities is a 10 part podcast that accompanies author Joe Cuhaj's new book, "Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space" and tells the unknown, offbeat, and obscure stories of spaceflight, bringing the human side of man’s greatest adventure to life. Sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, but always fascinating, the stories are the lesser known and often forgotten stories of spaceflight.
We’ve finally reached the end, the last episode of the Space Oddities Podcast series.
On this episode, we’ll take a look at a few more space related marketing ideas, a couple that you may remember from when you were a kid. I’ll also tell you my favorite out-of-this-world space marketing story culled from the pages of my new book, Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space.
By the way, the book is now available at your favorite online (see a few links below to the most popular stores) and your favorite hometown bookstore.
Purchase Space Oddities Online:
Barnes and Noble
Books-a-Million
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing
Purchase the audio book online at:
Google Play
Audible
Show Notes:
The Coca Cola Space Can (Image – Smithsonian)
Pepsi Space Can (Image – Smithsonian)
Print ad for Space Food Sticks (Image)
The sweet Slim-Jim like craze of the late 1960s, Space Food Sticks (Video)
AOK Space Food Stick commercial by the PET company (Video)
A “Far Out” Commercial for Space Dust (Video)
A cool Coca Cola Ad (Video)
Pepsi / Challenger Ad (Video)
We all know that the first American woman in space was Sally Ride who flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1983, but in the hearts and imaginations of millions of young girls around the world in 1965, the title belonged to another woman, well, she was only a doll, but Astronaut Barbie made girls believe that one day, they could actually fly into space themselves.
That same year, the Hasbro toy company introduced their own astronaut – Astronaut GI Joe.
This episode will take a look at the history of both Barbie and GI Joe in space and how Barbie is now a role model for inspiring girls to literally reach to the stars through STEM programs which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
It will also discuss how Astronaut GI Joe helped convince Werhner von Braun and NASA to develop the lunar rover that would be used on the Apollo moon missions.
Show Notes:
Barbie’s Debut TV Commercial 1959 (Video)
A Brief History of Bild Lilli, The Doll Barbie Was Modeled After (Video)
1986 Astronaut Barbie Commercial (Video)
A Great Barbie Commercial Inspiring Girls That They Can Do Anything, including STEM career (Video)
The History of GI Joe (American Experience Webpage)
Original 1964 GI Joe Commercial (Video)
A Collection of GI Joe Commercials Including Astronaut GI Joe at 3:36 into the Video (Video)
The OTHER Mattel Astronaut: The Classic Major Matt Mason From (Video)
The First Major Matt Mason Commercial (Video)
This episode begins with a story culled from my new book, “Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories Of Mankind’s Exploration Of Space”. It’s a story about how the Soviet Union actually thought that if they were the first to land humans on the moon, the world wouldn’t be able to see it and the announcement may be deemed a hoax.
Sound familiar, right? Their answer was to nuke the moon.
The plan was quickly dismissed, but it is still a fascinating story about the possibility of such a landing being deemed a hoax. And while the Soviets dismissed the plan, the Americans had their own plan to explode nuclear bombs on the lunar surface.
The title of the episode is a quote from former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Show Notes:
You Can Beat The A-Bomb (Video)
A 1950s film that demonstrates steps you can take to survive an atomic bomb explosion…good luck.
Public Reaction To Sputnik (Video)
Omaha, Nebraska television station KETV talks with residents about the launch of Sputnik in October 1957.
Space 1999 Theme – September 4, 1975
Space 1999 Episode 1
The moon is hurled out of Earth orbit after a nuclear explosion in this classic Sci-Fi TV series.
In episode three of our series, we learned that the dream of sending civilians into space was nothing new. In the early 1960s, just a few years before we had actually landed men on the moon, the U.S. based Pan American Airlines began “taking names” and was compiling a list of passengers to be among the first civilians to go to the moon.
It was called the First Moon Flight Club. Of course, it was an advertising gimmick but it worked and over 90,000 people signed up.
Before the Pan Am First Flight Club took off, and a few years before that first lunar landing, another business mogul was taking that same concept and expanded on it, but unlike Pan Am, he was serious. The Hilton Hotel chain wanted to build a hotel on the moon.
Show Notes:
Meet Baron Hilton (Video)
Lunar Hilton on TV Series, Mad Men (Video)
Lunar Hilton Reservation Form (Image)
Von Braun Space Station Concept
Episode 6 of the Space Oddities Podcast is titled, “The Sue Me, Sue You Blues (With Apologies To George Harrison." The episode takes a look at several of the lawsuits filed against NASA and its astronauts. Most were trivial, some very serious including one in which the space agency actually sued one of their Apollo crew members.
The title of the episode comes from a song written by former Beatle George Harrison during the band’s breakup and subsequent litany of lawsuits that followed.
Show Notes:
Apollo 8’s Reading Of Genesis On Christmas Eve 1968
Apollo 11 Landing From PDI To Touchdown As Seen From Lunar Module Window
Alan Shepard Hits Golf Ball On Moon During Apollo 14 Mission
NASA Documentary On Apollo 11 Lunar Samples
Nancy Lee Carlson Wins Lawsuit Over Apollo 11 Lunar Dust Collection Bag
The Sue Me, Sue You Blues by George Harrison
Episode 5 of our Space Oddities Podcast is definitely my favorite. On this episode, we will introduce you to a few recordings that paid homage to our early space program in the late 50s / early 60s.
Show Notes
Here are twenty additional songs from our early days in space for you to check out. They are in no particular order:
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Telstar – The Tornadoes
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The Epic Ride of John Glenn – Walter Brennan
Walter Brennan was best known as Grandpa Amos McCoy in the 1950s sitcom, “The Real McCoys.” This single was the “B” side of his hit country single, “Old Rivers” that topped the chart at #5.
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Ballad of John Glenn – Roy West and Bashful
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Sputniks and Mutniks – Ray Anderson and the Home Folks
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Satellite Baby – Roosevelt “Honeydripper” Sykes
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Sputnik (Satellite Girl) – Jerry Engler and the Ekkos
Jerry Engler wrote this Rockabilly song one day during a lunch break. It received moderate air play, enough that Engler and the Ekkos were invited to open for Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Holly's last guitar riffs before his death were heard on some of Engler's later recordings.
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Jim ‘n I, Him ‘n I – New Christi Minstrels
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The Martian Hop – The Ran-Dells
This song went to # 27 on the Black Singles Chart and # 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1963.
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Destination Moon – Dinah Washington
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Fly Me to the Moon – Joe Harnell
Reached # 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, #4 on the Billboard Middle of the Road chart
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Guided Missile – Cuff Links
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Count Down – Dave “Baby” Cortez
Dave “Baby” Cortez Clowney was best known for his 1959 hit, “The Happy Organ”, which has been recognized as the first pop/rock hit to feature an organ as the lead instrument. Cortez was also the musical director for Little Anthony and the Imperials.
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Happy Blues for John Glenn – Lightnin’ Hopkins
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Planetary Run – Joe Montgomery
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Trip to the Moon – Wesley Reynolds
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Orbit Around the Moon – Joe Meek and the Blue Men
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Rocket to the Moon – Sheldon Allman
Sheldon Allman was an actor in the late 50s/early 60s. If you are a child of the 60s you know some of his work. He was did the vocal for the theme of the TV series, “Mr. Ed” and co-wrote the theme of the cartoon series, “George of the Jungle” with co-writer Stan Worth.
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Everyone’s Gone to the Moon – Jonathan King
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Mister Glenn - Little Willie John
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Werhner Von Braun - Tom Lehrer
Today's episode takes a look at one of the most sophisticated pieces of spacecraft ever built - the Lunar Excursion Module or LEM. The LEM was not designed to return to Earth. Instead, the spacecraft would be intentionally abandoned to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere or crash on the moon after transferring the astronauts back to the command module for the return ride home.
Of the nine manned LEMs that flew for NASA, eight did just that. Apollo 13's LEM saved the crew after an explosion disabled their service module and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere as did the one used for testing on Apollo 9. The others flew to the moon, were jettisoned, then were sent crashing into the moon. One of them, however, escaped and is still flying in deep space.
This episode tells the story of the lunar module and this one in particular - Apollo 10's Snoopy that is still intact in space and has been recently found. Can it be the only LEM to come home?
SHOW NOTES:
Documentary on the Lunar Orbital Technique Used By Apollo (NASA - Video)
NASA Documentary: Apollo 10 - Tell The World We Have Arrived (Video)
Apollo 10 Jettisons Snoopy And It Runs Away (NASA - Video)
Apollo 13 Says Farewell to the Lunar Module Aquarius (NASA - Video 38:15 into the clip)
Apollo 10's Mission Patch (Smithsonian - JPG)
Snoopy in Space (Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang - NASA Cartoon Video)
Lucy and Linus Theme (The Peanuts Theme by the Jerry Granelli Trio - Video)
Welcome to Episode 3 of the Space Oddities Podcast: The First Moon Flight Club.
In Episode 2, we discussed the push by billionaires Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson to make space travel for civilians as common as hopping on a bus. Of course, right now you have to be very rich to fly or get an invitation.
Many people criticize their efforts, but isn’t this how the airline industry began? Visionary inventors and eccentric billionaire’s pushing the envelope of air travel to make it accessible first to the wealthy and then to the general public?
This episode will shed light on an American airline company that had the same dream – albeit a tremendous marketing scheme – to fly people to the moon in the 1960s, long before Bezos and before we even landed on the moon.
It was called the First Moon Flight Club.
Show Notes:
1969 Pan Am Commercial (the song will stick in your head - Video)
1968 Pan Am Commercial (Video)
Pan Am First Moon Flights Club (Smithsonian - JPG)
Jeff Bezos Press Conference After First Flight on New Shepard (7/20/21 - Video)
2001: A Space Odyssey Open Sequence With Pan Am Shuttle Orion (Video)
Episode 2 of the Space Oddities podcast takes a look at some interesting, manned spaceflight splashdowns and recoveries, in particular, those where civilians had a unique perspective or got in the way as was the case with the first SpaceX Crew Dragon flight.
The most fascinating story involves the Apollo 11 capsule carrying the first men to walk on the moon as it made its fiery reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Passengers and crew aboard Qantas flight 596 were the first to see the capsule return in an incredible fireball or as Captain Frank Brown shouted over the radio, “What a spectacle!”
Show Notes:
This is Goddard (Video) - (Credit NASA)
A 1969 NASA produced film documenting the flight of Apollo 11. At the 14:54 mark of the film, you will hear the radio communications from the Qantas flight and see a short video of the capsule’s reentry from the aircraft.
SpaceX Crew Dragon Recovery Coverage (Video) - (Credit Tory with Overlook Horizon)
1960s Qantas Commercial (Video)
Commemorative Qantas Apollo 11 Menu (JPG Image)
Episode 1 discusses NASA's plans to keep the Earth from being contaminated with lunar germs during the Apollo missions. Unfortunately, there were a few flaws in their plans that will make you chuckle. We'll also meet the first man to (accidentally) touch the moon and a young woman who got an unexpected shot of moon dust.
About the Episode Title:
The title for this episode came while doing online research for the book. It was posted on several of those online quote sites and credited to “anonymous.” The full quote was, “Moon dust in your lungs, stars in your eyes. You are a child of the cosmos, a ruler of the skies.”
Show Notes:
- Walter Cronkite (CBS News) on Apollo 11's quarantine
- National Archives: History of the Lunar Receiving Lab
- NASA Documentary (silent w/captions) of the Lunar Receiving Lab
- NASA Documentary: Moon Rock Investigations (w/other Apollo clips)
- NY Times Article: Woman Pricks Finger in Test of Moon Dust (2/26/1971)
- Image: NASA Photographer Terry Slezak-First Man to Touch Moon Dust (Credit: NASA)
Space Oddities: Forgotten Tales of Mankind's Exploration of Space, is my new book that features obscure, lesser known, and often forgotten stories of spaceflight from its earliest days to the present. Trouble is, there are many more stories that didn't fit into the book. And that's where my new 10-part podcast series, Space Oddities, comes in. This is a preview of what's to come. The series premiers April 25th. The book hits bookshelves August 15th.