September 15, 2016 11:07 am

Tomorrow, Neil Tyson and Chuck Nice answer questions about “The Space Race!”

In tomorrow night’s episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson answers fan-submitted Cosmic Queries about the Space Race, the Apollo program, and landing on the Moon.

Which isn’t particularly difficult, since Neil has actually written a book about the subject, Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier. Although, as he jokes with co-host Chuck Nice, the reason Neil writes books is so that he never has to think about that subject ever again.

There are some surprises, like about the importance of John F. Kennedy’s personality in getting us to the moon vs. the geopolitical realities of the time, and what the fall of the Soviet Union had to do with President George H. W. Bush’s plans to go to Mars, or about who Neil thinks really “won” the Space Race. Or when Neil and Chuck talk about what it must be like to be the Apollo Command Module pilot all alone flying around the dark side of the Moon while your friends are down below walking on it.

The highlight of the episode for me has got to be when Neil and Chuck are talking about the story about Buzz Aldrin punching a guy in the face for accusing him of lying about walking on the Moon.

I don’t want to ruin the fun, so I won’t spoil anything here. But when the conversation turns to how Neil deals with people who express a level of ignorance about science and facts, Neil says something that, the instant you hear it, you know is going to be the next Neil deGrasse Tyson meme.

Take a listen, then let me know in the comments to this post, or to the show, what you think Neil’s “meme-worthy” quote is.

I’m not worried about you missing it. It’ll sort of slap you in the face when you hear it.

Please join us Friday night at 7pm EDT for Cosmic Queries: The Space Race, right here on our website, as well as on iTunes Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher and TuneIn.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Jeffrey Simons