19 09, 2023

A Soviet Cosmonaut Once Pretended To Land On The Moon To Troll NASA (Cool Weird Awesome 1090)

By |2023-09-19T09:04:40-04:00September 19, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Today in 1968, the Soviet Union was launching the Zond 5 mission, orbiting the moon. But on cosmanaut, knowing the US would be listening, decided to pretend he’d landed on the moon's surface.

29 08, 2023

An Urban Legend Says The Devil Took Over Everybody’s TV Screens In 1968 (Cool Weird Awesome 1075)

By |2023-08-29T07:53:12-04:00August 29, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

There’s an urban legend floating around the web that claims today in 1968, the television industry was briefly stopped in its tracks by the devil. We'll unpack this wild story.

21 04, 2023

When An Apollo Astronaut Had A Gas Problem On The Moon (Cool Weird Awesome 993)

By |2023-04-21T08:40:11-04:00April 21, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Today in 1972, astronauts John Young and Charles Duke stepped on the Moon during the Apollo 16 mission. Along the way, one of the moonwalkers revealed to the world, without meaning to, that orange juice had made him gassy.

22 03, 2023

For Self-Help Robots, Looks Matter (Cool Weird Awesome 976)

By |2023-03-22T07:47:42-04:00March 22, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

The University of Cambridge did a study about robotic wellbeing coaches. And it turns out that if we want robots to help us help ourselves… they need to be cute. 

13 03, 2023

Uranus Was Originally Going To Be Named “George” (Cool Weird Awesome 968)

By |2023-03-13T06:53:40-04:00March 13, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , |

Today in 1781 astronomer William Herschel pointed his telescope toward Uranus. But long before the internet’s favorite planet got its very pun-filled name, an astronomer wanted to give it a much more chill one.

7 02, 2023

The First Time Astronauts Walked In Space Without A Tether (Cool Weird Awesome 944)

By |2023-02-07T09:33:16-05:00February 7, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |

Today in 1984, two US astronauts walked in space. And, for the first time, they weren’t connected to anything.

31 01, 2023

The Moon Trees Came From Seeds That Went Into Lunar Orbit (Cool Weird Awesome 939)

By |2023-01-31T08:58:24-05:00January 31, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Apollo 14 may be best known today for the moment when astronaut Alan Shepard hit golf balls on the surface of the moon, but the mission also gave us the “moon trees.”

29 08, 2022

The Robot That Could Do Surgeries In Space (Cool Weird Awesome 837)

By |2022-08-29T09:13:02-04:00August 29, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

MIRA is a small robotic surgery system that's set for testing on the International Space Station - and could end up helping astronauts prepare for long-term missions to the Moon as part of the Artemis project.

11 07, 2022

At Age 11, Venetia Burney Named Pluto (Cool Weird Awesome 807)

By |2022-07-11T09:37:17-04:00July 11, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Today in 1918, the birthday of Venetia Burney, who at age eleven, did something few people have done: she named a planet!

1 02, 2022

Wally Funk, At Long Last An Astronaut (Cool Weird Awesome 707)

By |2022-02-01T06:31:12-05:00February 1, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Today in 1939, the birthday of Wally Funk. She first passed astronaut training in her 20s and could have been one of the first US astronauts, but after some 60 years of trying, she finally got into space.

Go to Top