The Lab With Brad

One giant leap

We talk about Apollo 1 through 11, take a little time to look at the Apollo program’s onboard computers, and finally finish with the first human footsteps on the moon.

Here’s a talk all about the Apollo computer.

Light Years Ahead | The 1969 Apollo Guidance Computer

Here’s a little something about the vomit comet—airplanes used to provide short periods of zero gravity.

Vomit Comet: Training Flights for Astronauts

Here’s a NASA site with information about the Apollo missions.

The Apollo Missions

And here’s a short video of the first human to step on the moon, while he was stepping for the first time on the moon.

One small step for man

FTL, and the relativistic refrigerator

In honor of April fools’ day, we start with real science and then go off into wild speculation. We talk about the possibility of faster than light, and time travel. Not to be taken seriously, but fun!

Here’s a video that covers some relativity basics, like time dilation and length contraction.

Uncanny Relativity

Here’s a site that explores relativity, by using an imaginary ship that travels close to the speed of light.

C-ship

Here’s a video that explains Bell’s inequality, and what that has to do with physics.

Bell's Theorem: The Quantum Venn Diagram Paradox

Here’s a talk on testing bell’s inequality without loopholes.

Significant loophole-free test of Bell’s theorem with entangled photons

Here’s a site about quantum entanglement between the earth and orbit.

Physicists link quantum memories across the longest distance ever

Here’s something about cosmic rays, muons, and relativity.

How To Prove Einstein's Relativity In The Palm Of Your Hand

And here, you can get a book published in 1917, that includes thought experiments on how communication faster than light might act.

The theory of the relativity of motion

Apollo’s fiery chariot

To go to the moon, you need the right equipment. This includes the giant Saturn V rocket, and the escape system to get you away from your giant rocket when something goes wrong. Join us for a look at the hardware of the Apollo program.

Here’s some info about the Little Joe II.

Little Joe II

Here’s an accidental but successful test of the Apollo launch escape system.

The Successful Failure of the Little Joe II

Here’s some footage of the aborted Gemini VI launch, when thankfully, the pilot didn’t pull the ejection lever.

Aborted Launch - Gemini 6 (CBS)

Here’s a look at the Agena, and the Gemini program.

1966 NASA GEMINI XI MISSION OVERVIEW ATLAS-AGENA TARGET VEHICLE

Here’s a NASA site about the Saturn V rocket.

What Was the Saturn V?

And here are a couple of videos that show the Saturn V as it launches.

Flight of Apollo Saturn V

High Quality - Apollo 8 Saturn V rocket launch

Humans, IN SPACE!

We talk about the people of the Mercury and Gemini programs. Over and over again, the astronauts saved the mission went things went wrong. They also played a few silly jokes on one another, and we go along for the ride.

Here is a link to NASA’s site on the Gemini program.

Gemini - Bridge to the Moon

Here’s a video by NASA about the Gemini missions.

THE TWELVE GEMINI MISSIONS

Animals, IN SPACE!

Before humans went into space, animals were sent. We talk about some animal and human astronauts, a little about rockets and a side trip to using nuclear explosions for thrust.

Here’s a site on the history of animals in space.

Mice, Flies, Cats, Dogs and Monkeys: The History of Animals in Space

Here’s a ted talk by the son of one of the people who thought blowing up atom bombs behind the ship would be a good way to make it move.

George Dyson: The story of Project Orion

Here’s some footage of a test craft. It’s a model for project Orion, using conventional explosives

Project Orion Nuclear Propulsion - 1950s Tests

Here’s a bit about the Atlas rockets.

Atlas Missiles and Space Launchers

Here’s a link to info on the Little Joe rocket, which was made by bundling together Sergeant missiles

Little Joe

And here’s a vintage video about Sergeant missiles, which were bundled together to make the Little Joe rockets

MGM-29 Sergeant

Arms race to space race

At the end of world war II, nuclear weapons had been used for war. By 1949, the USSR had successfully tested their own atom bomb. Everyone scrambled to build rockets that could launch their terror weapons at any part of the globe, especially at each other. The same rockets being built for war were used to reach into space.

Here are a few videos on specific impulse, with much clearer explanations than ours.

Specific Impulse - Easy Way to Understand Jets and Rockets

Specific Impulse - Why is it Measured In Seconds?

Understanding Specific Impulse

Here’s a site about the space race.

The Space Race: Timeline, Cold War & Facts

Supersonic flight, rocket planes and the edge of space

After world war II, the world became very interested in super sonic flight, and high altitude research. Along with a side trip to how jet engines work, we take a look at rocket planes—the first manned vehicles to reach the edge of space.

As a side note, have a link to a short article about the MIT icon drive powered plane.

MIT engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts

Here’s more information about the pulse jet engine.

The Past and Future of the Pulse Jet

Here’s a bit about the v-1 flying bomb.

V-1 Cruise Missile

Here’s a link to a page about different types of engines.

Engines

Here’s an article about the sound barrier.

What happens when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier?

Here’s a video about on going efforts to make sonic booms a bit quieter!

Breaking the sound barrier, quietly

Here are a couple of videos about the Gloster Meteor—the English world war II fighter plane.

The Worlds Only Airworthy Gloster Meteor

The Last Ever Flight For This Gloster Meteor

Here is a video about the Messerschmitt Me 262—Germany’s world war II jet fighter.

Inside The Cockpit - Messerschmitt Me 262

Here’s a vintage video about the Messerschmitt Me 163 Comet—the world’s first rocket powered fighter plane.

ME-163 KOMET GERMAN ROCKET POWERED FIGHTER AIRCRAFT

Here’s a sight about the b-52.

Boeing: B-52

Here are a couple of videos about the X-15 rocket plane.

The Fastest X-Plane

The Fastest X-Plane - Mach 7 North American X-15

Here’s a vintage video about the Bell x-1—the rocket plane that first broke the sound barrier.

The Bell X-1

And here’s an article about the X-1, and the challenges of lifting it to it’s launch altitude with a modified b-29.

Dropping the Orange Beast That Broke the Sound Barrier

World wars, aircraft and rocket

We follow the development of airplane engines and rockets from the wright Brothers through the end of world war II. By the end, the stage is set for an arms race, and the space race.

Here’s a bit about the work by Albert Einstein in 1905.

The Year Of Albert Einstein

Here’s something on how we found out about radioactivity.

The History of Radiation

Here’s an article about the history of nuclear fission, which is how we built nuclear bombs.

A short history of nuclear fission

Here’s a video about the v-2 rocket.

The V2 Rocket - how it works

Here’s an article about the v-2.

V2: The Nazi rocket that launched the space age

Here’s a link to a video that shows a couple of planes that use a rotary engine, meaning the cam shaft holds still while the rest of the engine spins around it.

WW1: Two Rotary-Engine Fighter Aircraft

Here’s an article about the b-29, from the company that designed it.

Boeing: Historical Snapshot: B-29 Superfortress

In this video, we ride along inside a b-29 while it takes a short flight, listening in as the crew go through their procedures and check lists.

Crawl through a B-29 Superfortress IN FLIGHT!

From feathers to flying machines

The early history of flight is strewn with the wreckage of many strange devices… and the people who invented them. From foolish feathered folk flinging themselves from a far, to the powered and controlled flight pioneered by the Wright brothers, we take a look and how we learned to make the sky our playground.

Here are a couple of links with more information about the history of flight.

The History of Aviation

History of Flight

Here’s a bit about the internal combustion engine.

A brief history of the internal combustion engine

Here’s a couple of links about an early internal combustion engine that used gunpowder for its fuel.

Huygens gun powder engine (lifting boys)

The First Internal Combustion Engine - went with a bang

And here’s more information about the birth of the Diesel engine.

Diesel 101: History of the Diesel Engine and Who Invented it

Blast me to the moon

We take a look at the very beginning of rockets, including the somewhat obscure origins of gunpowder. The cherry on the top of our explosive cake is a story about how one man tried to build a huge gun that could launch things into space.

Here’s the rabithole I went down—a sight that explains how to build your own bow and arrows.

Archery, Primitive

Here’s a bit about the history of rockets.

Brief History of Rockets

Here are a couple of sights on the origins and history of gunpowder.

History of Gunpowder

Gunpowder: Origins in the East

Here’s a bit about how big guns developed over time.

12 Key Moments in the History of Artillery

Here’s a sight with more information about the research using a giant gun to fire things to high altitude.

A Brief History of the HARP Project