Nov 11: Tycho Spots a New Star, Gemini XII Ends Gemini Program

Host 1 Welcome to This Day in Space and Astronomy, on this day, November 11th, well, we're diving into two moments that, you know, basically shattered the glass ceiling of space. I mean, one proved the heavens aren't just this unchanging painted dome and the other proved humans could actually survive working in the void.

Host 1 Without exhausting themselves to death.

Right.

Host 2 Right, yeah. Today's deep dive really explores how humanity's relationship with the cosmos evolved, you know, from just observing the stars from afar to physically working among them. And well, we have to start with that shattered dome back in 1572 80.

Host 1 So this is November 11th on the Julian calendar, right?

Host 2 Exactly. Yeah. Denmark was still using the Julian calendar then. On our modern calendar, it would actually be the 21st. But that night, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, he's looking up at Cassiopeia and spots this brilliantly bright new star.

Host 1 Which was a massive problem for scholars back then because, well, the absolute dogma was that the heavens were perfect and entirely permanent.

Host 2 No, completely. If you saw something new, people just insisted it had to be a localized atmospheric trick, like something happening right here near Earth. So to test that, Tycho looked for a daily shift in its position, searching for parallax.

Host 1 Right, parallax. So for you listening, it's just like when you're in a moving car, the nearby trees zip past quickly, but the distant mountains barely seem to move at all. Tycho was looking for that same shift to prove how far away it was.

Host 2 Yes, exactly that. So he measured it meticulously and found, well, zero daily shift.

Host 1 Wow, none at all.

Host 2 Yeah, zero. Which meant this object was out there far beyond the moon, firmly in the realm of the fixed stars.

Host 1 So it was undeniable proof that the heavens actually do change.

Host 2 It was. And he published his findings in a work called De Nova Stella, noting this new arrival outshone all fixed stars, Vega and Sirius included.

Host 1 And we know now he was looking at a type 1a supernova, right? Like an exploding white dwarf?

Host 2 We do. yeah his proof shattered ancient dogma and led him to build uraniborg his famous research center so that desire to understand the sky eventually transformed from you know distant observation to actual physical exploration

Host 1 which brings us to 1966 AD

Host 2 the launch of Gemini 12 the very final flight of the Gemini program

Host 1 right

Host 2 and Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin were under intense pressure here because when they reach orbit to meet their Agena target rocket the rendezvous radar just failed completely

Host 1 oh no really

Host 2 yeah Aldrin just pulled out his charts and did the math by hand to guide them to dock

Host 1 that's wild and the spacewalks walks were a huge deal too right because before this astronauts were coming back completely exhausted

Host 2 oh totally wiped out by simple tasks

Host 1 Right. And I know you can explain this better, but why was waiting Aldrin in a Marilyn swimming pool before the flight the ultimate breakthrough for working in space?

Host 2 Well, it's because an inflated space suit in a vacuum gets incredibly rigid. It's almost like a pressurized car tire. You're constantly fighting your own clothes just to bend your arms. So by weighting him underwater to achieve neutral buoyancy, they simulated weightlessness better than anything else on Earth.

Host 1 So by suspending him in the water, he isn't fighting gravity, which leaves him free to just figure out how to fight the stiffness of the suit itself.

Host 2 Exactly. He practiced his exact deliberate movements and it paid off beautifully. Walking to the launch pad, they even wore signs reading, the and end.

Host 1 I love that detail.

Host 2 Right. And when Aldrin finally opened the hatch in orbit, he just looked out and said, man, look at that. He went on to do three spacewalks using new tools like waist tethers and foot restraints they nicknamed golden slippers.

Host 1 golden slippers, that's great. And he even handled an Apollo design torque wrench without any of that previous fatigue, right?

Host 2 He did. That underwater training in Maryland, pioneered the exact method the United States, Russia, and China still use today, it directly paved the way for Apollo.

It's

Host 1 It's amazing how that set the stage. And we also have some quick extras for this day, like in 1982 AD, Space Shuttle Columbia launched STS-5. That was its first operational flight. Deploying the first shuttle satellites.

Host 2 Right. And Joe Allen radioed down, we are two for two. We deliver.

Host 1 We deliver. And then in 2019 AD, Mercury made a rare five and a half hour transit across the sun.

Host 2 Yeah. It's incredible to track that stuff. Leaving you with a final thought, when you look up in the night sky tonight, consider whether you are simply observing the heavens like Tycho Brahe or wondering what it takes to actually reach out and interact with them like the crew of Gemini 12.

Host 1 Thanks for tuning in. See you back here tomorrow.