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Bob Novella

πŸ‘€ Speaker
1417 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

The shit did not hit the fan.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

the fan it didn't the P the P also did not hit the fan so they did fix it NASA figured out in the in the crew figured out how to get that system working again so it was a temporary problem but again you know I'm sure because it broke that there are things that NASA is going to do to make sure that doesn't happen again and

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

NASA also planned but ended up skipping a demo showing how the crew could build a temporary radiation shelter inside of Orion in case of a solar storm or something unexpected, right?

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

So it's like a pop-up tent type of situation.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

They quickly put this thing together, they get inside of it, and it gives them much more protection from anything going on that has to do with solar radiation.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

That's interesting.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

I wonder why they just can't build that into... Because it takes up space.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

I mean, I'm sure that they have a list of every single thing that's on there and the engineers on the ground would be in a similar situation if there was an emergency.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

But I felt like it was much more of a like open this up and move this thing to the left type of fix.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

You know, it didn't seem to be a major problem.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

But Bob, I'm sure they're always capable of doing some heavy lifting when it comes to being creative and figuring out, you know, solutions to problems that they didn't already figure out how to fix.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

But that wasn't the case here.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

Before launch, you guys might have noticed that the rocket had a helium flow problem, which they fixed before the launch, of course, took place.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

This was simply a displaced seal between the ground to rocket quick disconnect.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

It's basically a pipe that feeds the rocket helium and the flow wasn't happening.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

And then engineers figured it out and they fixed it quickly.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

But of course, NASA is also now turning that into like a we have to figure out why that happened.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

And, you know, they're 100 percent error correction here with NASA.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

Now, the heat shield.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics Guide #1084 - Apr 18 2026

The heat shield's a big guy here.