Episode 279: Warning! Challenger Jokes Ahead!

Episode 279: Warning, Challenger Jokes Ahead This week Host Dave Bledsoe volunteers to be the first podcast host in space thinking it might convince people to buy him free drinks. (It doesn’t.) On the show this week we are somehow topical and yet entirely outdated as we talk about the Challenger Disaster. (Yes, sadly, he DOES do the jokes.) Along the way we learn that most of what people SAY they remember about The Day Gen X Died is kinda wrong. (Kinda like Dave trying to recall last Tuesday!) From there we jump right into the grim and stupid tale of the Shuttle Challenger disaster, mostly gleaned from the Netflix docu-series Challenger: Final Flight. (We are not afraid to let others do our research for us!) We learn why someone thought it was a good idea to send an untrained civilian into freaking Space. (Reagan was doing badly with teachers.) We meet the starry eyed optimist teacher who erroneously believed no one would be so STUPID as to send an untrained civilian into space if it were at ALL dangerous. (Turns out they would, and it was.) Then we explain all the ways this didn’t have to happen and why it was always GOING to happen. (Turns out NASA, not exactly well managed.) Finally, we talk about the jokes, (Honestly, this was always going to be about the jokes.) and how they colored the world view of an entire generation. Our Sponsor this week is the Russian Space Agency, you want to go space cheap, fly Russian Space Agency, coming back costs extra. We open the show with Jerry Seinfeld from a Tonight Show appearance in the 1980’s and close with Pushnoy singing about the Ford 150 of space! Show Theme: https://www.jamendo.com/track/421668/prelude-to-common-sense The Show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHell_Podcast The Show on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthehellpodcast/ The Show on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/david-bledsoe-4 www.whatthehellpodcast.com Give us your money on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Whatthehellpodcast The Show Line: 347 687 9601 Closing Music: https://youtu.be/8QNxgBPfsl4 We are a proud member of the Seltzer Kings Podcast Network! Citations Needed Challenger: Final Flight https://www.netflix.com/title/81012137 Roger Boisjoly-The Challenger Disaster https://www.onlineethics.org/12703/Erosion WHITE HOUSE FINDS NO PRESSURE TO LAUNCH https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/04/us/white-house-finds-no-pressure-to-launch.html#:~:text=The%20White%20House%20said%20today,pressure%20on%20the%20launching%20schedule. Criticism of the Space Shuttle program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program#Cultural_issues_and_problems DISASTER AS A LAUGHING MATTER https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-03-25-8601220292-story.html Challenger Jokes and the Humor of Disaster https://www.jstor.org/stable/1499820?read-now=1&seq=12#page_scan_tab_contents Experts Defend Them : ‘Sick’ Jokes: Coping With the Horror https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-05-30-mn-8176-story.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices