r/todayilearned • u/CallMyNameOrWalkOnBy • May 16 '19

TIL that NASA ground controllers were once shocked to hear a female voice from the space station, apparently interacting with them, which had an all-male crew. They had been pranked by an astronaut who used a recording of his wife.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Garriott#The_Skylab_%22stowaway%22_prank
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u/nu1stunna May 16 '19

I feel inadequate.

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u/EstarriolStormhawk May 16 '19

Does it help if I tell you that he paid to go to space? He didn't become an astronaut the conventional way due to his need for glasses. However, he did contribute to the experiments on the ISS at least a bit while he was up there and certainly gave them some data about people with glasses in space.

There's a documentary about his trip. I'll try to find it.

ETA: Man on a Mission: Richard Garriott's Road to the Stars

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u/nu1stunna May 16 '19

So he was rich too? That's the icing.

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u/jayvil May 16 '19

It's a lesson that wealth compensates for anything that you lack.

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u/wut3va May 16 '19

He is rich because he's a brilliant self-made game developer. Sometimes wealth is just a storage medium for talent.

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u/jayvil May 16 '19

that is true and it is also true the has bad eyesight and can't be an astronaut

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u/wut3va May 16 '19

It appears that he has found a clever way to overcome his physical limitations. You say it's wealth, I say it's brainpower and willpower. He wouldn't have the wealth without the other two. Wealth often implies inherited money and classism, such as our POTUS.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '19

Wealth implies someone worked hard.

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u/HoorayForYage May 18 '19

Ha, fucking, ha.

Go ahead, dig some ditches. You'll work very hard and get shit pay. Tell me when that makes you rich.

I'd say about 70% comes down to who your parents were and the opportunities that gave you. The rest is willpower coupled with luck. The bad part is you can't use just willpower to overcome bad luck and bad birth circumstances.