Starry-Eyed: A History of the Heavens [rebroadcast]

Starry-Eyed: A History of the Heavens [rebroadcast]

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In recognition of New Horizons’ historic journey to Pluto, BackStory is returning to our episode on space. From Cotton Mather’s list of every comet since the beginning of time (415, to be exact), to the apparently inexhaustible appeal of Star Wars, Americans’ have had an ongoing fascination with the skies above us. How have people made sense of meteors, eclipses, and the stars? What has made us want to travel among them, to go to the moon, to Mars, or beyond? And how do things change for those of us here on earth when we do? Peter, Ed, and Brian will be looking up, and looking back. We’ve got the story of a New England day in 1780 when the sun did not rise, and a midwestern evening a century later when meat fell from the skies. That’s right, meat. Plus, Peter, Ed, and Brian learn about the powerful impact of first photograph of the earth taken from space, and talk with the astronaut who took it. And they hear from a few Americans who signed up for a trip to the moon in the 1960s…and are still waiting to get there.