AirSpace

Latest Episodes:

QueerSpace: Fly the Friendly Skies Feb 24, 2022

Show notes

We’re working on the next season of AirSpace as we speak, but today, we’re excited to bring you QueerSpace — a limited series from the creators of AirSpace, featuring stories and people at the intersection of aviation, space, and LGBTQ+ history and culture. For the next two months, we’re highlighting the scope and diversity of queer experiences found across human flight and space science.

The first episode spotlights the history and community built by male flight attendants. You may think that the role of flight attendant has always been a women-dominated profession. But that wasn’t always the case. Very early on in commercial aviation, many flight attendants (or stewards as they were then known) were men. But in the mid-20th century, that changed as airlines began exclusively hiring women for the role. When, in the 1970s, a court case forced airlines to hire men and women on equal terms and more men became flight attendants, gay men created a community within the industry that was uniquely supportive and welcoming. The next few decades would test that community, first with changes to how airlines were allowed to operate, and then by the AIDS crisis.

In this episode, we talk to Plane Queer author Phil Tiemeyer and former flight attendant David Hinson to explore that community.

QueerSpace is made possible by the generous support of Olay.

Did you know we have a monthly AirSpace newsletter? Sign up here!

Revisited - Supermassive Black Hole Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

We’re hard at work on Season 6 (and a super special project coming in just a few weeks!!). But today, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes from last year. They’re incredibly dense, super cool, and mind-bendingly-mysterious -- BLACK HOLES! But how do you imagine – let alone study—the unseeable? And seriously—what happened at the end of “Interstellar?”

The concept of black holes isn’t new—scientists first theorized their existence in the early 20th century. But in the last few years our knowledge of black holes has expanded – from confirmation of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way (it really ties the galaxy together) to the first-ever image of a black hole captured by the Event Horizon Telescope. We’re now making direct observations that prove their existence. And scientists even released an image of a black hole in polarized light, with signs of magnetic fields around the event horizon. And if you don’t understand what that means, you’re not alone!! We’re all on this magic school bus of discovery together – come abroad, it’s going to be a wild ride!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the show! Take our listener survey.

Did you know AirSpace has a monthly newsletter? Sign up here!

Jetstream Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

We get it—the early days of aviation were full of outlandish characters, and it can be a little exhausting. But trust us on this one—it’ll be worth it. Wiley Post was an oil-worker and armed robber-turned-recording breaking pilot who discovered the jet stream while wearing a sweet eye-patch and a suit straight out of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (it was a lewk). That should be enough but wait! There’s more! That steampunk getup, which Wiley designed and built with tire company BF Goodrich, was the very first successful pressure suit. And it did more than unlock the stratosphere, it laid the groundwork for the first spacesuits—and modern spacesuits aren’t much different. This tall tale keeps getting higher, but again—trust us (we’ve got the suit!). Special thanks to Tested’s Adam Savage, whose answer for “history’s most important spacesuit” was both unexpected and absolutely on the mark.