‘It will be filled with drifters, loners and prostitutes…’

This was Conan O’Brien’s joking response to Brian Turner’s description of the “Space Elevator highway(s) to Space”.

Brian Turner of the Kansas City Space Pirates appeared on Friday night’s Conan O’Brien show.  I thought the interview went well and that Brian handled himself very commendably.  It’s not easy, being interviewed live like that.  Many, many years ago, I had one very forgettable instance in a TV interview and I am eternally grateful the TV network chose not to air my mumblings…

Clearly Conan understood the concept of a Space Elevator; either he knew it beforehand or had been coached prior to the show.  His questions were accurate and Brian handled them well.  There was one comment by Brian where I thought he had clearly misspoke – describing the probable site of a future Space Elevator port as being in the Pacific Ocean, “south of Kansas City.”  But I looked on a globe and darned if it isn’t true…

My only complaint would be that they did not mention the Space Elevator Games at all.  I think this would have given the concept much more credibility; NASA putting up 4 million dollars in prize money and that what Brian’s team (one of many in the event) is building is an entry for this competition, not a real Space Elevator.  But still, Conan O’Brien…

Well done Brian!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKO0IpPHnSw[/youtube]

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(Update 07MAY08 – YouTube has taken down the video.  To see it, visit the Conan O’Brien website, navigate to the May 2nd episode and then select ‘Brian Turner’.  Do it soon, though – I don’t think episodes stay up very long on this site either…)

3 thoughts on “‘It will be filled with drifters, loners and prostitutes…’

  1. Darnell Clayton

    Dude, that is awesome!

    As far as explaining it, I think the best example was the little demo at the end with the “ball and string.”

    I wonder if KC Space Pirates sells those, as they would make an interesting teaching tool for students, skeptics and space geeks.

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