- NASA's Space Launch System Test Anomaly:
During a recent firing test, observers noted unusual exhaust emissions and debris, prompting a thorough investigation into the booster’s performance and future applications for the Artemis missions.
- Rare Daytime Fireball Event: A large meteor created a stunning daytime fireball over Georgia, visible even to satellite instruments. We explore the rarity of such events and the implications of potential fragments impacting the ground, including reports of damage to a home.
- Legal Challenges for SpaceX: We delve into the legal troubles facing SpaceX as the Mexican government threatens to sue over contamination from a recent Starship explosion. This incident highlights ongoing environmental concerns and the complexities of regulatory compliance in the space industry.
- Lunar Dichotomy Research: Exciting new research sheds light on the differences between the near and far sides of the Moon, suggesting that trace minerals like chlorine may play a crucial role in this longstanding mystery. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of lunar geology and future exploration missions.
- The Incredible Story of a Con Man: We recount the astonishing tale of Robert J. Hunt, who successfully posed as an astronaut and deceived many with his elaborate fabrications. His story serves as a captivating reminder of the lengths to which some will go in pursuit of their dreams.
For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTube Music, TikTok, and our new Instagram account! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thank you for tuning in. This is Anna signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and stay curious about the wonders of our universe.
Chapters:
00:00 - Welcome to Astronomy Daily
01:10 - NASA's Space Launch System test anomaly
10:00 - Rare daytime fireball event
20:00 - Legal challenges for SpaceX
30:00 - Lunar dichotomy research
40:00 - The incredible story of a con man
✍️ Episode References
NASA TV Update
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
Daytime Fireball Information
[American Meteor Association](https://www.amsmeteors.org/)
SpaceX Legal Challenges
[SpaceX](https://www.spacex.com/)
Lunar Dichotomy Research
[Nature Communications](https://www.nature.com/ncomms/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go to podcast
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 for everything happening above our heads and beyond.
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 I'm Anna and I'm thrilled to be your host as we
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 explore the universe together. Today we've got a fascinating
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 lineup of stories from the forefront of space exploration and
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 astronomy. We'll be diving into some recent
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 incidents, including a significant test anomaly
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 for a key component of NASA's Space Launch System
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 and the surprising legal challenges facing
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 SpaceX over a Starship explosion.
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 But it's not all about the dramatic events. We
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 also have some truly captivating science to share,
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 like the rare daytime fireball that may have impacted a
00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 home in Georgia and groundbreaking new research
00:00:40 --> 00:00:43 that might finally explain the mysterious differences
00:00:43 --> 00:00:46 between the near and far sides of our own
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 moon. And for something a little different,
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 we'll journey back in time to uncover the incredible
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 true story of a con man who managed to fool
00:00:54 --> 00:00:55 the world as an astronaut.
00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 So settle in and let's get started on another exciting episode
00:00:58 --> 00:00:59 of Astronomy Daily.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 Delve into some significant news from the world of space exploration,
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 specifically regarding NASA's Space Launch System,
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 or SLS. On June 26,
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 during a test firing in Utah, a new version of the
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 solid rocket booster being developed for the SLS
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 experienced an anomaly. This test was for
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 Northrop Grumman's Booster Obsolescence and Life
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 Extension, or bol, version of the five
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 segment solid rocket booster. The booster,
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 fixed horizontally, was undergoing a, uh, two minute
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 firing simulating a real launch. A little over
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 100 seconds into the test, observers noted exhaust
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 appearing from the side of the nozzle, followed by debris
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 scattering from that same area. Despite
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 this, the motor continued to burn for the rest of
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 the test. Initially, NASA and
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 Northrop Grumman officials didn't publicly address the
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 incident during their webcast. However,
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 a few hours later, Jim Calborer,
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 vice president of Propulsion systems at Northrop
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 Grumman, released a statement confirming the
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 anomaly. He noted that while the motor seemed
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 to perform well through a harsh burn environment, the
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 issue occurred near the end of the burn. Kalberer
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 added that the company was pushing the boundaries of
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 large solid rocket motor design and
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 that this new, largest ever segmented
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 solid rocket booster test provides valuable
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 data for future developments. The
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 bowl design is intended to be used for SLS
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 missions starting with Artemis 9, projected for the
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 2000-30s. Its key improvements include replacing
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 the shuttle era steel casings with new carbon
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 fibre composite designs using a uh, new propellant
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 formulation and incorporating other advancements that
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 boost its performance by over 10%. This
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 would allow an additional 5 metric tonnes of payload for
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 SLS missions heading to the moon.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 However, there's a degree of uncertainty about whether the bowl design
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 will actually fly. NASA's fiscal year
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 2026 budget proposal aims to cancel the
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 SLS after the Artemis 3 mission.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 While a provision in the Senate's budget reconciliation bill
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 could add funding for two more SLS missions
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 through Artemis V, it doesn't clarify the vehicle's
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 future beyond that. Interestingly,
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 this isn't the first time a Northrop Grumman solid
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 rocket booster has faced a nozzle issue in less than a
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 year. Back in October 2024,
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 a nozzle detached from one of the much smaller
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 GEM3.6XL solid rocket boosters
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 on the second launch of United Launch Alliance's Vulcan
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 rocket. While that issue did degrade the booster's performance
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 somewhat, it didn't prevent Vulcan from
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 successfully completing its mission. ULA
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 later confirmed in March that a manufacturing defect in
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 one of the internal parts of the nozzle caused it to
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 come off, and fixes to correct this problem
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 were successfully confirmed in a test
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 firing in February. These
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 incidents highlight the complex and challenging
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 nature of developing such powerful
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 propulsion systems.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 Now let's turn our gaze from man made rockets to a natural
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 phenomenon that recently put on quite a show. A large
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 meteor created a spectacular, rare daytime fireball
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 over the southeastern United States on a Friday at
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 12:25pm Eastern Daylight Time. This
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 wasn't just any meteor. It was so bright that it was
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 even seen by the National oceanic and Atmospheric
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 Administration's GOES 19 Earth observation
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 satellite, using an instrument designed to map
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 flashes of lightning from orbit. Daylight
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 fireballs are truly uncommon, according to Robert
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 Lunsford of the American Meteor Association. It
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 takes a significantly large object, much bigger
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 than your average pea sized meteor, to be bright enough to
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 be visible during the day. He notes that we probably only
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 see about one per month worldwide, meaning only about
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 one in every 3 meteor reports occurs during
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 daylight hours. This particular meteor was
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 first spotted approximately 48 miles above Oxford,
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 Georgia, hurtling through the atmosphere at around
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 30 miles per hour. Experts
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 suggest it might have been associated with the daytime
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 Beta Taurid shower, which peaks in late June as
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 Earth passes through debris from the ancient comet 2P
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 Enker. What makes this event even more
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 intriguing is the strong possibility that fragments of
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 the meteor survived its fiery descent and
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 impacted the ground. In the hours following
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 the fireball, photos began circulating online,
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 purportedly showing a hole punched through the roof of a home
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 in Henry County, Georgia. The size of this
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 meteor meant it had a better chance of producing fragments.
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 Scientists look for reports of sounds like thunder
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 or something, sonic booms, which indicate that parts of
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 the fireball made it down to the lower atmosphere
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 and potentially all the way to the ground.
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 This strongly suggests the photograph of the hole in the roof
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 is indeed connected to this celestial
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 visitor. And if verified, it wouldn't
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 be the first time a daytime Beta Taurid left its mark.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 Lunsford mentioned a particularly large meteor
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 believed to be linked to this annual shower that
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 detonated in a powerful air burst just six miles
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 over Russian Siberia in June 1908.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 That explosion, known as the Tunguska Event,
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 ignited massive forest fires and flattened an
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 estimated 80 million trees. It's a
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 powerful reminder of the impact these space rocks can
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 have even when they don't directly hit the
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 surface from natural
00:06:24 --> 00:06:25 impacts.
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 We now shift our focus to human made space endeavours.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 Specifically, the latest legal challenges faced by
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 SpaceX. The Mexican president,
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 Claudia Sheinbaum, has recently threatened to file
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 a lawsuit against SpaceX, citing alleged
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 contamination resulting from a starship explosion that
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 occurred earlier this month. On June 18,
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 SpaceX was conducting a test of the upper stage of
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 its starship vehicle at its Starbase facility near
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 Boca Chica beach in Texas. This test
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 culminated in a dramatic fireball. While
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 SpaceX stated on social media that there were no hazards to
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 the surrounding communities, President Sheinbaum is
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 contesting that claim. During a press
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 conference, she indicated that a general review
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 is underway of the international laws that are
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 being violated. Specifically due to this
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 perceived contamination, the Mexican
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 government is looking to file the necessary lawsuits.
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 It's worth noting the geographical context here.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 SpaceX's Starbase facility is located at the
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 very southeastern tip of Texas, right along the
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 Rio Grande river, which acts as the border between the
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 United States and Mexico. Just across this border
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 from Boca Chica and nearby Brownsville, Texas, lies the
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 Mexican city of Heroica Matamoros.
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 This isn't the first time SpaceX has faced environmental
00:07:43 --> 00:07:46 lawsuits or other legal challenges. In
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 2023, a coalition of environmental
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 groups sued the US Federal Aviation Administration,
00:07:52 --> 00:07:55 alleging that the agency hadn't properly analysed
00:07:55 --> 00:07:58 the potential damage Starship could inflict on the surrounding areas,
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 which are, uh, home to protected bird species.
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 More recently, in 2024, the
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reported that
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 SpaceX had violated the Clean Water act by
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 releasing pollutants into nearby bodies of water.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 Though SpaceX refuted these claims as
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 factually inaccurate, past
00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 starship launches, and particularly explosions,
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 have indeed left significant amounts of debris scattered across
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 Boca Chica beach and its environs. The
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 debut flight of Starship on April 20, 2023,
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 saw the rocket's 33 first stage Raptor
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 engines propel chunks of cement and other debris for
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 miles. Local residents describe that launch
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 as terrifying and likened it to an earthquake,
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 with debris even crushing a nearby car.
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 That flight also ended dramatically when SpaceX
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 initiated its onboard flight termination system,
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 causing the vehicle to explode about three minutes after
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 liftoff, with fragments found along the shores.
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 In the days that followed. To date,
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 Starship's upper stage has exploded or crashed into
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 the sea on eight of its nine test flights.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 Underscoring the experimental nature of these ambitious
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 endeavours, these incidents highlight the
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 ongoing environmental considerations as, uh, space
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 exploration continues to push boundaries
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 from the complexities of earthly legal battles in space.
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 We now pivot to the ancient mysteries of our Moon,
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 specifically the enduring puzzle of why its near
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 side looks so different from its far side. For
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 a long time, this was one of the Moon's most intriguing
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 secrets. Until 1959,
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 when the USSR's Luna 3 spacecraft first
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 circled the Moon and sent back grainy black and white
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 images, humans had never actually seen the lunar
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 far side. What those images revealed was a stark
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 contrast. The far side was heavily cratered, with
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 far fewer of the dark volcanic plains known as
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 maria that so distinctly mark the near side.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:56 This immediate visual difference prompted many questions
00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 about the Moon's formation and evolution. Was
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 Earth's gravitational pull responsible? Or perhaps
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 a difference in crustal thickness? Scientists
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 realised the Moon wasn't a uniform body and the search
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 for answers has continued ever since.
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 Now, new research published in Nature
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 Communications, led by Ji Jun Jing from
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 Ihime University in Japan, offers a
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 compelling explanation that points to trace amounts of certain
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 minerals. The study focuses on chlorine and
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 fluorine and their presence in lunar minerals and melts.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 It highlights that most near side lunar crust
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 materials show an unusual enrichment in
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 chlorine, a ah finding that doesn't quite fit with traditional
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 models of primary crust formation. This anomaly,
00:10:38 --> 00:10:41 the researchers suggest, is likely due to a process
00:10:41 --> 00:10:42 called metasomatism.
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 Metasomatism is a geological process where a
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 rock's chemical composition is altered when new
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 chemical elements are introduced, often by water or
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 magma. M In the lunar context, the research
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 indicates that gaseous chlorine compounds
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 found their way into near side lunar rocks through this
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 process, while farside samples don't show the same
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 enrichment. Another key piece of this
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 lunar puzzle is what's known as the Moon's creep
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 terrain. This is a large region exclusively
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 found on the Moon's near side, characterised by high
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 concentrations of potassium, rare earth elements
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 and phosphorus, hence the acronym
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 creep. It's also known for its significant
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 thorium concentrations. Creep is
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 crucial to Understanding the moon's early evolution after its
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 global magma ocean phase. While creep was
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 likely widespread initially, it's now confined to this
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 one region, possibly due to the massive impact
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 that created the south pole Aitken Basin on the
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 opposite side of the Moon. That impact might
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 have generated a thermal anomaly and that drove the
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 creep towards the near side. The new
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 research suggests a strong connection between widespread
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 chlorine vapour on the lunar near side and
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 this lunar dichotomy. They hypothesise that
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 this chlorine metasomatism is likely related to
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 degassing caused by impacts or eruptions from the creep
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 terrain. Chlorine is highly volatile and
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 incompatible, meaning it doesn't easily fit into the
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 crystal structure of minerals. As magma cools,
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 so chlorine rich vapours released during volcanic eruptions or
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 impact induced evaporation likely played a key role in
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 transforming the moon's near side, the side we see most
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 clearly. Conversely, the far side, untouched
00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 by these vapour related volcanic activities, may be more
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 pristine, preserving information from the moon's very early
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 magma ocean phase. While this research
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 provides a strong hypothesis for the lunar
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 dichotomy, the authors emphasise that more
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 evidence is needed. This is where future missions
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 come in. China has already landed two
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 missions on the lunar far side, including the Chang'
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 E6 mission, which successfully gathered
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 samples. The authors believe that
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 measurements of halogens in these Farside Chang'
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 E6 samples could provide the crucial evidence
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 needed to strengthen their explanation.
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 It's a truly exciting prospect for lunar science
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 from deep space. We now turn our attention back to
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 Earth, specifically to a captivating,
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 unbelievable but true story of a con man
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 who for a time managed to fool the world into
00:13:14 --> 00:13:15 believing he was an astronaut.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 A cold January evening in 1989.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 Members of the Experimental Aircraft association of
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 Boston are eagerly awaiting a special guest.
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 The President introduces him as a master of the
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 skies and space. Onto the stage
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 strides US Marine Captain Robert J. Hunt,
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 27 years old, handsome, with a confident
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 air and dressed in a powder blue NASA flight suit
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 complete with shining space patches. Hunt
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 captivated the amateur pilots with fantastic tales of
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 his life as a Marine fighter pilot bombing
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 Gaddafi's Libya from his F A18 jet.
00:13:52 --> 00:13:55 But his most astonishing claims involved
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 soaring above Earth aboard the space shuttle Atlantis
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 on top secret missions for the Department of Defence.
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 He even presented two blackened tiles which he
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 claimed were scorched during his re entry. Despite
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 some members suspicions like Joy Alexander, who found
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 his thick New England accent and rude attitude
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 unsettling for a NASA astronaut, most were
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 spellbound. Hunt shook hands, scribbled autographs
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 and left the aviation enthusiasts believing they had met a
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 legend. But Robert J Hunt had never been
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 to space. He didn't even have a pilot's licence, let
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 alone a driver's licence. He was an imposter,
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 and his incredible scam would soon make national
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 headlines, leading to his arrest in less than a
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 week. Hunt had been leading law enforcement on a cat
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 and mouse chase for years, posing as a Marine,
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 a baseball star, a senator and other prominent
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 figures often escaping prosecution. It was
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 only when he became an astronaut that he triggered a security
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 panic, embarrassed politicians and
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 captivated the nation. Hunt's obsession
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 with space began at age 7. Watching the
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 Apollo 11 moon landing. He felt a deep
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 connection to astronauts like Neil Armstrong and Alan
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 Shepard. As a teenager, he would sneak into
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 Chelsea Naval Hospital, slip on discarded uniforms
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 and salute himself in the mirror, dreaming of
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 exploring distant planets. His
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 father, Leo Hunt, a plumber who also
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 pretended to be a military colonel, unknowingly
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 influenced him and even writing a book about his alleged
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 life in the military titled Colonel Chameleon.
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28 Robert Hunt claims his father taught him the art of deception,
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 like when he sold sparrows painted yellow as
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 canaries. Robert's first steps into
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 grander deceptions came early. He claimed to join
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 the Marine Corps on a delayed entry programme,
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 was supposedly honourably discharged due to an
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 administrative error, and then simply bluffed his way back into
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 barracks, knowing the commands and structure.
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 He even snuck onto Pease Air Force Base dressed as a
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 second lieutenant, and was caught poking around Air Force
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 Two, the Vice President's plane. This
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 incident triggered an FBI investigation and ended his
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 first marriage. His cons
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 escalated. He married again, claiming to be
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 a college graduate with a baseball contract. He
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 even invented a spray on diaper cream called Love My
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 Baby, falsely claiming a multi million dollar
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 buyout was imminent. Using his wife's credit
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 card, he rented limos and posed as a TV
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 producer to cast a Super bowl commercial, only to be
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 busted by police, who described him as a smooth talker.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:28 After these setbacks, Hunt fled back to the
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 military, using fake credentials to acquire flight
00:16:30 --> 00:16:33 uniforms and promoting himself from marine pilot to Captain
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 Hunt, America's youngest Marine astronaut,
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 complete with $20 Navy astronaut wings.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 He claimed to have bluffed his way into NASA astronaut
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 training, undergoing physical evaluations at
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 Johnson Space Centre and studying in Rocket City,
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 Huntsville, Alabama. He even said he spent
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 nine weeks with Morton Thiokol, the company that
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 built solid rocket boosters. While none of
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 these claims are verified, Hunt's narrative was
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 detailed enough to convince many, including his fourth
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 wife, Ann Sweeney, an optical engineer.
00:17:05 --> 00:17:07 He whisked her away on private jets and exotic
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 vacations, paying with her corporate credit card.
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 The pinnacle of his astronaut hoax came in December
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 1988 when he travelled to Ireland to visit
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 his brother in law on the Aer Lingus flight.
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 He charmed the crew and was invited into the cockpit.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 Upon landing in Dublin, he was shocked to be greeted by
00:17:25 --> 00:17:27 smiling Irish government officials and a small
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 band playing the national anthem. He didn't even go
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 through customs. Hunt played along,
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 giving speeches, accepting awards and
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 sipping tea with Dublin's Lord Mayor, Ben Briscoe,
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 who, despite his suspicions, politely let the spectacle
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 continue. Hunt left Ireland with souvenirs
00:17:44 --> 00:17:47 and honorary Irish citizenship, claiming it
00:17:47 --> 00:17:50 all just got out of control. Back in the
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 US his scheme began to unravel.
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 American Express rejected a $5 charge for the
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 private jet trip, alerting his wife's employer,
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 Polaroid. Massachusetts State Trooper
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 Andrew Palombo began investigating Hunt
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07 after a woman complained he had convinced her son to
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 enlist, then demanded $4
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 to use his Pentagon connections for a discharge.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 Palombo, a diligent and tough investigator,
00:18:16 --> 00:18:19 quickly discovered Hunt's military records showed only
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 two months in the Marine Reserve, ending with a
00:18:21 --> 00:18:24 psychological evaluation. On January
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 28, 1989, Palambo knocked on
00:18:27 --> 00:18:30 Hunt's door. A search of his home revealed military
00:18:30 --> 00:18:33 paraphernalia, flight jumpsuits, a NASA
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 helmet, police badges and photos of Hunt wearing Korean War
00:18:36 --> 00:18:39 medals. His wife, Ann Sweeney, surrendered two
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 scorched space shuttle tiles, which Palambo identified
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 as ordinary floor tiles. Hunt was arrested for
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 larceny. Palambo was relentless, discovering a
00:18:47 --> 00:18:50 fake doctor's ID and confirming that Hunt's military
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 uniforms were acquired fraudulently.
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 NASA and FBI determined that impersonating an
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 astronaut wasn't illegal unless other crimes were involved.
00:18:59 --> 00:19:02 But Palambo logged Hunt's astronaut gear as evidence of
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 his fraud. Ann Sweeney was devastated to
00:19:04 --> 00:19:07 learn her husband was a con man. It was almost like watching
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 someone die, she told the Herald. Here was this
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 person I thought I knew. And bit by bit, in the course of an
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 hour, he just dissolved, just disappeared.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:20 She realised she had fallen victim to the ostrich effect,
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 a psychological phenomenon where people bury their heads in the
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 sand, operating under a truth bias,
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 assuming others are honest. Hunt pleaded
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 guilty to larceny and received a two year suspended sentence.
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 After his release. In May 1989, he announced his
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 candidacy for mayor of Revere, Massachusetts. But
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 Trooper Palambo continued to pursue him.
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44 Hunt failed to pay restitution and skipped town, becoming a
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 fugitive. Television crews interviewed his former wives who
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 compared notes on set. His cons continued, leading him
00:19:49 --> 00:19:52 to pose as the head of Seal Team 6 at a US military
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 base in San Francisco. There, he even
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 berated an elderly man who questioned his authority,
00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 only to later realise it was Apollo astronaut Eugene
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 cernan. Finally, in July
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 1994, he was charged with false impersonation,
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 pleaded guilty and served a year in prison.
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 After his release, Hunt's cons persisted, with
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 Palambo doggedly pursuing him until the trooper's death. And
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 in 1998, with stricter security after
00:20:18 --> 00:20:21 911 and the Stolen Valour act of 2005
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 making it illegal to falsely claim military decorations,
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 Hunt's schemes became impossible. He finally
00:20:27 --> 00:20:30 hung up his fake uniforms and tried to rebuild his life,
00:20:30 --> 00:20:33 expressing regret for the hurt he caused his ex wives.
00:20:34 --> 00:20:37 While he maintained some incredible claims about flying real
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 fighter jets, investigations by NASA and
00:20:39 --> 00:20:42 military records confirmed that Robert Hunt had no
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 legitimate military or astronaut service.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:49 Today, Robert J. Hunt lives alone in New Hampshire, working
00:20:49 --> 00:20:52 in Construction. At 63, he reflects on
00:20:52 --> 00:20:54 his past. He once said, when I'm wearing a
00:20:54 --> 00:20:57 blue flight suit and everybody else is wearing a grey or green
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 one, you stand out. Like, this guy is the super
00:21:00 --> 00:21:03 guru of pilots, so they all want to be your friend
00:21:03 --> 00:21:06 for a brief, extraordinary moment. Like the
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 sparrows he once painted yellow, Hunt's
00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 deceptions allowed him to truly believe he could
00:21:12 --> 00:21:13 touch the stars.
00:21:15 --> 00:21:18 And with that incredible story, we're calling time
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 on today's episode of Astronomy Daily. A final
00:21:20 --> 00:21:23 reminder before I head off, if you'd like to catch up on
00:21:23 --> 00:21:26 all the latest in space news, please visit our website at
00:21:26 --> 00:21:29 astronomydaily IO. Um, while there, you
00:21:29 --> 00:21:32 can listen to all our back episodes and sign up for our free daily
00:21:32 --> 00:21:35 newsletter. Until next time, this is Anna
00:21:35 --> 00:21:37 signing off and reminding you to keep looking up. You
00:21:37 --> 00:21:40 just never know what you might see or discover.
00:21:41 --> 00:21:42 Bye.