OK, Craig.

So far in our "Conquering Space" playlist, we've talked to a guy who's building a warp drive in his garage.

We've talked to some people who are looking for Earth-like planets around other solar systems.

CRAIG: That was a good one.

MATT: And we've talked to people who are building robots that are going to race on the moon.

We sure did.

But what I really want to know, Matt, is how can an average dude like myself get into space?

MATT: Well, let's see.

40 years ago space travel was a privilege only afforded by the two largest superpowers on the planet.

But look at what's happening now.

Private space technology companies are popping up all over the place.

New advancements are poised to make space travel much more affordable.

NASA just recently announced that it's hiring astronauts to go to Mars.

CRAIG: Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but there's a very good chance that we will land on Mars in our lifetime.

And who knows where else?

Maybe it'll be an average person like one of us.

Yeah, I guess.

But could an average person be an astronaut?

I don't know.

I'm pretty average.

A little below average.

Let's see what it takes to be an astronaut.

Yeah.

CRAIG: So, I'm here at space camp at the US Space and Rocket Center, where they will train me to be an astronaut.

This is an amazing place, and we sure are glad to have you here.

Well, thanks for having us.

It was kind of easy to find this place with giant rockets everywhere.

TIM HALL: We are a little hard to miss from time to time.

And Craig, when you come to camp, of course you have to have a flight suit.

So that's your official space camp trainee flight suit.

And we're expecting you to wear this to help you understand what it's like to train like an astronaut.

[dramatic music] Basically, I should be in space right now.

(VOICEOVER) OK.

So I had the flight suit, but it was going to take more than that to get me ready for space.

Fortunately, space camp offers a wide range of astronaut training exercises and activities, such as the EVA chair simulator and a re-creation of the space shuttle Endeavor, which I was going to have to pilot somehow.

But first I decided to go spinning around in this crazy gyroscope thing.

You know, for science.

This right here is called the MAT, which is the Multi-Axis Trainer.

It is based on one of the simulators that the astronauts used to train for the Mercury program, but it's safer.

Oh, that's good.

Yeah, you should be OK.

Your stomach is going to be in the center of gravity here, so your stomach won't be going up and down, so you shouldn't get nauseous.

And you also won't get dizzy, because it won't spin in the same direction more than two or three times.

So you're inner ear fluid won't get momentum in any direction, so you should stay at equilibrium and be perfectly fine.

Well, that's good.

Let's do this crazy thing.

All right.

Let's do it.

Now it's fully tested and everything.

Yep.

It's fully tested and ready to go.

OK. Let's do it.

Whoa.

Whoa.

That is weird.

I don't feel nauseous or dizzy.

It's amazing how you can avoid being dizzy after doing that.

It's nice.

(VOICEOVER) Well, if I want to learn what it takes to be an astronaut, I'm going to have to learn to do astronaut things, like moonwalk.

DOUGLAS WASHINGTON: Yeah, so this is the 1/6 Chair.

It's called 1/6 to simulate the moon's gravity, which is about 1/6 earth's gravity.

All right.

So when we do this, you've got three primary movements that are patterned after what the astronauts did on the lunar service.

The first is your bunny hop, right?

Standard bunny hop.

You're gonna try to go for distance instead of height, because remember, they were exploring the lunar surface.

And the next one is going to be a side to side, like this.

And the last one's going to be kind of a slow motion run, if you can.

Whoa.

There you go.

Try to go all the way to the end there.

[grunting] Come on.

[grunting] There you go.

All right.

You can do it a little bit.

All right.

OK. Whoa!

Oh boy.

I'm off the moon.

All right.

Now on the way back, do a slow motion run for us.

There you go.

This guy is like Mario.

All right.

Now last one.

On your way back, freestyle it.

Freestyle?

Yeah.

Make it look good.

All right.

I'm out of moves.

Nice.

That was awesome.

CRAIG (VOICEOVER): OK.

I pretty much owned that.

But if I really want to be an astronaut, I'm going to have to learn to work in zero G environments.

Yeah.

We're getting suited up, and I'm going to go do an EVA, which is Extravehicular Activity.

I'm listening to the book "The Martian."

They say EVA all the time.

I'm glad I learned what it means now.

And basically, it means I'm going to go outside of the spacecraft that I'm in.

I have to fix the ammonia tanks.

The darn ammonia.

This is the best part.

I'm starting to feel like a zombie.

Ugh.

And if you'll turn around, I'll buckle it.

I'm going to science the [bleep] out of this.

I'm going forward.

All right.

And as soon as you can grab onto the wall, you can do that.

Hey, let's do some science.

Oh no!

Oh!

That's why you tether yourself.

Oh yeah.

I see the problem here.

Got a little build up.

Got a little ammonia build up.

OK.

I totally fixed that.

It legitimately felt like what I imagine it would be like to float outside of a space station.

That was a good time.

I felt like an astronaut, even though I didn't know what I was doing at all.

(VOICEOVER) But if I really, really want to be an astronaut, I have to get into space first.

Otherwise I'd just be an astronaut on the ground.

That's really, really sad.

What are we going to be doing here?

This is our mission Endeavor.

It's one of several missions that we have here at space camp.

And you are going to simulate a launch, a few orbit checklists, and then you're going to land from space.

I've never done that before.

I don't know if I'm the man for the job.

It may take a couple of tries.

Yeah?

All right.

They didn't tell me I was going to be climbing ladders.

Where am I sitting?

You're the commander, because you're the one flying the thing.

OK.

I'm the commander.

Yes.

My checklist here.

Whew.

All right.

What do we do?

HANNAH MCCRAVY: All right.

Once the countdown starts, of course it'll count to zero, and then we'll launch.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

I'm not ready, but let's do it.

Oh no.

Things are happening.

Clock's going.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: Less than a minute.

--[exhale] I mean, if this were really an actual rocket, I would be very scared right now.

Six, five, four, three, two, one.

[dramatic music] Whoa.

I'm grabbing the-- just in case.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: Yeah.

Whoa!

HANNAH MCCRAVY: We're closer.

We're getting closer to space.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: See the stars?

Ooh.

Yeah.

See some coming into view.

All right.

We are going to open the payload doors.

CRAIG: OK. Open the payload doors, Hal.

OK.

So you're going to program all of the item numbers on the side here.

OK.

I get it.

Item 1.

Execute.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: All right.

We've got an asterisk by Item 1, so we're good to go.

CRAIG: Nice.

Item 3.

Execute.

Boom.

Item 15.

Execute.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: And you can see them opening in the back.

CRAIG: Oh.

They're opening up.

Ah, it's beautiful out there.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: All right.

So they're open now, and I'll let you finish that checklist.

Item 16.

Execute.

Boom, boom, boom.

I'm so good at this now.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: And whenever you're ready, if we don't have any anomalies, then we can close the payload doors.

[beeping] No!

Houston, we have a problem.

OK.

Endeavor, we're looking at a multiple CW, which would be a Caution Warning.

It's not even in the book.

There just gonna leave us hanging.

This one's off the books.

We have multiple problems.

Oh.

Endeavor, please stand by.

We're preparing to find you the solution.

I'm gonna start throwing switches, guys, unless you tell me what to do.

OK.

So, pilot, go ahead and forward Panel R1.

OK. My life is on the line here.

Got it.

GPC Mode 3.

Got it.

Switch to run.

Got it.

Well done.

That anomaly has been taken care of.

Nice.

Whew!

HANNAH MCCRAVY: Way to go.

Ha.

That was close.

ASSISTANT 1: Did you solve the problem, Craig?

I solved the problem.

I don't think there's going to be any more problems.

ASSISTANT 2: What was the problem?

We had a general purpose computer failure.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: All right.

You think you're ready to land?

I-- No, but let's do it.

All right.

CRAIG: Oh boy.

Am I going to have to push buttons?

HANNAH MCCRAVY: No, you're just gonna guide the joystick.

OK. HANNAH MCCRAVY: We should be seeing the runway soon.

OK.

I don't know where I'm going.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: What you want to do is line that circle up with the diamond on your screen.

CRAIG: OK. Whoa.

Got it.

Nope.

Got it.

Ish.

Oh, so down is up and up is down.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: Yes.

CRAIG: I'm discovering, and it's very sensitive.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: Yes, it is.

CRAIG: Oh, oh, oh.

Why am I going down?

Oh no.

Pull up.

Pull up.

What's happening?

I think we've got this.

Nailing it.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: We're getting close.

Nailing it.

Oh, oh.

Is that us landing?

HANNAH MCCRAVY: Yeah.

Oh.

And we're on the runway!

HANNAH MCCRAVY: Way to go.

Nailed it.

I brought us back, guys.

We can make this video.

Going to space is easy.

He actually hit the runway.

That was very surprising.

CRAIG: I've played a lot of video games, like I said.

Yeah.

ASSISTANT 1: So, Craig, do you think if you were put in the space shuttle now, you could handle it probably?

Absolutely.

Let's go to NASA.

Let's go.

ASSISTANT 2: Too bad they don't fly this shuttle anymore.

They don't fly this shuttle anymore.

ASSISTANT 1: Aw.

You could have flown it.

You would have been prepared.

You were ready to go.

Oh, man.

HANNAH MCCRAVY: At least you know that you could have.

CRAIG (VOICEOVER): This was amazing.

I got to land a rocket.

I got to hang outside of a space station.

I got to walk on the moon and spin around a bunch.

I think I am absolutely ready to be an astronaut, except I don't have any of the knowledge required.

We'll get there.

We'll just make it up, as we go along.

Also, let's get out of here before they take away the space suit.

If you enjoyed watching Craig try to be an astronaut as much I did, you should like and subscribe to this video channel, and then go to Patreon and support us.

We are not currently in a holding cell waiting for me to get onto a rocket.

We are working on a future episode in an undisclosed city.

Let's just say it rhymes with "Smoshington Shmee Shmee."

I have no idea where we are.

In our last video we talked about the warp drive, and a few of you had some criticisms of David Pares' work.

Yeah, there might be a few flaws in his method.

That's the main criticism of his work.

And while his drive and DIY ethic are commendable, his disregard for established scientific procedure really hurts his case.

There are just so many variables that his experiments don't take into account, and almost all of them seem more likely than the warping of space.

The motor could be generating some kind of heat, or magnetism, or vibration, or anything really that could be making it move.

Air currents in the garage could be pushing it around.

A vacuum chamber would eliminate some of those variables, but what it comes down to is that David Pares does it his way.

He doesn't care what anyone else thinks.

And while his attitude could hurt his credibility, it's that very spirit that could drive innovation.

He just wants to make a warp drive, as every growing boy does, on his own terms.

And once he's got it working and flying into outer space, he won't have to publish any papers to convince anybody.

He plans on getting his ship up in the air by the end of the year, so we'll just have to wait and see if we're right or wrong about him.

Thanks for watching.

We're taking a little holiday break.

So in three weeks we have a new playlist for you.

What's it about?

It's about energy.

Nuclear, and the grid, and solar power-- Say it with more energy.

And Earthships.

OK. Whatever those are.

[music playing]