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All you need is the rocket experience.

What you need is the rocket experience.

All you need is the rocket experience.

To go flying into our own a space. All you need is the rocket experience. I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest, the Rocket Experience Edition.

This is also the daily podcast from Slate.com for Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009.

On today's program, we're going to talk about the 40th anniversary of the first man on the moon,

New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruney's Lifelong Battle with Bulimia,

and the Emmy nominations are out, and we'll be joined for that segment by June Thomas Slate's foreign editor.

Joining me today are Slate's deputy editor Julia Turner.

Hello, Julia.

Hi, Steve.

And our film critic, Dana Stevens.

Hi, Dana.

So to set up the first segment a little bit,

in October 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellites into orbit.

The most famous of these is still Sputnik.

...