Rocket Man
Kerning Cultures
Kerning Cultures Network
4.9 • 529 Ratings
🗓️ 30 July 2020
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the 1960s, a college professor and his group of students were determined to build and launch rockets into space. And so, they did. This week, on Kerning Cultures, a story about the first-ever rocket launched from the Arab world into space.
This episode was produced by Tamara Rasamny with editorial support from Dana Ballout, Zeina Dowidar, Alex Atack, Nadeen Shaker, and Hebah Fisher. Sound design by Mohamed Khreizat, and fact-checking by Zeina Dowidar. Bella Ibrahim is our marketing manager. Kerning Cultures is a Kerning Cultures Network production.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So I'm just outside of Hagazian University. I'm at Gate C. Through that gate, you're able to see this huge rocket. |
| 0:11.4 | That's producer Tamara Resamni. She's standing on Hamra Streets in Beirut, and the thing she's talking about is an actual rocket. |
| 0:20.0 | It stands about 15 feet tall. It's white with those small |
| 0:24.2 | triangular wings coming out of the sides, and it's propped up like a statue, its nose pointed |
| 0:29.3 | up into the sky, like it's about to launch into space. And I always wondered what that was, |
| 0:36.7 | and I remember a specific time passing by it and kind of rolling my eyes, thinking it was some sort of celebratory remnants of the Civil War. |
| 0:46.4 | But I really had no idea. |
| 0:52.8 | Because, and it's not at all obvious from the street looking through the fence of that university, what or why this rocket is. |
| 1:02.0 | But there's a story behind it, and it starts with a man named Menug Manugian. |
| 1:14.4 | Hello? Hello? |
| 1:16.3 | Well, hello there. |
| 1:17.5 | How are you? |
| 1:19.5 | Oh, I am doing good. |
| 1:22.9 | It's so good to see you after all this time. |
| 1:24.0 | Finally, right? |
| 1:24.4 | Yeah. |
| 1:26.8 | I can hear you very well. |
| 1:30.7 | I can see you well. Perfect. Perfect. Good. |
| 1:38.1 | We spoke to Manug over Skype a few months ago when the world was in total lockdown. So the audio is a bit scratchy. |
| 1:46.3 | My name is Manugyan. I'm a professor of mathematics at the University of South Florida. |
| 1:54.8 | I'm also director of the STEM Education Center, as well as faculty advisor for the Society of Aeronautics and Rocketry here at USF. |
| 1:58.0 | USF, or the University of South Florida, |
... |
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