That Time the Postal Service Tried Sending Mail Via Missile

The BrainFood Show

Cloud10

Documentary, Society & Culture, Education, History

4.9 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2025

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of The BrainFood Show, we're looking at that time the British tried to replace parachutes with rockets, that time the United States tried sending U.S. Postal Service mail via missiles, and the origins and interesting stories surrounding NASA's Steely Eyed Missile Man expression, and why the rocket launch countdown is stupid. Corrections- Star Spangled Banner was written during the War of 1812. I knew this. I do not know what I was thinking at the time. :-) Hosts: Karl Smallwood and Daven Hiskey Authors: Gilles Messier, Karl Smallwood, and Daven Hiskey Producer: Daven Hiskey Subscribe to the BrainFood Show: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brainfood-show/id1350586459 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36xpXQMPVXhWJzMoCHPJKd YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR0XuDegDqP2MW1ZtxnfAIaM1Ax_q1WKm RSS Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/brainfood Tangential Things Discussed in This Episode: The German Rocket Fighter that Dissolved its Pilots Alive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfAw4YvI_u0 How to Survive Falling from a Plane Without a Parachute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x64DFUo7R The First Man to Walk in Space Almost Got Stuck Out There https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmXdWLWMTkg How Much Did Top Gun: Maverick Cost the U.S. Taxpayer? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w42bQrcu3aY The Tale of the Man Who Nearly Drowned While Falling from the Sky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfUCb4ERxt8 The Mysterious Death of Yuri Gagarin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP_QEmIsnKk Pigeon Guided Missiles and Literal Bat Bombs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbPG8jSud14 The Chicken Heated Nuclear Land Mine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJuxpf-RE7k A Wingtip and a Prayer: the Insane Way British Pilots Defeated Germany’s Secret Weapon https://youtu.be/rb6Xa1acNDE The US Military’s Obsessive World War II Ice Cream Crusade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOi_--kS4CE Did NASA Spend Millions Developing a Pen When the Russians Used Pencils? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAJpzWUhuqM 0:00 Intro 2:37 That Time the British Navy Tried to Replace Parachutes with Rockets 26:19 Missile Mail 56:06 Steely Eyed Missile Man 1:15:55 Launch Countdown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:06.7	Hi, I'm Jamie, host of Murderish, the podcast. On Murderish, I give you a 3D look at gripping murder cases.
1:11.6	Just the facts, no banter. By the end of each episode, you'll know who was involved,
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1:34.0	Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Brain Food Show. This one featuring
1:38.7	a very special guest, 15-year veteran author of Today I Found out, Carl Smallwood, perhaps better publicly known for
1:45.2	his Fact Fiend and WikiW weekends channels. But behind the scenes, a huge reason why both
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