Podcasts from Space

How do you even begin to describe Mission to Zyxx? Somehow, this show manages to be both an epic space opera and improv comedy gold. This fictional, fully-improvised podcast follows the intergalactic exploits of Ambassador Pleck Decksetter as he and his crew "discover their heroic destinies and meet weird bug creatures and stuff," as it is so eloquently described in this excerpt. In this particular adventure, Decksetter and his crew find themselves on a mysterious, buggy planet, where they meet a bedazzled, winged princess played by an SNL alumna. It gets weirder (and funnier) from there. That's why it's my pick of the week.

-  Julian Uzielli, Associate Producer, Podcast Playlist

Podcasts featured this week:

• The Habitat - On a remote mountain in Hawaii, there's a fake planet Mars. Six volunteers are secluded in an imitation Mars habitat where they will work as imitation astronauts for one very real year. Click here to listen to the full episode.

• Houston We Have a Podcast - NASA's own podcast explains everything from the life of an astronaut to people who design space food. Click here to listen to the full episode.

• StarTalk Radio - Neil deGrasse Tyson explains to comedian Chuck Nice how the Earth is kind of "flinging" the moon around, to Chuck's total bafflement. Click here to listen to the full episode.

• The Kitchen Sisters Present - Soyeon Yi tells the story of how she became Korea's first astronaut and why having long hair in space is a great idea. Click here to listen to the full episode.

• Double Blind - The future of transportation and space exploration: the first public test of "hyperloop" technology and how we might be able to send tiny spaceships to another star within our lifetimes! Click here to listen to the full episode.

• Mission to Zyxx​ - On this fictional, improvised podcast, Ambassador Pleck Decksetter and his crew visit the Forest Moon of Grenlynd and meet Princess Shatayna, a tiny fairy princess who wants to marry one of the crew. Click here to listen to the full episode.

• The Naked Scientists - Based at Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), the Naked Scientists are a team of scientists, doctors and communicators whose passion is to help the general public to understand and engage with the worlds of science, technology and medicine. Click here to listen to the full episode.

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For more great podcasts, check out CBC's podcast portal, subscribe in Apple Podcasts.