© 2025 WGCU News
PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Travel To The Moon With David Bowie (360° Video)

NPR's YouTube channel, Skunk Bear, answers your science questions. This week, we picked one in honor of David Bowie.

Bowie was born on Jan. 8 and would have turned 70 on Sunday. Tuesday, Jan. 10, marks the first anniversary of his death. Bowie filled his songs with references to space, and his first big hit, "Space Oddity," was released just days before humans first walked on the moon.

So today we're tackling a very space-y question from an anonymous Tumblr user:

Ridiculous, of course. What would you walk on? How would you breathe? Where would you put all the trail mix?

But we decided to take the question seriously. If a human set out walking at a reasonable pace today, stopping to eat and sleep and take a day off once in a while — how long would it take to travel the distance that separates Earth and the moon?

We attempt the trip — virtually — in a 360 degree environment. As you watch our video, you'll be able to rotate your view by clicking and dragging (or by moving your mobile device*) to see the things a moon-bound hiker would see. What does Earth look like from the height of the Hubble telescope or from the height of a weather satellite?

To help pass the time, we brought along some of Bowie's music. It's only right that his major hits serve as milestones on our way to the moon.

You can submit your science questions to Skunk Bear here. (Maybe we'll tackle, "Is there life on Mars?" next.) Subscribe to our YouTube channel to follow the answers.

*Unfortunately Safari doesn't support 360 - you'll have to use the Chrome browser or the youtube app on an iPhone.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Ryan Kellman is a producer and visual reporter for NPR's science desk. Kellman joined the desk in 2014. In his first months on the job, he worked on NPR's Peabody Award-winning coverage of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. He has won several other notable awards for his work: He is a Fulbright Grant recipient, he has received a John Collier Award in Documentary Photography, and he has several first place wins in the WHNPA's Eyes of History Awards. He holds a master's degree from Ohio University's School of Visual Communication and a B.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute.
Trusted by over 30,000 local subscribers

Local News, Right Sized for Your Morning

Quick briefs when you are busy, deeper explainers when it matters, delivered early morning and curated by WGCU editors.

  • Environment
  • Local politics
  • Health
  • And more

Free and local. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

More from WGCU
  • Some local businesses are being honored as the best in Lee County. The Horizon Council, a group dedicated to business excellence and growth in Lee County, announced its Industry Appreciation Awards for 2025.
  • Halloween is a holiday that brings to mind creatures of the night such as bats and many spiders. These nocturnal creatures are ones we have some unease about because we rarely see them, encounter them by surprise in the dark, and often have little understanding of their role in nature. We often misinterpret their behavior and they sometimes leave us with a sense of fear of what they might do to us. Yes, tropical American vampire bats drink blood and in doing so can transmit disease to its victims. North American and most other bats are insect eaters that provide an important service in consuming mosquitos that can transmit diseases to the animals they bite. Most bats also consume large numbers of moths and other insects that feed on plants that our livestock or we depend on.
  • In Florida, roughly 300,000 people live with vision impairment. Those dealing with vision impairment are forced to live with unfair stigmas, which include being described as helpless or incompetent.