- Hi, it's me, Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut.
It's that time of the year for us fans of space,
space flight, and rockets to try to explain to our families
what exactly to get us for the holidays.
If you're anything like me,
you can never have too many awesome space things.
I did a video like this last year
and you guys seemed to love it,
and of course those gifts are still available,
so be sure and check that video out for more gifts.
This year's are going to just be new things
that I found in the last year,
or things that I forgot last year
that are definitely really cool
and have caught my eye and kinda been on my radar.
These are things that I either have got in the last year
or things that I have on my wishlist this year as well.
And a lot of these things
are really exciting and really cool.
And for your easy shopping or those shopping for you,
I've put links in the description below
for all of these items and also an article version
that you can just send off to your friends and family.
And just full disclosure here,
some of them are affiliate links,
which can help me and this channel here,
but I didn't do any sponsorships.
There's no sponsored, hey, Tim, just put this in your video.
These are just things that I personally really like
or things that are on my radar,
things that I'm asking for this year as well for gifts.
So with that said, let's get started.
- [Narrator] Three, two, one, lift off.
(upbeat mystical music)
- [Neil] That's one small step for man.
- [Man] (mumbling) with a test one
- So let's start off this year
just like I started off last year
and that's with a Lego set.
Now this year, Lego came out with the Apollo Lunar Lander,
which a couple years ago they came out
with their Saturn five model,
which was incredible.
This year's has a few less parts than the Saturn five,
but it's still unbelievably intricate
and unbelievably detailed
and I just love that Lego is starting to do more and more
of this and I hope that they continue that trend.
When I started doing Everyday Astronaut,
live five or six years ago,
I couldn't find space stuff in stores
and now you can just walk into stores like this
and find awesome things by Lego
and I just really hope they keep doing
these types of things because they're awesome
and they're really fun for your whole family
and of course, they look really good on display as well.
Next up, I think one of the best things to happen this year
was the Apollo 11 film.
Now if you haven't seen it,
what? How did you miss it?
This was incredible.
This was CNN documentary
and they actually took all this old film
and restored it beyond anything I've ever seen.
They took some of the seven millimeter scans
to literally IMAX quality film.
They re-scanned it, re-mastered it, edited this,
just absolutely stunning documentary
around the Apollo 11 mission
with never before seen footage.
You can get these on Blu-ray if you have optical drives,
which I actually don't have a single optical drive
in my life anywhere.
So, for me it has to be digital.
I downloaded it on iTunes
but you can get it on Amazon and a few different places.
There's going to be links in the description
to a couple different options,
but definitely, if you are looking for a good gift
or if you haven't watched that, you need to watch that.
That's definitely something to ask for
this holiday season.
Now here's one that I forgot last year
that I'm actually, genuinely ashamed of.
I forgot to include the thing
that probably takes more of my free time
than anything else, ever,
and that's Kerbal Space Program.
This is, of course, the video game that I use
in a ton of my videos.
It's taught me so much about space flight.
I understand orbital mechanics
and just kind of the physics behind space flight
because of a video game.
And, I know I talk about this all the time
and I know it's in a ton of my videos,
but it really is a phenomenal tool for you, yourself
or if you have kids.
This would make an excellent gift
for them to be able to explore
and learn physics in a curious and fun way.
And it's not like, it can be a little bit intimidating
but there's a lot of really good videos out there
from people like Scott Manley, Matt Loan.
I've got a couple out there doing Kerbal
that can help you understand how to play the game.
It is unbelievable and of course,
this is going to be the last year,
they keep upgrading version one
and it's better than ever,
but next year they're coming out
with Kerbal Space Program two.
It's still worth it to add Kerbal Space Program one
until they get Kerbal two out.
Kerbal two I'm really excited for.
A lot of beautiful looking updates.
But Kerbal one is still just unbelievable.
Definitely, definitely, if you don't have Kerbal,
I don't know if I can consider you a real space flight fan.
Space flight fan, yeah.
Okay, now this one, I found while looking for cool gifts
for myself and this is absolutely stunning.
This is a record set of Voyager.
So the Voyager missions, you know.
There's Voyager one and two
and each of them had a golden record
placed on the side of the vehicle
and there's a lot of audio of different things
representing Earth and this set
was just absolutely gorgeous.
There's a couple different versions of stuff like this.
This one was like the ultimate one
that I just thought was gorgeous.
It's little bit more expensive
but I love the way this looks.
I love, I'm going to be asking for this
for the holiday season.
I just think it's really beautiful,
comes with a beautiful book
and I just want this.
That's really all there is to it.
They remastered the original tapes
and I think this would pretty much bring a smile
to anybody's face if they know what they're looking at,
especially with the famous golden record
on the Voyager spacecrafts.
Yeah, I think this is just really cool.
Again, this is one that I don't have yet
but I hope I get for this holiday season.
Next up, you guys are always asking me for book ideas
and I don't actually read that much.
I love audio books for those long trips
that I take.
You know, like down to Boca Chica, Florida,
and all these different places.
I'll sit in a car for like two days straight
for a lot of these trips.
So I love audio books
and one of 'em that I've been listening to
and that I actually have read a decent amount
of the physical pages is Ignition
by John D Clark.
And this is kind of a classic book.
If you need a full overview
of rocket fuels and kind of get the understanding
of how the inner rockets work.
It's a good rundown.
It's little technical for some people
and it can kinda drag on a little bit from time to time
but there's actually a lot of really fun stories packed
in this book and it can really help you
with chemistry and just again,
an overall knowledge of how rocket engines work.
Next up, we have The Case for Space
by Robert Zubrin.
Now I haven't got my hands on this yet
but it's going to be an audiobook
that I will be listening to, again,
on future road trips.
But Robert Zubrin, in case you don't know,
did The Case for Mars which was an amazing book.
I think I had that recommended last year.
If I didn't, he also has The Mars Direct Plans.
He is the founder of The Mars Society.
He's a big supporter, especially of SpaceX
and Starship because it literally ties in directly
to something he's been championing for like 20 years
on how to, basically, get humans to Mars and back.
So I'm really excited for The Case for Space
because I know it's going to be a passionate book
like his other books and all his topics.
He's definitely a fascinating guy
with a lot of passion, a lot of drive
and really, really smart, thought out ideas.
So, I know this is gonna be good.
I'm just gonna recommend it before I even get my hands on it
because I'm excited for it.
The next one that I'm also excited to read
but I haven't been able to get my hands on yet
is Beyond the Known by my friend, Andrew Rader.
Again, he also recorded an audiobook
so I will be doing that version myself.
Andrew Rader is an awesome guy who,
he's written a couple other books,
even done board games and stuff
and I'm just really excited to read this one
because its, I sat down and actually talked with him
about it earlier this year and it's really a lot
about kind of the human tendency to go and explore
and how, you know, our next natural step
is we've pretty much explored our planet
as to get more and more into exploring
our solar system and eventually beyond that.
So, I'm really excited to listen to that
and for those of you that read,
I'll try to get more and more books out there
but again, I only listen to like two or three a year
just based on my time and availability.
So, these are the three that I, again,
have either read or cannot wait to read.
So, hopefully, you like some of those as well.
Okay, it's definitely time we talk about space merch
and now this could be, basically,
just the big, "hey make sure and go to
everydayastronaut.com/shop" section of this video.
I don't mean for it to be that
but personally, I really like my merchandise
and a lot of hard work has gone into
making them extra like, super extra premium awesome
this year.
If you haven't noticed, the shop has changed
like 180 degrees from where it was last year.
We're really, really stepping up quality.
Everything is hand printed, hand sewn on patches
right here in the United States
and I really am excited about all the merchandise
we have in this year.
I just got some new things out here
for the holiday season, including this lunar mission shirt
which is really cool 'cause it's based on
a picture of Gene Cernan about to get into
a lunar simulator, a lunar module simulator,
and it just, I don't know,
something about this is really cool.
Each shirt, or most of the shirts,
have these custom sew on patches
which just make 'em super cool.
There's also a new ode to Delta two,
which is of course my favorite teal rocket
to ever fly.
Although it's no longer flying
so that's why it's an ode to it,
but it also kind of has that holiday feel as well.
That print, if you get it during Black Friday/Cyber Monday,
which depending on how this video comes out
and when it comes out, you might not have a lot of time
to get on that.
But, check that shirt out for sure.
It comes with a free print during Black Friday
and Cyber Monday.
So, maybe get on that asap.
We also finally have full flow staged combustion.
It's like a hoodies in store
and just a bunch of other awesome merchandise.
Again, if you're shopping during Black Friday,
it is 15% off through Cyber Monday
and 15% of store-wide, which is pretty crazy.
And, of course, everything will get to you
by the holiday season.
We're good and stocked up.
I'm overstocked in a lot of things.
Buy a lot so that we won't run into any problems this year.
So, wish us luck.
Be sure and check out other companies,
SpaceX, Rocket Lab, ULA, Boeing.
They all have really good web stores too.
So, if you're just looking for,
literally my wardrobe is entirely space stuff.
That's not an exaggeration.
I do have one button up that has rabbits
'cause I really like rabbits.
I wanted one that had squirrels
but I can't find one with squirrels.
But other than that, literally everything is space flight.
My socks, my underwear, like everything.
It's a bit of a problem.
But, I always find inspiration
and can't wait to buy new shirts.
Even though it's already ridiculous,
I'm sure there's other people out there
that are just like me,
but definitely shop around on these websites here
and get some good ideas going.
Maybe put together a nice list of your favorite merchandise.
It's definitely the easiest way to,
I think, show your love of space flight
is to be walking around with a super nerdy shirt on
and people will pretty quickly understand
what kinda thing gets you excited, so.
Space merch, there's never enough of it.
Now, this year I've been traveling a ton.
Like, I've been away from home
more than I've been home by quite a bit
and this year I also happened to get my hands
on an Arlo Skye suitcase just because it had
an occupy Mars badge, which I just thought was incredible.
So, I just had to share that because I have been lugging
this thing around everywhere.
It's gone through some beatings already.
Like it has been, just thrown around.
It's handled it really well
and it's really well made.
It's definitely a pretty premium suitcase.
So, unless you do travel quite a bit,
maybe that would be outside of your price range
because luggage and suitcases
can get really, really expensive.
If this didn't have the occupy Mars thing on it,
I would still be super stoked on it
and I would still probably prefer this over
any other suitcase I've ever owned.
But, just having that branding on there,
I'm like, sold, this is exactly what I want in my life.
So, I recommend it just 'cause I really like the way
it looks and it's held up really well already
and it's been, literally, all around the world,
just in like six months or nine months, so.
I can't recommend it highly enough
and it looks really, really cool
and I just feel awesome pushing it around, so,
maybe you will too.
And lastly, I thought we'd do something a little different
for a gift idea and that's actually supporting
your favorite creators.
And I do this, personally, through Patreon.
You can also do YouTube memberships
if they're a YouTube member
or buying prints if they're a rocket photographer
or something like that.
But just go out and support your favorite creator.
It's really hard, it really is hard
to make it, I guess, a financially valid career
to go and pursue things like space flight
or education, things like that.
It can be really risky.
I know that, myself, I've spent weeks in Texas
trying to have Starhopper do some Starhoppery things
and that's really expensive
and can take away from a lot of other things
and a lot of opportunities.
I know so many rocket photographers
that are out there shooting every single launch
or as many launches as they can possibly attend,
flying around the world to cover this stuff.
There's other awesome YouTube educators
that are doing a lot of work to produce awesome content.
I support a lot of people because I can't wait
for them to keep doing what they're doing
and supporting them through something like Patreon
or YouTube memberships or buying prints
or whatever is the best way you can help them
free up space and time and money
to be able to continue to do what they love
and hopefully, something you love as well
and that you get a lot of value out.
So, a good equal win-win thing for this holiday season
would definitely be supporting your favorite creators
on Patreon.
Best of all, you can often times get extra bonus content
and extra fun things for you to kind of fill those gaps
of waiting for the next launch
or waiting for the next video to drop.
So, join me in supporting creators
by going to Patreon or YouTube memberships.
Shop around.
Find your favorite creators,
drop them some extra love this holiday season.
It's a total win-win for you and for them
and helps produce more and more educational content
that can help spread the love of space
and space flight and scientific literacy.
So, maybe that's the most important thing of this year.
Well, I think that's gonna do it this year.
I'm sure I forgot a bunch of stuff
and I'm sure you're gonna tell me about it.
And if I see some things that I really like
and missed, I'll try to pin it in the comments section here.
But, otherwise, definitely check out last year's video
because there's a lot of good ideas in that as well,
that again, I didn't want to repeat ideas
from last year to this year,
so, definitely, check that out as well
if you want more ideas.
Send this to your friends and families
so they know what to get someone,
someone like me that's really hard to shop for.
Hopefully, this really helps your friends and family
find that perfect gift that would actually mean a lot
to you but also just kind of show your love
of space and space flight.
Let me know if you have any other ideas.
I have a lot of videos coming out,
a lot of videos.
I'm working really hard on some fun ones
and get ready, I'm gonna try to drop
a bunch of 'em around the holiday season.
So if you're sitting around bored on break
or you just have some down time in between events,
I hope I have some awesome content for you to watch.
All right guys, that's gonna do it for me.
I'm Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut,
bringing space down to Earth, for everyday people.
(upbeat mystical music)