Lance Bass, NSYNC Superstar and Russian trained astronaut, takes you on a wild ride into space. He tells the story of the last Soviet cosmonaut who is trapped on the world’s only space station, as the country he knows and loves collapses beneath him. On this journey through Earth’s atmosphere in the form of a podcast, Lance introduces you to the woman who won a reality show cosmonaut contest, a ham radio operator in Australia who became a lifeline for the Soviet Space Station, a hustler from Chicago who tried to sell coca-cola to the Russians and the editor of Playboy who took part in a revolution. It’s one man’s dream to go to space, his dedication to the country he thought he knew and 313 days spent orbiting the Earth. 313 days that changed our world. Plus, Lance’s own dream to go to space and the lengths he went to make it a reality.
Introducing: The Sicilian Inheritance
Every family has an origin story – for author Jo Piazza (Under the Influence, Wilder) her family's is a murder mystery. For as long as she can remember the Piazzas have told the story of their Sicilian roots going back over a hundred years ago: one by one the sons and then their father sailed off to America to carve out a better life. Their mother, Lorenza Marsala was supposed to join them – but she never made it. She was murdered by the Sicilian mafia, they said. The truth of what happened has morphed like a game of telephone through the generations. Various versions of the story claim she was killed by the Black Hand, others insisted she was a witch, killed over a bad spell. Now, Jo is determined to untangle the twisted narrative which just might bridge the gap from cinematic mob fantasies to an unexpected reality. Join her in Sicily on a family vacation/fact finding mission in which she goes to the scene of the crime, confronts mafia experts, consults mediums, and tracks down Italian officials, determined to set the record straight on her great, great grandmother’s mysterious disappearance. Listen here and subscribe to The Sicilian Inheritance on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing: On Musk with Walter Isaacson
What is it like to shadow Elon Musk for two years? To sit courtside as he builds a rocket? Or tears apart an engineer? Or couch surfs at the homes of billionaires? And how on earth do you make sense of it all? Walter Isaacson is the biographer of giants: DaVinci, Franklin, Doudna, Jobs...and now Musk, former enfante terrible, rocket launcher, electric car innovator, and Twitter—er, X—disruptor, to put it gently. In this four part series, author Evan Ratliff (Mastermind, Longform Podcast) sits down with Isaacson to draw out the behind-the-scenes stories of this epic biography, and what the writer has learned as an outsider inside Silicon Valley. Listen here or on the iHeartRadio app. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing OUTLAWS: The Good Thief
Vassilis Palaikostas, aka “Greece’s Robin Hood” has been on the lam for 14 years. In his absence, legends of his generosity have grown. But no one knows where he is, or if the stories are even true. Here’s what we do know: there’s a million Euro bounty out for Vassilis, and a 24-hour task force trying to track him down. When he robs banks, he shares the money with the poor. When he kidnaps industrialists-- and he only kidnaps those who are known for unfair labor practices-- they give baffling interviews showing how he opened their minds. And when he escapes heavily reinforced prisons, as he’s done ... by helicopter ... twice, he does it without harming a guard. Join host Miles Gray and our team of Greek reporters as we follow Vassilis’ trail from Athens to tiny islands to remote mountain hideouts. Along the way, we’ll meet Vassilis’s inner circle, chat with police chiefs and prime ministers, and work to understand how this thief managed to steal the country’s heart. Listen here or on the iHeartRadio app.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How to Rob Banks and Influence People
Miles and the team learn how Vassilis and his gang pulled off the biggest bank robbery in Greek history without firing a single shot. Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Death Squad
A coup in Haiti empowers a new paramilitary squad, bold enough to face down the U.S. military. In Miami, the black book resurfaces – and the killings continue. Available to all on May 18, 2023. Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
THE LAST SOVIET - EP 8: A Common Goal
The collapse of the Soviet Union heralds a new era in international space travel and leads to the arrival of Lance Bass in Star City. But what happens when Lance’s mission goes wrong? Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
THE LAST SOVIET - EP 7: Homecoming
Sergei finally returns to a new country. But what will happen to his beloved space program now cosmonauts are selling their space medals in the metro? Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
THE LAST SOVIET - EP 6: Pioneers and Pirates
A starry eyed young wheeler-dealer from Toronto sets out on a mission. To get a coca cola can onto Sergei’s space station. But soon the idealism of post Communist Russia turns dark as Sergei’s new country is plunged into chaos. Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
THE LAST SOVIET - EP 5: Three Hot Days in August
Sergei makes the decision to stay in the space station. But a few weeks later something happens that changes everything. Mikhail Gorbachev disappears. What happens over the next 3 days will decide the future of the Soviet Union once and for all. Three days that changed the world. Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
THE LAST SOVIET - The Lance Files
In this mini-episode, we take a pit stop with our host Lance Bass in Star City. He gives us the no holds barred account of training with the Russians: from flying a fighter jet drunk on vodka to elective heart surgery. Plus, we hear about why he never did make it to space…not yet anyhow. Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
VK3CFI
A woman in her shed in suburban Australia makes contact with the Soviet Space Station. Little does she know she’s about to become a lifeline to Sergei as his country collapses. Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
THE LAST SOVIET - EP 3: No Experience Necessary
A woman is driving home from work one day when she hears an ad on the radio that changes her life. “Astronaut Wanted No Experience Necessary.” This unassuming Brit who worked in the Mars Bar factory in the suburbs would end up traveling with our cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev on the mission he almost didn’t come home from. An effort to save the Soviet space program, birthed commercial space travel. Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
THE LAST SOVIET - EP 2: Salyut 7
The world’s only space station goes dark. And now Soviet cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev has to lead one of the riskiest missions ever flown in space. He alone is tasked with saving the Soviet Space program from catastrophe. Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
THE LAST SOVIET- EP 1: Let’s Go
Traveling at five miles a second, 250 miles above the Earth’s surface, Soviet cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev wakes to a message from his handlers on the ground: the Soviet Union is collapsing. And so is the Soviet Space agency. You have a choice: come down as planned and abandon the world’s only space station to an unknown fate. Or stay, protect the final outpost of a falling empire and risk your life? Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Twitter and Instagram. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing: The Last Soviet Hosted By Lance Bass
Boyband sensation and little known Russian trained astronaut Lance Bass has a story to tell you. It’s a thriller about the last Soviet cosmonaut stuck in orbit as his country and a way of life disintegrates beneath him. With only one trusted source on earth to explain these unprecedented events, Sergei Krikalev relies on a ham radio operator from Australia, who has managed to tap into the Mir Space Stations frequency. What does it take to defend the final outpost of a falling empire? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.