Shadowing Practice: The Goofiest Space Experiment In History - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Did you know that this is the biggest object humans have ever sent into space?
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It may not look like it, but this is actually a 20 kilometer long piece of wire.
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That's as tall as the Empire State Building.
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Well, 45 of them.
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But what's he doing there?
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It must be the universe's longest string telephone!
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Hello?
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Hello?
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Prepare for invasion of Earth- Oh, that's not good.
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To actually understand what it's for, we need to look at Faraday's Law of Induction.
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If I move this loop of wire through this magnetic field, a small current is produced.
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You can increase the power generated by using more wire and moving it faster.
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In fact, stick a propeller on the end and now you have yourself a wind turbine.
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This concept made the big brains at NASA go...
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You know how, like, the Earth is like, basically a giant magnet?
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Yeah, bro, totally.
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What if we use like.. a super long wire, bro?
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Huh?
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So 400 million dollars later, this is the plan they came up with.
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Earth has big magnetic field, so we send spaceship with big wire.
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But Earth magnetic field very weak, so we send even bigger wire.
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Then we move spaceships super fast to generate power.
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Then we rule the galaxy.
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The system was called the TSS-1, or Tethered Satellite System.
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1. It had a base satellite, a sub-satellite, and a 20 kilometer long conductive tether connecting them both acting as the wire.
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Now you may have noticed something wrong here.
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In our original example we used a loop of wire because electricity needs a closed loop to flow, and this tether is not a loop.
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But electricity is really just the flow of electrons, and turns out there's a layer of the Earth's atmosphere called the ionosphere, which has a bunch of free electrons just floating around.
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So using a fancy electron collector and emitter, NASA designed a system to create electron flow using the ionosphere, completing the loop.
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In 1992, TSS-1 was launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis.
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It successfully reached the ionosphere, and it was finally time to unfurl the 20 kilometer long tether.
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Uh, Houston, we have a problem.
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This screw isn't gonna cut it.
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Okay, swap them out then.
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Hey, we should test everything again to make sure it works, right?
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Nah, it should be good.
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It was not good.
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That beefy screw caused the tether reel to jam up but a whopping 260 meters.
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Pretty much 1% of its maximum length.
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Moral of the story, always test and retest after making any design changes.
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Quite the expensive lesson to learn, but surely they'll get it next time, right?
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Right!
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Ooh, we made it past 260 meters this time! and the tether successfully deployed to its full length of 20 kilom- Um,
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Houston, we have a pro- It was so close, but when the tether reached 19.7 kilometers,
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a small defect in the insulation near the bottom led to a large arc that melted it.
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And that's how we ended up here.
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A giant space noodle floating in the sky.
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It was sighted all over the world, like in Australia, in Hawaii, in Southern USA...
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And a few weeks later, it re-entered the atmosphere, cooking the space noodle once and for all.
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But the big question is, did the experiment work though?
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Well, NASA managed to collect some data, and the tether generated almost 3.5 kilowatts of electrical power.
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Enough to run three toasters at once!
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Okay, that doesn't seem like much, but for context, most small satellites only need one toaster amount of power.
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But despite this, the tethered satellite system missions were abandoned.
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And the results weren't publicized.
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Well, apart from being roasted by the media.
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I guess it is kind of embarrassing to have your mistake plastered in the sky for the whole world to see, but I really hope they try again.
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Because I imagine a night sky in the future where space noodles hang from every spaceship and satellite.
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Hashtag, bring back space noodles.
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Please, I haven't seen the sun in years.
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See you next time!
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 61 sentences and 678 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:33. The speaker talks at a steady 149 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wire noun | /ˈwaɪɚ/ | Metal formed into a thin, even thread, now usually by being drawn through a hole in a steel die. |
| satellite noun | /ˈsætəlaɪ̯t/ | A moon or other smaller body orbiting a larger one. |
| loop noun | /luːp/ | A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening. |
| generate verb | /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.ɹeɪt/ | To bring into being; give rise to. |
| magnetic adjective | /mæɡˈnɛtɪk/ | Of, relating to, operating by, or caused by magnetism. |
| atmosphere noun | /ˈætməsˌfɪɹ/ | The gases surrounding the Earth or any astronomical body. |
| successfully adverb | /səkˈsɛs.fə.li/ | In a successful manner; with success; without failing. |
| electricity noun | /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/ | Originally, a property of amber and certain other nonconducting substances to attract lightweight material when rubbed, or the cause of this property; now… |
| meter noun | /ˈmitəɹ/ | A device that measures things. |
| float verb | /fləʊt/ | To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object). |
| electron noun | /ɪˈlɛk.tɹɑn/ | The subatomic particle having a negative charge and orbiting the nucleus; the flow of electrons in a conductor constitutes electricity. |
| electrons noun | The digital or electronic version of a document. | |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| moral adjective | /ˈmoɹəl/ | Of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour, especially conforming to principles of rectitude. |
| electrical adjective | /ɪˈlɛktɹɪkəl/ | Related to electricity (or electronics) |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bring back verb | /ˈbɹɪŋ bæk/ | To fetch something. |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. | |
| turn out verb | To end up; to result. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is produced · was called · was launched |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have ever sent · haven't seen |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as doesn't, gonna, haven't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: invasion /ɪnˈveɪʒən/, hashtag /ˈhæʃˌtæɡ/, insulation /ˌɪnsəˈleɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: successfully /səkˈsɛs.fə.li/, electricity /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/, electrical /ɪˈlɛktɹɪkəl/, experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, insulation /ˌɪnsəˈleɪʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like wire, satellite, loop.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.