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Marcia Belsky: That time when NASA (almost) sent Sally Ride to space with 100 tampons

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Published June 3, 2022 at 9:24 AM EDT

Gilberto Tadday/Gilberto Tadday / TED — Marcia Belsky performs at SESSION 2 at TEDWomen 2021: What Now? December 1-3, 2021, Palm Springs, California. Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED

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Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Humor Us .

Ahead of her 1983 space flight, NASA suggested sending astronaut Sally Ride with 100 tampons for the week-long trip. (That's too many.) In 2020, comedian Marcia Belsky sang a song about it.

About Marcia Belsky

Marcia Belsky is a comedian and musician. She is the lead singer of the comedy duo Free the Mind. In April 2020, her song "100 Tampons" premiered on Comedy Central digital and went viral that year.

Belsky has co-written two musical parodies, "Handmaid's Tale: The Musical" and "Fiddler on the Rooftop Bar," and she is the creator of the "Headless Women of Hollywood" project, which highlights the objectification of women on film and television posters. She also co-hosted a podcast with comedian Rae Sanni called "Misandry with Marcia and Rae." Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Forward, among others.

Belsky lives in New York City.

This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Katie Monteleone and edited by Katie Simon and Manoush Zomorodi. You can follow us on Twitter @TEDRadioHour and email us at TEDRadio@npr.org.