Template:Featured Episode

"Deep Space Homer" is the fifteenth episode of Season 5. It aired on February 24, 1994. The episode was written by David Mirkin and directed by Carlos Baeza. Buzz Aldrin and James Taylor guest star as themselves.

After seeing their popularity decline (as reflected by lower TV ratings for shuttle launches), NASA decides to improve its public image by sending a man into space to whom the average American can relate. In this case, Joe Average is Homer Simpson.

At the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, it is time for the awarding of the "Worker of the Week" award, a chore for the other plant workers, but a great time for Homer, the only employee who has never won the award (obviously). He is confident he will win after reading the employee handbook and finding out that each employee must win the award at least once regardless of incompetency. However, Mr. Burns gives the Worker of the Week award to an inanimate carbon rod...