 The season five episode " Deep Space Homer " , in which the characters Homer and Barney are recruited by NASA , is Mirkin 's first writing credit on The Simpsons , the second being " The Man Who Came to Be Dinner " , which was co @-@ written with Al Jean . Mirkin worked on the concept for a long time , basing the story on NASA 's Teacher in Space Project scheme to send ordinary civilians into space in order to spark interest amongst the general public . The idea proved controversial to some of the show 's writing staff , who felt that having Homer go into space was too " large " an idea . Series creator Matt Groening felt that the idea gave the writers " nowhere to go . " Based on these attitudes , several jokes were toned down to make the episode feel more realistic , including the impression that everyone at NASA was as stupid as Homer . During re @-@ writes , Mirkin and the other writers placed greater emphasis on the relationship between Homer and his family and on Homer 's attempts to be a hero , but most of Mirkin 's original script was retained . The episode is considered one of the show 's best . Colin Kennedy of Empire magazine named it a " contender for greatest ever episode " , and in Chris Turner 's book , Planet Simpson , he says the episode is " second to none " . Regarding the long sequence that begins with Homer eating potato chips in the space shuttle and ends with Kent Brockman 's dramatic speech , Turner claimed that it was " simply among the finest comedic moments in the history of television " . A copy of the episode was later sent to the International Space Station for astronauts to view . Mirkin considers the episode to be " very very special . " Ortved says the episode , in its plot and surreal humor , epitomizes Mirkin 's era . 
