[Music] Hello future Space Explorers and welcome
to the very first annual National Space Day brought to you by Space Workforce 2030 where
we are launching dreams and exploring futures. We're so excited to be with you here today to
involve you in a discussion about all things space. If you weren't a space nerd before, I can
bet you will be after this. National Space Day is an extraordinary day created to celebrate
the past, the present, and the future of space exploration. It's a great opportunity for people
around the world to come together and celebrate all that space has to offer. Yeah, we are going to
launch into the wonders of space exploration from how space is affecting us here on Earth, how we
even get to space, why we're going back to the Moon, and what it's going to take to get us to Mars and
beyond. Today you'll be hearing from space industry leaders including real-life scientists, aerospace
engineers, and even a few astronauts. But don't get me wrong, those are not the only jobs available in
the space industry. To build our future in space, we'll need artists, architects, entrepreneurs — pretty
much every career you can think of. Getting to space is not an easy job and we'll need to use
the skills and expertise in each and every one of you to help us get there. Yeah, that's right.
There's plenty of space for you in space. Do you get it? I get it. Great, okay. Today is a day
of learning and appreciation for the incredible progress we've made in discovering the mysteries
of the universe so get ready for liftoff because we're about to shoot for the stars. Our journey
begins with a look back at the brave souls who first ventured into the unknown realms of
outer space. Thanks to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, we've been given
that opportunity. Let's check out a brief history of space from America's space agency. We want to
find out what's out there. We want to be able to you know expand our horizons. I think that that
truly is built into the human spirit. We're always wondering what's next? How much farther can we go?
The Mercury astronauts when they get introduced immediately coalesce as sort of the heroes. The
the PR conference that NASA had goes crazy and the astronuts become instant celebrities. They sort
of look like knights in armor in some ways going out there to defend the honor of the United
States. 3-2-1 zero liftoff. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things not
because they are easy but because they are hard. [Music] Ignition sequence start. [Music] Tranquility Base here, the eagle has landed.
That's one small step for man one giant leap for mankind. The landing to me was a great
celebration we had won the race; the nation was almost euphoric. The knowledge that we gain
about the origin and the evolution of the Moon is one of these days going to help us right here on
Earth. Of course it's only one area but I believe it's an important area and I guess I'm betting
a lot on it. Twelve humans walked on the surface of the Moon which is a stunning achievement and we
are the still the only country ever to have done that. We're going to go back to the Moon and
we're going to take what we learned there and we're going to go to Mars. To get to Mars it's
about a 6 month journey and as an operator I would be really really happy if we could test
out our operations and our equipment in our backyard. The moon's only 3 days away, the Moon
is the next step. [Music] So the Space Station, it's more than a million pounds. It's as big as two football fields. You are not going to bring that up in one single lift. So we had to
bring up the Space Station in parts and assemble it. The Space Shuttle was instrumental to
bringing up, at least, the American side of that. It was more than 40 missions over about 13
years to assemble all those parts of the Space Station. [Music] Orion, our state-of-the-art
spacecraft, is designed to take crews into deep space, and then once their work is done,
to safely bring them back home. And we want to see what's out there. We want to see how it
works. We want to go explore. There's always this desire to learn more, to satisfy that inquisitive
nature. Let's go do it! Are you a space nerd yet? Okay, well, let's keep going and then see what you
think. Our journey to the Moon was an incredible moment in history and it took thousands upon
thousands of brilliant men and women to get us there. And sometimes in movies and TV we tend to
only see men working as scientists and engineers, but in reality, women were instrumental to the
achievements we made in space. Let's take a moment appreciating the role of women in space. Thousands
of us have been bold in our pursuit of knowledge, exploration and discovery -- both in the spotlight
and behind the scenes -- and every day we're pushing the envelope further. We conducted the first
all-woman space walk, broke records for the longest single space flight by a woman, and added six women
to our astronaut core. Behind the scenes, we made other accomplishments, like piloting observatories,
leading missions to places we've only dreamed of, and so much more. Those women have inspired
countless kids to pursue STEM degrees and encourage women like myself, who studied mechanical
and aerospace engineering, to keep pushing the envelope. It's just so cool to see the impact that
they've had on future space leaders. Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. But Emily, some people want
to know: what's the point of going to space? I mean we have everything we need down here on Earth. Why
are we in the rush to get out of here? Well, I am glad you asked, Jordyn. Space isn't just a vast
void beyond our reach. It plays a crucial role to us down here on Earth. From outer space, we've
learned so much about our precious planet and how we can work together to preserve it. That's
right, and Blue Origin, an American Aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider,
has been instrumental in finding new ways to utilize space's resources. Let's check
out some of the work that they've been up to lately. We're going to build a road to space.
What we know is that there are certain gates we have to go through, certain prerequisites. If
we don't do these, we will never get there. First, we have to radically lower the cost of access
to space. This means reusable rockets. We need to get really, really good at using rockets over and
over again. Once you have low-cost access to space, the second gate becomes actually accessing the
resources of the solar system. Space resources. The Moon is where we'll learn to do all this. The
moon has a vast quantity of resources, and if we can learn to harness those resources, we can
travel without stressing the Earth. And last, one of the things that we have to do is inspire
those future generations. We have to inspire the next generation to carry this torch for the
benefit of Earth. For the benefit of Earth. That really puts into perspective the importance
of taking care of our planet and developing ways to preserve it. Climate change is a topic you've
probably heard of before. Let's hear from one of our student-submitted questions regarding this
topic. Hi, I'm Jiya and I live in California. I worry about global warming and what it will mean when I'm
a grown up. Do space companies do anything to fight climate change? Hello I'm Chirag Parikh, the Executive
Secretary of the National Space Council, and I work for Vice President Kamala Harris who chairs the
National Space Council. Now our responsibility is to develop and oversee our nation's space policies
across all sectors like civil, such as NASA, National Security, such as the Department of
Defense, and our vast commercial space enterprise and our International Partnerships. Combating the
climate crisis is a top priority for our nation and space plays a critical role in this effort. As I
speak right now there are hundreds of satellites orbiting the Earth gathering information about
our land, our oceans, and our atmosphere. We call this information "Earth Observation Data". Now these
satellites are important because they monitor the Earth and climate of the Earth, which allows us
to know that it's getting hotter. It allows us to monitor the environment so we can see changes to
the land, to the sea, to the atmosphere and even our polar ice caps over a period of time. And it allows us
to map the Earth so we know where things are, like rivers, mountains, and vegetation. And with these
Earth observation satellites, we monitor the whole earth as our climate is a globally interconnected
ecosystem and we can see also how the Earth is changing over months, days, years, and even decades.
And these satellites mostly see what our eyes can see. Being able to monitor deforestation,
urbanization, crops, and our polar ice caps. However, we have other satellites that allow us to see
things that our eyes can't even see. Things that affect our climate change. For instance, satellites
in space allow us to see the emissions of carbon and methane gases. Carbon and methane are
leading contributors to why the Earth is warming up so rapidly. Our eyes can't see carbon and
methane, but these satellites detect these gases. They help us provide insight into who's emitting
them, how much is being emitted, and where these emissions are taking place. And the best part is
that we're doing this through investments into and partnerships with our commercial companies and
International Space agencies who are operating their own Earth observation satellites. Together,
we're taking Earth observation data and using science, math, artificial intelligence, data science,
computer programming to understand the effects on our planet and create plans on how to combat the
climate crisis. So while you can pursue careers in building and operating these satellites, you can
also pursue careers in analyzing the data and being the eyes and ears of our living planet. There
are endless opportunities to provide contributions to preserving this beautiful planet using what's
here on Earth and what's in space, and our nation and our world needs you. Thank you. As you can see
space has so much to offer us in the long term. The vision is to utilize space to help us protect
and preserve Earth's resources in a way that is sustainable, safe, and efficient, but in the short
term, space is helping us each and every day in countless ways. For example, who here has a cell
phone? And what are some of the things that you do on your cell phone? Well I'm sure some of us might
call our parents or our grandparents just to say hello. Some of us might check social media or
emails, and I can guess that most of us use GPS navigation to help us get around. All of those
things use technology in space -- satellites in particular. While we can't always see them, there
are thousands of satellites floating around in space helping us with daily tasks. There are Remote
Sensing Satellites, which collect data from energy reflected or emitted from the Earth; Weather
Satellites that provide the forecast; Positioning Navigation and Timing satellites, such as GPS; and
Communication Satellites. The main difference is some of these satellites collect information
while the last transmits information. It's kind of mind-blowing how much we rely on the technology
of satellites in our everyday lives. Let's hear from one of the student-submitted questions about
satellites. Hi my name is Mary Grace and I live in Colorado and I want to know: What kind of details can a satellite
see from space? Could they see me from space? Also, why do satellites look down on Earth when we already
know about Earth? That's a great question. I'm Chris Scolese, the Director of the National Reconnaissance
Office. Can you be seen from space? Well, satellites look down on the earth and they can see a lot of
things. They can see trees, they can see buildings, but they can't see you directly. But we want to
go off and and look at things that can inform us about what's happening on our planet because
it's very important to know what people are doing, how the planet is changing. So we look in various
different kinds of wavelengths. So we can see a lot of different colors, we can see heat, we can
also listen, and that gives us a lot of information about what is happening on our planet. Well, a lot
of things happen on the Earth and the Earth is changing -- either people are changing and they're
moving in different ways. We have ships that move on the ocean. We have airplanes and cars all moving
around our planet. We also have weather. We want to know what's going on with the weather. We
want to know what's going on in the future with our planet. So we want to understand what's
happening today and how does that change what may happen sometime in the future when you grow older.
Space truly is the ultimate frontier of discovery and innovation. Its daily impact on humanity
is essential to our growth and sustainability as inhabitants of this precious planet. Our
partners over at Astranis Space Technologies are working diligently to bring the benefits of
satellite technology across the globe. Let's check out some of the work that they're doing in the
Philippines. We took a trip to the Philippines to meet with and document the lives of our end users
for our Philippine satellite we're launching in partnership with Orbits. If you're watching this,
video you probably have great internet but there are another 4 billion people — half of the world —
that don't have fast internet or any at all. I can't imagine what life without the Internet
would be like, so for me, getting to go and meet with and tell the stories of people who don't have
any connectivity has been really amazing and eye-opening. One of the first places we went in
the Philippines was the Caagutayan Mangyan School in Oriental Mindoro, a large Island where many
residents lack connectivity. After talking for a bit with Principal Villafuerte he gave us a tour
of the school and we discovered something that shocked us. They have a brand new computer lab
so they can teach students how to work with computers, but they have no way to connect this
computer lab to the Internet. It's completely offline. What struck us about the students at
the school, aside from their passion and talent for basketball, was how passionate they were about
their studies. We met with future doctors, engineers, kids that will clearly grow up and change the
world, but right now their education is completely unconnected from the Internet. At Astranis, we see the Internet as a two-way street. We're excited for the unconnected to get connected and share their ideas,
stories, and content with the rest of the world. That's incredible work that they're doing. For
communities across the globe to get connected to the Internet, it's going to not only take technical
expertise, but it's also going to require creative skills and ingenuity. Let's hear another student
question about mixing art and space. My name is Saish and I live in Ohio. My question is, I really
love to draw and I want to be an artist someday. I also think space is really amazing. What kind of
job could I do with art and space? Hi my name is Ellen Stofan I'm the Under Secretary for Science
and Research at the Smithsonian Institution, and the former Chief Scientist of NASA. I love this
question, and absolutely yes. If you think about it from a practical point of view, NASA needs all
kinds of people from accountants to lawyers and obviously scientists and engineers, but we also
need artists because it's designers who really start with that first conception of "What is a
space suit going to look like?" "What is a moon base or a base on Mars going to look
like?" What's our next rocket going to look like?" All those things come out of design which is a
big part of art so we need space designers to help us figure out how we're going to get all the
equipment we need the places we're going to live on other planets all that comes out of art.
The other thing I would say is, and you may not know this, but artists were a big way
that, during the Apollo program in the 1960s, NASA communicated with the public. They actually
brought in all the leading artists of the 1960s to document what was happening with sending
humans to the moon for the first time. The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian
has an amazing collection of these paintings, and I really urge you to go online and look at them.
But what that really showed me going and looking at those paintings was how important art is
to inspire us about space, to realize all the places that humans will someday go, to realize
how we do it, to interpret and tell the story of the wonders of the universe, the wonders of our
solar system and the amazing amazing stories of exploration. Scientists and engineers are not
so good at that. Artists are wonderful at it. So whether you stick to being a pure artist or
you come and work at a space agency someday as a designer, art and space absolutely belong
together. I love that there's an opportunity to find or create a career that is a happy mix of
all of your passions. One vital organization that we haven't mentioned yet is our newest U.S. military
sector — the United States Space Force. It's a space service branch of the United States Armed Forces.
Let's hear a student submitted question about the USSF. Hi I'm Roman and I live in Virginia and my question is, what does the Space Force do? Will we ever have battles and jets in space like Star Wars? Thanks so much. Those are great questions. My name
is Shawn Bratton and I'm a Three Star General working for the Space Force right here in the Pentagon.
What does the Space Force do? The Space Force does so many things. We keep track of all the
objects in space and we provide communications and navigation signals to the military forces all
around the world. And in fact, we provide the GPS signal to you and your parents, so the next
time you're driving in your car and hearing that voice that's telling them where to go, know that
that is coming from the Space Force. Now will we fly spacecraft in space and have battles? Well,
I'll tell you I like all those science fiction movies just like you guys do, and I sure hope that
we're going to have Guardians in space one day. In fact, this August, a Guardian, for the first time,
is going to launch into space on a NASA rocket. So make sure you keep your eyes out for that. That's very cool so we've talked about going to the moon but what about space exploration
beyond the moon? Let's take a look at NASA's perspective. Going to Mars is not Star Trek. It's
not "go where no man has gone before," as they say. It's really all about letting our planetary
scientists be the pioneers, be the group that scouts the future and looks at resources that we
can use on the planet. What are the things they need to know to be able to safely land, live, and
return from Mars? Sending humans to Mars will be a giant leap for humanity. It's not as simple
as sending people off in a rocket. We'll need cutting-edge technology, years of planning, and
the determination to over overcome countless challenges along the way. Do you have what it takes
to join the quest to explore the Red Planet? Maxar Space Technologies is one of the companies helping
us pave the road to Mars. They interviewed a former astronaut about his perspective on humans reaching
Mars. Let's take a look. People want to know when are we going back to the moon? When are we going
to go to Mars? And I always tell them, "When we're ready." I'm Robert Curbeam, former astronaut, and I just
can't wait until somebody puts a bootprint on Mars. The last time people were on the moon
was in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission. Now, we're in the Artemis era where we're going
back to the moon and even further to Mars, and so we going to actually establish a presence
in lunar orbit with NASA's Gateway — a Gateway not only to allow people to visit the lunar
surface, but also travel further into deep space. Okay I just want to check in real quick,
are we a space nerd yet? Okay we'll keep going. Now the cool thing is space allows us to
explore, extract resources, and examine what a life outside of Earth might look like. Here on
Earth, we have developed ways to test our methods, processes and equipment for Mars. There are a few
places with the terrain and components equipped for giving us a Mars-like experience. Do you have any
guesses where some of those places might be? Let's check out how The Aerospace Corporation is testing
for missions to Mars down here on Earth in Utah. I'm here today to complete a two-week
mission to the Mars Desert Research Station with The Aerospace Corporation, the first
all-Aerospace analog team that has come out here to complete Mars-like experiments
and to do a a study of how the crew would interact in a Mars-like environment. You
can't just walk outside any time that you want. You have to dawn a spacesuit, you
have to spend time in an airlock for depressurization before you go outside,
and you have to have a reason to go outside. We understand that the spacesuits of
the future are going to have augmented reality, and there needs to be development of softwares
that are unique that are going to really change the way that science is done in space. If I'm in a
real spacesuit and I've got cameras on the spacesuit, I'm going to be able to take video which I
can extract still images from frame-by-frame. I can create a 3D image with those stills, and
by the time that we're leaving the simulation, I have a 3D model that is calibrated to the
area and we've shown how we can do it with photogrammetry models. When we go on a Mars mission,
we really need to be prepared before we go, and I think that that really shows that analogs can
bring a lot of knowledge to the knowledge base and add to just the overall preparations that
we would need to go on an actual planetary mission. Okay, I had no idea we were training for
Mars in parts of Utah. That is so cool! With all this talk of other planets, we have to talk about
the possibility of life on those other planets, right? Yes of course so let's jump to a question
from another one of our students. Hi my name is Kaden and I'm from Maryland. My question is
is there another planet like Earth, and are there aliens? I'm Lori Leshin, Director of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory here in Pasadena, California. I love this question because it's about the work
that we do each and every day here at JPL. We are searching for Earth-like planets around other
stars, and we're searching for life elsewhere that you could call aliens, right. Right now, the
answer is we haven't really found evidence of either but that's just because it's really hard
to look. I truly believe we will find evidence of both in your lifetimes. So let's start
by talking about Earth-like planets. The hard part about finding Earth-like planets around other
stars is that stars are really big and bright, and planets — even though our Earth feels huge — compared
to a star, Earth-like planets are really tiny, and they're really dim. So it's like you're blinded by
the starlight, and you can't see the little planet. But we're working on technology here at JPL that
is going to allow us to block out the starlight and see those Earth-like planets. So stay tuned because
we will detect Earth-like planets elsewhere in the coming years, decades. On the aliens question, we're
looking for life. Right now, all we know about is life on Earth, but it's great to think about
life elsewhere. If you look at the history of life on Earth, it was really simple little things
like bacteria and algae in your pool for most of Earth's history. So that's really the kind of life
that we're looking for on places like Mars and on Jupiter's moons like Europa. And again, we haven't
found it yet, but I really think we will. So thanks again for a great question. Wouldn't it just be
so cool to see the first signs of life on other planets during your lifetime? We'll have to stay
tuned for that one. Now for us to get to Mars or really anywhere out of our planet we're going to
need a rocket. So, let's hear from another student with a question about rockets. Hi my name is Ryan
and I live in Washington. My question is how do rockets launch when they're really, really heavy? Hi my name is Gwynne Shotwell. I'm president of a company called SpaceX, and that's a fantastic
question, especially for today. How hard is it to launch a rocket when it's really heavy? So
without going into all the details on rocket science, we can blame or credit a lot of what we
do in rocketry to Sir Isaac Newton. And so, when it comes to rockets, it's his three laws of motion. And
the first is any object that's at rest will stay at rest unless there is an unbalanced force applied.
That's the first part of flying a rocket. You need to take this very heavy millions of pounds of
structure and propellant and get it lifted out of gravity into space. So in order to lift this
very heavy thing, you need to add a force. And the force for rockets is called "thrust," and thrust is
generated by accelerating or pushing propellant from inside the rocket out the back end of the
rocket. The force needs to be greater than gravity, and so the rocket lifts off Earth and flies
into space.The heavier the rocket is the more force or thrust you need to overcome gravity.
And so you need a large rocket with a lot of propellants, with an engine designed specifically
to get that rocket off of planet Earth, out of the gravity of Earth, and into space. Now it's not
just about going up. You don't always just go up. In fact, you go up, and then you actually have to
do what's called a gravity turn. You need to turn sideways and basically circle the Earth, and you
need to do that with enough force to be able to overcome gravity. Think about rockets flying like a
balloon flies around. So you blow up a balloon and when you let it go, the air basically blows out in a direction, and the balloon flies in the opposite direction. That's a really simple example
of Newton's third law motion. And so if you combine those the first, the third law, a little bit of the
second law, you end up with a rocket leaving planet Earth, escaping gravity, and then staying in orbit
because of the amount of energy that you put in. That is so cool. I can tell you for sure that what
our partners are doing is actually rocket science. It's all about harnessing the power of physics. From the fiery blastoff, to the graceful stages of separation, rocket launches are a breathtaking
display of science and engineering in action. Let's jump to a question from another one of our
students. Hi, I'm Declan. I live in Texas. My question is, what's the hardest math problem a rocket scientist
has to do and how long do they study to learn how to do problems like that? Hello everyone, and Happy
National Space Day. My name is Daniel Hastings. I'm a professor of aeronautics and astronautics in the
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. So rocket scientists are in the business of
getting payloads into space — typically satellites — as well, of course, of doing things in
space. So what a rocket scientist has to do is calculate the trajectory to get from wherever
it is you're taking off from up to wherever it is you want the payload — typically a satellite — to be
deposited in space. So that involves many things. It actually matters where you launch from
because of the rotation of the Earth. They have to calculate the effects of the winds aloft
as the rocket actually goes up and the pressure the air exerts on the rocket body as it
cuts through the atmosphere at high speed. It's also important to understand where it is that
their first stage, and rockets are typically built in stages, is dropped off and where it is that the
second stage will actually ignite. And all of those things go into a complex set of calculations to
make sure the rocket does it safely — as safely as possible — and preserving, of course, the payload.
This is done by complex computer codes. The computer codes are written and operated
by individuals who typically have at least a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, often
a master's degree in aerospace engineering. So they will have studied science and mathematics in high
school, gone on to college to study science and engineering and mathematics in college for four
years, and then often, not always, done a master's degree for another one or two years after that. So
they'll be typically 22 to 24 years old when they are able to do these kind of calculations. Now that's rocket science for you! A rocket launch requires hundreds of people working together
for one shared mission. Let's take a look at what the day of a rocket launch looks like for our
partners at United Launch Alliance in Cape Canaveral, Florida. I am Dillon Rice, Systems Test Engineer and Launch Conductor for United
Launch Alliance. The Launch Conductor is most visible on launch
day. We are overall responsible for execution of the countdown, ensuring that the team is ready
to go. Our launch team is divided up into several smaller teams: there's one team that's focused on
the booster, there's another team that is focused on the second stage, we have a third team that's
focused on the electrical and avionic systems. The primary role of the Launch Conductor
is just to manage all those teams and make sure that everybody is ready when the launch
window opens. Launch day starts pretty early in the morning. We're usually getting started
about 10 hours prior to launch. There are teams that are out at the launchpad doing the
final securing on the launchpad that might be associated with our propellant storage farms or
our environmental control systems. There's a lot of work that goes into just the the general
preparation, final preparation of the pad for a launch. Once we have the launchpad secured
and all of our systems are ready to initiate tanking, we clear the launchpad and we start to
transfer propellant from the large storage tanks onto the launch vehicle. We also do things
like pressurize our reaction control system when we load helium on the vehicle — we use
helium as a pressurant. All those items are considered hazardous and we can't do that
with people out at the pad. Once the vehicle is loaded and ready then we perform our final
terminal count and launch. 5-4-3-2-1-zero and liftoff. Hi I'm Maya and I live in California. Can I work in the space industry even if I'm not the best in my class at math? Hi I'm
Tim Ellis. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Relativity Space. And if you want to work in the space
industry there's lots of different jobs — working on rockets, working on satellites — but there's many
more jobs besides just engineering. There's project management, there's business,
there's a lot of creativity that goes into a team that is building rockets and making it successful.
And it is a whole team effort. So for me, I even did focus on math and science in school, but I
also spent more of my personal time and energy in writing and creativity. So growing up, I wrote
poetry and a novel and was really into movies. And that, honestly, is what drove my passion for
ultimately getting into rockets and into space because I thought really it was just a creative
field and one that had hard problems to solve but also really big dreams and really big aspirations.
So it is something that I definitely want to encourage you. You do not have to take the
linear path. I thought I was going to go to school, graduate, and be a screenwriter. I ended
up working in rockets. So certainly you can explore your dreams, and the biggest thing is just
to stay curious, work hard, study and realize that with growth mindset you can always change and
you can always change your career aspirations and shoot for the stars. I've learned that the
most essential skill to do well in STEM is simply passion and perseverance. The ability to just
pursue things you're interested in even if you're not the best at it at first. When I was in fourth
grade, I failed the "smart kid test." This was the test to get into the accelerated program at school.
And you know why? It was because I didn't know the difference between a microscope and a telescope.
But fast forward a few years and I'm graduating from MIT with a master's degree in aeronautics and
astronautics. One experience I've had that always makes me laugh is my ride on the Vomit Comet.
It's a reduced gravity aircraft that allows you to experience the effects of weightlessness for
a few moments. I was so nervous that I was going to get sick and not enjoy it, but once we got up
there, I eventually got my air legs, and I'm telling you it was the best experience of my
life. And this leads us perfectly into another question from one of our students. Hi my name is
Gray and my question is, what's the coolest job in the space industry that's not an astronaut?
I get car sick, so I don't think space travel is for me. Well I'm Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and
I'm happy to tell you that being car sick is not the same thing as space adaptation sickness. So
don't give up hope yet. Having said that, I also know there's a lot of really cool space jobs right
here on Earth. I personally love all the aspects of operations. So, whether you're working to drive a
rover on another planet, or one of the jobs that I think is amazing, is to be a flight director for
human spaceflight. So they have to have all the same knowledge of the spacecraft. They have to
integrate a lot more data, they get a lot more data than the astronauts actually see on orbit.
They also have to be able to respond immediately in an emergency, provide support information. They
do all the planning for the the key activities that astronauts do. In reality, our flight
directors and flight controllers are part of the astronaut crew they're just the part that's
on the ground. I think that's a pretty cool job. There are so many interesting jobs in the space
industry. One type of job that involves astronomers, scientists, and researchers is studying the
sun. Now there's a particular cosmic event that happens every so often that helps with
this research. Do you know what I'm talking about, Jordyn? Is it solar eclipses? Yes, exactly.
That's right. So imagine standing outside on a bright sunny day when suddenly the sky darkens
and the sun disappears. What's happening? It's a solar eclipse! One of nature's most spectacular
shows. When you experience an eclipse you feel that connection with space. Oh my gosh! Look at the
ray structure! The universe is out there and it's affecting us. We are in space. And here it
comes there's the diamond ring, and that is the most spectacular sight. If you
haven't seen it, you haven't seen anything. A solar eclipse happens when the moon moves between the
sun and the Earth, casting a shadow on our planet but why doesn't this happen more often? Well the
moon's orbit is slightly tilted so it only happens when the sun, moon, and Earth all line up just
perfectly. This is when we get to witness this rare, cosmic event. During a total solar eclipse,
the moon completely covers the sun, revealing its outer atmosphere called the solar corona, which is
normally hidden by the sun's bright light. A solar eclipse is incredibly important for scientists and
astronomers because it allows them to study the sun's corona and learn more about its structure
and behavior. This data will help us understand the sun's influence on Earth's climate, space weather
and even satellite communications. So next time you witness a solar eclipse, remember that you're
not just seeing a spectacular awe-inspiring sight, but you're also contributing to our understanding
of the universe. It's amazing how much we can learn from an event like this. Remember there's always
ways to discover more about the universe, so keep dreaming big and reaching for the stars. Yeah, what
we really want to leave you with here today is the understanding that a future in the space industry
is available to you. There are opportunities no matter how old or young you are to get involved
in space. Whether it's through live events in your communities or virtual activities, there
is no shortage of space in the space industry. You still get it? Yep, I still get it. Let's take
a look at how some of the young minds across the country are getting involved in their
communities. Hi, my name is Marissa Valencia. I'm from Brea, California. In third grade I joined
the Columbia Memorial Space Center Girls in STEM Club, and it allowed me to learn everything about
space that I could possibly dream about. In fourth grade I was granted the opportunity to visit NASA
Johnson Space Camp in Alabama to train like a real astronaut. I was able to launch model rockets,
perform missions, fix a satellite, and just really experience what it was like to be an astronaut.
I'm now in 11th grade, and I've joined NASA's Space Station Ambassador Program, and I'm able to
share my love of space with the community around me. I've now been visiting my community by speaking
to local Girl Scout Troops and elementary schools, just sharing all the possibilities in the space
industry. And it's so rewarding to see the spark in these young girls' eyes, just knowing all that they
can do within the space industry. One day I hope to become an astronaut performing my own experiments
on the International Space Station and walk on the on the moon. Every time we get a notification that
the International Space Station is flying above our house, my family, I make sure to rush them out
of the house to go watch it, and we always wave up saying hi even if the astronauts can't see us.
And one day I hope to be on the International Space Station waving down to my parents. At The Aerospace Corporation, creating opportunities for elementary and high school-aged students is
essential to our mission. We recognize that someday these young minds will be leading the
aerospace industry, and we want to expose them to endless career opportunities. We provide tours
of our over 150 different labs, which showcase the advanced concepts, technology development, and
prototyping work we do across space missions. We also bring our work into your classroom through
free lesson plans and teacher resources. The Cubi Kit is an example of a learning experiment
we created for teachers to build with their students in order to understand how satellites
work. From our offices to your classrooms, sharing our knowledge and creating opportunities for
the future of space is what we do best. And so today I'm announcing that Blue Origin is
founding the Club for the Future, whose mission is to inspire young people to build the future of
life in space. So we're going to ask K-12 students to send us postcards with their dreams
of the future, and then we're going to send them to space in New Shepherd, bring them back, and
mail them back to you. Today we're loading the Club for the Future postcards into payload lockers
and those are going to be loaded into the crew capsule. And it's this generation's
job to build that road to space, so that the future generations can
unleash their creativity. Now that you are officially a space nerd we have
a special message from astronaut Kjell Lindgren, just for you. Take it away Kjell! My name is Kjell Lindgren
and I'm the Commander for NASA's SpaceX Crew 4 mission to the International Space Station. I've
wanted to be an astronaut for as long as I can remember, and so I chartered out a path. I went
to the Air Force Academy, and I ultimately did not become a pilot but went into medicine. And yet,
still found a path through medicine where I could serve human spaceflight as a flight surgeon. But I
still had that dream that that perhaps I would get to do that job someday. It was absolutely
amazing to get the call that I had been selected into the astronaut office. I was assigned
to my first mission and spent 141 days living and working on the International Space Station. That
truly was the realization of that lifelong dream of all of those things in that moment and in
that mission were really really special. Thank you for participating in today's National Space
Day program. Now that you've learned more about the work that we do in space and heard from many
passionate people working in the space industry, we need to hear from you. Space jobs and the space
economy are going to be even more important in your lifetime. And whether you're eager to go to
Mars, or you'd like to make space missions possible from the ground, we know you have big ideas about
the future. So now it's time to hear from you. Why do you think space is important to your generation? And what do you hope we have done in Space by 2054, when you're about 40 years old? Thanks for watching
and Happy National Space Day. It is always so cool to hear from an astronaut. Now in order to receive
your National Space Day Virtual Mission Patch, we need to hear from you. So head over to SWF2030.org
to submit your ideas on the future of space. There, you can also find more information and
bios on all the people you heard from today. Well, it looks like that's our show. Thank you for
joining us on this National Space Day 2024, where we are launching dreams and exploring futures.
Houston, we are a go for liftoff in 3-2-1.
