1 00:00:00,339 --> 00:00:04,860 New arrivals in low-Earth orbit – welcome aboard the space station! 2 00:00:04,860 --> 00:00:08,300 More research, supplies, and other cargo heads to the station … 3 00:00:08,300 --> 00:00:13,370 And a new partner for our Moon to Mars effort … a few of the stories to tell you about 4 00:00:13,370 --> 00:00:15,790 – This Week at NASA! 5 00:00:15,790 --> 00:00:20,380 The three newest occupants of the International Space Station arrived at the orbital outpost 6 00:00:20,380 --> 00:00:26,800 on September 25, about six hours after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. 7 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:33,500 Our Jessica Meir, Expedition 61/62 crewmate Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos, and Spaceflight 8 00:00:33,500 --> 00:00:39,340 Participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates were welcomed by the crew already 9 00:00:39,340 --> 00:00:40,690 on board. 10 00:00:40,690 --> 00:00:47,510 The Expedition 61/62 crew will support about 250 investigations and technology demonstrations 11 00:00:47,510 --> 00:00:53,610 not possible on Earth, leading to potential benefits for everyday life and enabling future 12 00:00:53,610 --> 00:00:56,629 long-duration exploration into deep space. 13 00:00:56,629 --> 00:01:03,000 A day earlier, an unpiloted cargo spacecraft headed to the space station from Japan’s 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,369 Tanegashima Space Center, loaded with more than four tons of supplies, spare parts and 15 00:01:08,369 --> 00:01:11,159 experiment hardware for the station crew. 16 00:01:11,159 --> 00:01:16,960 The cargo includes six new lithium-ion batteries to replace aging nickel-hydrogen batteries 17 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:19,500 for two of the station’s power channels. 18 00:01:19,500 --> 00:01:23,950 The batteries will be installed through a series of robotic operations and spacewalks 19 00:01:23,950 --> 00:01:26,829 later this year. 20 00:01:26,829 --> 00:01:31,520 U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison were 21 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:36,740 on hand for a recent ceremony at NASA headquarters, during which our Deputy Administrator, Jim 22 00:01:36,740 --> 00:01:42,920 Morhard and Head of the Australian Space Agency, Megan Clark, signed a joint statement announcing 23 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:48,399 Australia’s intention to join America’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, including 24 00:01:48,399 --> 00:01:50,659 our Artemis lunar program. 25 00:01:50,659 --> 00:01:55,679 The statement foresees potential Australian contributions in areas of mutual interest 26 00:01:55,679 --> 00:02:01,200 – such as robotics, automation, and remote asset management – similar to what is currently 27 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,509 used in Australian mining operations. 28 00:02:04,509 --> 00:02:09,909 This builds on a unique history of space cooperation between our countries that dates back to the 29 00:02:09,909 --> 00:02:11,739 Apollo era. 30 00:02:11,739 --> 00:02:17,400 The contract for the production and operations of our Orion spacecraft has been awarded to 31 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,220 Lockheed Martin. 32 00:02:19,220 --> 00:02:25,099 This sets into motion the spacecraft production line that will support as many as 12 Artemis 33 00:02:25,100 --> 00:02:30,620 missions, including the one that will carry the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024. 34 00:02:31,620 --> 00:02:35,800 Spacecraft production for Orion – managed by our Johnson Space Center in Houston – will 35 00:02:35,819 --> 00:02:41,040 focus on reusability and building a sustainable presence on the lunar surface. 36 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:46,569 For more about Orion, visit: nasa.gov/orion. 37 00:02:46,569 --> 00:02:52,000 Just in time for NASA’s Black Hole Week, our TESS and Swift missions gave us a look 38 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:57,890 at an extremely rare, star-destroying phenomenon called a tidal disruption – this particular 39 00:02:57,890 --> 00:03:02,260 one was first spotted by TESS in Jan. 2019. 40 00:03:02,260 --> 00:03:07,590 Tidal disruptions happen when a star strays too close to a black hole and is broken apart 41 00:03:07,590 --> 00:03:12,640 by the black hole’s extreme gravity and intense tides – turning the star into a 42 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:14,620 stream of gas and debris. 43 00:03:14,620 --> 00:03:18,859 Astronomers think the supermassive black hole that generated this tidal disruption is about 44 00:03:18,859 --> 00:03:24,930 6 million times the Sun’s mass and sits at the center of a galaxy about 375 million 45 00:03:24,930 --> 00:03:26,670 light-years from us. 46 00:03:26,670 --> 00:03:32,730 These disruptions take place only once every 10,000 to 100,000 years in a galaxy the size 47 00:03:32,730 --> 00:03:35,730 of our Milky Way. 48 00:03:35,730 --> 00:03:39,749 Registration is open for NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge. 49 00:03:39,749 --> 00:03:46,239 The world’s largest global hackathon, now in its eighth year, takes place Oct. 18-20, 50 00:03:46,239 --> 00:03:52,200 and is open worldwide to anyone who is interested in using NASA data to tackle real problems 51 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,099 on Earth and in space. 52 00:03:54,099 --> 00:03:59,180 No educational or professional background in science or coding is required. 53 00:03:59,180 --> 00:04:01,870 For more details go to spaceappschallenge.org.