1 00:00:00,939 --> 00:00:03,580 Some very complex work outside the space station … 2 00:00:03,580 --> 00:00:09,000 Key milestones for our Artemis program … And a fitting tribute for an historic flyby 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:14,530 … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA! 4 00:00:14,530 --> 00:00:20,270 On Nov. 15 our Andrew Morgan and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, ventured outside 5 00:00:20,270 --> 00:00:25,730 the International Space Station to begin a series of spacewalks to repair a cosmic ray 6 00:00:25,730 --> 00:00:30,380 detector called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS. 7 00:00:30,380 --> 00:00:35,449 The complex spacewalks – designed to fix a coolant leak and upgrade AMS’ cooling 8 00:00:35,449 --> 00:00:40,629 system – involve intricate cutting, splicing and reconnecting of cooling tubes, and power 9 00:00:40,629 --> 00:00:42,730 and data cables. 10 00:00:42,730 --> 00:00:46,180 Astronauts have never cut and reconnected fluid lines during a spacewalk. 11 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:53,120 These AMS spacewalks are considered the most complex of their kind since the Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions. 12 00:00:54,620 --> 00:00:59,880 Vice President Mike Pence and our Administrator Jim Bridenstine, visited our Ames Research 13 00:00:59,889 --> 00:01:05,430 Center in California’s Silicon Valley on Nov. 14, to highlight the work being done 14 00:01:05,430 --> 00:01:10,810 at Ames in support of our Artemis program, which plans to return astronauts to the surface 15 00:01:10,810 --> 00:01:11,810 of the Moon. 16 00:01:11,810 --> 00:01:16,300 “You here at Ames are going to be a critical part at helping us develop the technologies 17 00:01:16,300 --> 00:01:20,590 to live on the Moon – not for days, but for months and even years. 18 00:01:20,590 --> 00:01:24,520 We’ll learn how to make use of all the resources the Moon has to offer.” 19 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:29,060 One of the facilities highlighted during the event was the Vertical Motion Simulator. 20 00:01:29,060 --> 00:01:33,980 This facility will have an integral role in developing a lunar lander for Artemis – which 21 00:01:33,980 --> 00:01:39,010 will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. 22 00:01:39,010 --> 00:01:44,360 At our Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, all four RS-25 engines have been attached 23 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:50,260 to the core stage of our Space Launch System, or SLS rocket, in preparation for Artemis I, 24 00:01:50,260 --> 00:01:55,700 the first integrated uncrewed flight test of SLS and our Orion spacecraft. 25 00:01:55,700 --> 00:01:59,920 To complete assembly of the rocket stage, engineers and technicians will integrate the 26 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:03,550 propulsion and electrical systems within the structure. 27 00:02:03,550 --> 00:02:08,420 Meanwhile, at our Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orion crew and service module 28 00:02:08,420 --> 00:02:14,390 stack for Artemis I was lifted out of the Final Assembly and Test cell on Nov. 11, where 29 00:02:14,390 --> 00:02:18,590 it has been since July, for mating and closeout processing. 30 00:02:18,590 --> 00:02:23,390 Engineers will now prepare Orion for transport to our Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, 31 00:02:23,390 --> 00:02:29,790 for its next phase of testing to certify the complete vehicle for flight. 32 00:02:29,790 --> 00:02:36,640 The Kuiper Belt object formerly known as 2014 MU69 has been officially named Arrokoth, a 33 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:41,630 Native American term meaning “sky” in the Powhatan/Algonquian language. 34 00:02:41,630 --> 00:02:46,910 The naming was announced at a Nov. 12 ceremony at our headquarters in Washington, DC, as 35 00:02:46,910 --> 00:02:52,880 a tribute to the record-breaking New Year’s Day 2019 flyby of Arrokoth by our New Horizons 36 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,500 spacecraft – which was some four billion miles from Earth at the time. 37 00:02:57,500 --> 00:03:02,640 With consent from Powhatan Tribal elders and representatives, our New Horizons team proposed 38 00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:08,130 the name to the international authority that names Kuiper Belt objects. 39 00:03:08,130 --> 00:03:12,640 In recognition of Veterans Day, our Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, 40 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:17,700 recently welcomed commanding Army General James Dickinson for a visit to the center’s 41 00:03:17,700 --> 00:03:20,060 Payload Operations Integration Center. 42 00:03:20,060 --> 00:03:25,130 While there, he had a space-to-ground conversation with astronaut, and fellow soldier Andrew 43 00:03:25,130 --> 00:03:30,840 Morgan – an active-duty emergency physician – about Morgan’s experiences aboard the 44 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:32,459 International Space Station. 45 00:03:32,459 --> 00:03:37,270 NASA salutes all active-duty personnel and veterans of our Armed Forces and would like 46 00:03:37,270 --> 00:03:39,630 to thank them for their service to our country.