1 00:00:00,290 --> 00:00:03,670 The world’s first-ever planetary defense test is a big hit … 2 00:00:03,670 --> 00:00:07,430 A major hurricane spotted from space … 3 00:00:07,430 --> 00:00:12,480 And moving our mega Moon rocket back inside ahead of that storm … a few of the stories 4 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:17,840 to tell you about – This Week at NASA! 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:24,300 On Sept. 26, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART spacecraft successfully impacted 6 00:00:24,300 --> 00:00:29,410 Dimorphos – the asteroid the spacecraft had been on a collision course with for about 7 00:00:29,410 --> 00:00:31,140 10 months. 8 00:00:31,140 --> 00:00:36,350 “Waiting … (applause) … and we have impact!” 9 00:00:36,350 --> 00:00:42,350 DART’s intentional crash into Dimorphos, a moonlet of a larger asteroid called Didymos, 10 00:00:42,350 --> 00:00:47,710 was an attempt to alter the course of an asteroid in space as part of the world’s first planetary 11 00:00:47,710 --> 00:00:50,230 defense technology demonstration. 12 00:00:50,230 --> 00:00:55,620 The DART team will observe Dimorphos with ground-based telescopes to confirm that the 13 00:00:55,620 --> 00:01:01,649 technique, known as kinetic impact, did indeed alter the moonlet’s orbit around Didymos. 14 00:01:01,649 --> 00:01:06,970 The cosmic collision was actually captured by our Hubble and Webb space telescopes, marking 15 00:01:06,970 --> 00:01:12,830 the first time that Webb and Hubble observed the same celestial target at the same time. 16 00:01:12,830 --> 00:01:16,820 Neither of these asteroids is a threat to Earth, but this technique could prove to be 17 00:01:16,820 --> 00:01:22,410 a reliable way to alter the course of an asteroid that is on a collision course with Earth in 18 00:01:22,410 --> 00:01:23,420 the future. 19 00:01:23,420 --> 00:01:29,450 On Sept. 26, external cameras aboard the International Space Station captured views of Hurricane 20 00:01:29,450 --> 00:01:35,060 Ian just south of Cuba as the storm moved toward the north-northwest. 21 00:01:35,060 --> 00:01:39,710 As expected, Ian intensified as it approached Florida. 22 00:01:39,710 --> 00:01:45,850 Space station cameras caught the storm again on Sept. 28 as it was making landfall in southwest 23 00:01:45,850 --> 00:01:53,680 Florida as a Category 4 storm with winds upward of 155 mph and a potentially catastrophic 24 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:55,340 storm surge. 25 00:01:55,340 --> 00:02:00,990 On the night of Sept. 26, the team at our Kennedy Space Center began moving our Artemis 26 00:02:00,990 --> 00:02:07,200 I Moon rocket from launch pad 39B back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB. 27 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:13,360 The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft were secured inside the VAB the next morning. 28 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:18,000 Managers decided on the “roll back” due to weather predictions related to Hurricane 29 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:19,180 Ian. 30 00:02:19,180 --> 00:02:24,260 In addition to protecting the integrated rocket and spacecraft, they also wanted to give employees 31 00:02:24,260 --> 00:02:28,370 time to address the needs of their families ahead of the storm. 32 00:02:28,370 --> 00:02:34,709 The spacecraft for our Juno mission at Jupiter made a close flyby of the planet’s ice-covered 33 00:02:34,709 --> 00:02:37,780 moon, Europa on Sept. 29. 34 00:02:37,780 --> 00:02:43,620 This image from the pass, some 220 miles above Europa’s surface, is the first to come of 35 00:02:43,620 --> 00:02:48,480 some of the highest-resolution images ever taken of portions of the moon. 36 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:54,439 Valuable data are also expected from the flyby that, once processed, could benefit and inform 37 00:02:54,439 --> 00:02:59,540 future missions, like the agency’s Europa Clipper mission, which is targeted to launch 38 00:02:59,540 --> 00:03:03,029 in 2024 to study the icy moon. 39 00:03:03,029 --> 00:03:08,469 More information is available at: nasa.gov/juno. 40 00:03:08,469 --> 00:03:13,299 Believe it or not, these inflatable habitats are being blown up to help make them safe 41 00:03:13,299 --> 00:03:15,269 for humans. 42 00:03:15,269 --> 00:03:20,180 Habitats like these could be used to house astronauts on future long-term surface exploration 43 00:03:20,180 --> 00:03:23,559 missions to the Moon and, eventually Mars. 44 00:03:23,559 --> 00:03:29,349 But before then, NASA and commercial partners are conducting burst pressure tests to determine 45 00:03:29,349 --> 00:03:34,780 the maximum internal pressure these habitats can safely withstand before they fail.