WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:07.741 --> 00:00:08.008 (music throughout ) More 2 00:00:08.008 --> 00:00:11.745 than 50 years ago, NASA's Apollo program sent humans 3 00:00:11.745 --> 00:00:15.648 to the moon with less computing power than is in your mobile phone. 4 00:00:18.651 --> 00:00:22.422 Since then, technology has transformed space exploration. 5 00:00:22.622 --> 00:00:26.292 We've landed rovers on Mars and sent robotic explorers 6 00:00:26.292 --> 00:00:28.695 to the outer reaches of our solar system. 7 00:00:29.662 --> 00:00:33.033 Now we're ready to send humans into space again. 8 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:35.268 Starting at the place we know best. 9 00:00:35.268 --> 00:00:39.072 The Moon, where we're going to stay and learn as much as possible 10 00:00:39.272 --> 00:00:43.710 as we forge a human path deeper into space than ever before. 11 00:00:44.110 --> 00:00:49.516 Artemus is NASA's program to return humans to the moon for long term exploration. 12 00:00:49.716 --> 00:00:53.119 It is named after the Greek goddess who is Apollo's twin sister. 13 00:00:53.153 --> 00:00:55.021 The Artemis mission will take us to 14 00:00:55.021 --> 00:00:58.792 the Moon's South Pole, a region that's rich in natural resources 15 00:00:58.792 --> 00:01:02.695 and geologic features that will help us answer fundamental questions 16 00:01:02.695 --> 00:01:06.666 about the history of our Moon, Earth and Solar System. 17 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:10.904 On this season of NASA Explorers, you'll meet the scientists, 18 00:01:11.104 --> 00:01:15.141 engineers, technicians and astronauts of Artemis. 19 00:01:15.575 --> 00:01:19.112 These are the people who are designing science investigations, 20 00:01:19.245 --> 00:01:24.384 analyzing grains of moon dust in the lab, building tools for lunar exploration 21 00:01:24.684 --> 00:01:27.554 and training to conduct science on the surface 22 00:01:27.554 --> 00:01:36.129 of the moon. 23 00:01:36.830 --> 00:01:39.466 Yes. So my job title is now astronaut. 24 00:01:39.466 --> 00:01:40.733 NASA astronaut. 25 00:01:40.733 --> 00:01:43.536 What first interested me and the first time I kind of said 26 00:01:43.536 --> 00:01:44.971 that I wanted to be an astronaut. 27 00:01:44.971 --> 00:01:46.940 I was around nine years old. 28 00:01:46.940 --> 00:01:52.745 I was doing an after school curricular program at Judy Resnik Elementary School. 29 00:01:53.012 --> 00:01:59.085 And I think I asked my parents about who she was and what her career path was. 30 00:01:59.085 --> 00:02:02.422 And I think that was the first time that it was explained to me that, hey, 31 00:02:02.689 --> 00:02:07.460 you know, you you could go to space and hang out there as a as a career option. 32 00:02:07.460 --> 00:02:09.696 So I think that was kind of the first time I said, that sounds awesome. 33 00:02:09.996 --> 00:02:11.798 That's really what I'd like to do. 34 00:02:11.798 --> 00:02:16.202 I had done some kind of, you know, summer program type of classes. 35 00:02:16.402 --> 00:02:20.073 One thing that sticks out in my head was dissecting a cow eye. 36 00:02:20.073 --> 00:02:23.977 And I came home and was just raving about how cool that was. 37 00:02:23.977 --> 00:02:24.944 And it's so fun. 38 00:02:24.944 --> 00:02:28.748 And I think my parents looked at me kind of funny, but I think that was, 39 00:02:28.748 --> 00:02:32.819 you know, kind of the beginning of my my interest in love in science and, 40 00:02:32.952 --> 00:02:38.224 you know, really wanting to dive into research and asking questions. 41 00:02:38.391 --> 00:02:40.493 Before becoming an astronaut, Dr. 42 00:02:40.493 --> 00:02:43.196 Jessica Watkins worked as a planetary geologist, 43 00:02:44.063 --> 00:02:47.300 as a member of the science team behind NASA's Curiosity rover. 44 00:02:47.700 --> 00:02:50.336 Her work focused on Mars. 45 00:02:50.336 --> 00:02:54.007 Now, Jessica is working aboard the International Space Station 46 00:02:54.474 --> 00:02:58.011 and is one of the Artemis astronauts and rare human beings 47 00:02:58.411 --> 00:03:02.849 who may get to leave their footprints on the moon. 48 00:03:03.249 --> 00:03:08.054 In that moment, there is a whole team of hundreds of people that have contributed, 49 00:03:08.054 --> 00:03:11.791 probably thousands of people that have contributed to that reality. 50 00:03:11.791 --> 00:03:14.961 And, you know, the kind of the last piece of it 51 00:03:14.961 --> 00:03:18.031 is, you know, the human in the loop that's actually executing it. 52 00:03:18.031 --> 00:03:22.635 But in reality, it will just be about representing that the rest of that team 53 00:03:22.635 --> 00:03:27.140 well and doing your job, your one piece of that puzzle well. 54 00:03:28.174 --> 00:03:30.109 Dr. Julie Mitchell represents 55 00:03:30.109 --> 00:03:34.614 another piece of the Artemis puzzle sample processing and storage. 56 00:03:34.814 --> 00:03:38.785 When Artemus astronauts deliver the next set of moon samples to earth, 57 00:03:39.352 --> 00:03:42.722 they'll need to be stored in a specifically designed facility 58 00:03:42.922 --> 00:03:45.892 and preserved for current and future generations. 59 00:03:46.226 --> 00:03:50.430 My main title is the curator of Ices and Organics. 60 00:03:50.563 --> 00:03:54.500 All that means is that I'm helping NASA get ready to bring ice samples back 61 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:56.369 from the solar system. 62 00:03:56.369 --> 00:04:00.440 So I work in what's called the Astro Materials Acquisition and Curation Office. 63 00:04:00.473 --> 00:04:02.408 We just call it the curation Office for short. 64 00:04:02.408 --> 00:04:06.746 So all of the Apollo moon, rocks, meteorites, all of our sample return 65 00:04:06.746 --> 00:04:10.850 missions from asteroids, from comets, all of those samples come here to Houston 66 00:04:10.850 --> 00:04:14.587 and it's our office job to take care of those samples 67 00:04:14.587 --> 00:04:18.625 and make sure that they're available to the scientific community to study. 68 00:04:20.093 --> 00:04:23.930 So I grew up in Louisiana on the bayou. 69 00:04:24.297 --> 00:04:27.600 You know, I was down at the water all the time looking for snakes and turtles 70 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:30.637 and looking at different plants that were out there. 71 00:04:30.637 --> 00:04:31.971 Nighttime would come around. 72 00:04:31.971 --> 00:04:33.873 And, you know, I was just looking at the stars. 73 00:04:33.873 --> 00:04:35.608 I wanted to know the constellations. 74 00:04:35.608 --> 00:04:38.811 I wanted to understand what was going on up there. 75 00:04:39.579 --> 00:04:42.081 And neither of my parents went to college. 76 00:04:42.348 --> 00:04:45.785 None of my siblings or I had any expectation 77 00:04:45.818 --> 00:04:47.553 of going to college either. 78 00:04:47.553 --> 00:04:52.091 My older sister, she actually ended up going to college eventually got her Ph.D. 79 00:04:52.392 --> 00:04:55.862 She just gave me a hard time and just kind of 80 00:04:57.030 --> 00:05:01.134 was very persistent with me and saying, look, just apply to one school. 81 00:05:01.267 --> 00:05:04.837 Luckily, I got in and when I got in that was kind of the switch 82 00:05:04.837 --> 00:05:07.974 that flipped like, Oh, okay, I can't actually do this, 83 00:05:08.374 --> 00:05:11.678 and I want as many people as possible to know 84 00:05:11.711 --> 00:05:15.581 that there are people who are working at NASA who, 85 00:05:15.948 --> 00:05:18.384 you know, didn't grow up with a lot of resources 86 00:05:18.384 --> 00:05:22.188 and have still found a way to to make a contribution. 87 00:05:22.455 --> 00:05:22.722 Okay. 88 00:05:22.722 --> 00:05:25.692 So how does a kid that come from the rough part of Lima 89 00:05:26.326 --> 00:05:27.627 get interested into science? 90 00:05:27.627 --> 00:05:31.831 Of course, I was very curious and I was very motivated for science. 91 00:05:32.632 --> 00:05:34.567 I don't think I would have gotten into science 92 00:05:34.567 --> 00:05:39.439 if it wasn't because of a kind of need I had for achieving something great. 93 00:05:40.073 --> 00:05:43.343 Dr. Jose Aponte works in the Astrobiology 94 00:05:43.343 --> 00:05:46.479 Analytical Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. 95 00:05:46.646 --> 00:05:50.216 He studies grains of dust from meteorites, asteroids 96 00:05:50.416 --> 00:05:54.721 and the moon, hunting for microscopic clues to help answer 97 00:05:54.721 --> 00:05:59.225 a gigantic question - Where did the seeds of life come from? 98 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:04.630 Jose could be among the first humans to study samples from the moon's South Pole. 99 00:06:04.964 --> 00:06:07.633 I read an advertisement that read We are 100 00:06:07.633 --> 00:06:10.770 looking for an astrobiologist to study organic compounds in meteorites. 101 00:06:10.770 --> 00:06:12.705 Astrobiologist? 102 00:06:12.705 --> 00:06:14.107 What's that like? 103 00:06:14.107 --> 00:06:16.142 I never heard that word before. 104 00:06:16.142 --> 00:06:18.044 I had no clue, honestly. 105 00:06:19.946 --> 00:06:23.282 So I've read about it and said, Wow, this is pretty cool. 106 00:06:23.883 --> 00:06:25.718 Organic compounds in meteorites. 107 00:06:25.718 --> 00:06:26.586 Meteorites. 108 00:06:26.586 --> 00:06:30.123 Okay, that sounds exciting. 109 00:06:31.090 --> 00:06:33.593 But when I was a kid, I was probably ten years old, 110 00:06:34.927 --> 00:06:37.163 and every day I had to do the dishes at home. 111 00:06:38.564 --> 00:06:42.235 And there was this pot and this pot had a really thick, 112 00:06:42.435 --> 00:06:44.837 black layer of burnt rice. 113 00:06:45.271 --> 00:06:48.841 Something came to mind and I said, okay, if I want to clean this pot, 114 00:06:48.941 --> 00:06:50.243 I'm going to add bleach. 115 00:06:50.243 --> 00:06:54.781 Because bleach, you know, dissolved stuff, stains and should help. 116 00:06:55.381 --> 00:06:57.450 So I had a couple of cups of bleach. 117 00:06:57.984 --> 00:06:59.585 Look at it. 118 00:06:59.585 --> 00:07:01.320 Nothing happened, of course. 119 00:07:01.320 --> 00:07:02.422 So I said, okay. 120 00:07:02.422 --> 00:07:04.190 Nothing happened. Such a disappointment. 121 00:07:04.190 --> 00:07:09.061 I decided to add a cup of muriatic acid that is used to clean toilets. 122 00:07:09.662 --> 00:07:11.230 And then you know what happens, you know? 123 00:07:11.230 --> 00:07:12.331 Right. Okay. 124 00:07:12.331 --> 00:07:16.702 So when you mix bleach and muriatic acid, chlorine gas is released. 125 00:07:17.003 --> 00:07:22.308 But in in great quantities, a lot of it really fast. 126 00:07:22.308 --> 00:07:23.342 Really quick. 127 00:07:23.342 --> 00:07:26.412 And so I add the muriatic acid and I see a lot of fumes coming out. 128 00:07:26.579 --> 00:07:29.348 So I left the pot there and ran upstairs. 129 00:07:29.515 --> 00:07:30.817 And then my grandparents, 130 00:07:30.817 --> 00:07:33.853 we got to leave the house because we're going to die if we don't. 131 00:07:34.687 --> 00:07:38.724 When we came back, the pot was all destroyed. 132 00:07:39.025 --> 00:07:41.494 I was like, What happened? That was great. 133 00:07:41.527 --> 00:07:42.395 That was crazy. 134 00:07:42.395 --> 00:07:44.730 I don't know what it was, but that was cool. 135 00:07:45.231 --> 00:07:47.900 That's the first time I think that I was a chemist, 136 00:07:47.900 --> 00:07:50.102 although I didn't know that I was a chemist at that time. 137 00:07:50.837 --> 00:07:53.973 I definitely am a person that doesn't give up. 138 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:56.309 I don't take no for an answer. 139 00:07:56.442 --> 00:08:00.780 And as soon as I got to school, really, I guess the summer after my freshman 140 00:08:00.780 --> 00:08:04.450 year, I was applying for anything space related. 141 00:08:04.817 --> 00:08:07.854 Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful many times 142 00:08:07.887 --> 00:08:11.491 I've counted it up in the number that that I remember from that exercise 143 00:08:11.491 --> 00:08:15.928 was about 30 to 35 different applications 144 00:08:15.928 --> 00:08:20.233 over a few year period of just nothing. 145 00:08:20.733 --> 00:08:24.537 And then the second semester of my junior year of college, 146 00:08:24.770 --> 00:08:27.373 I was accepted to a NASA internship. 147 00:08:27.373 --> 00:08:30.209 And so, sure enough, that broke the barrier for me. 148 00:08:30.510 --> 00:08:33.246 I got an internship that led to another internship. 149 00:08:33.946 --> 00:08:36.415 Now I'm here and get to live out my dream. 150 00:08:36.449 --> 00:08:40.186 I wear a lot of different hats here at NASA, but my primary role 151 00:08:40.186 --> 00:08:44.924 right now is as the deputy project manager for the Artemis Geology Tools. 152 00:08:45.024 --> 00:08:48.928 That means that along with our project manager, I help to lead 153 00:08:48.928 --> 00:08:52.398 a team of people who are building Moon tools. 154 00:08:52.565 --> 00:08:57.203 And so specifically the tools that are going to take samples of the moon 155 00:08:57.303 --> 00:09:01.073 and bring them back to earth so the scientists can study them for 156 00:09:01.073 --> 00:09:02.308 generations to come. 157 00:09:03.409 --> 00:09:06.512 I watched the Apollo videos many times 158 00:09:06.512 --> 00:09:12.685 and I see the video of the world reacting to that accomplishment. 159 00:09:12.685 --> 00:09:16.856 And I just feel so much pride and knowing that I get to be a part of it 160 00:09:16.856 --> 00:09:20.126 this time around is just it's so much fun. 161 00:09:20.126 --> 00:09:25.298 It makes every day just seem like a dream Together, 162 00:09:25.798 --> 00:09:28.768 Jessica, Julie, Jose, and Adam 163 00:09:29.235 --> 00:09:31.771 are pieces of the Artemis puzzle. 164 00:09:31.771 --> 00:09:35.241 Each is a vital component of the team working to accomplish 165 00:09:35.241 --> 00:09:39.579 the monumental task of exploring a world beyond earth. 166 00:09:39.946 --> 00:09:41.347 You can't just do this 167 00:09:41.347 --> 00:09:44.884 with a geologist or you couldn't just do this with an engineer. 168 00:09:45.117 --> 00:09:49.255 You really need a mix of people to think about these challenges 169 00:09:49.255 --> 00:09:51.057 from all the different angles. 170 00:09:51.057 --> 00:09:53.392 And we have that team. 171 00:09:53.392 --> 00:09:57.663 These are our explorers, the people who will get us to the moon, 172 00:09:57.930 --> 00:10:01.100 collect moon rocks, deliver them to Earth safely, 173 00:10:01.434 --> 00:10:05.805 and ensure that we can study them for years to come. 174 00:10:05.805 --> 00:10:07.773 By the time we get to the moon. 175 00:10:07.773 --> 00:10:10.276 We're going to have the best tools. 176 00:10:10.476 --> 00:10:12.345 We're going to have the best containers. 177 00:10:12.345 --> 00:10:13.713 We're going to have the best crew. 178 00:10:13.713 --> 00:10:17.016 And that's because everybody involved really, really cares. 179 00:10:17.016 --> 00:10:20.186 And all of that is going to lead us to the very best science we can do. 180 00:10:20.219 --> 00:10:22.355 Everybody's hard work ahead of time 181 00:10:22.355 --> 00:10:24.690 will make sure that we have these excellent samples 182 00:10:24.690 --> 00:10:28.027 and that they're preserved for the long term. 183 00:10:28.127 --> 00:10:31.797 Virtually everyone on Earth knows the first words uttered from the 184 00:10:31.797 --> 00:10:32.732 surface of the moon. 185 00:10:34.634 --> 00:10:35.401 That's one 186 00:10:35.401 --> 00:10:38.771 small step for man, one 187 00:10:38.771 --> 00:10:42.108 giant leap for mankind. 188 00:10:43.075 --> 00:10:46.946 But not many people know that the next words were all about science. 189 00:10:46.946 --> 00:10:49.348 The surface is fine and powdery. 190 00:10:49.815 --> 00:10:53.786 I can I can pick it up loosely with my toe. 191 00:10:53.786 --> 00:10:58.224 It does adhere in fine layers 192 00:10:59.358 --> 00:11:01.560 like powdered charcoal. 193 00:11:01.560 --> 00:11:03.729 on the next episode of NASA's Explorers. 194 00:11:03.729 --> 00:11:05.031 Moon Rocks. 195 00:11:05.031 --> 00:11:09.568 What mysteries about the origins of our Earth, Moon and Solar System? 196 00:11:09.902 --> 00:11:13.339 Can we unlock from a rock?