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Transcript/Script
The Week in Space (TV)
HEADLINE: $55M Per Ticket Price Tag Marks Milestone in Space Travel
TEASER: Industry executives hail major step in space commercialization
PUBLISHED AT: 4/14/2022 at 2:44 pm
BYLINE: Arash Arabasadi
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washington
VIDEOGRAPHER: AP/ REUTERS/ NASA/AXIOM SPACE/ NASA TV/ NASA, Other (see courtesy)
SCRIPT EDITORS: BR, Tom Turco
NOTE: PART NO OBSCURE LOGO
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AP/ REUTERS/ NASA/AXIOM SPACE/ NASA TV/ NASA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO __
TRT: 2:40
VID APPROVED BY: BR
TYPE:
UPDATE: ))
[[INTRO: The first-ever all-private charter to the International Space Station. Plus, a look back in history at a Moon-mission gone wrong, and an auction offering some of the most-expensive dust on Earth. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.]]
((mandatory cg NASA/AXIOM SPACE))
((VOX POP, WOMAN))
“Ignition. Liftoff. Go Falcon. Go Dragon. Godspeed, Axiom-1.”
((NARRATOR))
We begin this week with a history-making flight that took off from a launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. A SpaceX rocket carried the first all-private astronaut team to the International Space Station as part the Ax-1 mission of Houston-based startup, Axiom Space.
((mandatory cg NASA TV))
The flight, dock, and arrival of the crew marked the first time an all-commercial team will use ISS to conduct experiments on board the orbiting lab.
((mandatory cg NASA))
((NARRATOR))
The flight kicked-off an eight-day trip under NASA’s supervision where the station’s new guests brought with them dozens of science and biomedical experiments. Tickets for the trip cost $55 million apiece.
((mandatory cg NASA))
((NARRATOR))
52-years ago this week, Apollo 13 blasted off from Cape Canaveral on NASA’s third crewed mission to the Moon. NASA says an explosion and rupture of an oxygen tank cut the mission short, but Apollo 13’s crew managed a safe return to Earth.
((Mandatory cg: "Apollo 13" / Universal Pictures / YouTube ))
A critically acclaimed movie was made years later about the event.
((UPSOUND)) “Houston, we have a problem.”
((NARRATOR))
In other news, NASA technicians are making final adjustments to the Psyche ((SAI-kee)) spacecraft.
[RADIO TRACK: Project manager for the Psyche mission, Henry Stone, speaking with AP.]
((Henry Stone, Psyche Mission Project Manager ))
“This is a really incredible spacecraft that’s going to help us do some really fundamental exploration. We’re going to be going to an asteroid that’s never been visited before.”
((NARRATOR))
If all goes according to plan, the uncrewed Psyche explorer will begin traveling to a metal-rich asteroid of the same name by the end of this year.
[RADIO TRACK: Once again, Psyche Project manager Henry Stone, speaking with AP.]
((Henry Stone, Project Manager for Psyche Mission))
“Once we launch this, we can’t repair it. We can’t go up and go fix it. It’s got to work the entire time, and it takes three-and-a-half years to get there. And we’ll be orbiting Psyche once we get there for two years to collect these scientific measurements, so you need an extremely reliable spacecraft.”
((NARRATOR))
The mission exploring Psyche will be the first of its kind to study an asteroid made of metals instead of ice and rock.
((mandatory cg NASA))
((NARRATOR))
Finally, this week, some of the world’s most-expensive dust was sold at auction house, Bonhams. Astronaut Neil Armstrong collected the lunar samples when he landed on the Moon in 1969.
[RADIO TRACK: Bonhams specialist in space history, science, and technology, Adam Stackhouse, explains the rarity to Reuters.]
((Adam Stackhouse, Bonhams Specialist, Space History, Science & Technology))
“Lunar samples are property of the U.S. government, property of the people. Because this sold through a government sale, it had fallen into private hands. It’s very unusual. I’ve never seen another instance where this has happened.”
((NARRATOR))
The lunar dust joined other space-souvenirs, where Space.com reports it sold for just north of $500,000 (($504,375)), falling well short of pre-auction estimates as high as $1.2 million.
((Arash Arabasadi, VOA News))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Washington D. C.
Embargo DateApril 14, 2022 16:38 EDT
Byline
((Arash Arabasadi, VOA News))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English