Oh man, this was an exciting week in space and we've got a lot to cover. We have a spacewalk that was the first of its kind. We've got new suits from NASA that can do moonwalks and a whole new booster being tested. I've somehow got to squeeze all of this into a very short amount of time. That way Jamie doesn't get mad at me again. So I'm Jared and this is your Space News for October 24th, 2019. And we're going to get started by heading on over to China for this week's only launch. Departing on October 17th, 1521 Universal Time, a long March 3B rocket left the Shishang Space Center in southwestern China. The payload, a spacecraft called TJS-4, was placed into an elliptical transfer orbit like most satellites headed to geostationary orbit. But this one was different. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology announced that the mission was successful. And that was it. Chinese state media said that the TJS-4 satellite will test communications technologies. And the three previous TJS satellites launched in 2015, 2017 and 2018 were also described as such. But analysts and amateur satellite trackers indicate they are more likely for military use. We've got no upcoming departures this week. I'm supremely disappointed in the earth. I mean, I guess I could go out and buy my own launch if I wanted to very, very quickly. Not sure who to buy it from. But, you know, nothing is on the docket. But there is something very, very big that happened in spaceflight in the past week, a first of its kind spacewalk. And to tell us a little bit more about it, here's Jade Kim.  On October 18th, 2019, Christina Koch and Jessica Meir embarked on a seven-hour-long spacewalk outside the International Space Station, a first for Meir and the fourth for Koch. After training for over six years in the first class of astronauts to be equal parts men and women, Koch and Meir successfully executed a rather uneventful, in a good way, spacewalk, replacing a faulty battery charge-discharge unit that failed to activate after a previous spacewalk on October 11th. The first all-woman spacewalk had been previously scheduled for March, with Koch and astronaut Anne McLean, but was delayed due to the lack of proper-fitting spacesuits. Koch is also on track to set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, with an expected 328 days aboard the ISS. Although to them it was essentially just another day on the ISS, a.k.a. hey, I'm just doing my job, the historical and cultural significance did not go unnoticed. Considering it wasn't too long ago that women were systemically excluded from spaceflight for reasons since proven unfounded, the fact that two women were now working side-by-side outside the ISS signifies a greater trend within NASA overall, a broader call for diversity in the name of societal advancement. And it's not just diversity for diversity's sake. Bringing an array of perspectives to the table ensures we have the best chances at solving complex problems, making sure we stay innovative and competitive in the global field, and continuing to build a STEM workforce that more accurately mirrors the makeup of society that will sustain us for generations to come. Furthermore, Koch and Meere are also two of the 12 women being considered to step foot on the moon in 2024 under NASA's Artemis mission. And all of this echoes a very important sentiment integral to tomorrow's DNA, that space is a place for everyone. Now I already know someone is typing out some sort of nasty comment below, something that's well outside of the usual politeness the community of tomorrow exudes, and I wanted to include this story because it represents a great moment for humanity. This is something that we had not been able to accomplish yet. Seeing folks legitimately excited over the spacewalk, an excitement that just doesn't happen anymore, that in and of itself goes to show just how big of a deal this was. I mean, I was deeply disappointed when the original attempt earlier this year fell apart. Safety is safety though, the right call is the right call. But 54 years after the first spacewalk, here we finally are, two women on the same playing field as everyone before them. As Jade mentioned, here at tomorrow one of our core principles is that we believe spaceflight is for everyone. We've got a long way to go, but working towards that future, we're not just looking at making the world an equal place, but equitably uplifting everyone. So it's not one over the other. What I'm saying is that space is for everyone, and this was a step in that direction. I don't know anyone who doesn't like looking good, and I know if you go to a science conference, all the scientists there, it's going to be a mishmash of fashion faux pas. And I know that you're not supposed to be wearing white after Labor Day, apparently, but NASA knows that in space and on the moon, well, you can wear white anytime because it never goes out of style. Meet the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit. You've probably noticed Extravehicular Mobility Unit is included in its name, like the present spacesuits that are on the International Space Station. But those up there right now are designed for a microgravity environment, so the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit may share quite a lot of technology with its station-bound counterpart, but it's designed for walking around on the surface of the moon. And don't worry about that garish color scheme. The red will likely stay, but a small stripes on only one suit to help tell who's who during lunar EVAs. But that blue? Gone. Get that out of here. With white, that's probably going to make up most of the suit's exterior material to help with thermal loads. But after a few steps in the lunar regolith, it's going to get gray really fast. And speaking of, that regolith on the moon is pretty darn nasty. It's like little microscopic shards of glass. And that's not the only problem you have to contend with on the moon. I mean, temperatures can range from plus to minus 120 Celsius. You've got sharp rocks.   But the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit is designed to handle all of this. And it's much more agile than its Apollo counterparts. Now, it wasn't easy picking up things, bending at the knee in the Apollo suits, but with the new one, you can throw a little back into it. In addition, the atmospheric pressure inside the suit will be high enough to require no oxygen pre-breathing, and the carbon dioxide scrubbers can be reused. And a rear entry hatch will speed up donning and doffing, and the parts for the suits, they're interchangeable. In addition, the Orion Crew Survival System suit made its debut as well, looking like a highly modified Shuttle-era Advanced Crew Escape Suit. It'll be used for protecting the astronauts on launch day, in contingency situations, dangerous periods of the missions near the moon, and during atmospheric reentry. Unlike fashion, having styles and seasons that come and go, the XEMU is designed to work in a multitude of places. So it's not just the moon, it's also designed to work in Mars, in a microgravity environment, inside of a spacecraft. So it is quite the upgrade over the current EMU spacesuits. And really the only question I can think of now is to ask, you know, which runway should we have it walking down? And if you've got new suits, you've got to take them somewhere, and you can't do that without a lander. So NASA has opened up for a round of solicitation, and you've got a week left to submit your ideas. Now there's a few things that NASA is going to want your lander to do, so here are some of the requirements. You need to deliver a payload of 965 kilograms to the surface of the moon. You need to spend at least a week on the lunar surface. You need to allow for at least two spacewalks with a goal of five spacewalks using those new XEMUs. And you need to return 100 kilograms of lunar samples. We want some more moon rocks, and it better work. See, NASA, they are skipping the Apollo 9, Apollo 10 test flights of the lunar module in favor of just getting the Artemis lander to the surface with a crew on its first time, and it's in space. Now that's a bit gutsy, but maybe a little bit of the wrong kind of guts. And this first lander design, it won't require reuse, but future designs for the Artemis program, they will require reuse. Now this week is the 70th International Astronautical Congress, and quite a few companies are showing off their prospective designs that they have for landers, so let's take a look at a few. Gross! Who in the hell is designing these things?  Suddenly, this doesn't make that awful red, white, and blue combo on the XEMU seem so bad. Sure, the engineers call the shots, and it's often function over form when it comes to space flight and spacecraft design, but wouldn't it be nice to see something that sort of inspires people to yearn for the optimistic view of the future that we do here at tomorrow? In the United States, NASA is unfortunately not really an independent agency. You see, they're kind of beholden to whatever the executive and legislative branches tell them to do, including designs of vehicles and things like that. And can the executive and legislative branch design vehicles? Well, I'm not going to go into that. But one nice thing about space flight here in the United States is that both of our major political parties support it quite a lot. But Artemis is raising some eyebrows amongst some of our folks. Hearing with the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, put NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in the hot seat with questions in regards to budgets to meet the 2024 timeline being, well, not answered very clearly. Now, one thing that I do like about Bridenstine is that he has said that he is not going to cut any other parts of NASA's budget in order to fund Artemis. Essentially, he wants more budget to be added in order to fund Artemis. Now, that would be nice if we actually got more budget. You see, earlier this year, it was proposed to give NASA an extra $1.6 billion on top of its budget for fiscal year 2020. But our House, part of the legislative branch, did not pass the budget with that $1.6 billion. And Jim Bridenstine has been on the record saying that over the next five years, we're likely going to need 20 to 30 billion additional dollars on top of what NASA is already getting in order to make sure that Artemis lands on that 2024 target. While Congress debates, Canada and Japan have joined the Artemis program as international partners. The European Space Agency is going to attempt to receive approval from its member states before the end of 2019, and Russia, they're working to determine how it might support the program. Canada and Japan's contributions are related to the proposed gateway in orbit around the moon. Japan is looking to provide logistic services with its next generation HTV-X cargo freighter, and Canada, they'll be providing a robotic arm known as the Canada Arm 3. Now the European Space Agency is looking to provide a module that will help refuel landers and provide telecommunications. Overall, strong international partnership is key to helping make space flight, especially like this to deep space, actually possible in this era where budgets for space agencies are a shade of what they were in the fever pitch of the space race. Now, NASA hasn't said anything yet about a commercial partner to coming on board to help with this, but I'm not one to start rumors either, but I mean, you're a mighty good rumor to see fulfilled. And now, to talk a little bit about weather in space, here's Dr. Tamatha Scoff. Get your batteries charged because you're going to need it. There's got a really good chance for some decent Aurora show. Now, also, we had a polar coronal filament that lifted off over the last day or so. I haven't seen one lift off from about this size in quite some time. And the fact that it's really close to the poles, all of that is an indication that solar cycle 25 is getting much closer. But of course, we're not there yet. As we switch to our far side monitor, this is stereo, and it's kind of looking at the sun from the side. You can see we still have a very spotless sun, even on the far side. So you amateur radio operators and emergency responders, we're still going to be dealing with some poorer radio propagation easily over the next week. For more details on this week's space weather, including when and where to see Aurora and how amateur radio and GPS is going to fare, check out my channel or come see me at spacewetherwoman.com. It's been quite interesting watching companies scrambling in order to try to lower the costs of access to space. They've been doing things like completely new designs, changing out their avionics, changing how things get out to the pad and are processed with other things like that. But Northrop Grumman, they've got something new, and it's pretty solid. The Gem63 solid rocket motor has completed its final test firing, and it'll be replacing Aerojet Rocketdyne's AJ-60A solid rocket motors that United Launch Alliance has flown on Atlas V since 2003. Now the Gem63 is near identical in dimensions and capability when compared to the AJ-60A, but the United Launch Alliance notes that it is significantly cheaper than flying the AJ-60A, so we'll have to see just how much cheaper flying those Gem63s actually is. Then Northrop Grumman will be using its own version of the Gem63 solid rocket motors on its launch vehicle, Omega, and United Launch Alliance. They're going to use a new version as well of the Gem63s on their Vulcan Centaur rocket. I find that pretty interesting that even though they're both going to be competing against each other, they're using basically the same type of booster all with their own little customizations and what they want for their own launch vehicle. So the pressure to lower launch costs, it's really making companies rapidly come up with these new ideas and these cheaper alternatives. The Gem63s that have just been tested, the ones that'll fly on Atlas Vs, well they're going to make their debut in late 2020 on NROL 101. This is going to be an Atlas V in the 551 configuration, so we're going to get the maximum five solid rocket motors on their debut. Thanks for watching this week's Space News, and you're definitely going to want to tune in this Saturday at 1800 UTC for tomorrow's Spaces Live interview show. We've got Kevin J. De Bruijn. He is the fit rocket scientist. He's done work at JPL and a whole host of other companies. He was even on America Ninja Warrior, and I mean maybe we'll have a push-up contest or something. Maybe we'll see who can eat the most hard-boiled eggs. I don't know. It's going to be pretty wild and tune in because we're going to talk science, we're going to nerd out over space, and who knows, you may end up getting some workout tips as well. And of course we want to thank all the citizens of tomorrow without your help. We would not be able to do the news, we wouldn't be able to do our live show, and we wouldn't be able to hit our goal, which is to get people excited about space. So if you got a little something out of the show and you'd like to give a little something back, you can head on over to youtube.com slash tmro slash join, and you're definitely going to want to take a look at some of the ideas we have for our upcoming rewards. You might be able to listen in while we're doing our script work. You might even be able to listen in to the control room. So head on over, take a look, and see what we got. In a course, you can hit that subscribe button, like our videos, hit the notification bell, so that way when we have our letting off steam shows, which we do not announce ahead of time, you can know when it's going on. And share the show with everybody you know, because hey, we want to get people excited about spaceflight, and how do we do that? Well, we get in front of people, and how can we do that? You can put us there. And if you can think of other ways to help out the show, you can also head on over to community.tmro.tv, post there, and let us know. As always, until the next Space News, keep exploring. I sneezed, and I didn't cover my mouth either, because I'm gross. Sick! And then we go to voiceover. It'll be replacing Aerojet Rock-A-Jines. Rock-A-Jines! I'm wearing my Rock-A-Jines! Testing, testing, testing. Sorry. Oh, God. Which runway are we going to walk on?


Hello, I'm Rachel Atkins, and I'm a playwright and a teaching artist, and I'm here to teach you a series of lessons that are going to help you to write your own play. So the first lesson, we're going to start by looking at character point of view. All you're going to need is something to write with and something to write on. It could be pen and paper, or you could be typing on something, you could even do it on your phone if you want. So before you do any kind of writing, including playwriting, it can be helpful to do some brainstorming, to get some ideas so that when you start to write your play, you've got some things to get going with. So the first thing we're going to do is brainstorm some characters. In a play, a character is anyone that an actor can portray. So it can be a human, but it doesn't have to be. A character could be an animal, a character could be an alien, or an imagined creature of some kind. A character could even be an inanimate object, depending on what kind of play you're writing.  It could be a type of person like an astronaut or a bossy big sister. They can be people you know from your real life. They can be characters that you might think of from books or movies or they can be things that you completely invent. So what you're going to start to do is brainstorm a list of characters, three to five characters that you might like to see in a play. I'm going to give you a short list to start, but you should add on at least three more. If you have the ability to pause right now, pause while you make your list. And I'll pause for a moment while you do some brainstorming of a list of characters. Now that you have your list of characters, now you're going to brainstorm another list. Leave yourself some space on your character list because as we're brainstorming other ideas, you might think of more characters and you'll want to be able to add on to that list. The next essential element of a play are problems or conflicts. A problem or a conflict is something that the characters have to deal with. And every play needs one. A problem or a conflict can be something really big like a war. It could be something small like the jar of peanut butter is empty. A problem can be serious. It can be silly. It can be something real that you've experienced in your own life or that you've seen other people experience, or it could be something that you imagine that you make up. The list of problems or conflicts that you brainstorm can be related to any of the characters you just thought of, but they don't have to. As you brainstorm your list of problems, if it makes you think of new characters, you should definitely write those on your list as well. I'm going to give you a list of a few different problems to start, but you should add on at least three more problems or conflicts. And I'll pause for a moment so that you can make your list. So now you have a list of potential characters for a play. You have a list of potential problems or conflicts for your play. Now a play is usually not about just a boring, ordinary time when nothing happens. Plays are usually about times when something significant happens, something out of the ordinary. So now we're going to be brainstorming some important dramatic events that might be what your play is about. Again, these events could be something real that you've experienced, but they also can be imagined. They can be serious or they can be silly. They can be things that are related to any of the characters you just listed or any of the problems you just listed, but they don't have to be. And if while you're brainstorming these events, if they make you think of any additional problems or characters, you should definitely add those on to those lists that you've got. We're brainstorming, so there's no right or wrong here. Any ideas that you come up with are good and any idea can potentially help you to write your play. So the first set of events that you're going to brainstorm is you're going to think of some significant firsts. For example, first date, first day of school. There I just gave you two. Now you're going to make a list of significant firsts. Again, it can be serious or silly. They can be real things you've experienced or not. It doesn't matter. You're going to make your list of firsts. You're going to add on any problems or conflicts or characters that your firsts might make you think of. And I'm going to pause and show some up on the screen for you to get you going, but you should come up with at least three more firsts. So you have your list of significant firsts. Now you're going to brainstorm a list of bests, significant bests. For example, the best gift you ever got, the best friend you ever had. There might be some overlap between some of your ideas for firsts and some of your ideas for bests. And that's cool. There can be some new ones as well. Same as before, anytime you're brainstorming a new list if it gives you any ideas for firsts, for problems, for characters, go ahead and add those onto the lists. Your significant bests might connect to anything else you've already brainstormed, but they don't have to. I'm going to show you a list of a couple examples. You should add on at least three more significant bests. And I will pause while you make your list. So you have your list of firsts, you have your list of bests. You're going to make one more brainstorming list. You're going to make a list of significant worsts. So you had bests, you have to have worsts. So for example, worst fight you ever had, worst game you ever played. Again, firsts, bests and worsts, there's often a lot of overlap. So you might think of some worsts that are the same as your firsts or your bests, or there might be some on those other lists that work for this too, but try to come up with some new ones. Again, these can be serious, they can be silly, they can be real things that have happened to you, but they don't have to be. They might relate to anything else that you have on any of your other lists, but they don't have to. We're just brainstorming, trying to get as many ideas out as possible. So I'm gonna show you a list of examples of possible worsts. Please add on at least three more ideas of your own and I will pause while you write your list of worsts. Now you've done all your brainstorming, now you're going to do some writing using some of these ideas. You're going to choose one event from your first, best or worst list. The event you choose might have something to do with a character on your character list. It might have something to do with one of your problems. It doesn't have to. Your, the event that you choose might be something real that happened to you, but it doesn't have to. It could be something that happened to somebody else you know, or it could be something completely imagined. You're going to choose one event and you're going to write a monologue from the point of view of the main character, the person who this event happened to. A monologue is when one character speaks continuously without interrupting. Like right now I'm doing a monologue because I'm just talking and nobody's answering me. When you have two or more people talking together, that's dialogue, we'll get to that in another lesson. Today you're focusing on a monologue. Your monologue can be what the character is thinking to herself while the event is happening. It could be her telling the story of what happened after the event or it could be what she's speaking out loud during the event. Whichever approach you choose, the monologue should communicate what the first best or worst event is, what the character did during that event and how they're feeling about it. Your monologue should be about a paragraph long, so five to 10 sentences. And I will pause while you are writing your monologue. So again, what you're really thinking about is the main character's point of view, what they did and how they're feeling about whatever that event is. I'm going to pause while you write your monologue. The main character's point of view about what happened during that first best worst event. Now you're going to write a second monologue from a different character's point of view about the same event. So you really want to think about someone who has a completely different perspective, a completely different point of view about what happened. Characters having different points of view, having different perspectives in a play is part of what makes a play interesting. So we want to practice expressing different points of view, different feelings, different ideas about the same event. So your event that you wrote about in your monologue might already have somebody else involved. For example, if you wrote the monologue about the worst fight that this character ever had, your second character could be the person they were fighting with. But it doesn't have to be. It could be a bystander or a witness to the fight. It might be the character who tried to stop the fight from happening. It's up to you. If your monologue and your event didn't have another character already involved, then you get to use your imagination. You might think about who else might've been there. Remembering that your second character doesn't have to be a human being. For example, if your monologue was about the first time someone drove a car, the second character could be the car. So again, it's up to you who that second character is, but it should be somebody whose point of view is really different from the first character. So you're gonna write the second monologue in the same way. You can choose whether it's an internal monologue, what the second character is thinking during the event, or whether it's something that they are speaking out loud. It could even be the character who the first character is talking to if you wrote your first monologue so that that character was telling the story of what happened to somebody else. The second character could be the listener from that monologue as long as they've got a really different point of view. So now you're gonna write the second monologue same instructions. You're gonna write about a paragraph, and I want you to really focus on expressing the same story of what happened in that first worst best event, how that character felt, what that character did, but really looking at the ways that it is different from the first character. And again, I'm going to pause so you can write your monologue. Congratulations, you have written your first set of monologues. You've done your first playwriting lesson. So now, if you can, find somebody to read them to because the thing about plays is that they are meant to be read and spoken out loud. If you can find somebody else who will listen to your two monologues, I recommend that when you read them, read one of them sitting and read the other one standing because you're working with different points of view and so you'll be using your body to show different points of view as well as using the words of your monologue. Again, my name is Rachel Atkins. Thank you so much for joining me with this playwriting lesson and I hope to see you again for more playwriting.