00:00Just the scale of the anxiety as we wait for them for this splashdown at 5 p.m. Pacific time,
00:068 p.m. here in New York.
00:08Yeah, I mean, it's definitely one of those pins and needles moments.
00:13We tend to, you know, it's a little bit like waiting in line for a roller coaster.
00:17You're both nervous and excited.
00:19We're so thrilled to have the astronauts coming back down.
00:21But it is going to be a pins and needles moment for sure until they are safely back on the
00:28ship after they land in the ocean.
00:32Talk about some of the numbers here.
00:3410 metric ton Orion capsule, about twice the mass of the Apollo capsule, as you put it, Laurie.
00:40And what speeds are they hitting and how hard is this to scientifically ensure that the heat protection is there?
00:48Yeah, so it is. It's a 10 metric ton capsule, about twice the mass of Apollo when it, you know,
00:55reentered the atmosphere.
00:56So it's bigger, which is great for the astronauts.
00:59We've seen the cramped quarters. Can you imagine how small that Apollo capsule was?
01:04And yes, they hit the top of the atmosphere going 25,000 miles an hour.
01:08And over the course of 13 minutes, slow down to about 20 miles an hour.
01:13That should be their hit velocity, you know, under parachutes, going nice and slow, coming down into the Pacific.
01:18And another number I love is the heat shield gets to be about the temperature of the surface of the
01:24sun, about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
01:27That's really hot.
01:28And so this is one of the biggest challenges of spaceflight is our atmosphere is great to help us slow
01:34down, but it heats the heck out of everything.
01:36So we've got to make sure those heat shields work.
01:39And I think the work between Lockheed Martin and NASA and probably subject matter experts, even beyond those two organizations,
01:48have really contributed to the confidence that we have going in to today's reentry.
01:53But we'll still all be on pins and needles.
01:55I mean, and the confidence that's been built over the last nine days or so, this mission, and we don't
02:02want to touch on all the wood here at the moment, but has been remarkably successful.
02:08It has.
02:09And look, we will celebrate like crazy once the astronauts are back on Earth.
02:14And then we can really breathe and take that moment to celebrate what an extraordinary accomplishment here in the year
02:22of the 250th birthday of our country to once again inspire the nation and really the world with great science.
02:30You know, their flyby of the moon was, as a scientist, it made my heart go pitter patter.
02:35And also all of the data and information that we've gained about Orion and how it works and whether there
02:41are things we'll need to tweak before future missions.
02:44A lot of that data is resident on the capsule itself and in the brains of the astronauts.
02:49All of that will get downloaded once they're back on Earth.
02:52And then push us forward to Artemis 3 then.
02:56Right.
02:56So, and it's going to go fast now.
02:58This is what I love.
02:59You know, I was involved in this program back at the very beginning, back in 2011, when the very first
03:04Orion capsule came off, you know, was being built and the SLS was born, essentially.
03:11And now it's taken us a long time to be flying humans back into deep space with these two fabulous,
03:16with the rocket and the spacecraft.
03:18But now it's going to go faster.
03:20So Artemis 3, we hope to launch in next year.
03:23So I expect you're going to hear very soon, an announcement of crew, more specifics about the mission, which we've
03:29changed the mission profile from what was expected previously, in order in part to accelerate this and hopefully accelerate getting
03:36boots on the moon, which we hope will happen in 2028 on Artemis 4.
03:41You're back in academia.
03:43What does these moments, I mean, I just think about my kids coming home from school every day at the
03:47moment with various art projects and things they've been doing around Artemis 2.
03:51What has it done in terms of inspiring those that are studying under you, those that are now going to
03:55study under you?
03:55I think it's a great moment that, you know, Apollo inspired a generation around the world to pursue innovation, to
04:05pursue technology, to ask hard questions and do things that we thought were impossible.
04:10I really hope we're going to have the same impact on this generation, the Artemis generation, and we're really seeing
04:17massive amounts of excitement.
04:18And not only from, you know, space geeks like us, but from everybody that we talk to.
04:24And so it's a great moment of opportunity for us in this country to continue to drive STEM learning and
04:30innovation.
04:31And Jared Eisenman, of course, the administrator, how important has NASA's focus been on this, to be bold, but also
04:37what about the money and what more is needed right now from the government?
04:41Right. I do think Jared has been a real breath of fresh air coming in and trying to drive the
04:47agency to move faster, but do so smartly.
04:50I also know that he understands, based on personal experience, the risks involved in human spaceflight.
04:55And so we're going to fly when we're ready, but we need to start moving things out of the way.
05:01When I was director of JPL, I had this group I called the Snowplow Team, which is, can we get
05:06stuff out of the way for the technical folks who are trying to get us further, faster, and get things
05:11done?
05:11We've got to be the people that clear out that clutter.
05:14And I know that he's really committed to that.
05:16And it's great because NASA needs that.
05:19It's become a bit bureaucratic, and it's great to have that breath of fresh air in Jared.
05:25It's great to have that breath of fresh air in Jared.
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