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	• NEWS >> ATW Script Evergreen 2002/2003 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World. I’m Elissa Marra. Since it’s creation in 1958 NASA has been the leader in space exploration. Their mission…to understand and protect our planet…to explore the universe and search for life…to inspire the next generation of explorers. For one little girl in Eastern Washington that inspiration came while lying in her parent’s front yard. Wyatt Doremus reports. BONNIE DUNBAR (Wyatt) “Bonnie Dunbar remembers lying on her parents front yard in eastern Washington and watching the Russian spacecraft Sputnik fly through the sky. The space race had captured her imagination. “ (Bonnie) “I think there is a universal feeling that we need to explore the unknown. We need to go back to the moon. We have a whole generation of children who don’t realize we were on the moon. We walked on the moon and have been the only nation to do so. But beyond the moon there is the quest for Mars. And what may finally push us there is this age-old quest for understanding where we are in the scheme of the universe. The whole potential of …was there life of any form on this planet that is nearest to us.” (Wyatt) “the human desire to explore and understand the environment around us led Bonnie into space. That desire is what drives her today to encourage others to continue the exploration of our universe.” (Bonnie) “I think its inevitable. I think once the human species ceases to explore, it will deteriorate and implode on itself. It has to grow, to nurture itself to survive.” (Wyatt) “The first flight for any astronaut can be nerve-racking but Bonnie remembers being remarkably calm for her first trip into space.” (Bonnie) “It’s an incredible view of our planet. It’s an appreciation of our planet. It’s a look out to the rest of the universe and really understanding, not understanding as much as appreciating the concept of infinity. If you want to be an astronaut whether it be a pilot or mission specialist…we’re all technical. Which means right now whether you’re in the third, fourth or fifth grade, you need to start learning about computers, operating computers. Studying math, studying science but also being a well-rounded person. This means studying English as well as a foreign language because we also have international crews now.” ATW FACT The Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on April 12th 1981 to begin the first shuttle mission. The primary objectives were to accomplish a safe ascent into orbit, check out all systems and return safely. All objectives were met successfully. The first group of astronaut candidates for the space shuttle program was selected in January of 1978. In the future, the United States with its international partners Japan, Canada, Russia and the European Space Agency will need astronauts to man the space station now being built. Interested? Well, with the right education and training maybe you could join Bonnie Dunbar on a future flight! WANT TO BE AN ASTRONAUT? MATH SEGMENT "The following program is rated M for mathematics."ASTRONAUT "The mathematicians are the people who do the math and like the math are the ones who figure out when we launch. What time, what kind of direction we have to go in...so that at a certain point of time we can actually hook up to the space station."Narrator "Math skills are required to create and operate many of the devices NASA uses to explore the earth and space. From aircraft...to aero-gells. Rockets...to robots and space suits to space stations. (Music) NARRATOR #2 "The following program is rated G for Geography" NARRATOR #1 "Part of NASA's mission is to understand and protect our home planet. (music) SCIENTIST "in many instances you define a path you would like to go down in science research but along the way you find many surprises." (music) POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Bonnie Dunbar we told you she first became interested in space while living in…. 1- Massachusetts 2- Texas 3- Washington And the correct answer is number three…Bonnie Dunbar first became interested in space while living in eastern Washington. NASA is always on the lookout for the next generation of scientists and astronauts. Math and geography are just two interests you might have to get involved. But they aren’t the only ones. S is for Science NARRATOR #2 "The following program is rated S for....Science.""power switch on..." Narrator #1 "If science is your thing, try creating and conducting experiments. Help NASA expand our knowledge of humans...plants ....and animals. (MUSIC) Woman scientist "we have to keep the flame going so that eventually you will have the woman scientist and engineer." music Narrator #2 "The following program is rated A...for astronomy." Narrator #1 "If you like planets, stars and galaxys..then accept our challenge to explore the universe and search for life."Woman Scientist "The thing that I really enjoy studying about the sun is activity that might influence earth.music ATW FACT 2 On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard was the first NASA astronaut aboard a suborbital flight. Gus Grissom followed him two months later. John Glenn became the first American to complete an orbital flight aboard Friendship 7 in 1962. ATW FEATURE - NASA STORY A quarter-century after NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft lifted off, the mission is flying a race against time. During the first twelve years of its mission the Voyagers gathered information about four planets and 48 moons, including fast winds on Neptune, kinks in Saturn’s rings and volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io. (Ed Stone) “Perhaps the most important discovery in the sense of setting a tone for the whole mission was the discovery of the volcanoes on Io. As we approached Io we saw an object that looked unlike anything we had ever seen before. In fact, we have not seen anything like it since. And we did not understand what we were looking at at all. It was so different then anything we had imagined. It was only as we were flying by Io that a navigation image was taken. That is an image that was taken with a deep exposure so as to see the stars in the background. The navigation engineer noticed that there was this large plume off the limb of this little moon of Jupiter. That was the first indication that this is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. One hundred times more volcanic activity then the earth and yet it’s just a small moon orbiting this giant planet. As they mark the silver anniversary of the missions, it hopes that at least one of the spacecraft will pass beyond the boundary of the Sun’s influence before its nuclear power supply runs out. Ed Stone, Voyager Scientist “the sun creates a bubble around itself, the solar wind, which is a million mile per hour wind, creates a bubble called the heliosphere. We don’t know exactly how large the heliosphere is. Today Voyager is 85 times further from the Sun than the Earth is, and may be beginning to approach the interface of this bubble with interstellar wind which is just beyond. We hope that these spacecraft will be the first to leave the heliosphere and enter into interstellar space while they are still operating, so we can, for the first time, directly observe what is out and beyond our own solar system.” The Voyager team at NASA still receives information almost daily from the spacecraft traveling beyond all the planets in our solar system. The mission is examing the far reaches of the solar wind, a gust flow of particles hurled outward by the sun. The eventual goal is to become the first spacecraft to taste interstellar space. (Stone) “Voyage has that sense of exploration, of going where no on has gone before. I think there is a real appeal to learning something new. Going somewhere, expecially when you’re going somewhere and seeing something which is different then were you come from. I think that is what Voyager was about.” POP QUIZ #2 In our story about the Voyager space craft we told you they discovered what about Saturn’s rings? Do they…. 1- Not really exist. 2- Have kinks. 3- Disappear twice a month. And the correct answer is number two….Saturn’s rings have kinks. MISSION TO MARS We went to the moon in 1969…forty years later we may go to another planet! We went back into our video vault to learn more about a possible “Mission to Mars.” Wyatt Doremus reports. (Wyatt) “In the year 2009 NASA plans to launch a manned Mission to Mars. Astronauts’ will spend two years exploring the Martian surface. For those who can’t wait, NASA’s “Mission to Mars” interactive museum exhibition is traveling the United States and Canada.” (Jondarr Bradshaw) “Mission to Mars” is a three-point-eight million dollar exhibition designed to promote both math and science in young people and also in their families. Visitors to each science center that houses the “Mission to Mars” exhibition will have the opportunity to check their height, weight, vision, their blood pressure and their hearing to compare it to NASA’s minimum qualifications for both pilot and mission specialist candidates for the shuttle program.” (Wyatt) “The highlight of the exhibit is a simulation of the planned Mars base. The actual habitat planned for the Martian surface.” (Bradshaw) “Crew members will be able to work with remote control robotic arms, lasers, satellite imaging systems. Some of our crew will even have the opportunity to don space suits, actual training suits used by the astronauts.” (Wyatt) “Inside the Mars base are scientific stations. Each designed for it’s own experimentation and research.” (Bradshaw) “The science we are doing inside the Mars base are simplified versions but make no mistake it is the same science that our astronauts will be conducting when we set down on Mars. It is not a ride, it is not a movie. They are actually responsible for conducting the research and carrying out those activities.” (Wyatt) “Lessons learned on the surface of Mars could change the way we live on earth. The space program is responsible for many things we use on earth.” (Bradshaw) “We could talk about spin-off technology until I’m blue in the face. Everything from smoke alarms to digital watches and the technology that is involved. Just about all of our parents are using ATM cards. All of that technology has its base in the space program. So here is a chance for young people and for their families to learn about just some of the benefits they are recovering every day. The bottom line is for every dollar that we spend toward the space program we receive the benefits in time and comfort devices…fifty dollars in return. So its an excellent return on its investment. And right now we’re trying to make an investment in our future and that starts with our young people.” (Wyatt) For Assignment: The World..I’m Wyatt Doremus. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that’s it for this week’s show. From all of us here at Assignment: The World, I’m Elissa Marra. We’ll see you again next week. © 2003 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.