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(music throughout) As an aquanaut.

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That was just just an awesome experience.

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Definitely once in a lifetime
to be able to go spend nine days,

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about 60 feet below
the surface in an underwater habitat,

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and we would do a full end

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to end mission scenario
simulating the Moon and Mars.

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That's
where we really got to put to the test.

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What is exploration
of these planetary bodies

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going to look like?

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So when we have these

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what we call aquanauts
living in this underwater habitat,

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we can simulate some of the conditions
that the astronauts will experience.

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And we're actually able

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to have these aquanauts conduct, EVAs
or extravehicular activities.

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Simply put, spacewalks
outside of this habitat.

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So really being able to see that process

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from multiple different angles
I think will be really beneficial

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as we start to nail down exactly what
that's going to look like for Artemis.

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Artemis is taking humans for

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the first time to the Moon's
South Pole region.

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This area of the moon features

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some of the coldest temperatures
in the solar system.

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Artemis Astronauts
will look for signs of frozen water

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and gather clues
about the young solar system.

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When the planets and moons
were just forming, flash forward

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to astronauts exploring the lunar surface
with the Artemis program.

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You know,
they're going to be doing exploration.

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They're going to be visiting a site
on the moon

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that no human being
has ever visited before.

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And they're going to be taking pictures
and describing rocks that they see.

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You know, collecting samples,
deploying instruments.

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And we want to, you know,
have them experience all of these things

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here on Earth,
of course, before they fly to the moon.

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NASA has been training astronauts
in geology in geoscience

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for decades.

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These scientific fields
help us understand the evolution

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of the physical
and chemical makeup of planets and moons

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from their

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deep interiors to their surfaces
and atmospheres.

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Apollo astronauts had hundreds of hours
of training in geology

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or the equivalent of a master's degree.

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And Artemis astronauts will, too.

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NASA's astronaut corps

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includes geologists
like astronaut Jessica Watkins.

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Yes, so my job title is now astronaut,
NASA astronaut.

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We all come into the astronaut office
with, you know,

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a whole career in the
in the rearview mirror in a lot of senses.

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For me,
the way that I ended up kind of sitting in

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this seat
was by keeping it in the back of my mind.

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So I became interested in Mars
at a pretty young age, actually.

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I'm not sure.

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Somewhere around fifth grade.

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So this is
this was in a defining time for my life.

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But I remember for some school project,
you know, making a little book about Marty

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The Martian, that love kind of carried
through in college when I found geology,

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because I learned that there's
this thing called planetary geology.

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And the idea of being able
to study the surface of another planet

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was just the coolest thing to me
as somebody who who loved Mars

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Geology training on our home planet covers

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just one aspect of what it would be like
to scientifically explore the moon.

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Lower gravity, extreme temperatures
and a bulky spacesuit

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make operating tools
and collecting rocks a great challenge.

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NASA's scientists and engineers
work hard to design and build custom tools

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that will work well in the extreme
environment of the Moon's South Polar

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region.

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Making any sort of hardware that flies in
space is a huge team effort.

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I help to lead a team of people

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who are building moon tools
and so specifically the tools

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that are going to take samples of the moon
and bring them back to Earth

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to the scientists,
can study them for generations to come.

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At Johnson Space Center,
we have what's called the rock yard,

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which is essentially kind of
a, you know, large, you know, open space

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where we've imported rocks,
basically a large human sized sandbox.

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It's great at the rock yard
we get astronauts to come out to be test

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subjects, but we also get engineers
and scientists and operators

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to be test subjects as well
so that we can fully understand

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what it's like to be in that crew
perspective.

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So understanding,
you know what what our priorities are,

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what types of rocks we're interested
in and why, but also to start

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using the tools that we'll be using
to collect those samples.

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Let's just start with
the most simple tool, the geology hammer.

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You all know what a hammer looks like,

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but in the South Pole, it's
going to be really cold there.

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And so we need to make sure
that we're using a material

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that doesn't break
at very cold temperatures.

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So we create a test plan that includes
putting it through environmental testing.

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So putting the tools in very hot
conditions, in very cold conditions

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and making sure they work.

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We can't just go to the hardware store
and buy a hammer.

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We have to go make a special one.

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And then we have testing
like ergonomic testing to make sure

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that it actually works with the astronauts
and that it fits their gloved hand

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when they're in the spacesuits
not to exhausting for them.

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There's all of these little different
nuances of being in the spacesuit

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that are hard to fully appreciate
unless you get in there.

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As anyone who's worn
a spacesuit will tell you, it feels like

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wearing a balloon
that's constantly pushing down on you.

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Spacesuits have to meet many demands.

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They must be sturdy enough
to keep astronauts

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safe in the low gravity and high radiation
environment of the Moon.

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But they also have to be nimble enough
to allow astronauts

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to squeeze, poke and pound their tools.

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It's tough to describe, honestly.

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It's large.

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It's, you know, about 300 pounds, I think.

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You're kind of operating your own
personal spacecraft in a lot of ways.

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You know, the intent is for you to be able
to manipulate your arms

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and legs in a
in a way that you would on the ground.

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So we have a large pool here at the NBL
the Neutral Buoyancy

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Laboratory here on site
and in the corner we now have a moon area.

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So we've imported
sand and rocks down there

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and we've started to do runs
trying to approximate one sixth gravity.

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It's kind of a lot of moving pieces,
but it's really fun.

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It's one of the coolest things
we get to do.

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And I'll tell you what,
some of my most favorite moments at NASA

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have been when I see these engineers
start to get excited about the science

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that we're doing and start to, you know,
learn some of the geology terminology,

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because that really is
what creates an effective team.

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And so hearing, you know,

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tools engineer out of me start to say,
wow, this looks like a basalt

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that has lots of vesicles
with olivine phenocrysts in it

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just make me incredibly excited
because it means that,

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you know, we're learning
to speak each other's languages

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(beatboxing) Yeah,

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I just like to do weird and unique things.

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So I've always found those,
you know, those odd hobbies,

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like learning to juggle
or learning to beatbox or do improv.

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I was watching TV
and I saw the TV show American

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Ninja Warrior, and I was just like,
I want to do that.

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And so I started to train
to be a ninja warrior.

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That's how I decided
that I should be called the Space Ninja.

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And so I would just share
my interest of space.

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I got selected
and got to go out there and compete.

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So I think we would limit ourselves

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if we only have one vision
of what exploration looks like.

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Being a part of the NASA
team has really showed me what that means

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and what exploration really
looks like on a daily basis.

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But I do enjoy creative writing, short
stories, poems

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sometimes when I can, you know,
find the time.

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It's just an enjoyable way for me
to explore what I'm thinking and feeling

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and really kind of,
you know, use the other side of my brain.

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Now, whenever I take a step back to
I think about what I do.

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I mean, it is just it is surreal and it is

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it's just it's thrilling and realize that
I have a leadership role in this, too,

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and I get to influence
what we're going to do on the Moon.

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For me, I think why it is so important
for us as humans to explore

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is that exploration kind of forces us

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to push ourselves
to the limits of our capacities.

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I think that that's really important
for us to do so that we can,

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you know, find those boundaries
and push them forward and see

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what's out there, see what we're made of,
see what the universe is made

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of and where we fit into it.

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The Moon's South Pole is an ideal location
for many reasons.

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One reason is that we've collected
more information about this

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region of the moon
than any other from a NASA orbiter

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that's been circling the moon
for more than a decade.

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On the next episode of NASA Explorers
Why the South Pole?

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What remaining questions do scientists
have about the moon and solar system

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and how will going to the South Pole
Help answer those questions?