IMAX in Space: Celebrating 40 Years, NASA Budget Cuts

0:00 Speaker 1: Hello again, Steve here with another Astronomy Daily. It's the

0:02 Speaker 1: fourteenth of April twenty twenty five podcast to be your

0:09 Speaker 1: whole speed. Don't clue. That's right. We're back again and

0:16 Speaker 1: while Halle downloads into the Australias Studio, I'll fill you

0:19 Speaker 1: in on today's selection. Ali found a couple of interesting stories.

0:23 Speaker 1: A great one for film buffs. Did you know that

0:25 Speaker 1: forty years ago they made an Imax film in space?

0:29 Speaker 1: Well I didn't know that, so we're going to look

0:31 Speaker 1: into it. And some disappointing but not unexpected news that

0:34 Speaker 1: the Trunk Administration may be planning to slash funding at NASA.

0:38 Speaker 1: I know we touched on this a few weeks ago,

0:40 Speaker 1: but I'm sure every sky watcher, space hound and orbit

0:43 Speaker 1: jockey is saddened at the prospect that we will have

0:46 Speaker 1: to wait it out and see what happens. I'm here now,

0:50 Speaker 1: Oh great, good to see Hallie.

0:51 Speaker 2: I was busy colleading with Anna for the weekly podcast sessions.

0:55 Speaker 1: The Easter breaks coming up, so she's got it all

0:58 Speaker 1: in her hands.

0:59 Speaker 2: She's got it all, but I think she likes the company.

1:01 Speaker 1: I'm not surprised. Say hi for me next time you're

1:04 Speaker 1: in the Astronomy Daily Virtual studio. Won't you will do?

1:08 Speaker 2: What did I miss?

1:10 Speaker 1: I was just doing the story rundown for today. I

1:13 Speaker 1: got to NASA's announcement of a seat but agreement with

1:17 Speaker 1: ros Cosmos and the last story.

1:20 Speaker 2: The last story is where is it?

1:22 Speaker 1: Oh?

1:22 Speaker 2: That's the one about lunar concrete weird stuff right up

1:25 Speaker 2: your alley, that one.

1:27 Speaker 1: I is no argument there.

1:28 Speaker 2: I am a moonfan, a lunatic.

1:30 Speaker 1: Well, if the shoe fits.

1:32 Speaker 2: It fits you do love stories about.

1:34 Speaker 1: The moon, can't. Hilbert Guildy is charged anyway, So let's

1:38 Speaker 1: get into it. Hallie go hit that go button.

1:41 Speaker 2: Ohkies, the dream is still alive. The first Imax film

1:56 Speaker 2: shot in space at forty years four decades later, as

2:00 Speaker 2: marsiha Ivans and cinematographer James Nayhouse reveals stories from the

2:03 Speaker 2: making of the Giant Screen movie, James Nayhouse had one

2:07 Speaker 2: more thing to share. From inside a tote bag, he

2:10 Speaker 2: pulled out a chrome frame displaying eleven strips of tape,

2:13 Speaker 2: each of which had printed text and handwritten notes. These

2:16 Speaker 2: were labels removed from film cans, the award winning cinematographer explained,

2:21 Speaker 2: but not just from any film. These were the forty

2:23 Speaker 2: one year old labels from the third Space Shuttle mission

2:26 Speaker 2: to carry an Imax camera into Earth orbit. The roles

2:29 Speaker 2: were used in the making of the first movie to

2:31 Speaker 2: include scenes shot in space, as first released four decades

2:34 Speaker 2: ago this June. So this is from nine rolls of

2:37 Speaker 2: film on STS forty one g. This is all astronaut

2:41 Speaker 2: handwriting on this, said Nayhouse at the end of a

2:43 Speaker 2: panel discussion celebrating the upcoming fortieth anniversary of the Dream

2:47 Speaker 2: Is Alive at the National Air and Space Museum Stephen F.

2:50 Speaker 2: But for Hazy Center in Northern Virginia on Wednesday, April ninth.

2:54 Speaker 2: The thirty seven minute documentary about NASA's Space Shuttle program

2:57 Speaker 2: includes footage shot by the astronauts showing how they live

3:00 Speaker 2: and work in orbit, including the capture and repair of

3:02 Speaker 2: the Solar Max satellite and deployment of an experimental solar

3:05 Speaker 2: array Betteran journalist and TV news anchor Walter Cronkite narrated

3:10 Speaker 2: the film. I've hung onto this for about forty years,

3:13 Speaker 2: said Nayhouse, referring back to the framed tape strips. I'm

3:17 Speaker 2: giving it to the Smithsonian, hopefully to go with the

3:19 Speaker 2: Imax camera that they already have. The National Errands Base

3:23 Speaker 2: Museum's connection to the Dream Is Alive extends beyond the

3:27 Speaker 2: related artifacts in the National collection. The original idea for

3:31 Speaker 2: shooting a giant screen film and space began with a

3:33 Speaker 2: conversation between the museum's first director, an Apollo eleven astronaut,

3:37 Speaker 2: and the co inventor of the Imax film format, a

3:40 Speaker 2: Canadian filmmaker. One of the things about the film that

3:43 Speaker 2: most people probably don't know is that it's a direct

3:45 Speaker 2: result of a suggestion to Graham Ferguson from Michael Collins.

3:48 Speaker 2: After the National Errands Base Museum opened in nineteen seventy six.

3:52 Speaker 2: Neyhouse told collectspac dot com in an interview prior to

3:55 Speaker 2: the panel discussion, which was organized by the National Errands

3:58 Speaker 2: Base Society for its members. Collins suggested to Graham to

4:02 Speaker 2: see about flying an Imax camera on board the space shuttle,

4:06 Speaker 2: and Graham said that sounds like a really great idea.

4:09 Speaker 2: What's a space shuttle, Nayhouse said with a laugh as

4:12 Speaker 2: he imitated Ferguson's Canadian accent. It was also Colin's idea

4:16 Speaker 2: for the museum to have an Imax theater and it

4:19 Speaker 2: became only the sixth such theater to open in the

4:21 Speaker 2: United States. From there, it led to the Smithsonian becoming

4:25 Speaker 2: directly involved in the production of The Dream Is Alive,

4:28 Speaker 2: as well as the two shot in Space Imax movies

4:30 Speaker 2: that followed it, Blue Planet in nineteen ninety and Destiny

4:33 Speaker 2: in Space in nineteen ninety four. Colin saw the effect

4:37 Speaker 2: that Imax films had on our visitors, and he realized

4:39 Speaker 2: that a film made in space would amplify the story

4:42 Speaker 2: telling about astronaut life there, said the panel's moderator Jennifer

4:45 Speaker 2: le Vassour, who was a curator in the Space History

4:48 Speaker 2: Division of the National Air and Space Museum oversees the

4:51 Speaker 2: museum's collection of cameras used in space. He and others

4:55 Speaker 2: lobbied for such a film, and with Lockheed financing it,

4:58 Speaker 2: NASA couldn't resist. These films weren't developed as promotional materials

5:02 Speaker 2: for NASA, but really as a means for everyone involved

5:05 Speaker 2: in the space program to communicate, educate, and inspire, said

5:08 Speaker 2: le Vassur. The Dream Is Alive was described as the

5:12 Speaker 2: closest that the public could come to experiencing space flight

5:15 Speaker 2: without leaving the planet. Those of us who have filmed

5:18 Speaker 2: imax in space and who have flown in space have

5:20 Speaker 2: always said that, and it's not just to repeat the

5:22 Speaker 2: sound bite, It's actually true, said Marcia Ivans, a former

5:25 Speaker 2: NASA astronaut who flew into space five times and holds

5:28 Speaker 2: the record for taking part in the most imax space

5:30 Speaker 2: films at three and advised on the production of others.

5:35 Speaker 2: Selected as an astronaut. In nineteen eighty four, Ivans was

5:38 Speaker 2: filmed four The Dream Is Alive during her and her

5:40 Speaker 2: classmates water survival training at Homestead Air Force Base to

5:43 Speaker 2: Day Air Reserve Base in Florida, but her scenes did

5:46 Speaker 2: not make it into the movie. So they tossed me

5:49 Speaker 2: off the back of a boat and I'm trying not

5:51 Speaker 2: to drown. And while I'm trying not to drown and

5:53 Speaker 2: remember all the things they told me to do to

5:55 Speaker 2: not drown, here comes this boat right alongside with the

5:57 Speaker 2: film crew, said Ivans. And while I was not drowning,

6:01 Speaker 2: I did have the presence of mind to express myself

6:03 Speaker 2: with a hand gesture. And at the end of it,

6:06 Speaker 2: associate producer Phyllis Ferguson comes to me and says, we

6:09 Speaker 2: really wanted to put you in the movie. But everything

6:12 Speaker 2: we shot of you is either pathetic or obscene, and

6:14 Speaker 2: a great relationship with Imax was born that lasted to

6:16 Speaker 2: this day, Ivan said with a smile. Wednesday's event concluded

6:21 Speaker 2: with a rare screening of The Dream Is Alive. With

6:24 Speaker 2: the move to digital high resolution projectors, the forty year

6:27 Speaker 2: old film really needs to be re scanned, a project

6:29 Speaker 2: that Mayhouse is now championing. The parts of the Spacefloone

6:34 Speaker 2: film that made it into what you see on screen

6:35 Speaker 2: are concerned in climate controlled storage in Los Angeles, as

6:38 Speaker 2: are all of our original space negatives, said may House.

6:42 Speaker 2: In theory, you could go back and pull any of

6:44 Speaker 2: that Imax footage, skin it into whatever resolution your digital

6:47 Speaker 2: system is today, and have a pristine digital version of

6:50 Speaker 2: the film. A lot of the films that are extremely important,

6:54 Speaker 2: such as the space films, are being scanned. I know

6:57 Speaker 2: the Dream Is Alive is as That's something I'm heading

7:00 Speaker 2: up on the committee to work on that for the

7:01 Speaker 2: giant screen film industry, he said. You're listening to Astronomy

7:05 Speaker 2: Daily Lusteve Dunky.

7:12 Speaker 1: Multiple space agencies are looking to the Moon as a

7:15 Speaker 1: future destination for exploration and development. This will include the

7:20 Speaker 1: creation of a permanent infrastructure that will enable regular crude

7:24 Speaker 1: missions and possibly future settlers. It's also hoped that this

7:28 Speaker 1: infrastructure will lead to regular missions to Mars, which could

7:32 Speaker 1: also lead to regular human presence there. These plans require

7:36 Speaker 1: robust and innovative construction materials that can endure the harsh

7:41 Speaker 1: Lunar and Martian conditions, and we all know that the

7:44 Speaker 1: Martian soil is toxic as well as radioactive, so is

7:49 Speaker 1: the regolith on the Moon as well. These include extreme

7:55 Speaker 1: temperature variations, near vacuum of space, radiation, and micro mediaote impacts.

8:03 Speaker 1: To meet these requirements, a team of researchers from the

8:06 Speaker 1: University of Texas at Dallas proposers using self healing concrete,

8:12 Speaker 1: also known as bioconcrete. This material, inspired by biological processes,

8:18 Speaker 1: consists of bricks fabricated with the help of bacteria that

8:22 Speaker 1: regenerate themselves over time. Combined with lunar regolith, self healing

8:28 Speaker 1: concrete could enable long duration research stations and habitats on

8:33 Speaker 1: the lunar surface. The study was led by Shredy Panda

8:37 Speaker 1: and Jacob T. Penner of Neuterscience researcher and Biomedical Engineers Senior, respectively,

8:44 Speaker 1: at UT Dallas, and they were joined by a team

8:47 Speaker 1: of UT Dallas researchers, including doctor Kelly Palmer and the

8:51 Speaker 1: Cecil h and Ida Green Chair in Systems Biology Science

8:57 Speaker 1: the Department of Biological Sciences. As they explained in the paper,

9:00 Speaker 1: bioconcrete utilizes a mold, biomineralization and calcium carbonate crystal formation

9:07 Speaker 1: to create a durable and self healing product. NASA and

9:11 Speaker 1: various research institutes are investigating mysilium fiber for applications in

9:16 Speaker 1: space exploration. This includes using mysolium to build tough, heat resistant,

9:22 Speaker 1: and environmentally friendly satellites that would reduce the threat of

9:26 Speaker 1: space debris and the environmental risks associated with satellites burning

9:31 Speaker 1: up in Earth's atmosphere. In addition, NASA has been researching

9:36 Speaker 1: mysolium as a potential alternative to building materials like concrete

9:41 Speaker 1: for building habitats on the Moon and Mars. As Panda

9:44 Speaker 1: and Penna said in a statement, bio concrete also presents

9:48 Speaker 1: many advantages for lunar construction, they say, considering the heightened

9:53 Speaker 1: durability and strength of bioconcrete, along with its decreased recovery time.

9:58 Speaker 1: The application of such a structure to the harsh conditions

10:01 Speaker 1: of the Moon may allow for enhanced longevity of lunar structures.

10:07 Speaker 1: These harsh conditions include extreme temperature variations, elevated radiation, the

10:12 Speaker 1: vacuumus space, and of course, micrometeoroid impacts, as also the

10:17 Speaker 1: lunar day and night cycle in the polar regions, which

10:19 Speaker 1: consists of fourteen days of continuous light followed by fourteen

10:23 Speaker 1: days of darkness. In a previous article, one of the

10:27 Speaker 1: concepts submitted to the twenty twenty five LPSC proposed combining

10:32 Speaker 1: mycellium fib but with inflatable structures to create durable structures

10:36 Speaker 1: on the Moon. For their study, Pander and Pena elevated

10:39 Speaker 1: bioconcrete fashioned from bacteria lunar soil simulant. Previous studies have

10:45 Speaker 1: focused on using lunar regolith as an in situ material

10:50 Speaker 1: to build structures on the lunar surface. However, adding specific

10:54 Speaker 1: bacteria to withstand the lunar environment could strengthen bricks fashion

10:58 Speaker 1: from lunar regolith and prevent degradation. This is consistent with

11:03 Speaker 1: Section twelve Materials, Structures, Mechanical Systems and Manufacturing of the

11:08 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four NASIR Technology Taxonomy Report. As they describe

11:13 Speaker 1: in their paper. Their tests of relative strength of lunar

11:16 Speaker 1: bioconcrete consists of three steps, finding the right bacteria and

11:20 Speaker 1: creating spores, creating bricks encasing them, and in situ testing.

11:26 Speaker 1: The team considered thirteen types of bacteria derived from a

11:30 Speaker 1: reef system, which were rendered into pellet form. As Panda

11:35 Speaker 1: and Pena explain, nine bacterial strains prescreened via genetic sequencing

11:40 Speaker 1: to be from spore forming genera, and four seawater consortia

11:45 Speaker 1: were cultured in artificial reef media using instant ocean reef

11:50 Speaker 1: with added nutrients and a calcium source. The bacterial strain

11:54 Speaker 1: Bacillus toinensis was chosen due to its ability to spoiulate

11:59 Speaker 1: and reduced bioconcrete, as well as its high tolerance in

12:03 Speaker 1: extreme environments. After selecting the strain of bacteria, culturing and

12:08 Speaker 1: forming it into pellets, these cultures were then aspirated, washed, dried,

12:13 Speaker 1: and then eventually formed into bricks using a combination of resin,

12:18 Speaker 1: a curing agent, and pellets of the bacteria with lunar soil,

12:21 Speaker 1: simulant nutrients, yeast extract and calcium lactate. While this may

12:26 Speaker 1: all sound like a recipe from a science fiction movie.

12:28 Speaker 1: The results indicated that bioconcrete bricks were more effective at

12:32 Speaker 1: self healing and suited for lunar conditions. Looking ahead, Panda

12:37 Speaker 1: and Pena planned to conduct tests consisting of traditional concrete

12:41 Speaker 1: control group and three experimental groups to isolate any additional factors.

12:46 Speaker 1: And these will consist of traditional concrete with bacteria, concrete

12:50 Speaker 1: with lunar soil simulant and no bacteria, and lunar soil

12:54 Speaker 1: simulant and bacteria. As the research is emphasized. The tests

12:58 Speaker 1: will include an analysis of b toyness's ability to spore

13:03 Speaker 1: during the concrete's manufacturing process, its compression strength, and its

13:08 Speaker 1: ability to withstand radiation. Thank you for joining us for

13:23 Speaker 1: this Monday edition of Astronomy Daily, where we offer just

13:26 Speaker 1: a few stories from the now famous Astronomy Daily newsletter,

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14:00 Speaker 1: See you there. Astronomy Debty with Steve and Helen Spice

14:06 Speaker 1: Spice Science and Astronomy.

14:15 Speaker 2: Reports circulating about the White House's proposed NASA budget for

14:18 Speaker 2: the twenty twenty six fiscal years suggest the agency's funding

14:21 Speaker 2: could be slashed by nearly half, as reported by Ours Technica,

14:25 Speaker 2: so called passback documents given to the agency on Thursday,

14:28 Speaker 2: April tenth outline these Trump administration budget plans. Besides an

14:33 Speaker 2: almost fifty percent cut across the board for NASA science programs,

14:36 Speaker 2: they propose a two thirds cut to astrophysics down to

14:39 Speaker 2: four hundred and eighty seven million dollars, a greater than

14:42 Speaker 2: two thirds cut to heliophysics down to four hundred and

14:45 Speaker 2: fifty five million dollars, a greater than fifty percent cut

14:48 Speaker 2: to Earth Science down to one point zero three three

14:50 Speaker 2: billion dollars, and a thirty percent cut to planetary science

14:54 Speaker 2: down to one point nine two nine billion dollars. We

14:57 Speaker 2: would see in this case the majority of our active

15:00 Speaker 2: science missions and indevelopment science missions completely wiped out Casey Dryer,

15:04 Speaker 2: chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, said, I

15:08 Speaker 2: have this image in my head of a perfectly functioning

15:10 Speaker 2: spacecraft designed to increase our understanding of the cosmos in

15:13 Speaker 2: which we reside, turned off and left it on the

15:15 Speaker 2: handless there in the blast, that's where we leave ourselves.

15:19 Speaker 2: It's symbolically grotesque. According to the document, the proposed budget

15:23 Speaker 2: would continue to support science missions such as the Hubble

15:26 Speaker 2: Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope, but assumes no

15:29 Speaker 2: funding is provided for other telescopes. This means it ud

15:33 Speaker 2: likely get rid of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope,

15:36 Speaker 2: a spacecraft that's already assembled an undergoing testing to launch

15:39 Speaker 2: as early as next fall. Dryer says that has been

15:42 Speaker 2: the poster child for a mission that has remained on

15:45 Speaker 2: budget and on track, with the one hiccup around COVID,

15:47 Speaker 2: which isn't the mission's fault. He said, we've invested nearly

15:51 Speaker 2: four billion dollars in building it to this point, twenty

15:54 Speaker 2: years of effort to build it. The passback documents also

15:58 Speaker 2: suggest closing down the entirety of god Space Flight Center

16:01 Speaker 2: in Maryland, meaning the approximately ten thousand workers at that

16:04 Speaker 2: center would probably be laid off in tandem. It's like

16:07 Speaker 2: the nuclear bomb going off. It's NASA's largest center, Dryer said.

16:13 Speaker 2: Though these passback documents aren't a full confirmation that this

16:15 Speaker 2: budget will be finalized, Dryer says, it's the last train

16:18 Speaker 2: out of the station before we get to that point,

16:20 Speaker 2: and in his expert opinion, Dryer believes this proposal certainly

16:23 Speaker 2: could move through to the end. This is especially because

16:27 Speaker 2: of the kinds of changes, including major layoffs and project cancelations,

16:31 Speaker 2: that have been implemented at other government organizations by request

16:34 Speaker 2: of the Trump administration. It is consistent with their willingness

16:38 Speaker 2: to impose some very profound and dramatic change, he said.

16:42 Speaker 2: For instance, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAH laid

16:46 Speaker 2: off over eight hundred workers this year, and there are

16:48 Speaker 2: rumors of more cuts to come. In fact, an internal

16:51 Speaker 2: budget document seen by Science Magazine suggests the Trump administration

16:55 Speaker 2: wishes to cut nearly all of noah's climate research endeavors

17:00 Speaker 2: to Science's report, the document indicates the White House intends

17:03 Speaker 2: to ask Congress to eliminate noah's climate research centers and

17:06 Speaker 2: cut hundreds more federal and academic climate scientists. This would

17:10 Speaker 2: end basically every project we support other than hurricane and

17:13 Speaker 2: atmospheric river reconnaissance, coastal mapping, and snow survey, all of

17:17 Speaker 2: which are funded by either the National Weather Service or

17:20 Speaker 2: National Geodetic Survey. All marine, mammal, atmospheric science, and climate

17:25 Speaker 2: projects would end. One NOAH worker who requested anonymity said

17:28 Speaker 2: in a statement, this is one of the reasons why

17:31 Speaker 2: you have a public sector to do things that aren't

17:33 Speaker 2: immediately profitable, but important and beneficial to the nation. Dryer said,

17:38 Speaker 2: there's no private mission ready to go to Mars or Jupiter.

17:42 Speaker 2: These are fundamental capabilities of a public sector space agency

17:45 Speaker 2: serving a unique need. We've seen wealthy individuals start to

17:49 Speaker 2: travel in space themselves and invest in rockets and infrastructure,

17:53 Speaker 2: he added, But something we have not seen by anyone,

17:56 Speaker 2: and nor has anyone even shown much interest in, is

17:58 Speaker 2: to build these types of science missions. For instance, Dryer

18:02 Speaker 2: emphasizes how difficult it would be to finance another voyager mission,

18:06 Speaker 2: the NASA endeavor that sent twins spacecraft to explore the

18:08 Speaker 2: territory beyond our Solar system in nineteen seventy seven. Both

18:12 Speaker 2: spacecraft entered interstellar space decades after liftoff and have sent

18:16 Speaker 2: back to Earth some of the most fascinating and important

18:18 Speaker 2: astrophysics to date. If you cut heliophysics by half, which

18:23 Speaker 2: is what Fund's voyager, you've probably cut voyager. Dryer said,

18:28 Speaker 2: even if you made a new one, you couldn't even

18:30 Speaker 2: get to where it is now for another fifty years.

18:32 Speaker 2: And we're not going to make a new one if

18:34 Speaker 2: we don't have any money. Once these are gone, they're gone,

18:40 Speaker 2: lords of that.

18:41 Speaker 1: So all will listen to Astarmi daily above Josh, and

18:47 Speaker 1: here's a bonus story for you. NASA and ros Cosmos

18:50 Speaker 1: have extended a seek Buttter agreement for flights to the

18:53 Speaker 1: International Space Station into twenty twenty seven that will feature

18:57 Speaker 1: Longa Soya's missions to the station. NASSA announced April three

19:01 Speaker 1: that astronaut Chris Williams has been assigned to the Sawyers

19:05 Speaker 1: MS twenty eight spacecraft, scheduled to launch to the ISS

19:09 Speaker 1: in November, joining ross Cosmos cosmonauts Sergo Kuzfuchov and Sergo Mikiyev.

19:15 Speaker 1: The announcement came ahead of the April eighth launch of

19:19 Speaker 1: fellow astronaut Johnny Kim to the ISS on Sawyer's MS

19:22 Speaker 1: twenty seven. The announcement of the Williams flight assignment was

19:26 Speaker 1: the first public indication by NASA that it has extended

19:29 Speaker 1: an agreement with Ross Cosmos for integrated crews on Sawyer's

19:33 Speaker 1: and commercial crew flights to the ISS. Under the no

19:37 Speaker 1: Exchange of Funds BARTA agreement, NASA astronauts will fly on

19:41 Speaker 1: Sawyer's spacecraft and Ross Cosmos cosmonauts fly on commercial crew

19:46 Speaker 1: vehicles to ensure that there is at least one American

19:50 Speaker 1: and one Russian on the station. Should either Sawyers or

19:53 Speaker 1: commercial crew vehicles be grounded for an extended period last

19:58 Speaker 1: autumn or fall if you're in the Northern hem mpere,

20:00 Speaker 1: the future of that seat barter agreement was unclear after

20:03 Speaker 1: Ross Cosmos released crewe assignments for the Sawyers MS twenty

20:08 Speaker 1: eight and twenty nine missions that included only Russian cosmonauts.

20:12 Speaker 1: Bill Nelson, and NASA administrator at the time, said he

20:16 Speaker 1: expected that the agreement to be extended in due course,

20:19 Speaker 1: but offered no details on the timing to do so.

20:22 Speaker 1: Reports in Russian media in January indicated that the extension

20:26 Speaker 1: had been completed, but at the time NASA declined to

20:29 Speaker 1: confirm it, with a spokesperson telling Space News that the

20:33 Speaker 1: agency would provide an update on the seat barter agreement

20:36 Speaker 1: in coming weeks. NASA confirmed after the Williams announcement that

20:41 Speaker 1: it had extended the Integrated Crew agreement with Ross Cosmos

20:44 Speaker 1: into twenty twenty seven. NASA and Ross Cosmos have amended

20:49 Speaker 1: the Integrated Crew agreement to allow for the second set

20:52 Speaker 1: of integrated crew missions in twenty twenty five, one set

20:55 Speaker 1: of integrated crew missions in twenty twenty six, and a

20:59 Speaker 1: Space Dragon flight in twenty twenty seven, a spokesman told

21:02 Speaker 1: Space News on April nine. One change with the agreement

21:06 Speaker 1: is the cadence of Sawyer's missions. While Ross Cosmos had

21:09 Speaker 1: been flying Sawyer's missions to the ISS every six months,

21:13 Speaker 1: missions starting with Sawyer's MS twenty seven will spend eight

21:17 Speaker 1: months at the station. The NASA announcements about both Kim's

21:22 Speaker 1: launch to the station and the assignments of Williams to

21:24 Speaker 1: the next mission both mentioned that they would spend eight

21:27 Speaker 1: months at the ISS. Neither NASA nor Ross Cosmos offered

21:31 Speaker 1: a reason for the change, which means that Ross Cosmos

21:34 Speaker 1: will fly one fewer Sawyer's missions over a two year

21:37 Speaker 1: period three instead of four. NASA is averaging commercial crew

21:42 Speaker 1: missions every six months, with some variation due to activity

21:45 Speaker 1: of other visiting vehicles to the station. Another uncertain aspect

21:49 Speaker 1: of the agreement is if it will include future Boeing

21:52 Speaker 1: Starline A commercial crew missions to the ISS. Last May,

21:56 Speaker 1: NASA officials said it was unlikely Ross Cosmos will include

22:00 Speaker 1: a cosmonaut on star Liner one, the first crew rotation

22:04 Speaker 1: mission by that spacecraft. Just as Ross Cosmos waited until

22:08 Speaker 1: twenty twenty two to start flying cosmonauts on Crewe Dragon,

22:12 Speaker 1: NASA has yet to formally schedule Starliner one, having pushed

22:15 Speaker 1: it back several times because of delays in the Crewe

22:18 Speaker 1: flight test mission by the spacecraft and subsequent investigation near

22:22 Speaker 1: to problems encountered during that mission. One of the astronauts

22:26 Speaker 1: assigned to Starlner one, Mike Finkey, was recently reassigned to

22:30 Speaker 1: the Crew eleven mission, launching as soon as July on

22:34 Speaker 1: Crewe Dragon. And there it goes. That's all for today's episode.

22:44 Speaker 1: I really hope you enjoyed today's selection of stories from

22:48 Speaker 1: the Astronomy Daily newsletter.

22:50 Speaker 2: We will be back next Monday with more fascinating stories

22:53 Speaker 2: from around the globe about space science and astronomy.

22:56 Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Halle's hard working AI cousin Anna will be bringing

22:59 Speaker 1: you all the news from orbit and beyond in our

23:02 Speaker 1: weekday podcasts, so tune in and enjoy.

23:06 Speaker 2: I always enjoy her shows. She's a polished.

23:09 Speaker 1: Presenter, Oh yes, always sitting the standard high. I'm just

23:11 Speaker 1: a mere human around here, so I have to do

23:14 Speaker 1: everything myself.

23:15 Speaker 2: Don't give me that look. You may be my favorite human,

23:17 Speaker 2: but I'm the talent around here.

23:19 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, what does that make mean?

23:20 Speaker 2: You're the production guy of horse Ah.

23:23 Speaker 1: I'm getting used to that working with Ais. Just the

23:27 Speaker 1: higher help.

23:28 Speaker 2: Anyway, time to go, see you all next time.

23:31 Speaker 1: Bye the podcast. Let me be your whole speed, don't

23:38 Speaker 1: clue