(upbeat pop-rock music) - Coming up next on "NewsDepth," four astronauts were sent to the Moon for the Artemis II mission.

Did you know Ohio has been home to several astronauts?

We take a look at how the Orion spacecraft was built, plus NASA announces a plan to build a moon base.

"NewsDepth" is now.

(upbeat pop-rock music) Four astronauts were launched on the Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission to the Moon since 1972.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

Thank you for joining us.

We are coming to you straight from the NewsDepth Space Station to bring you a special episode all about outer space.

For the first time in more than 50 years, NASA has sent astronauts outside of Earth's gravitational pull.

This is NASA's first step toward returning to the surface of the Moon.

The mission named Artemis II took off last week with a crew of three Americans and one Canadian on a 10-day mission to orbit the Moon.

To orbit means to circle a celestial body, like stars or the Moon.

Ivan Rodriguez reports from the Kennedy Space Center.

- [Announcer] One.

Booster ignition.

And liftoff!

- Godspeed, Artemis II.

Let's go.

- [Ivan] A new era of space exploration is underway.

Artemis II is the first crewed mission of the program.

Mission commander Reid Wiseman, along with astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen.

- [Reid] We have a beautiful moonrise.

We're headed right at it.

- [Ivan] Artemis II will allow the crew to test the Orion spacecraft, from life support and navigation to communications and the heat shield they'll need for a safe return to Earth.

The journey will take 10 days, and on the sixth day, the team will be the first humans to ever lay eyes on some of the areas of the dark side of the Moon.

All of this work is ahead of the planned Artemis III mission in 2027 and Artemis IV in 2028, which will take humans back to the surface of the Moon.

- You know, they'll be very busy checking out the systems on the spacecraft.

I mean, that's the primary mission objective is to get this ready for the next flight, prove out the systems, and later, you know, two or three flights from now, hopefully land on the Moon.

- Thank you for the report, Ivan.

Ohio is home to pioneers in many fields.

One of the areas in which Ohioans have blazed new trails is space flight.

According to NASA, Ohio has produced 26 astronauts, making it the fourth largest contributor of U.S.

astronauts.

Collectively, these Ohioans have completed up to 80 space missions, including three voyages to the Moon, and accumulated more than 22,000 hours of space flight experience.

In this week's "Know Ohio," Zaria Johnson highlights the achievements of some of these brave space pioneers.

(groovy country-rock music) - Ohioans know how to reach for the stars, literally.

There have been more than a handful who have headed into space with careers as astronauts.

Let me introduce you to a few who really stand out.

No doubt you've heard of Neil Armstrong.

He's got that famous quote: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Originally from Wapakoneta, Ohio, Armstrong attended Purdue University, where he studied aeronautical engineering before being called to serve in the Korean War, where he flew 78 missions.

Upon returning and completing his education at Purdue, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which would eventually become NASA.

It was here where Armstrong made history flying the Apollo 11 and becoming the first man to walk on the Moon in 1969.

- That's one small step for man.

- Although monumental, Armstrong was not the only Ohio-born astronaut making an impact during that time; John Glenn, born in Cambridge, Ohio, beat him to space.

Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962.

In 1959, Glenn was selected to join the first group of astronauts, named the Mercury Seven.

Glenn made history for America with his orbit mission and continued serving the country as an Ohio senator for 25 years.

However, he didn't stop there.

He made history once more in 1998, when he did one more space flight.

What was so impressive this go?

Well, Glenn was 77 years old at the time, making him the oldest person to fly into space.

Now, Armstrong and Glenn are probably familiar names, but how about Judy Resnik?

Ever heard of her?

Resnik was from Akron and was accepted into the astronaut program in 1978, along with five other women.

During her time, she became the second female astronaut to travel to space and was well regarded for being a pioneer.

Her first flight to space was aboard the Discovery in 1984.

She was an expert in operating the shuttle's robotic arm.

Unfortunately, Resnik's next mission was aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.

The Challenger exploded not long after takeoff, killing her and six other crewmates.

Resnik's work and accomplishments helped revolutionize the industry and paved the way forward for women.

For example, one of the toughest astronauts out there, Sunita Williams.

Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio.

She joined NASA as an astronaut in 1998, already having retired from a career as a Navy captain.

She served as a flight engineer during her time as an astronaut.

Williams has been commended for endurance as an astronaut and has a record to back it up, with two missions under her belt.

She has spent time on the International Space Station and set the record for female astronauts with the most spacewalks, totaling more than 50 hours.

So as you can see, Ohio is home to some super accomplished astronauts, and there are plenty more I could talk about.

Will you be one of them one day?

(air whooshes) (Earth boinging) - Thank you, Zaria.

And that brings us to our poll for the week.

Who is your favorite Ohio astronaut?

Jump over to our poll page to vote.

You can choose between Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Judy Resnik, Sunita Williams, or someone else.

That's a pretty tough poll because I think all of them are out of this world.

Last week, we heard about the meteor that flew down to northeast Ohio in March, and we wanted to know how many of you saw or heard it.

Let's check out the results of the poll.

54% of you said you missed the meteor.

So did I.

40% said you heard the sonic boom, and about 7% of you said you saw it.

Thank you all for voting.

People are not the only ones who have gone to space; early days of space travel also included tests with animal passengers.

Let's check in with Lalo, the "NewsDepth" lizard, for this week's petting zoo.

(upbeat percussive music) (dog barking) Hey, Lalo, great to see you back in the studio.

How was your brumation?

That's a type of hibernation that reptiles go through.

Anyway, what did you find for us this week?

(computer mouse clicks) Cool.

You have a story about animals in space, but unfortunately, a lot of these animals did not survive the space travel.

- [Lalo] Did you know that before any humans went to space, many different kinds of animals were sent to space?

In fact, we would not have walked on the Moon without the sacrifices of these extraordinary creatures.

The very first animals sent to space were fruit flies sent aboard a rocket launched by the United States in 1947.

The fruit flies survived the trip and made it back down to Earth.

Next, they attempted to send a rhesus monkey named Albert into space in 1948, but the rocket failed and did not launch into space.

Albert was placed under anesthesia and put into a capsule and the rocket for takeoff.

He sadly died due to the cramped nature of the capsule he was in and the machinery failure of his capsule's breathing machine.

Then Albert II was the first monkey, primate, and mammal in space, sent up in 1949.

Also, a rhesus monkey, they sent him in a rocket in the same way.

Albert reached about 83 miles in altitude in space.

He unfortunately died after a parachute failure in his descent back down to Earth.

In 1951, the Soviet Union launched a rocket carrying two dogs named Tsygan and Dezik into space.

They were the first higher living organisms successfully recovered from space.

In 1957, the United States sent a dog named Laika into orbit.

She became the first living creature sent into orbit.

She died during the flight as they had not developed the technology to return the spacecraft.

Then in 1960, Belka and Strelka, two Soviet dogs, became the first higher living organisms to survive an orbital trip into outer space.

They spent a day in orbit and were returned back to Earth alive.

In 1963, the first chimpanzee was launched into space.

His name was Ham, and he went through large amounts of training and preparation for the journey.

He survived his journey and was in space for 16 minutes, though faced psychological effects after his return.

Chimpanzees are very smart, and he would panic when seeing his capsule or anything rocket-related, as he remembered how he felt in his space journey.

Then, in 1963, the first cat was sent into space.

Her name was Felicette, and she was sent from France.

She went through rigorous training before her flight and was implanted with devices to study her brain activity.

She returned safely but was put down two months after her return to have her body studied by scientists.

As the years went on, more animals were sent, including more rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys, frogs, tortoises, cats, dogs, insects, bacteria, mice, and so many more.

An estimated number of how many animals have been sent to space is about 900 different individual animals spanning across 25 different species.

Sending animals to space is not common practice anymore and is not recommended, as it has been ruled to be unethical.

- To learn more about these brave critters, click the petting zoo thumbnail at the bottom of this episode page, (lively upbeat music) (air whooshes) (air whooshes) (Earth boinging) And of course, thank you to Lalo for the story.

The launch of NASA's Artemis II mission is the first Moon launch in 54 years, and technology has definitely evolved since then.

This Space Launch System is an enormous rocket taller than the Statue of Liberty and weighing nearly six million pounds, capable of generating about eight million pounds of thrust.

Tom Foreman breaks down the spacecraft and each of its modules.

A module is a section or part of a spacecraft.

- No matter how many space launches you have seen, you've never seen one like this because the Space Launch System is a vessel unto itself.

This is a beast.

Taller than the Statue of Liberty from the base to the tip of the torch, well over 300 feet, it weighs around six million pounds, but that's okay because it can produce about eight million pounds of thrust.

Starting with those two big solid-fuel boosters on the side there.

They will both burn straight through at the beginning, giving it that extra boost as it gets off the ground, and then they will fall away.

They could almost get the job done entirely by themselves, but they will have the help of that big orange core in the middle.

It's orange because that is insulation to keep what's inside very, very cold, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, both of which will be flowing down to these four RS-25 engines down below.

All together, sending this well up into space with a tremendous amount of power.

So where are the astronauts in all of this?

They're up here.

That's where you'll find the Orion crew module just below it, the service module that will supply water and oxygen and all sorts of things to the crew up above and below that, another big booster, which will send that part into a giant elliptical orbit around the Earth before sending it on its way.

One more thing.

You'll see that upside-down ice cream cone up there.

That is an escape module, in a sense, a way for the crew to get out.

Even when this rocket is going thousands of miles an hour, it could bring them safely back down to Earth.

Of course, everybody hopes that this doesn't get used, that everything falls off as it should properly, and the Orion crew is on its way on this historic return to the Moon.

- Thank you for the explanation, Tom.

Now that we're familiar with the spacecraft, let's take a closer look at its powerful engines.

The RL10 engines were built and tested by engineers in Palm Beach, Florida.

This mission builds on past Artemis successes while preparing NASA for future journeys, including possible trips to Mars.

Tiffany Rizzo takes us inside the facility.

(engine roaring) - [Tiffany] That roar will launch NASA astronauts into space and history.

That's where L3Harris comes in- - Liquid hydrogen enters the fuel pump right here and then up into the injector and through the nozzle and provide 25,000 pounds of thrust.

- [Tiffany] As chief engineer, Reed Kakuska explains.

- It's the most dependable, most reliable, highest-performance upper-stage engine in the world.

- [Tiffany] Engineers here designed and built the RL10 engine.

(engine hissing) - Powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

- [Tiffany] And it's already been put to the test, successfully propelling Artemis I around the Moon.

- [Announcer] And liftoff of Artemis I. We rise together, back to the Moon and beyond.

- [Tiffany] This engine fires in space, part of a separation sequence that boosts the manned spacecraft, the Orion, towards the Moon.

- So if the engine doesn't fire, the astronauts are still safe.

They can return to Earth.

The Orion and its service module has an engine that can get them back.

- [Tiffany] The four astronauts who will fly this mission even visited the facility here in Palm Beach County.

Eventually, NASA astronauts will go to Mars, but the Moon is a stepping stone and a potential gas station.

- Everything we're practicing could eventually be used to go to Mars.

As we think there is water in permanently shadowed craters on the South Pole of the Moon.

- [Tiffany] That water could be turned into fuel to ultimately reach the Red Planet, and this upcoming mission represents the future and the past.

A throwback to the glory days of the Apollo program.

- [Announcer] Three, two, one.

Boosters ignition.

- But every once in a while, you do sort of pinch yourself and go, "Holy cow, I get to work on the actual rockets that are returning people to the Moon."

- Thank you, Tiffany.

From the clothes that we wear to the rockets that carry astronauts into space, materials matter.

For today's "Spot on Science," Margaret speaks to a NASA scientist about polymers.

Polymers are lightweight, powerful materials that are designed to survive extreme space conditions and help shape the future of space exploration.

(upbeat electronic music) (rocket whooshing) - Cotton shirt, polyester blazer, metal microphone, glass glasses.

Everything is made up of materials, and each meets a specific need.

I wouldn't want to wear a metal jacket, and well, cotton glasses just wouldn't work.

Turns out, when you need a very specific material, say for a spacesuit or a rocket, there are material scientists who go to work inventing what's needed.

PhD researcher Tiffany Williams is a material scientist at the NASA Glenn Research Center.

She focuses specifically on polymers for extreme environments.

She stopped by the studio to tell me all about her work.

I started by asking her, "What exactly is a polymer?"

(rocket whooshing) (light thoughtful music) - Think of a polymer as a macromolecule.

So you have small molecules.

An example of that is salt, like sodium chloride or water, H2O.

But a polymer is actually a macromolecule, and so on an atomic level, think of a pot of cooked spaghetti noodles, just lots of entanglements.

And so similar to how spaghetti noodles are prepared, if they're undercooked, they would tend to be a little stiffer, or if they're overcooked, they could be very fragile and soft.

That's the same thing that we kind of do with polymers when we process them.

Depending on how we process them, they can either be stiffer or more flexible, or more heat-tolerant.

- Well, let's take a look at some of the examples that you brought in.

- Right, so the first demonstration that I wanted to show is the difference between the mass.

Both of those materials have a similar strength, but the polymer matrix composite is about 70% to 80% lighter.

- [Margaret] Yeah, this metal here feels a lot heavier.

- Right, and one of the major benefits for using polymer matrix composites is the fact that they're lightweight.

They have a much higher strength-to-weight ratio than a metal, so that helps with fuel consumption and also cost savings, which will help us reduce the cost of space travel.

- Yeah, I could imagine it would be a lot easier to fly into space with this light polymer than it would with this heavy metal.

(laughs) - Yes, it's definitely for better efficiency.

- And then what about these two that you brought in?

- So, another benefit to using polymer matrix composites it's the tailorability.

If you look at this piece of glass-fiber-reinforced composite, the fibers are lined up in this zero-degree direction, so if you try to bend that, you'll see that it's very stiff.

- [Margaret] Yeah, that does not bend.

- But if you try to twist it, it's very, very easy to twist in the torsional direction.

But if you look at this material and try to twist it in the same direction- - Okay.

- It's very stiff, but if you try to bend it- - Yeah, that's not going.

- [Tiffany] Right.

But if you try to bend it, it's much more flexible.

- Ah!

- That's because the fibers in this composite is laid up in this crisscross formation.

So basically, the direction where the fibers are laid is where the stiffness will be, so we can tailor the stiffness and the structure and the directions where we anticipate the highest loads.

- Very neat.

And so, do you have any advice for a young person who might be interested in science, especially girls?

- Yes.

I always say be willing to embrace challenges.

Many times when we try to attempt our experiments the first time in the lab, the first few attempts may not be completely successful, but the important thing is to just learn from your mistakes, just like in life, but learning from mistakes is a part of the learning curve, and that helps you to become an expert.

The next thing that I recommend is, you know, enjoy solving problems and being curious and asking lots of questions, finding out why things or how things work the way they do.

- Excellent.

Well, thank you so much for answering my questions today.

- No problem.

You're welcome.

- (laughs) Thanks.

(air whooshes) (Earth boinging) - That is really cool.

Thank you, Margaret.

Rocket science is not just for professional scientists.

Amateur scientists get to have a little fun while learning, too.

Like this group of middle school students in Maine, they plan on sending yeast to the edge of space in a balloon flight sponsored by NASA.

Colin Gallagher spoke to the kids about the project.

- [Colin] For the past several weeks, a team of seven Cohen School students have been working on an experiment that's truly out of this world.

- [Student] We're sending yeast to the stratosphere.

- It'll be exposed to UV radiation, cold temperatures.

Then, when it comes back down, then we'll see, that's their question.

Will the components that are up in near space affect the yeast?

- [Colin] The experiment, titled "Yeast in the Stars," started out as a proposal based on student curriculum that was submitted for the NASA Student TechRise Challenge last October, as part of the Future Engineers yearly competition.

- Seventh graders, they do a yeast fermentation lab, so it's kind of like that, except more extreme, that it could be genetically altered while, like, up in the stratosphere.

- [Colin] It was announced in January, that Cohen School was one of only 25 across the nation to have their project being given a designated spot on a NASA-sponsored high-altitude balloon.

While it wasn't the school's first time participating, students say their excitement level skyrocketed.

- I was literally, like, internally freaking out.

I was super-duper happy when I heard that our school won.

- [Colin] Alongside meeting with Future Engineer experts via Zoom, students also divided into multiple teams in order to develop necessary skills in soldering, coding, and mounting to make their experiment a reality.

The process helps to leverage skills for future careers.

- I'm planning on working in engineering and programming, probably mechanical and some electrical as well.

- I think the most exciting thing to learn is, like, how to mount the stuff.

- Updating the Metro M4s, and how, like, code is starting to work.

- And without the coding, it would just be a box and wouldn't do anything.

- We're learning how to solder.

We're learning hands-on stuff, wiring it.

They're learning a lot, too.

And mounting, it's amazing.

- You see the grit because at first they're not sure, they're not really confident that they can actually get this completed, and then you see that confidence grow.

It's really fascinating, and it's great to see them really flourish.

- [Colin] Once completed, the team will be presenting their work virtually during the NASA TechRise Student Showcase on May 15th before sending their project for final testing on May 16th.

- Best of luck to the Cohen students on your space experiment.

Now, I'm hoping you'll "lettuce" tell you about a group of students at Bay Middle School in Bay Village that are really growing this year.

Sorry, y'all, digging myself out of these jokes.

This week's A+ Award winners are the seventh-grade science students in Mr.

Caddy's class.

This group of agriculturally inclined students found a way to combine science, a love of gardening, and healthy eating into a great way to learn.

The students are using hydroponic technology to grow fresh lettuce.

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in nutrient-rich water solutions that don't use soil.

Plants that are grown this way typically grow quickly and use a lot less space.

The lettuce crops begin as seeds in a growing substance that behaves like soil.

It contains all the nutrients a seed needs to sprout.

They're kept under special grow lights that provide the plants with the right amount of light to begin a process known as germination, which is the development of a seed into an actual plant.

After the plants are sprouted, they're moved into a special rack that feeds the plants with a nutrient-rich water solution that lets the lettuce flourish.

After a few weeks, they harvest the fresh lettuce, and it's actually used by the cafeteria staff for school lunches.

I don't know about you, but I'm in the mood for a nice, fresh, healthy salad.

The students told us that it's very exciting to see the plants go from their classroom-based farm to their plate.

They also shared that along the way, they learned that not every crop is successful, and even if you don't reach your goal, you can still learn a lot through reflection and adaptation.

This week's A+ Award goes to the green-thumbed rockets at Bay Middle School.

Keep up the great work, and you made me think, I need to go find lunch.

But let's get back on track instead.

Last month, NASA outlined a plan to build a permanent base on the Moon.

The agency says the goal is to strengthen U.S.

leadership in space by establishing a sustained human presence.

The plan includes more frequent missions, initially targeting landings every six months.

It will roll out in phases, starting with robotics missions, then building infrastructure, and later enabling long-term stays on the Moon.

For our "Write to Us" this week, we'd like you to look into the future and describe everyday life on the Moon.

Students, you can use our inbox form online to share your Moon routines.

Last week, Jeff explained why we get (hiccups) the hiccups, and we asked you to share some of your remedies for getting rid of the hiccups.

Let's see what you had to say by opening our inbox.

(upbeat pop-rock music) A fifth grader from Perkins School in Sandusky discovered a tasty remedy.

"I take peanut butter and put it on the back of a spoon and place it on my tongue, and it helps me somehow.

It works, and I like it!"

(laughs) I think I might like that too.

A sixth-grade student from Independence Middle School in Independence expects me to be an acrobat to get rid of my hiccups?

"Some remedies I have for when I get hiccups is I go upside down, hold my breath, and take a drink of water all at the same time."

Sounds tough, but I'll give it a shot.

Now, this next answer from a fifth grader from Cuyahoga Falls just sounds stressful: "Sometimes it helps when you get scared by someone.

It helps me get rid of the hiccups."

Ooh, spooky.

A fifth-grade student from Beavercreek sent in a diagram for their step-by-step instructions.

"Dear 'NewsDepth,' what I do is take three to six small drinks of water and spin one or two times, and then swallow the water.

That should help."

And a fourth grader from Olmsted Falls says they can shake the hiccups away.

"I hold my breath for about 10 to 30 seconds.

I do it over and over till they go away.

I also like to jump up and down 10 to 15 times to get rid of them, like the hiccups can jump out of me."

I like it.

But if I jump too high out here in outer space, I may never come back down.

Thank you all for writing.

That's all the time we have for today's show, but we'll be back next week with more news and more stories.

Until then, you could keep the conversation going because we always like to hear from you, and there are plenty of ways for you to stay in touch with us.

You can write to us.

We're at 1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.

Our zip code here is 44115.

You can email us at newsdepth@ideastream.org.

Plus, you can catch all of our special segments on YouTube.

Hit subscribe if you're old enough so you don't miss out on any of our new videos.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Gabriel Kramer.

We'll see you next week when we land back on Earth.

(upbeat pop-rock music) - [Child] "NewsDepth" is made possible by a grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.

(light electronic music)