Monday, 29 August, 2022
Countdown to moon mission; Pakistan’s monsoon floods; beauty queen goes make-up free; and behold the T-Rex Derby.
LINKS
Artemis 1: Moon rocket – VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wu4D-Db678&t=395s
Pakistan floods: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62704004
T-Rex Derby- VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVwtJ5qxbpk
Melisa Raouf and the other Miss England finalists: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/miss-england-finalist-no-makeup-intl-scli-gbr/index.html
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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Ten, nine, eight, seven …. Can you hear that? If you strain your ears really hard – you might just be able to hear the countdown over in Florida in the United States, for the most significant space launch of the decade.
It’s called the Artemis 1 – and it’s an enormous rocket ship sitting on the launch pad, scheduled to take off at 10.30pm local time tonight, as the first step to putting humans back on the moon.
It’s essentially a test flight. Officially – it’s called an unmanned flight – meaning there are no actual human beings aboard the rocket ship – and it includes a 6 person deep-space exploration capsule perched on top of a megarocket which stands 98 m high and weights more than 2,6000 tonnes.
Artemis 1 will undertake a 2 million kilometre round trip – up to the Moon and back – and spend 42 days in space. And all of it is a test run to land two astronauts – including the first woman – on the moon by 2025.
Humans first landed on the Moon back in 1969 – so over 50 years ago. And with the Artemis launch, the first steps will be taken to establishing a permanent human presence on the surface of the moon. And once that’s done, work will start of getting humans to Mars. Which is frankly incredible to think of.
I’ve stuck a link in today’s episode notes to a cool video simulation of the Artemis journey – showing how it will lift off, break through the Earth’s atmosphere, jettison its fuel tanks, fly around the Moon before eventually coming back down to Earth and splashing down into the ocean of the coast of California.
It’s science people -mixed with adventure and ambition – and it makes my heart sing just a little bit.
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops .. and today we’ve landed in Pakistan – where thousands of families have been forced to flee their homes and set up tents on roads and other pieces of high land after the worst flooding the country has seen in decades.
This time of year in Pakistan is what’s known as the monsoon .. a time of year when summer temperatures are high and it rains a lot. But this year’s rains have been more intense than usual, flooding entire regions and causing houses made from mud to simply crumble before their owners’ eyes.
The government in Pakistan is appealing to the international community – which is to say, other countries like Australia – to send money, food and medical supplies to help them through the crisis.
I’ve stuck a link in today’s episode notes to video of the flooding.
SPORT TIME
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There was so much sport to take in the weekend just gone – from the first round of the AFLW with clubs like Sydney, Hawthorn and Essendon fielding teams for the first time – to the Wallabies beating South Africa in the rugby on Saturday and Argentina beating the All Blacks in an historic victory – but for mine, the sporting event that caught my eye was the T-Rex Derby – which was run last week in Washington in the United States.
What’s a T-Rex Derby? It’s only a race at an actual horse race-track between 150 people dressed as .. you guessed it T-rexs …
And because we all need a little bit of a giggle on a Monday – I’ve stuck a link to video of the event in today’s episode notes.
SQUIZ KIDS SALUTES
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A big Squiz Kids shoutout goes today to a 20-year-old uni student in England, who has made the final of this year’s Miss England Beauty Pageant.
Now, you may be thinking: Bryce, why on Earth should I care about an English beauty contest? Well, this one particular contestant, whose name is Melisa Raouf, has made history as the first makeup-free person to ever qualify for the final. Photos of the semi-final, which I’ll put in your episode notes, show all the other contestants with heavy makeup, and Melisa completely natural.
Melisa said she started wearing makeup at a very young age, because she didn’t feel comfortable in her own skin. But now, she says she has learned to love herself for who she is—and she competed in the high profile modelling contest without makeup to send that message to all young girls. Melisa Raouf, for reminding us that we’re all beautiful just the way we are, Squiz Kids Salutes you.
THE SQUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- In which country have monsoon rains caused widespread flooding?
- What’s the name of the rocket ship scheduled to launch tonight on a moon mission?
- In which country did beauty pageant contestant Melisa Raoufe compete without make-up?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s August 29 … the MTV Music Video Awards are on in the US today .. and it’s the first day of the US Open tennis tournament … fifteen love!
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today …
Paige from Shoal Bay, Alyssa from Woongarrah, Liv from Albany Hills, Issac from Perth, Isla from Helensvale, Kai from Naremburn, Dell from NSW, Azumi from Wynnum, Micah from Orange, Chloe from Caulfield, Elsa from Canberra, Benjamin from Carina, Matthew from Calliope and Orly listening over in San Antonio in Texas.
Belated shout outs go to….Jacob from Canberra, Jude from Orange, Max from Garran, James from Gladstone and Joseph and Mehrnaz from Sydney.
And classroom shoutouts today go to …class 3/4R and Mrs Alex at St Michael’s Parish School in Ashburton, class 5/6 and Mrs Karthik at Port Curtis Road State School, class 4B and Miss Betteridge at Valley View Public School in Wyoming, class 1H and Mr Hennessey from The Anglican School in Googong and finally to year 4AM at St Francis Xavier Primary School in Montmorency and Happy Birthday to their teacher Miss Mac who is celebrating a birthday today.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Pakistan
- Artemis 1
- England