Summary The crowded race back to the moon | February 26, 2024 (Youtube) www.youtube.com
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n/a What's up, lovely people? Rise up. Pumped to be back with you after a Georgia winter break, and welcome to CNN 10, the best 10 minutes in news because of you. It's motivation Monday, so here's a thought. Life presents choices, then we make decisions.
n/a Those decisions influence our destiny. Let's start this week strong, shall we, with some historic news from space. The Odysseus lunar lander, nicknamed OD or the I m 1, became the 1st US made spacecraft to land on the moon in 50 years. It was a bit of a nail biter, though, according to the craft's developer, Intuitive Machines, which says engineers had to overcome navigation issues in order to make the landing possible. The spacecraft's position became a concern when flight controllers said they were getting weak signals from the vehicle.
n/a After a tense wait, intuitive machines eventually confirmed that the lander was upright and able to send data back to mission control. The purpose of this mission is to assess the environment of the moon's south pole as NASA is planning to send astronauts there towards the end of 2026. This landing comes after a different US company aborted its landing attempt last month. Now at the same time the US is accomplishing this feat, other countries are looking to make their giant leaps to the moon as well. Our space and defense correspondent, Kristin Fisher, has more.
Kristin Fisher Humans landed on the moon for the first time over 50 years ago. Back then, it was really only the US and Russia that were in the space race. Now the European Space Agency says there are over 100 lunar missions planned for the moon before 2030, and they're made up of countries and companies all over the world. So why is everyone racing to the moon again? Well, the main reasons are resources, exploration, and politics.
Kristin Fisher The moon is home to many resources like rare earth minerals and elements like the isotope, Helium 3, that could prove useful to mine. Helium 3 is hard to find on Earth, but it can be found all over the moon and is theoretically vital towards nuclear fusion, a possibly game changing clean energy source. Studies have theorized that water in ice form may be available in large quantities on the moon, and mining could provide water and oxygen, the critical elements needed to make rocket fuel and allow further exploration. The US, Russia, and China all have plans to establish permanent bases on the moon, offering a jumping off point to explore Mars and go even deeper into outer space. But how legal is all of this potential activity on the moon?
Kristin Fisher The 19 60 7 United Nations Outer Space Treaty is signed by most countries when it comes to lunar laws, but experts say that it needs some updating. It outlines that the moon shall be the province of all mankind and should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. So military bases, nuclear weapons, and weapons testing are forbidden. The treaty also stresses cooperation, but critics say that it lacks any means of enforcement, which could prove diplomatically dangerous if it's exploited. Now in recent years, the United States has engaged in a new round of space diplomacy called the Artemis Accords.
Kristin Fisher So far, there are more than 30 signatory nations, but notably, China and Russia have not participated. Many scientists are concerned that mining and development could affect experiments and scientific projects that are already in place. So although there is this renewed rush to get to the moon, the future of diplomacy on the moon is a critical question.
n/a Pop quiz hotshot. What was the name of the first modern credit card? The Diner's Club, Mastercard, Visa or American Express? If you said the Diners Club, put your hands up. The card was put into use in 1950, initially used only in local restaurants before expanding to include retailers.
n/a 1 year later, the diners club had 42,000 members spanning major cities across the US. Now, here's a wild statistic for you. The total amount of Americans crowded card debt surged past a $1,000,000,000,000 in 2023. But some economists say it's not necessarily a bad thing, citing that the US job market remains solid lander wage growth is beating inflation. Some economists are also saying that Americans are currently better positioned to pay down their what’s, and in some cases, they're making enough money to also stash some money away in their savings accounts.
n/a Now having conversations about your money can be tough. Like, if a group of friends is headed out maybe to get a bite to eat lander we just don't have the dough to go, it can be tough to say, I'm on a budget, bra. While a new TikTok trend created by comedian Lucas Battle aims at taking the shame out of being frugal, saving money. He uses a term called loud budgeting, and our Vanessa Jurkiewicz met with him to learn more.
Vanessa Jurkiewicz In an online world where opulence is king
n/a It was sad, so I went shopping.
Lucas Battle This was a joke. Cloud budgeting is a new concept I'm introducing for 2024. It's the opposite of quiet luxury. If your friend texts you, I wanna hang out, you say, I don't wanna spend gas money on coming to you to hear you talk about your ex for 3 hours.
Vanessa Jurkiewicz Comedian and Gen Zer, Lucas Battle inadvertently started a new financial trend.
Lucas Battle Budgeting? Loud budgeting is kind of new terminology for people to use when they don't wanna spend money. And I think it's a term people can use that doesn't make talking about money awkward.
Vanessa Jurkiewicz The joke took off with his more than 600,000 TikTok followers, financial influencers, and even himself. Were you surprised by how many people have related to it?
Lucas Battle Yes. Only because and I would love to say I'm a genius, brilliant economist, but, this is, like, a concept that's been around. And I really do think the loud part in front of it is what people are kind of drawn to.
Vanessa Jurkiewicz Gen z and millennials especially feel the burden of inflation, expensive housing, and student loan payments. Budgeting has been around since the beginning of time, but in just the 4 weeks since battle came up with loud budgeting, more and more people are feeling they now have permission to talk about it. What do you think about that being transparent about the fact that you're on a budget?
n/a I think, more so it should be normalized, about budgeting and saving.
Vanessa Jurkiewicz Why do you think so many people are resonating with it?
n/a Because for so long, we have been shamed into silence. Loud budgeting is amazing because instead of having to hide and, like, be ashamed about the fact that you have debt or need a budget or wanna save for certain things in your life, you can proudly save them and share them with your friends.
Vanessa Jurkiewicz Gen z and millennials, social media's most active users, were either entering the job market or working when the pandemic hit. Despite having the lowest financial literacy of any generation, recent economic uncertainty has made them the hungriest for information.
n/a With the social media fication of society, keeping up with the Joneses is no longer the Joneses. We're keeping up with the Kardashians. So we're starting to get visualizations of wealth that most regular people will never ever see in their lives. And so if I'm a young person and I'm in an environment where I feel like it's going to be challenging for me to succeed, I want to arm myself with as much information as I possibly can to give myself that leg up.
n/a For today's story, getting a 10 out of 10. We have 2 stories about 2 trailblazers as we celebrate the final week of Black History Month. The first person who's made a lasting impact is Jane Bolen, born in 190 8. She was super focused and dedicated as a kid, graduating high school at just 15 years old. Persevering the challenges of growing up as a black girl in that era, she'd go on to become the 1st black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, 1st to join the New York City Bar Association, and the 1st black woman in the US to become a judge.
n/a She served on the bench for 40 years where she ended segregated childcare facilities and race based assignments of probation officers. She said she wasn't concerned about being 1st, 2nd, or even last because her primary concern was her work. Next up, Max Robinson, who in 1978 became the 1st black person to anchor a nightly network news show on ABC's World News Tonight. Across the country, Frank, the city of Cleveland, which has received Robinson started his career nearly 2 decades earlier at a local news station in Virginia, but his face was hidden behind a graphic. He later moved to Washington and became the 1st black anchor in a major US city.
n/a Robinson became an outspoken critic of racism and of the way African Americans were portrayed in the media. He'd go on to become 1 of the founders of the National Association of Black Journalists. Difference makers leading the way. Alright. It's time to show some love now.
n/a We're heading all the way up north to the Aleutian Islands in Akutan, Alaska. The Akutan School, we see you, Falcons. And let's keep flying high with more feathery friends. This shout out goes to the Eagles at Kennedy Middle School in Aiken, South Carolina. Thank you.
n/a And thanks to all of you who've subscribed and commented on our CNN 10 YouTube channel for your shout out request. Way to start this week strong. Let's keep grinding and shining because that's just what we do. See you tomorrow, lovely people. I'm coy wire, and we are CNN 10.