Bill Nye: A star in Hollywood, a voice for NASA

Sarah Al-Ahmed: The Planetary Society's CEO gets a star, this week on Planetary Radio.

I'm Sarah Al-Ahmed of The Planetary Society with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. Bill Nye, sometimes known as the Science Guy, has officially joined the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We'll hear from Bill, the chief executive officer of The Planetary Society, about what it means to be one of the few science communicators ever honored with a star. And we'll share highlights from the Los Angeles ceremony. Then we'll head to Washington, DC for a Space Policy update with Casey Dreier, our chief of Space Policy, and Jack Kiraly, our director of Government Relations, as Congress wrestles with NASA's future. And we'll wrap things up with Bruce Betts, our chief scientist for What's Up.

If you love Planetary Radio or want to stay informed about the latest space discoveries, make sure you hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcasting platform. By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode filled with new and awe-inspiring ways to know the cosmos and our place within it.

You might not think of the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a place where science shines, but every once in a while, it does. Over the decades, a handful of inventors and explorers have earned their stars there. Thomas Edison for his motion picture innovations, George Eastman for role film, and even actress inventor Hedy Lamarr, whose frequency-hopping idea paved the way for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Astronauts have also made their mark. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were honored with a special moon-shaped plaque that sits at Hollywood and Vine, recognizing the Apollo 11 mission that captivated the world.

It's rare for anyone to be honored on the Walk of Fame, specifically for science communication media. One notable exception is Steve Irwin whose wildlife work inspired millions of people around the world. That's what makes Bill Nye's new star so special. For decades, Bill has shown the world that science isn't just equations and labs. It's exciting, funny, and deeply human. And as CEO of The Planetary Society, he continues to lead our charge to advance space science and exploration by inspiring curiosity and empowering all of us to take part in this cosmic journey.

For me, as someone who lives in the Hollywood area, it feels particularly special to see science educators added to that Walk of Fame. It's a win not just for Bill or for the Planetary society, but for the recognition of the value of sharing space exploration and science with the world.

A few days before the ceremony, I had a chance to talk with Bill about what this means to him.

Hey, Bill.

Bill Nye: Greetings, Sarah.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Congratulations on your star on the Walk of Fame.

Bill Nye: Thank you. Thank you. Amazing.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: I mean on the scale of your accolades, I think Walk of Fame star probably comes below Presidential Medal of Freedom, but at the same time, that's super exciting.

Bill Nye: It is super exciting. And everybody, people can get cynical about stars on the Walk of Fame, there are a couple thousand of them. But the word Hollywood is a significant word in the lexicon around the world. If you say something's like Hollywood, then you know it's going to be of a certain quality and it will be striking or good-looking, something like that. There's even a verb in movies and television. When you Hollywood it in, it's when you bring something into frame where it's not explained. You can't see how it came into frame as if by magic, the magic of Hollywood. And if somebody's got a Hollywood smile, it's going to be a bright smile. And so to be on the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, means a great deal to me personally because our culture, it's the United States culture that goes around the world. And that's why people take the art of movies and television seriously, is because this is what the United States gives to the world, is Hollywood.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: It's so true though. I have a lot of family members that live outside of the United States. And when they learned that I'd moved to LA, I don't live in the Hollywood area, but close enough that I might as well be a movie star to them in comparison just by proximity.

Bill Nye: Well, you can walk down the street.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: It's right-

Bill Nye: You can [inaudible 00:04:29] this morning. Yes.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: It's right there.

Bill Nye: Yes.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: We're all going to be there to support you as you accept the star on the Walk of Fame, but-

Bill Nye: Thank you.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: ... I thought this was a fun moment to kind of dive into the history of stars on the Walk of Fame because it occurred to me that in all my time going around there, I'd never really heard of a science communicator being honored in this way. So I dove into a little bit. Thomas Edison has a star, and Eddie Lamar has a star mostly for their work in film. You also have the Apollo 11 astronauts, but it is a very, very rare thing for anyone to be on the Walk of Fame as a scientist and as a science educator. What does that mean to you personally to be in that space for that capacity?

Bill Nye: Well, Sarah, what is among my favorite phrases? Let us dare, I say it.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Change the world.

Bill Nye: Exactly right, my dear. Everybody, she came up without... It was unscripted, because I say it so often. And let me specify, I would like to change the world for the better. And so being honored in this way is part of the process. Getting people excited about science is my business so that the future we will have, sure, we will have more scientists and more engineers, but what we want is just a populace that's scientifically literate, that respects the process and the findings of the process of science. Because science is how we remain healthy, it's how we compete internationally. It's how we have a healthy economy, is by embracing the process and the body of knowledge of science.

You may have sat through me saying this a many times, but in doing the show, the Science Guy show, you got to organize it. Where do you start? So we broke down the elementary science that we were going to convey into three categories. One, very logical, life science. Another category is what you would call physical science, physics and chemistry. And I organized it. I was the head writer, I organized it. The third category was planetary science. So people may have been in middle school, had taken earth science. And for reasons that I disagree with, sometimes dinosaurs are grouped in earth science. To me, range of dinosaurs are the study of biology, but there is of course crossover. The history of a planet, the history of earth affects the history of living things. It affects you and me.

So for me, planetary science includes your business of astrophysics, regular astronomy, and planetary geology. And very soon, my friend, it sure looks like it's going to include planetary biology or exobiology. Everybody, we're recording this the week after scientists, who had published the paper last year, finished trying every hypothesis they could come up with to explain the leopard spots on Mars that sure seemed to be fossil microbes. Nobody's got a better explanation right now. And so if we discover or show that there was once life on Mars or stranger still, something's still living on Mars, it will change the world.

Back to you, Sarah.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Really though, we're in such an exciting time in the history of planetary science. In fact, next week after the show airs, we're going to have the lead author on that paper on to talk about those leopard spots on Mars because it is such an amazing result. But I think both the fact that we're making these inroads within science and the fact that we're having moments like these where someone like you as a science communicator is getting a star on the Walk of Fame just shows, it signals that we've got uncultural appreciation for science as much as we are working very hard to fight back against the budget cuts to NASA and those things. I think it doesn't speak to what the broader American culture feels about science.

The fact that everywhere you go, I've seen the way it lights people up. The way people want to run up and be like, "Bill, you are a huge influence in my childhood," I think that's so heartening. And seeing this recognition for you, it feels like so necessary. And I would love to see a future where we have scientists all over that Walk of Fame. We'll have to expand downtown.

Bill Nye: Well, that's quite doable. Ones of the longest journey begins with, but a single star or something like that. Something like that. Anyway, it really is an honor. And I am just delighted because it, once again, raises awareness of science, the importance of science education, the importance of science to our health, welfare, and international competitiveness.

And don't come running to me. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the US Constitution, "Congress is to promote the progress of science and useful arts." The word science is in the Constitution, people. And to me, useful arts is a phrase written in the 18th century that would mean what we would nowadays refer to as engineering, using science to make things, solve problems, build a bridge, a church steeple, a plow, monitor agricultural practice to improve farm yields and so on. These would all be the useful arts associated with science. So it's really exciting.

And I'll just tell everybody that you're required to have speakers. And the speakers that you are to get approved by the Walk of Fame people have to be celebrities. As a minor celebrity, I'm supposed to know celebrities or something. Well, it's going to be Ross Shafer. And Ross Shafer coined the phrase Bill Nye the Science Guy on a radio show and then reinforced it on the television show where I started on that same show called Almost Live in Seattle. A better name than three hours old, ha-ha-ha, Almost Live aired on Saturday nights in Seattle.

The second speaker will be Joel McHale. But many of your listeners probably know from all sorts of shows. He flew down from Vancouver, British Columbia, from his show about pets, to be the second speaker.

And the third speaker is Jalen Brown. And Jalen Brown is the point guard, a point guard for the Boston Celtics. And he is a cool guy. Consider too smart for the NBA. That's the knock on Jalen Brown. He's a cool guy and I am honored that these three people will take the time to be part of this. It just means the world to me.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Well, so well deserved. And shortly, we're going to hear a little bit more about your time in Congress recently, sticking up for science, sticking up for NASA Science.

Bill Nye: So speaking of the Senate hearing about NASA funding, there were witnesses, one of whom was Jim Bridenstine, former administrator of NASA. And as the thing was winding down, he offhandedly remarked, "Well, the Chinese National Space Administration will probably beat the US or National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the moon. And he's right. Everybody, this is going to be the wakey-upest of wake-up calls. Chinese taikonauts are going to walk on the South Pole of the moon long about 2030, while the United States is still arguing about what is the best rocket to launch stuff on and who's going to fund it and does NASA Science have a role in human spaceflight and how are we going to get back to the moon. It's just going to be bureaucratic upheaval.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: It really might be. But these are the kind of wake-up calls that sometimes people need in order to understand why they should be funding science. It's not like we want to be in a race with other nations in order to get to the moon. This is something that benefits all of us. But if the United States is stating that their priority is to try to go back to the moon, they're going to need to be able to fund it in order to get us there.

But all of that aside, we'll get into that more in a little moment, but I just want to let you know that I'm just so glad that you got the star. And it's such a privilege to know you as one of my science heroes and it's so meaningful to me to watch you get a star for that.

Bill Nye: It's amazing. It's just amazing, Sarah. It's really gratifying. So thank you.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: On September 22nd, Bill Nye was officially honored with Star number 2,821 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. My coworkers and I were there in Hollywood to cheer him on, along with a big crowd of fans, science educators, and celebrities. The ceremony began with remarks from Steve Nissen, president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who welcomed everyone before introducing each of the speakers.

Steve Nissen: Good morning, Hollywood. How's everyone doing?

Audience: Whoo!

Steve Nissen: The Hollywood Walk of Fame recognizes achievement in the categories of motion, pictures, radio, live theater, live performance, sports entertainment, recording and television. Today in the category of television, we honor with star number 2,821 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Bill Nye.

Now, Bill Nye is a science educator, an engineer, a comedian, television presenter, inventor, keynote speaker, and New York Times Best-Selling Author. As the co-creator and host of the Emmy Award-winning '90s television series, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Bill helped introduce generations of viewers to science and engineering in an entertaining and accessible manner.

There are other TV shows after Bill Nye the Science Guy, including Bill Nye Saves the World on Netflix. And The End is Nye on Peacock. But Bill's work, his influenced and his passion extends beyond television. In January 2025, Bill was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor. As you all know, that is the highest civilian honor one can earn in this country. Given in recognition of his dedication to science education.

He currently serves as CEO of The Planetary Society, which is the world's largest and most influential, the largest and most influential non-governmental space organization co-founded by Carl Sagan. And correct me if I'm wrong, was he not your astronomy professor? Yes, Carl Sagan was our honorees astronomy professor.

Before we hear from you, Bill, our next speaker is an NBA basketball star. He's a member of the Boston Celtics. They were the 2024 champions of the NBA, World Champions. He also was the MVP, most valuable player, of that series. Please welcome to the stage the one and only Jaylen Rose.

Jaylen Brown: Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics. And what an honor it is to be here to speak on the life and legacy of Bill Nye the Science Guy. Give him a round of applause.

Audience: Whoo!

Jaylen Brown: So my love for science runs deep and I have Bill to think for that, but not just for myself, for a generation of students who grew up in the public school system, possibly thinking that school was not for them. Bill was the bright spot in all of our day. When they rolled that TV out with the trolley, we knew what time it was.

But Bill did not just teach science. He taught a generation of students of all walks of life to explore, to discover, to create, and also to ask questions. So Bill, this Walk of Fame is not just for an incredible career. It's also for the curiosity you spark, the doors you've opened, and the minds you continue to inspire all over the globe. Thank you from a generation of students who grew up watching you, listening to your voice. Thank you for changing the world one dad joke and one science experiment at a time. Give it up for Bill.

Bill Nye: Wow. Greetings. Greetings. Greetings. And good morning, Hollywood.

Audience: Whoo!

Bill Nye: Thank you all very much for coming today. Thanks to Ross, to Joel, to Jaylen for making the effort and taking the time. Weren't they fabulous?

Audience: Yeah.

Bill Nye: Thank you guys so much. Thanks also especially to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. I have a star on the Walk of Fame. Recognition by one's peers always means a great deal. But being here in Hollywood, it means a great deal to people far beyond our peers in television and movies. It means a great deal to virtually everyone everywhere on earth. For me, being a permanent part of all this, of Hollywood, is quite an honor. Thank you.

And as been said many times, when you're in love, you want to tell the world. And I love science. I love comedy. I love television, which was invented with science. By the way, the word science is even in the Constitution. Article I, section 8, Clause 8, "The progress of science and useful arts." It's the best idea humans have ever had, and that's why I became a mechanical engineer. I love it.

All of my work... Okay, okay, maybe almost all of my work is the celebration of the PB&J, the passion, beauty and joy of science, coupled with the art of television and the moving image. We are living at an extraordinary time. Basic scientific research and public health policies and protections are at risk. We can work together to inspire people everywhere and influence the course of history. Every one of you, every person here has influenced me and contributed to my getting this far and being presented with this star. Thank you all. Thank you all so much. Let's change the world. Thank you.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Bill's new star is a celebration of everything he's done to inspire people with science. But as CEO of The Planetary Society, he's also working with our Space Policy team as we prepare for the next Day of Action in Washington, D.C on October 5th and 6th.

Since our last update, a lot has happened in the US Capitol. Congress has already rejected the White House's proposed cuts to NASA Science programs. And a broad coalition of science organizations, including The Planetary Society, has been rallying to make sure those missions are protected as budget negotiations continue.

To catch us up on where things stand, I'm joined by Casey Dreier, our chief of Space Policy, and Jack Kiraly, our director of government relations.

Hey Casey and Jack, thanks for joining me.

Jack Kiraly: Hey, Sarah.

Casey Dreier: Hi, Sarah.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: So I hear things are very chill in Space Policy world right now. I'm kidding.

Jack Kiraly: Nothing's going on. D.C. is quiet.

Casey Dreier: I wish for the day that that be the case. Again, we could all use some quiet times.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: That's right. Well, I know you guys have a lot on your plate as you're gearing up for this next Day of Action that's on October 5th and 6th. But there's a lot of things that is going on in the background context here, which is kind of shaping what our priorities are going to be in communicating for that event.

So starting out, we know that there are many issues right now with NASA's budget. We managed to get the Congress, both the House and the Senate, to say we don't want these cuts to NASA. But in classic fashion, we are now in a position where the budget hasn't passed yet and we might be going into a continuing resolution. So can you talk a little bit about what a continuing resolution is for people who aren't familiar, but also why this is so consequential for NASA?

Jack Kiraly: So continuing resolution basically says, "Hey, we're Congress. We haven't finished the work of passing the budget, but we need to keep the government open after the start of the new fiscal year," which is October the 1st. Continuing resolution basically says, "We are going to continue, we resolve to continue, existing funding levels for the duration of the continuing resolution." It can be a few days, few weeks, few months, up to a year where Congress says, "We need more time to figure out the full year appropriation, the full year budget for all of the agencies within the discretionary portion of the federal budget." And so a CR is Congress's way of giving themselves more time.

Now, typically during that period of time, you just assume the Office of Management and Budget over at the White House assumes a certain level of funding to make sure that you maintain government operations. You don't needlessly curtail Congress's ability, constitutional prerogative, to set the budget and priorities of the United States, right? They're the ones that write the laws. The executive branch is the one that's executes the laws.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: We've had the situation happen in the past. I mean, clearly it is a frequent thing that Congress does not pass the budget on time. But we've seen in past years that this has had dire consequences for NASA. So what are you predicting as we're going into this next phase?

Casey Dreier: Well, I think the issue is that it can be doable if it's a short CR, and that's generally the best, right? We want the process of government to work through the people's representatives with their power of the purse to pass actual appropriations, right?

The issue is two things here. When you have a significant discrepancy between the range of possible budget scenarios for an agency, in this case NASA, right? So here we have obviously this draconian cuts ensconced in this White House budget request, right? Cutting NASA Science by 47%, NASA itself by 25%. And the Congress, I mean this is where the strange thing is, right? We basically made the case successfully that the House and Senate, for the vast majority of things that we care about, rejected those cuts. They both keep NASA at the same level. They don't accept that 25% cut. The House would cut science by 18%, not great, but a lot better than 47, and the Senate would keep it flat. The White House though again, that's proposal is still sitting out there.

So during a continuing resolution, even though on paper you're just stretching out current money, there's issues related to the fact that the government is not legally allowed to contractually commit to spend money it does not have authority to spend. And because they say they don't know what outcome, will it be a 47% cut for NASA Science or no cut for NASA Science, they can't continue to spend as if they'll get no cut because there's always a possibility on paper that they will get this big cut, right? And so you don't want to be caught with your proverbial pants down later on as a budgeting officer saying like, "Oh, I spent too much money. I overspent my authority," or, "We have to suddenly make up that huge difference later on." And so you tend to go into almost like a hibernation period during a CR, where again, on paper you are apportioned this kind of prorated amount of money, but they seriously limit the amount of actual new money going out the door. Generally, again, in any administration, this is the best practice, this is how it's been done given these kind of ongoing continuing resolutions. But again, we've never really had such a huge disparity. And so when we're talking about such a big disparity, you're suddenly looking at, well, if you run at the lowest possible of all levels during this seven-week potential continuing resolution, do you have enough money to keep these missions going, right? And then you suddenly start looking at, if they're actually shutting down missions during a CR, the ones that would be funded by Congress, you don't get those back. And so you're in a situation where you could actually be making irreversible changes during this period despite Congressional intent saying otherwise.

And this is where, again, it's somewhat unique situation. We obviously have a very aggressive interpretation of executive authority coming from the Budget Office of the White House, and a very clear statements though of counterpoint intent from Congress literally spelling out, "Keep this mission going. Keep Juno going. Keep Maven going. Keep these projects going," and sometimes actually intending to give them more money than they've had to work with, right?

And this is the huge challenge. And so the OMBs, the Office of Management and Budget's own internal directives have somewhat conflicting guidance on this. They say, "To be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, we should go into basically this minimal operations period during a CR." But at the same time, they also say, "We need to preserve. We cannot impinge on the decisions ultimately being made by Congress." So we don't exactly know what will happen, which is again, kind of crazy that we haven't had that clarity, but that's where we stand.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: I understand that Judy Chu and Don Bacon, who are both the co-chairs of the Planetary Science Caucus, released this bipartisan letter calling for protections for NASA Science during the continuing resolution. But we've also been partnering with a lot of organizations to issue a joint letter. Hopefully, the appropriators will hear our plea, but what messages are we hoping to convey to them and what do we hope the outcome would be given the situation?

Jack Kiraly: Well, it's important to note that this is a fast moving situation. So just about a week ago from recording this, the House Appropriations Committee advanced their version of the Commerce Justice Science budget, that includes NASA's budget. That does keep NASA top line flat, cuts science by 18%, but includes some key provisional language in there regarding making sure that no less than a specific amount is spent, these guardrails that we've been pushing for, even amid an 18% cut, right? There's some good stuff in there too. And that was just a week ago.

And now we're completely in a different world where we're talking about a potential government shutdown and keeping just regular normal operations going, not even dealing with that full year appropriation. So this is a fast moving situation. And it's been incredible to see the amount of support that including clear guardrails in a continuing resolution has both from the community, us and 14 other organizations sending a letter saying, "We need to not only preserve the funding for NASA during a continuing resolution, but make sure that missions are not switched off during that period because that's irrevocable damage," right? You're losing billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars worth of taxpayer investment, assets all across the solar system that would be impossible to rebuild and get back.

And including those guidelines also that is supported by the Planetary Science Caucus and a group of legislators, again led by Representatives Chu and Bacon, but it's a group of eight legislators, Democrats and Republicans included, that sent this letter to the appropriators saying, "We need these clear guardrails to protect the taxpayers' investment." And we're starting to see the negotiations take shape.

The House just today passed their version of a continuing resolution, which has functionally no chance of passing in the Senate. Similarly, the House and Senate Democratic caucuses have also put forward a continuing resolution draft tax that has no chance of passing as is. And so we see the battle lines being drawn between what the two sides of Congress want, the Democrats and the Republicans, and also the House and the Senate, right? And so this is a multi-actor negotiation that's going to take place. And it's key that in at least the Senator Murray's and Congresswoman DeLauro's continuing resolution, the sort of counterpoint that the Democratic Caucus put forward, includes a provision saying that no funds provided by the continuing resolution can be used to otherwise shut down NASA missions. NASA missions that are in operation have to continue to be an operation. Missions in extended operations have to stay in extended operations. Missions being built have to continue to be built, and those being planned continue to be planned. And that is sort of one stance of among many in that piece of legislation that is now in the trade space.

So this is a really good position to be in because any continuing resolution that passed, whether it's one chock-full of these guardrails or one that's empty of these guardrails as the Republican Conference in the House just passed, somewhere in between there is going to be a compromise Bill that's going to get enough Democrats and Republicans to vote for it that'll keep the government open after October 1st.

And so this is a fast moving situation, but for the space science community and space exploration community, this is a really good position to be in because we are at the table, right? We are at the table and a proposal has been put forward that is part of the negotiation that would prevent what we have been fearing during the CR.

Casey Dreier: This is an issue that we here at The Planetary Society, I think, we're on the lead pushing, that there is a potential issue and a continuing resolution that that missions could be terminated, ignoring the will of Congress. And it was really the Planetary society leading on this, working with the Planetary Science Caucus, working with this multiple... over a dozen other organizations to highlight this. And that idea was then incorporated into one of the two bills currently in the process of being considered for a CR.

It's one of those things that people outside the process... Hopefully those listening now are not finding this relentlessly arcane, but it's these types of procedural things that actually help keep things going. And we raised this and elevated this issue. It's now, as Jack said, part of this negotiation process. And again, it's one of those things that should be easy because it doesn't cost any new money, right? It's money that's already been approved. It's not a partisan issue as Jack pointed out, because there is this House letter for almost one-to-one Republicans and Democrats signed. And it's a common sense issue. These things are actually technically called anomalies in a CR, but there's a number of these that tend to get added to just say, "Look, there's a few additional situations that Congress just wants to have extra clarity on that this is how we're going to do this during this period." So I'm really proud of our efforts here. And I think for those listening, if you want to know what are you getting for your membership dollars, I think that is a really strong example of this, that we're here, and particularly Jack, in DC following these things close enough to be able to act quickly and to be part of this process at the process level that can have real benefits in a practical outcome.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: We'll be back after the short break.

Danielle Gunn: Hi, I'm Danielle Gunn, chief communications officer at The Planetary Society. We're proud to support International Observe the Moon Night, NASA's annual celebration of our nearest neighbor in space. This event brings together sky watchers, families, students, and communities worldwide to share in the wonder of the moon.

Whether you attend a local gathering, host one yourself, or simply step outside to look up, you'll be part of a global movement to connect with our moon. International Observe the Moon Night takes place on and around Saturday, October 4th. Explore activities, download custom moon maps, and find events near you at moon.nasa.gov/observe. However you choose to participate outdoors, online or from home, you're invited to celebrate the moon with the world.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Yeah, there's so much going on behind the scenes that I think as space fans, it's hard to know where to organize our efforts unless we have an organization like The Planetary Society that can then turn that will into action. And it takes a high level of expertise not only to understand the inner workings of these systems, but to know where and when to be in order to affect the most change. So it's really been motivating for me as someone who's doing the science communication to watch both of you as you've been working behind the scenes doing this.

And I keep seeing you, Jack, popping up in images all across D.C. whether or not it's showing up at the protests out in front of NASA HQ. Or more recently there was a Senate Commerce committee hearing where I did spot you and our CEO Bill Nye in the background. I wanted to ask you a little bit about that event. It was specifically an event where they were talking about trying to return to the moon and whether or not China was going to beat us there and how these budget concerns could affect that. So what was that event like?

Jack Kiraly: So yeah, this is actually the first space hearing outside of Jared Isaacman's confirmation hearing earlier this year. It's the first space hearing that the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over NASA, first base hearing that they've had in a long time. And I think really kicked off by this worry that is now circulated through the media and is now out in the political space about the status of the Artemis program and progress to go. I think some of the high profile failures of the human landing system, SpaceX's Starship really kind of put at this fine point of like, "Well, where are we?" as China is putting out videos of demonstrations and tests showing that they are making considerable progress on their lunar, their crewed lunar program.

Meanwhile, the United States, it's sort of Artemis II is supposed to be launching in the next year, but there's just all these sort of questions about where the status is. And with the shakeups that have happened at NASA losing 4,000 civil servants since the beginning of the year, bringing us down to the lowest point since before the first space race began, really has made Congress concerned about the agency.

So the Commerce committee chaired by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas put together a hearing on what they've been calling the second space race, the race to return humans to the moon in the 21st century. And the whole idea behind it was to showcase the national security imperative, the geopolitical contest, the workforce concerns. And why we were there was to, one, show support for NASA Science took Bill and a couple of our volunteers around the Hill that day and the following day to talk to members of Congress about the importance of science, not just as it relates to the Artemis program, but as it relates to all of NASA's endeavors in making the United States a leader in space exploration and why science is a key pillar of Artemis, of course, too.

It was very interesting because the science mission directorate, at first, our worry was it's SMD, Science Mission directorate, NASA Science, wasn't going to get mentioned, that this was going to be entirely focused on human exploration and that it was going to be this very myopic view of the space program.

But thankfully, science came up quite a bit in the hearing itself. That the least when former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, a Republican, President Trump's first NASA administrator during the first term, mentioned the need for a robust science mission directorate, robust science program at NASA to both support the Artemis program, to give justification for long duration crewed stays on the lunar surface in low earth orbit, to justify the global space economy, to spur innovation and growth in the commercial space sector. But also just for the sake of scientific discovery that NASA does things that no other agency can do. That they're the ones that track and monitor for potentially hazardous near earth objects. They're the ones who could potentially deflect any potentially hazardous near earth object, that they're the ones that peer into the deepest darkest corners of the universe, that peer backed 13.8 billion years to see how the universe began, and that study the planets in our solar system and around other stars.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Yeah. It's so important to have people there in person. All the actions that people are taking to write their congresspeople are definitely having an effect, but being in the room has a different effect. And so not just going to these events, but also events like our upcoming Day of Action are just really pivotal to getting these messages across, because it's one thing to get an email, it's a very different thing to have someone there expressing to you how important this is to them personally.

What are you seeing in the attendance levels for this upcoming Day of Action? Because my understanding is this might be the largest one we've ever had.

Jack Kiraly: So Casey, when was the first Day of Action? When was it? I think 2018.

Casey Dreier: Oh boy. The first one we did on our own I think was 2018. And that had about 100 folks.

Jack Kiraly: So it's been seven, eight years. This Day of Action, I think because of the unique place in the political timeline we're in, right, we don't have a budget. We're going to be in the middle of a continuing resolution, hopefully not a government shutdown. Hopefully we're in the middle of a continuing resolution. Congress is going to be shifting their focus to the deal that they're going to have to make to pass a budget before the end of that new deadline set by the CR. We have this amazing group of 17 other organizations that have partnered with us on this Day of Action.

I'm happy to report this is the largest one to date and by a long shot. So even if our best one, which was earlier this year had about 110 people there, we crossed the 200 registrations mark like three weeks ago. We are going to make history with this event, needless to say. And it's people from all over the country. 40 states are represented. 40. This is every corner, basically every corner of the country is represented. From Alabama to Wyoming, Washington state to Florida, every region of the state is represented. This is truly a phenomenal show of support for the NASA Science program and for the National Science Foundation, which is also going through a very... I'm happy to talk more about that, but we want to make sure that space science and exploration are fully supported in whatever budget deal the Congress comes up with and comes to and passes. And we're making sure that science has a seat at the table. And so this is truly a remarkable show of support.

And we only just launched this event as of two months ago, I think. So this is the fastest we've ever put together a Day of Action and the largest list of participants, the most diverse group of participants, and the most partner organizations that we've ever been involved in such something like this before.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: I love knowing that there are so many other organizations that are willing to work with us on this. This needs as many people on it. And I know there are so many things going on in the world right now, but this is such a key thing, not just for the United States, but for the entire space community around the world. We want funding to be given to these programs so that we can continue to do this amazing work and keep all of our international partners on board with us. And it absolutely warms my heart knowing how many people are going to get involved in this.

If people are listening to this right now, just learned about the Day of Action, might be motivated to try to come to this event, is there still time to register or have we already shut that down?

Jack Kiraly: Now, there is still time to register. Registration closes on the same day as the end of the fiscal year, September 30th. So please get your registrations in. Plane tickets and hotels are a little bit cheaper the further out you book. But yeah, we are going to keep registration open and continue growing until September 30th.

And then it's all about execution, right? It's about getting these people to the meetings. We have this expert team of schedulers that we're working with that make sure that you are in the right offices, that you're talking to the right people, that you can make the most impact. And this is proven, scientifically proven. Congressional Management Foundation finds that in-person visits from constituents is the most effective way to influence how a legislator feels about a particular topic. And space is something that has brought bipartisan support, bicameral support, both the House and Senate. And so this is something that is an easy ask of our members. They just need to know that their constituents care about it and that this is a priority for them, so that when they go to that negotiating table, whether they're on the Republican side and they're talking to Democrats or they're in the House and they're talking to the Senate, that when they're at that negotiating table, they're making sure that science and specifically space science and exploration, are key considerations and things they want to make sure make it into that bill.

We've never been in a better bargaining position as the space science community, granted we're facing quite a terrible existential threat. We've never been in a better bargaining situation where we have strong support in both the House and Senate for stipulations in the continuing resolution as well as in foliar appropriations. And so this is that big push that we're going to have to make sure that a deal gets done that protects our investments in NASA Science that continues to have the United States lead the world and continues the amazing breakthrough discoveries that only NASA Science is capable of achieving.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: I wish you both luck as you go off to Washington, DC, and everybody else who's going to be there. Since it's such a large crowd, I know it's going to be some veterans of our Day of Action, but also many new faces out there who are just getting used to this. But I want to encourage people to have no fear together. We can do this kind of work. And honestly, if you just take your passion for space and step into a room, it doesn't matter how much you know about the appropriations process, it doesn't matter how much you understand the inner workings of Congress. It's just about being there to express how much this matters to you. So I'm really glad that you guys have taken the time to spin up the second Day of Action. I know it's a huge effort. But you guys have just been absolutely heroic in this effort, and I cannot wait to see how this goes down.

Casey Dreier: Thanks, Sarah. Clearly, if we weren't here to do it, I don't think anyone would really be focusing on this. It's nothing against all these other organizations, but every other organization generally has a very specific area of attention and focus by their nature. A lot of professional organizations, they have that responsibility to look after their professionals.

The Planetary Society, we care about space science and exploration. That's a much bigger mandate, and it's actually been perfect for this because we've been able to be this vanguard of talking about NASA Science and NASA exploration and being able to focus on that. And it's very unifying as we're seeing as a consequence of this. So it's the time and place to be. And just a huge, huge amount of thanks to our members and donors. We literally, as you know, would not be here without them. And we are leaning into this unique position and doing everything we can and leaving it all out on the field this year to fight for what we believe in. So thank you everyone who enables and allows us to do this.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Good luck and I hope to have another Space Policy update from you both in the coming weeks as we approach the Day of Action.

Jack Kiraly: Thanks, Sarah.

Casey Dreier: Thank you, Sarah.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Honestly, working in space science is so much more flow surprises than I ever anticipated. You'd expect that it would be about the data and the discoveries and talking about the stories in space science that you truly love, but so often it brings these life experiences that I completely did not anticipate. Sometimes you find yourself standing in these key moments in the history of exploration or politics, and very rarely you find yourself by crazy random happenstance standing at your boss's star ceremony on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. I know Bill didn't anticipate that this would be a moment in his life when he got into science. And I surely didn't anticipate that my science career would include working on this show or working at The Planetary Society or being here in this moment as we stand together to defend NASA Science.

For a few more of these unexpected stories and reflections, here's Dr. Bruce Betts, our chief scientist with What's Up?

Hey, Bruce.

Bruce Betts: Hello, Sarah. It's always a delight to talk to you. How are you doing today?

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Quite delightful. Actually, it was a cool day. Obviously we're recording this before the show comes out on Wednesday, but I spent this whole morning and afternoon at Bill Nye's Star Ceremony.

Bruce Betts: Yeah, I mean, we talk a lot about stars, but not usually Hollywood Walk of Fame stars.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: But really though this is not something I expected when I got into science. This is a totally random adventure.

Bruce Betts: I know I'm a few years behind, but welcome to The Planetary Society.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Thank you. I mean, okay, that suggests that you've had some really random wacky adventures during your time working here.

Bruce Betts: Oh, yeah. It's been a joyful, crazy thing.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: What would you say are some of your favorite wacky adventures you've been on?

Bruce Betts: Wacky, I don't know wacky, but one of those, "Well, that's different," I didn't think of that was going to happen when I went into and got a PhD in planetary science, we partnered with the LEGO Group pretty quite seriously on Mars Exploration rovers. And they both had DVDs on there that were carried people's 4 million names, and we did naming contests and educational stuff and LEGO bricks and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But part of that was going to the headquarters, LEGO headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and meeting the gang from LEGO designers, building designers, to the head of the company.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Oh, I think one of my best early core memories as a science educator, which is pretty random, but my friends and I learned that the Curiosity Rover, every time it's around the rover's "birthday," wasn't born, but around that time, it kind of sings a little song to itself on Mars. And we thought it was so sad that it did that alone, that we arranged a balloon drop for Curiosity's... I think it was its 1000th soul on Mars, and had everyone sing Happy Birthday to this rover. What I didn't anticipate was how long it was going to take for us to blow up all those balloons.

Bruce Betts: You did them with your breath?

Sarah Al-Ahmed: No. We got a machine, but even then there was a lot of balloons.

Bruce Betts: Okay. Yeah.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Hey, you never know where your career is going to take you. I didn't think, and I know Bill did not anticipate when he got his degree and began getting into this, that he would be walking around Congress or someday get the Presidential Medal of Freedom or a star on the Walk of Fame. But that's part of the adventure of the thing, and you just got to enjoy those moments when they come.

Bruce Betts: Yeah, and he has. And we have by association.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Right.

Bruce Betts: And you got to hang out with some crazy people in Hollywood and celebrities.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: That's true. Yeah. Well, I wasn't in the celebrity section. I wanted to be out on the street hanging out with people. So I met a science teacher who was out there trying to get his rock collection from his school signed by Bill Nye to hand off. I met a lot of basketball fans who were out there as well. Some people who are huge, Joel McHale fans. So we had some fun conversations out there.

Bruce Betts: Cool.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Yeah.

Bruce Betts: Way to do that thing you do.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: I love random people. But speaking about random, what is this week's Random Space Fact?

Bruce Betts: Random Space Fact. What do you think is the animal that's flown the most in space? It's not humans, if you count the number of them. And I'm not actually sure. That's my conjecture, but I do have a lot of cool facts about them. Yes, that's right, your friend of mine, fruit flies.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: I was going to guess Drosophila.

Bruce Betts: Yeah. Oh, scientific name. Yes, indeed. Tens of thousands, literally, of fruit flies have flown in space. They were the first animals to go into space, at least that came back. I don't count like impacts and that launched a rocks into space and distant past. But other than that, intentionally sent into space. They were the first... Well, they didn't choose to, but they went on a captured V-2 rocket in the late after World War II in a suborbital flight. But they've also been on a ton of missions from lots of countries since then. And I found out the random fruit fly fact that disturbs me, they can lay a hundred eggs a day.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: That explains my kitchen when I buy fruit.

Bruce Betts: Exactly. So they've flown like 200 flies to the ISS and end up coming back with 10,000. And it also explains that one time that I accidentally left a can of orange juice concentrate in my trunk, and there were thousands. It was the 10,000 from space all found my trunk in my car.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Gross. But also life finds a way.

Bruce Betts: Yes. And I tried to find a way to get rid of them.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Now I'm going to have to look up videos of what fruit flies try to do when they're attempting to fly in zero G. That's got to be interesting.

Bruce Betts: Does it? No, it probably is. You might ask, why would we do fruit flies? First of all, they're small. They're easy to contain. They're easy to feed. You just give them some rotted fruit. But approximately 77% of human disease genes have analogs in the fruit fly genome. So these strange little critters can be used for scientific purposes to test reactions to radiation in space and other things and get some idea for a small amount of volume doing that.

I remember, it just came back to me, of interest to knowing, in seventh grade we knocked some fruit flies out. We had some gas that we rendered them unconscious so we could count the numbers of males and female fruit flies. And thankfully, I've forgotten how you do that.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: Yeah, I think I first learned more about fruit flies in some kind of middle school science fair thing. It wasn't an experiment that I did. It was someone else did it for their science experiment, but clearly it stuck with me.

Bruce Betts: They leave an impact. They're emotional, they're profound, they're fruit flies. All right, everybody go out there, look up the night sky and think about where all of your juice containers and pieces of fruit are right now and how you keep them safe from the scourge of fruit flies. Thank you and good night.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: We've reached the end of this week's episode of Planetary Radio, but we'll be back next week with more space science and exploration. If you love the show, you can get Planetary Radio t-shirts at planetary.org/shop, along with lots of other cool spacey merchandise.

Help others discover the passion, beauty, and joy of space science and exploration by leaving a review and a rating on platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Your feedback not only brightens our day, but helps other curious minds find their place in space through Planetary Radio. And who knows what kind of adventures that will lead them on?

You can also send us your space, thoughts, questions, and poetry at our email at [email protected]. Or if you're a Planetary Society member, leave a comment in the Planetary Radio space in our member community app. I would love to know what science communicators and inventors you wish were represented on the Walk of Fame.

Planetary Radio is produced by The Planetary Society in Pasadena, California and is made possible by our members around the world who continue to share their love of space science and exploration with everyone. You can join us as we fight to save NASA Science at planetary.org/join.

Mark Hilverda and Rae Paoletta are our associate producers. Casey Dreier is the host of our monthly Space Policy edition, and Mat Kaplan hosts our monthly book club edition. Andrew Lucas is our audio editor. Josh Doyle composed our theme, which is arranged and performed by Pieter Schlosser. My name is Sarah Al-Ahmed, the host and producer of Planetary Radio. And until next week, ad astra.