“Becoming Off-Worldly” & the hunt for moon water

It seems like a lot more people are going to space these days. Commercial companies are not only sending NASA astronauts into space, they’re giving ordinary people with the right amount of cash the chance to fly in space, too.

Last year we saw the commercial space tourism business kick into high gear with trips from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Netflix took us with the all-civilian crew of Inspiration4 last summer and William Shatner traveled to the edge of space, bringing back with him profound words of the experience once on the ground.

With the opportunities to fly into space growing -- and hopefully the cost shrinking -- it’s easy to imagine one day you or me getting the chance to see Earth from space. Laura Forczyk wants us all to start thinking about that opportunity -- and planning and training for a future where we get the chance to venture into space.

We’ll speak with Forczyk about her new book “Becoming Off-Worldly: Learning from Astronauts to Prepare for Your Spaceflight Journey.”

Then, a University of Central Florida researcher is on the hunt for water on the moon. Kerri Donaldson Hanna is co-investigator of the Lunar Trailblazer Mission -- a CubeSat that will survey the moon for potential pockets of ice. Are We There Yet’s intern Beatrize Olivera speaks with Donaldson Hanna about the mission and why water on the moon is so important for future deep space exploration.