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China and Russia Team Up to Build a New Space Station; Conservationists Work to Build a Wall of Trees on a Desert`s Border; Island For Sale. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired March 12, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Thanks for making space for CNN 10. That`s a pun on our first story because it`s about space. Why do we do puns? Because
Friday`s are awesome. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10. Up, up, and away we go. This week China announced it had teamed up with Russia to build a new space
station. Their next steps will be to come up with a design, a way to build it, a way to operate it and to present those plans to the rest of the
world. They`re calling the facility the International Lunar Scientific Research Station and Russia says it will be open to all interested
countries and international partners.
The Soviet Union, from which Russia emerged in the early 1990s`, had a space race with the United States. In 1957, the Soviet Union became the
first country to launch a satellite into orbit. It was the first to launch animals and eventually a human into orbit. The United States had leapt
ahead by 1969 when it landed men on the moon and Russia fell further behind in the space race following the collapse of the Soviet Union`s communist
government. In more recent years, Russia was a founding partner of the International Space Station, but China has not been allowed to participate
in that project. The U.S. outlawed out of security concerns. That`s part of the reason why it`s significant that Russia partnered with China on the new
space station. Experts say it could signal a new era of competition as opposed to cooperation when it comes to international space projects.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As two long time space powers, Russia and the United States starts to distance themselves from one another. Russia and China are
teaming up with plans to build a new research facility that could orbit the moon, be on the surface of the moon or even a combination of both inviting
cooperation from around the world. And signaling that the Russia-U.S. Space Alliance maybe on the way out. Russia did not sign the Artemis Accord for
Lunar Exploration led by NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency also lost its monopoly on manned flights to the International Space Station
after SpaceX jumped into that game.
But now, China`s National Space Agency, CNSA, which has a lot of money is looking to work with Russia and their 60 years of experience. It was 60
years ago this year, in fact, that Russia launched the first human into space, and this would be China`s biggest space cooperative operation to
date. They always have a probe orbiting Mars. Last year, they brought rock and soil samples back from the moon. It was the first mission of that kind
in more than 40 years. And so, China and Russia are looking to compete with NASA as it continues to make strides. There is of course the Perseverance
Rover that NASA has that -- that did a test drive on Mars last week sending back audio and high-definition pictures looking for evidence of life. There
are early plans for the U.S. to send humans to Mars and there is also a plan to send the first woman to the moon in 2024. Russia looking to regain
some of its space supremacy built over decades but lost in the post-Soviet years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these deserts got its name from a word meaning desert? Namib Desert, Chihuahuan Desert, Sahara Desert or Kalahari
Desert. In Arabic, the word Sahara means desert.
Outside of Antarctica in the Artic, the Sahara is the biggest warm weather desert on the planet. It`s about the size of the United States and there`s
debate in the scientific community about whether the Sahara is growing. Some experts say the desert has expanded over the past 100 years by as much
as 10 percent. Others say its area naturally fluctuates depending on the amount of rainfall at its borders and that a drought in the late 20th
century only made it look like the Sahara had grown.
There`s also debate over whether the Great Green Wall, a massive tree planting project across North Africa has been working. It`s progress since
2007 has been slow and critics say that natural weather patterns and bad farming practices are more to blame for desertification than the Sahara
itself. Regardless of what`s happening with the desert though, the Great Green Wall Project continues to grow. It received $14 million in funding
earlier this year to continue its efforts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Sahara Desert. Remote, romantic, it`s also a threat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What they love about the desert is the (inaudible) but in the same time it`s very scary because when deserts enter the houses of
people, forcing them to leave because they have no more livelihoods in their communities. It`s scary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Desertification is a process which transforms once arable land into a barren environment. It`s something that Sara Toomey (ph)
witnessed firsthand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My grandparents and (inaudible) trees. There were green beautiful gardens, raises vegetables (ph) and all their crops. Now,
let`s say 25 years after, they don`t grow any more food, so they have to buy food from the shops and I think it`s very sad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Desertification can be reversed. Toomey`s (ph) project Ocacious (ph) for All have cultivated almost 700,000 de-fruited trees in
the region, improving soil structure and allowing for other trees and crops to be planted nearby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s very easy to plant a tree. It`s not easy to grow a tree and that`s what I learned in Tunisia from just letting (inaudible)
trees into growing (inaudible) creating value chains that sustain the ecosystem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Toomey`s (ph) impact in Tunisia led her to want to more. She`s been invited to join a program of epic proportions.
(SINGING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great Green Wall is about giving life back to the desert to (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Great Green Wall is a patchwork of restored land across the entire continent. Expected to stretch 8,000 kilometers by 2030
covering 100 million hectares of land across 11 countries. The aim is to create a natural shield against desertification.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Up until now, the Great Green Wall Initiative has filled up about 18 percent of the objective. So yes, you have another 80
percent to go. I -- I am optimistic. It`s a question of making sure that that part of Africa gets the attention it deserves.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Toomey (ph), desertification is a threat that affects us all and the work is urgent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Artworks, baseball cards, historic musical instruments and dinosaur skeletons. We`ve covered auctions on this show before. This one constitutes
a virtual field trip to the Bahamas where you can get your own private island. Little Ragged Island is the biggest one for sale in the nation.
It`s got 730 acres for your resort and golf course. Deep water access for your large ships. An air strip on a nearby island for your planes and it`s
only a 10-minute boat ride from there. You need $100,000 to bid on it but after that, you might be able to snag it for less than its $19.5 million
listing price.
Or you might now. But if you`re plans to land an "I-land" and "shore" up your days with sun, surf and sand. To roll the "pair a dice" that just like
you plan to own trees in the "palms" of your hands. It`s a "peach" when the "beach" is at "reach" at your side and it`s fine when the (inaudible)
coincides with the "tide". If you`re "day by day" stay becomes a "vacation". Hook a boat and a note you wrote to "denote" the "nocean". It`s
our "invitation". We`ll see you on "island time". Hey speaking of time. Be sure to spring forward an hour ahead on Saturday night so you don`t miss a
moment of our show next week.
Shout out to Marriotts Ridge High School in Marriottsville, Maryland for subscribing and leaving a comment on our You Tube channel. I`m Carl Azuz
for CNN.
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