☕️ Astronauts break space distance record

And welcome back to the working week. Unless you’re in Tasmania’s public service, in which case congratulations on your extra public holiday for ‘Easter Tuesday’.

Tasmania really does do things differently.

The quote: “We're okay all through April and now into May, so all the orders are locked in and contracted. Once it's contracted, the fuel belongs to the Australian company that bought it. So that is legally locked in, so that's encouraging.”
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen in an interview with ABC’s Radio National on Monday, announcing Australia has fuel shipments secured “well into” May.

The stat: 13.15 seconds. The time it took American Olympic gold medallist Sha'Carri Richardson to win the Stawell Gift from scratch, which means her competitors had head-starts of up to nine metres in the 120m race. The Stawell Gift is a famous short-distance running race held every Easter weekend in Stawell, Victoria. Sha'Carri Richardson is only the third woman to win the race from scratch (meaning she had no head-start).

The big question:

Yesterday’s results: 40% of you are ‘very likely’ to still be at your current employer in two years. [1,984 votes].

Together with AAP.

Consider this your sign to go outside

AllTrails Plus is 50% off an annual membership right now – perfect timing with April being peak trail season in Australia. Get offline maps for areas without signal, wrong turn alerts, and live share so someone always knows where you are. Everything you need for a proper weekend out of the city, at half the price.

In case you missed it, NASA currently has astronauts on the way to the moon for the first time in over 50 years.

Although the current mission will not land on the moon – the spacecraft will instead be orbiting the moon – it will be a stepping stone to getting humans walking on the moon again by 2028.

This morning, the current mission, Artemis II, broke the record for the furthest distance astronauts have ever travelled away from Earth.

After the record achievement, one of the astronauts, Jeremy Hansen, read out a statement: “We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear. But we most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.”

The four NASA astronauts are currently on a 10-day journey around the moon.

Yesterday, they entered the “lunar sphere of influence”, which means the Moon’s gravitational pull became stronger than Earth’s.

They will also become the first astronauts to see the far side of the moon with their own eyes today.

Whilst orbiting, they will experience an “Earthset” and “Earthrise” and will temporarily lose communication with Earth as the spacecraft passes behind the moon.

The ultimate goal is to get humans on Mars – which NASA says is one of the only other planets (that we know of) where life may have existed.

This means that sending astronauts to Mars could help answer two questions:

NASA’s current timeline is to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. It would take about nine months to get there (not including the travel back).

To hear more about NASA’s mission to Mars, listen to today’s podcast.

🎧 On today’s TDA podcast, Emma and Billi discuss NASA’s journey to Mars.

💶 Need a finance fix? You can sign up to TDA Finance here to make sure you get all the weekly updates in your inbox on Wednesday morning.

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*Transparency: This is a sponsored part of the newsletter - the best way to keep the newsletter free for you.

U.S. President Donald Trump has given Iran a deadline of Tuesday to open the Strait of Hormuz or has said the country will be “living in hell”.

It comes as the war has now entered its sixth week.

Iran has said its retaliation to Trump’s threats “will be much more devastating” if civilian infrastructure is targeted.

Here’s what you need to know.

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz after it was attacked by strikes from the U.S. and Israel in late February.

The Strait of Hormuz is a 33-kilometre-wide shipping lane off Iran’s southern border. It is the world's busiest oil shipping channel.

Oil is bought and sold all over the world, which means a disruption in one part of the world can affect prices everywhere.

Since the Strait of Hormuz was closed, there has been a global shortage of oil, leading to increased fuel prices.

In Australia, the Government has urged people to take public transport to work to save fuel, and has cut a tax on petrol in half to mitigate the impact of the increase in prices on consumers.

On Sunday, Trump said in a post to Truth Social: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

The same day, he told Fox News: “If they don’t make a deal and fast, I’m considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil.”

On Monday, Trump held a press conference where he expanded on his threats: “We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again.”

Trump has issued previous ultimatums to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, which it has not complied with.

Iran’s central military command responded in a statement on Sunday via Telegram, which read: "If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the next stages of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be much more devastating and widespread."

Axios, a U.S.-based publication, said mediators are in discussion for a potential 45-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the war.

In Monday’s press conference, Trump said: “I can tell you that we have an active, willing participant on the other side. They would like to make a deal.”

However, several media outlets have reported that both Iran and the U.S. have rejected recent ceasefire proposals.

Fast payments for fast internet

PayTo® is now available with Superloop, letting you pay securely straight from your bank account using your PayID® or BSB and account number. You can authorise payments in your banking app before any money leaves your account, so you stay in control – whether it’s a recurring bill or a one-off payment.

It’s a simple way to keep your connection sorted without worrying about missed payments. Look out for PayTo when setting up your next Superloop payment.

^{_{PayTo is in your banking app. Check with your financial institution to find out more. PayID and PayTo are registered trademarks of NPP Australia Ltd ABN 68 601 428 737.}}

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Ann Crile Esselstyn held the position for two minutes and 52 seconds, defeating an 81-year-old woman who last broke the record in 2024 for two minutes and one second.

Ann said: “I never ever in 90 years imagined that I would be fortunate enough to have the focused training, support, and desire to actually get a Guinness World Records title – [especially] at the age of 90!”

This titbit is for all the dog-lovers out there.

In late March, a woman named Jessica Johnston fell down a waterfall in a rainforest in New Zealand’s South Island whilst hiking, which meant she was separated from her black-and-white Border collie, Molly.

Emergency services were able to rescue Jessica by airlifting her to hospital, but Molly was not found.

A campaign was then launched to crowdfund a private helicopter to search for Molly, which was successful. Molly was found near where Jessica had fallen, at the bottom of the waterfall.

The New York Times reported (yes, this is crucial international news), that Molly “was soaking wet, shivering… They could not tell whether she fell down with her owner or found her own way there.”