Today is the day. Artemis II — NASA's first crewed Moon mission in 54 years — lifted off last night, and as we record this, four astronauts are preparing to leave Earth's orbit forever on the Translunar Injection burn. In this special launch-day edition, Anna and Avery cover the near-flawless launch, today's critical TLI milestone, the historic firsts being set by the crew aboard Orion (named Integrity), what the next ten days look like on the road to the Moon, the international CubeSats that hitched a ride, and the stunning coincidence of a full Pink Moon rising as humanity headed moonward. Key Sources • NASA Liftoff Announcement — nasa.gov • NASA Artemis Live Updates Blog — nasa.gov/blogs/artemis • NASA Coverage Schedule — nasa.gov/missions/artemis • CNN Artemis II Live Updates — cnn.com • Time Magazine — 'The Lunar Mission the World Is Watching' • Astronomy.com — Live Updates: Artemis 2 • NPR — NASA Launches Four People on Artemis II • Wikipedia — Artemis II • FAI World Air Sports Federation — Artemis II Records • Fast Company — Pink Moon / Artemis II Upcoming Mission Milestones • Tonight, April 2 (~8 PM ET): Translunar Injection burn — crew leaves Earth orbit • Sunday, April 5: Crew communication downlinks; Apollo 13 distance record expected to be broken • Monday, April 6: Lunar flyby — closest approach ~4,000 miles from Moon surface • Friday, April 10: Pacific Ocean splashdown
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Welcome to Astronomy Daily, season 5,
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 episode 79. I'm Anna.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 >> And I'm Avery. And today, today is the
00:00:09 --> 00:00:10 day.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14 >> It really is. 54 years. That's how long
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 humanity has been Earthbound, locked
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 inside our cozy corner of the solar
00:00:18 --> 00:00:22 system. No human has ventured beyond low
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 Earth orbit since Apollo 17 touched down
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 on the moon in December 1972.
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 But last night that changed. Four
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 astronauts are on their way to the moon.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 >> Today's episode is a special Aremis 2
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 edition. We're going deep on the launch,
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 on the history being made right now, and
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 on what's coming next for this crew.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 Plus, because the universe has a flare
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 for the dramatic, the pink moon rose
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 over Earth right as they lifted off.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 >> You honestly couldn't write it. Let's
00:00:55 --> 00:00:59 get into it. At 6:35 p.m. Eastern time
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 on Wednesday, April the 1st, yes, April
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 Fool's Day, NASA's Aremis 2 mission
00:01:05 --> 00:01:09 lifted off from launch complex 39B at
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 >> And for the record, absolutely not a
00:01:13 --> 00:01:14 joke.
00:01:14 --> 00:01:18 >> Definitely not. The 322
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 foot tall orange and white space launch
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 system, the SLS, vaulted off the pad
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 with 8.8 8 million pounds of liftoff
00:01:27 --> 00:01:31 thrust. The solid rocket boosters alone
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 provided more than 7 million pounds of
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 that, burning out just 2 minutes after
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 launch when the stack was already 29 m
00:01:39 --> 00:01:40 high.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:44 >> 29 m in 2 minutes. That's extraordinary.
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 >> It is. And barely 10 minutes after those
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 engines first ignited, Artemis 2 was in
00:01:50 --> 00:01:54 orbit. The launch was nearly flawless.
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 Only minor battery and communications
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 range issues briefly concerned ground
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 crews, and those were resolved without
00:02:01 --> 00:02:02 drama.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:03 >> The crew are safe. They're in great
00:02:04 --> 00:02:05 spirits. NASA administrator Jared
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 Isaacman confirmed that in the
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 post-launch briefing. He called it a
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 defining moment, not just for NASA, but
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 for everyone who believes in
00:02:13 --> 00:02:14 exploration.
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 >> And this is genuinely historic. The last
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 time human beings headed moonward was
00:02:19 --> 00:02:23 December 7th, 1972
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 before any of the four Artemis 2 crew
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 members were born.
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 >> That really puts it into perspective.
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 >> After reaching orbit, Orion deployed its
00:02:32 --> 00:02:33 solar array wings and the crew
00:02:34 --> 00:02:35 immediately began transitioning the
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 spacecraft from launch to flight
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 operations. They ran through checks on
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 life support, communications,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 navigation, and then, as if that wasn't
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 enough, pilot Victor Glover got to take
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 the spacecraft for a manual test drive.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 >> A test drive in a spacecraft around
00:02:54 --> 00:02:55 Earth.
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 >> 70 minutes of hand flying the Orion
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 capsule, which has been officially named
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 Integrity, maneuvering around the now
00:03:03 --> 00:03:07 separated upper stage of the SLS. Lovers
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 verdict. And I'm paraphrasing here
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 because we love him. This flies very
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 nicely, very precise.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 >> Excellent review, five stars.
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 >> So, as we record this on Thursday, April
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 2nd, right now, today, the crew of
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 Artemis 2 is completing the final checks
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 before the most critical maneuver of the
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 mission so far.
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 >> The trans lunar injection burn, TLI.
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 This is the moment they leave Earth's
00:03:34 --> 00:03:34 orbit.
00:03:34 --> 00:03:38 >> Exactly. If all systems pass inspection
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 and mission controllers at Houston's
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 Johnson Space Center will be
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 scrutinizing every data point, Belfire
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 Orion's Europeanbuilt service module
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 engine for approximately 6 minutes
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 around 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 >> 6 minutes to change everything.
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 >> That burn will accelerate Orion to about
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 24
00:04:01 --> 00:04:05 mph escape velocity. At that speed,
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 Earth's gravity is still exerting just
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 enough pull that if something went wrong
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 and the engine couldn't fire again, the
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 spacecraft would remain on what's called
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 a free return trajectory,
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 >> meaning the moon's gravity would sling
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 them back towards Earth automatically.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 >> Precisely. It's a beautiful piece of
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 physics and a critical safety feature.
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 The crew isn't just being brave. The
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 mission is engineered so that even in a
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 worstc case scenario, the moon becomes
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 the mechanism that brings them home.
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 >> And if the checks don't pass,
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 >> mission controllers retain the option to
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 command Orion home early. Premature end
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 to this test flight, but a safe one.
00:04:47 --> 00:04:51 That's what Artemis 2 is, a test flight.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 Every system is being validated for the
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 crews who will follow.
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 >> We'll be watching that TLI burn very
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 closely tonight. Let's talk about the
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 four people making this journey because
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 beyond the technology, beyond the
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 rocket, this mission is about them and
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 about what their presence means.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 >> Commander Reed Wisman, pilot Victor
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 Glover, mission specialist Christina
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 from NASA, and mission specialist
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space
00:05:17 --> 00:05:18 Agency.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 >> And this crew is making history in ways
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 that go well beyond just going to the
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 moon. Victor Glover will become the
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 first person of color to travel beyond
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 low Earth orbit. Christina Coch will be
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 the first woman to fly to the moon's
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 vicinity. And Jeremy Hansen will be the
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 first non-American citizen to venture
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 that far from Earth.
00:05:39 --> 00:05:40 >> Every one of those firsts is
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 significant. And they're all happening
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 on the same flight.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 >> The World Air Sports Federation, the
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 FAI, is already preparing to ratify what
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 could be multiple spaceflight world
00:05:52 --> 00:05:53 records. The mission's planned
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 trajectory will take Orion to a high
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 point of around 70 km above Earth.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 The current altitude record for a crude
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 spacecraft in Earth orbit stands at just
00:06:04 --> 00:06:05
00:06:05 --> 00:06:10 km set by Gemini 11 back in 1966.
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 >> They're going to absolutely shatter
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 that. And the record for the farthest
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 any human has ever been from Earth is
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 currently held by the Apollo 13 crew,
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 248
00:06:23 --> 00:06:27 m. Artemis 2 is expected to go farther.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 >> I keep thinking about Victor Glover
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 saying he just wants to find the quiet
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 moments in all of this, to be present,
00:06:34 --> 00:06:35 to actually feel it.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 >> He said the biggest challenge would be
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 immersing himself in the moment because
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 it'll be over so quickly. That kind of
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 reflection from someone living what the
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 rest of us can only dream about. That's
00:06:47 --> 00:06:48 something special.
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 >> Special is hardly the word for it, but I
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 guess we don't have anything better. We
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 could do with a new word to use on
00:06:54 --> 00:06:55 occasions like this.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 >> So, what does the next 10 days look like
00:06:57 --> 00:07:01 for Reed, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy?
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 >> Once that TLA burn fires tonight,
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 they're on a roughly 4-day journey
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 outbound. Gravity will slow them down
00:07:07 --> 00:07:11 steadily from nearly 25 mph all the
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 way down to about 3 mph. And it
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 won't be until they're about 41 m
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 from the moon that lunar gravity takes
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 over and starts pulling them forward
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 again. That transition is called the
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 Lraange point and it's where the moon
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 effectively claims them. Day six of the
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 mission, that's Monday, April 6th, the
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 crew will reach the moon's neighborhood,
00:07:34 --> 00:07:35 approaching from the western lunar
00:07:35 --> 00:07:36 hemisphere.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 >> They'll come within approximately 4
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 m from the lunar surface, close enough
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 to see detail, far enough to swing
00:07:43 --> 00:07:46 around on that free return ark, and
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 they'll be among the first humans ever
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 to lay eyes on parts of the moon's far
00:07:50 --> 00:07:51 side.
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 >> The far side, the side that never faces
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 Earth. No human has seen it directly
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 since the Apollo era. The conditions
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 during the flyby should create long
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 shadows across the surface. Sunrise
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 style lighting that reveals ridges,
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 crater rims, and depth that full
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 illumination normally hides. The
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 photographs from this flyby are going to
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 be extraordinary.
00:08:14 --> 00:08:15 >> Here's a thought. I wonder if they'll
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 see the alien moon bases. Maybe we can
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 finally put that story to bed for once
00:08:20 --> 00:08:21 and for all.
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 >> You love your conspiracy theories, don't
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 you, Avery? Let's move on.
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 >> And then they come home. Then they come
00:08:27 --> 00:08:31 home, a journey of more than 96 hours
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 back to Earth with a splashdown in the
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 Pacific Ocean planned for Friday, April
00:08:36 --> 00:08:41 10th. That re-entry will be at 25
00:08:41 --> 00:08:45 mph. And Orion will use a skip entry
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 technique, dipping into the atmosphere,
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 bouncing back into space, then coming in
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 again, bleeding off speed and heat in
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 stages. We'll be covering every step of
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 it right here on Astronomy Daily.
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 >> Here's something that didn't get a lot
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 of attention in all the launch
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 excitement, and we think it deserves its
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 moment. The hitchhikers.
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 >> About 5 hours after launch, a series of
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 tiny satellites, cubats, roughly the
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 size of a shoe box, deployed from the
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 Aremis 2 spacecraft at one minute
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 intervals. four of them supplied by
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 space agencies from Germany, South
00:09:24 --> 00:09:28 Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina.
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 >> That's genuinely international. This
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 isn't just an American mission. It's a
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 mission that's carrying science from
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 four continents into deep space.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 >> Germany's contribution is called Teelis,
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 and it's studying how space affects
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 electrical components that could be used
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 in future lunar vehicles. Think of it as
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 stress testing the hardware that might
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 one day drive a rover across the moon.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:54 >> And then there's the one I find
00:09:54 --> 00:09:58 absolutely fascinating. Krad Cube
00:09:58 --> 00:10:02 Cube contains humanlike tissue organ on
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 a chip technology designed to measure
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 the effects of space radiation as the
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 spacecraft passes through the Van Allen
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 belts. Those are the two zones of
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 intense radiation that surround Earth
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 produced by trapped solar particles.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:19 >> So, we're essentially sending a tiny
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 laboratory of human tissue through the
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 most radioactive region near Earth to
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 understand what that does to biology,
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 >> which directly informs how we protect
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 future crews, not just on Artemis 3 and
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 beyond, but eventually on missions to
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 Mars. It's one of those stories where
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 the scale of what's being deployed is
00:10:40 --> 00:10:44 tiny, but the implications are enormous.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 >> The universe in a shoe box.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 >> We can't close today's episode without
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 acknowledging the cosmic coincidence
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 that made last night feel almost
00:10:53 --> 00:10:54 scripted.
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 >> The pink moon. April's full moon, known
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 as the pink moon, reached its peak at
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 10:12 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday night,
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 just hours after the Aremis 2 launch
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 window opened, the moon itself rose full
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 and luminous over the eastern horizon.
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 >> Humanity launched towards the moon under
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 a full moon. I mean, come on. The pink
00:11:18 --> 00:11:20 moon gets its name from the wild flower
00:11:20 --> 00:11:24 called moss pink or flocks subulada
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 which blooms across North America around
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 this time each spring. Various
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 indigenous communities have their own
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 names for it. The flower moon, the
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 windbreak moon, the frog moon.
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 >> And tonight, Thursday, April 2nd, it's
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 still visible. If you're out after dark,
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 look east at dusk. It'll be hard to
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 miss. For our southern hemisphere
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 listeners, and there are plenty of you,
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 look north toward the moon rising in
00:11:49 --> 00:11:53 your eastern sky. The same moon our four
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 astronauts are right now h hurtling
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 toward at thousands of miles hour.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 >> That shared view, us looking up, them
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 looking down, is one of my favorite
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 things about space exploration. We're
00:12:05 --> 00:12:06 all part of it.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 >> That's our special Artemis 2 launch day
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 edition of Astronomy Daily. What a day
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 to be alive and what a day to be
00:12:14 --> 00:12:15 listening.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:16 >> We'll be back tomorrow with the latest
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 from the mission covering that TLI burn
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 result, any updates from the crew aboard
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 Integrity, and whatever else the
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 universe decides to throw at us.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 >> If today's episode moved you, if you
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 felt something when that rocket left the
00:12:30 --> 00:12:33 pad, share it. Tell someone. This is a
00:12:33 --> 00:12:35 moment worth talking about. from Anna
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 and Avery at Astronomy Daily. Keep
00:12:39 --> 00:12:39 looking up
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 >> and to read Victor, Christina, and
00:12:42 --> 00:12:46 Jeremy. Safe travels. We'll be watching
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 >> Daily
00:12:48 --> 00:12:56 Stories.
00:12:56 --> 00:13:04 Stories told.
00:13:04 --> 00:13:08 Stories for told.