Chapter 1: Why is NASA launching the Artemis II mission to the moon?
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In just days, humans could get closer to the moon than they have in over half a century. The last astronaut to ever walk on the lunar surface was Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan.
We leave as we came, with peace and hope.
He and his crewmates left the moon in December 1972. Since then, no one has ventured so far out into space. Now, though, NASA is poised to launch four astronauts on the Artemis II mission. The plan is to fly around the moon in a bell-shaped capsule before coming back and splashing down into the Pacific Ocean. The mission's commander is NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman.
He emphasized that this is a test mission.
When we get off the planet, we might come right back home. We might spend three or four days around Earth. We might go to the moon. That's where we want to go. But it is a test mission.
So what kind of test mission is it? And what could it mean for NASA's long-term moon plans? To answer those questions, we're checking in with NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfield-Boyce, who's at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida right now. Hey, Nell. Hey there, Gina. It is so cool that you're there for the launch. I'm very jealous. So where are you right now?
Like, can you see the rocket that's going to blast off?
Yeah, they have us out here at the press center, which is a ways from the rocket. So I can see it, but it looks tiny out there. I mean, in reality, it's 322 feet tall, but it's this, you know, orange and white rocket. And from where I am, I can see it along with the big countdown clock, you know, which is under this American flag. And you've got all the press trucks set up everywhere.
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Chapter 2: What are the key objectives of the Artemis II mission?
Because NASA has been talking about sending humans back to the moon for what feels like forever.
So they've been working on this basically for 22 years. Yeah. That's when then President George W. Bush gave a speech saying that NASA was going to finish building the International Space Station, retire the space shuttles, and then build a new vehicle to go to the moon.
We will build new ships to carry man forward into the universe. to gain a new foothold on the moon.
So, you know, they've been working towards that ever since. There's been some, you know, detours and twists and turns along the way. But that's been the plan for kind of a long time. And the other thing that's interesting about this mission is there's a lot of firsts involved in it. So it'll be the first woman to go out to the moon, Christina Cook, astronaut Christina Cook.
And there's going to be the first person of color, Victor Glover. And then there's the first non-American. So in addition to these NASA astronauts, there's a Canadian Space Agency astronaut named Jeremy Hansen who's going.
So how long after this test mission could we see like a moon landing?
So for a landing, you need a lander, right? You need a vehicle that can actually go down to the moon and then get astronauts up off it again. And that's in development. So there's two companies working on it. NASA has contracted with SpaceX and Blue Origin. And the new administrator of NASA is this guy, Jared Isaacman. He's a
wealthy entrepreneur, a private astronaut, and he's been pushing those two companies to speed up development of the lunar landers. And he actually added a new Artemis mission next year that's supposed to test out one or both of them in orbit. So, you know, Isaac Min has said that there could be a moon landing as soon as 2028, assuming those tests of the lander go well.
But, you know, people I talk to think that that seems pretty optimistic.
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