You're listening to Shortwave from NPR in just days humans could get closer t...
than they have in over half a century. The last astronaut to ever walk on the lunar surface
was Apollo 17 astronaut Jean Cernin. 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 two 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 Reed 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 Boys, 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. And you know, it's a, it's a big to do. There'll be more people pouring
“in as we get closer to the launch. Wow. Okay. So it's my understanding that the earliest”
this mission can launch is today Wednesday the first. And this is the start of the launch window,
right? That's right. Yeah. So the earliest is 624 PM Eastern time on Wednesday, April 1st. But it could be delayed by anything. There could be weather rolling in. There could be technical glitches, like maybe a hydrogen leak. And if they have to delay, it depends on what the nature of the problem is. But it takes like 24 to 48 hours to get things reset up so they can try again. But they think over the next week, they're going to have several launch opportunities. So people are
feeling pretty good that that we could see this go. Cool. Fingers crossed. Today on the show, humans returning to the moon. Well, around the moon anyway. And traveling the furthest, we as a species have ever gone into space. We'll be answering why people are returning to the moon. And what it means for the future of living on other worlds. I'm Regina Barber and you're listening to SureWave, the science podcast from NPR.
“Okay. Now, so can you explain what these astronauts will be doing once they're in space?”
Because it's not a sure thing that they're going to the moon, right? Right. So this is the first
flight of the Orion capsule with a crew on board. So this is a chance for them to test out this vehicle with people on board. And that means testing everything from life support to, you know, even the toilet. This is going to be the first toilet to go around the moon, which is pretty exciting. I think so. Once they get into space, the Orion capsule separates from the upper stage of the rocket. And they spend a while kind of doing maneuvers around that upper stage of the
rocket to kind of practice what it would be like to have the Orion capsule doing rendezvous, doing maneuver like to catch space coming back in. Okay. Yeah. I mean, that's the kind of thing they're going to need to do in the future as they plan more ambitious moon missions. And so if everything goes well and it's maneuvering well and the life support systems are good and the navigation and everything, then, you know, they could decide whether they're going to get to the moon.
Okay. So when will they decide whether or not to head out to the moon? So that comes about one day into the mission. Okay. And if everything looks good, they'll do what's called the trans lunar injection burn, which is just a fancy way of saying their propulsion system is going to send them out on this path that takes them on a figure eight around the moon. And you know, if they go, it'll take them about four days to get out there. It's a distance of over 230,000
miles. Wow. Okay. So if they do that, if they make that figure eight, how close are they actually going to get to the moon? Well, not that close. Okay. Depending on when they launch and everything, I mean, it's going to be about four to six thousand miles away from the moon. Okay. On the other hand, it's a lot closer than the earth is, right? So NASA has said that from where they are,
The moon is going to look about the size.
that's kind of how the moon will look to them. And then, of course, you know, behind it,
“you'll have the earth looking very tiny and distant. And then, you know, as they go around”
the far side of the moon, there's going to be this communications blackout. So for a while, they won't be in any contact with earth and then they'll come around the other side. So it'll be dramatic. You know, it may not be landing. They can't land, but there'll be some drama anyway. Still, this mission is a huge deal, right? 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 first 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. Okay. So, you know, Isaacman 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.
“Yeah, so I feel like that is optimistic. But what's NASA's plan after this, like, landing on the moon?”
So NASA has said that it doesn't want just flags and footprints, right? It says that it wants to establish a near continuous human presence on the moon, sort of like we have a presence in Antarctica, right? So it's laid out this fairly ambitious plan that includes all these robotic missions, you know, development of a power station and a lunar base where astronauts could live. And, you know, Jared Isaacman has said recently that the goal is that there would be lunar landings
of various kinds on a near monthly basis. The question is, is there going to be the money for that? And the appetite for that, you know, I mean, they're saying they're going to do it cheaper than the days of the Apollo program because they're going to use commercial partners and stuff. But still, I mean, he's got a three phase plan and phase one alone would cost like, you know,
$10 billion. Wow. Okay. So then how much will the whole thing cost?
Well, it's hard to come by those numbers, but it's the best I can tell there was a projection from NASA's Inspector General Office a few years ago. And it said through 2025, it was projecting total costs for the program of like 93 billion. And that was just like so far. You know, I mean, every launch of one of these big rockets, like the one I'm looking at, it costs several billion
“dollars. Wow. Okay. So now, I think it's worth mentioning that like back in the 1960s,”
when, you know, humans did land on the moon, NASA kind of stopped after that. And they did so for many reasons, including that we had the civil rights movement being halted by assassinations. There was like more political upheaval from former President Nixon's corruption in Watergate. There was a lot of disinterest in the government looking to the stars instead of helping people on Earth. So what is the public support now for Artemis? It's interesting. You know,
leading up to this, I would talk to people. A lot of people just weren't even aware that NASA was working to putting people back on the moon, you know? Okay. And then you have the fact that
the majority of people alive today have been born after 1972. Yeah. There was never a time in their
life when they looked up at the moon and thought, well, there's people there right now, you know? Yeah. But, but having said that, there was one recent poll that found that a majority of Americans did support the Artemis program. And I was talking to one historian who pointed out that, you know, that poll suggests there was like more support for this program now than there was
For Apollo back in the 1960s.
of the Apollo program. But, you know, support just kind of petered out. Once this space race had
“been won, you know, they didn't want to spend all this money on it. I mean, they were spending a lot more”
back then. It was like 4% of the national budget compared to, you know, less than 1% of fraction of a percent for NASA today. Yeah. I will say, though, there is a lot of bipartisan support in Congress. And there's been support over multiple administrations for this moon program.
So, we'll see. If we do, you know, get bases on the moon, what does that mean for, you know,
humans living on other worlds, not just the moon, but other places like, what are we helping to get from this? Well, lots of people in the space community feel that Mars is the obvious destination, right? And so NASA actually considers this its moon to Mars program. But so far, there's been mostly moon and not really much to Mars. Some people question whether the moon is really a stepping stone to Mars or whether we would kind of get bogged down in the moon.
“But others say, well, you know, if you want to live on another planet, it's different than”
long-term habitation and space in a space station, like the International Space Station. So, you know, on the moon, you've got to contend with stuff like lunar dust and you've got to figure out, you know, all kinds of things related to getting stuff there. Yeah, I getting water from the ice and stuff like that, right? Yeah, they see it as a proving ground. Yeah. That's the idea. And there are other nations who also want to go to the moon. It's worth noting. Oh, wow.
“So, NASA is doing this program in partnership with international partners, like the Canadian”
Space Agency, but also the European Space Agency. And so, you know, there's a lot of consensus that this is like a way of establishing a foothold beyond Earth. And China wants to order the moon, too. And so, you know, some people are trying to drum up kind of another space race with China, similar to the space race than 1960s, but others are like, look, we already won the space race.
We'll always be first on the moon.
Well, Nell, I really hope you got to see a launch today. Either way, though, whenever it happens, please tell us what comes next. All right. Well, it should be a fun mission, so I'll keep you guys posted. If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. It really helps out our show. This episode was produced by a rude nire with help from Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Aminacon and our showrunner Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts.
Quaci Lee was the audio engineer, special thanks to Carl Craft and Russell Lewis. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to SureWave from NPR.
