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Ep323: Artemis II launched · Kidcast Daily

• 0:08
  Spin the wheel, Let's take a ride.
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  Sports and science bursting from inside a world of wonder.
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  Open wide. Come.
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  On kids, let's. Amplify Kid Cats Daily starts
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  your day. Fun and laughter come your way.
• 0:29
  Sports and trivia games galore. Welcome back to Kid Cats Daily,
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  where we bring something awesome every day.
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  Whether it's sports records, science, discoveries, history,
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  mysteries, or wild trivia. For today, we are bringing some
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  super exciting news. The Artemis 2 mission just
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  launched. That's right, yesterday, on
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  April 1st, 2026, NASA's giant rocket blasted off from Earth,
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  carrying four brave astronauts toward the moon.
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  Let's learn more about the launch in today's episode.
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  This is the first time in more than 50 years that people are
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  heading out that far into space. The last time was Apollo 17 back
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  in 1972. Artemis 2 is a big test flight
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  to make sure everything works perfectly for future trips where
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  astronauts will actually land on the moon.
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  The rocket, called the Space Launch System or SLS, is huge.
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  It's 98 meters tall, about as tall as a 30 story building.
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  When it fired up, it created more than £8.8 million of thrust
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  to push the spacecraft into the sky.
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  The astronauts are inside a capsule named Orion, which will
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  take them on a 9 1/2 day journey covering more than 600,000
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  miles. They won't land on the moon, but
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  they'll fly right by it, getting as close as 4000 miles to the
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  far side. That far side is the part of the
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  moon we never see from Earth, and parts of it have never been
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  looked at by human eyes before. How cool is that?
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  Let's meet the awesome crew making this happen.
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  The commander is Reed Wiseman. He's a test pilot from the US
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  Navy and has already spent 165 days living on the International
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  Space Station. Next is the pilot, Victor Glover
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  Junior, who's AUS Navy captain and a NASA astronaut.
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  He was the first black astronaut to stay on the space station for
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  a long time, about six months. Then there's mission specialist
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  Christina Koch from NASA. She's super experienced too, and
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  rounding out the team is Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space
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  Agency. Together they're going to test
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  all the important systems like life support, which keeps them
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  breathing clean air and at the right temperature,
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  communications to talk back to Earth and navigation to know
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  exactly where they are in space. They'll even do a demo where
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  they fly the spacecraft close to the Rockets upper stage to
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  practice for future missions. After launching, Orion will open
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  its solar arrays like big wings that catch sunlight to make
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  power. Then after a few hours in low
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  Earth orbit, they'll fire the main engine for a big burn that
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  sends them toward the moon. It takes three days to get
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  there. One of the neatest parts of this
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  launch is all the special items they're carrying along.
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  There's a tiny piece of fabric from the Wright Brothers first
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  airplane flight in 19 O 3. Imagine that, Something from the
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  very first powered flight going to space.
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  They've also got an American flag that flew on the first and
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  last space shuttle missions, plus one from the Crew Dragon
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  test flight. There's even a flag that was
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  meant for Apollo 18, which got cancelled over 50 years ago.
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  Now it's finally heading to the moon and get this, a memory card
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  with the names of millions of people so everyone feels like
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  they're part of the adventure. The total trip will take them
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  farther from Earth than any humans have gone before, about
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  250,000 miles away, beating the record from Apollo 13.
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  The whole path is over 1,000,000 kilometers.
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  Like driving across the United States more than 200 times.
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  Now for some mind blowing science stuff.
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  The astronauts will see the moon's South Pole up close.
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  That's where future missions plan to land because there might
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  be water ice hidden there in craters.
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  They'll have just a few hours to take photos and make
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  observations while the moon looks about the size of a
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  basketball held at arm's length. Their path is called a free
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  return trajectory. It's like a Figure 8 loop that
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  uses the moon's gravity to slingshot them around the far
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  side and back home without needing extra fuel.
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  That's smart engineering. They're also testing a new
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  optical communication system that uses lasers instead of
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  radio waves. Lasers can send data hundreds of
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  times faster, which will help with super long trips, maybe
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  even to Mars someday. And to study space radiation,
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  which is stronger outside Earth's magnetic field, they're
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  carrying organ on a chip devices.
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  These have cells grown from the astronauts own blood, like bone
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  marrow cells. When they get back, doctors will
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  check how those cells handled the radiation to keep future
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  crews healthy. This mission is part of the
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  bigger Artemis program started in 2017.
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  The goal is to send humans back to the moon, including the first
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  woman and the first person of color to walk there.
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  Artemis 2 is the second step after the uncrewed Artemis One
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  test. It's getting everything ready
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  for Artemis 3, which will test landing systems, and then
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  Artemis 4 to actually touchdown near the South Pole around 2028.
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  The launch window was from April 1st to 6th and it happened
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  today. Perfect timing.
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  Watching the liftoff must have been thrilling, with flames and
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  smoke billowing out as the rocket roared to life.
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  The crew waved goodbye to Earth before settling in for their
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  long ride. Think about what this means for
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  you kids. Space travel is getting real
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  again, and it's teaching us so much about living far from home.
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  They'll check how the body handles deep space, test
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  computers and engines, and practice every step.
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  By the time they splash down in the ocean after 9 1/2 days,
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  we'll know the systems are safe for moon landings.
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  NASA picked the name Artemis because in Greek stories,
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  Artemis was the goddess of the moon and twin sister of Apollo
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  who went to the moon before. Another fun NEWS UPDATE from
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  this launch week. Just yesterday, teams at Kennedy
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  Space Center finished final checks on the Orion capsule,
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  making sure every bolt and wire was ready.
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  And this week, thousands of people gathered to watch the
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  countdown, cheering as the clock hit 01.
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  More cool item. They're carrying experiments on
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  how plants might grow in space, tiny seeds that could help
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  future moon farms. Everything is going smoothly so
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  far, with live video streams showing Orion unfolding its
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  solar panels high above Earth. To wrap it up, Artemis 2
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  launched today with Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover,
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  Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen heading to fly around the moon.
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  We learned about the giant SLS rocket, special artifacts like
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  the Wright Brothers fabric, new laser tech, and seeing never
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  before seen moon views. This paves the way for landing
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  on the moon again soon. Thanks for tuning in to Kid Cast
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  Daily. Keep looking up and dreaming big
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  about space. See you next time for more
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  awesome news. Happy on breakfast, feeling
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  fine, adventures waiting, don't be late.
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  Today's. The day we celebrate.