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Humanity’s Farthest Journey: Artemis II Flies the Moon · Space News Today

• 0:00
  Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily
• 0:02
  guide to what's happening beyond our
• 0:05
  world. I'm Anna.
• 0:07
  >> And I'm Avery. And today, today's
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  Today's genuinely one of those days we
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  will remember for the rest of our lives.
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  >> 54 years. That's how long it's been
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  since any human being flew around the
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  far side of the moon. And yesterday,
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  that streak ended. The Artemis 2 crew,
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  Reed Wisman, Victor Glover, Christina
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  Ko, and Jeremy Hansen, completed a
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  7-hour lunar flyby that has rewritten
• 0:35
  the history books. We've got the full
• 0:37
  story, plus a wild NASA budget battle, a
• 0:41
  European Chinese collaboration, a Blue
• 0:44
  Origin update, and a spacecraft headed
• 0:46
  to the space station.
• 0:48
  >> Strap in. This is Astronomy Daily,
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  season 5, episode 83. Let's kick things
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  off with the big one of the day.
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  >> Okay, let's start where the entire
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  planet's attention has been focused.
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  252,760
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  mi from Earth.
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  >> That's how far the Aremis 2 Orion
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  spacecraft reached that its maximum
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  distance from Earth, officially breaking
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  the record set by the Apollo 13 crew
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  back in April 1970. Apollo 13 got to
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  248,655
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  mi. Artemis 2 just beat that by more
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  than 4,000 miles.
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  >> And they didn't just nudge the record.
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  They went farther than any human beings
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  in the history of our species. Let that
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  sink in.
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  >> The lunar flyby itself kicked off on
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  flight day 6. That's Monday, April 6th.
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  NASA scientists had prepared a packed
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  science plan. 35 specific geological
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  targets on the lunar surface. 10 science
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  objectives and the crew working in
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  twoperson ships to photograph and
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  document as much as possible.
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  >> Closest approach came at just 4,67
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  mi above the surface. That's close
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  enough to see individual craters in
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  extraordinary detail. From there, the
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  spacecraft swung around the far side of
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  the moon and the crew went silent for
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  about 45 minutes as the moon blocked all
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  communication with Earth. And when they
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  came back, the crew described witnessing
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  an Earth set and then an Earth rise as
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  the Earth dropped below and then
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  reemerged from the lunar horizon.
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  Commander Reed Wisman said, and I'm
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  paraphrasing here, that these numbers,
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  250,000
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  m, are simply impossible for the human
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  brain to process when you're actually
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  living them.
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  >> Mission specialist Christina had an
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  emotional moment, too. She became the
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  first woman in history to complete a
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  lunar flyby. And when she spoke to NASA
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  administrator Jared Isaacman, she said
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  she wasn't ready to go home.
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  >> Victor Glover described the moon out the
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  window as one of the darkest things they
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  could see with deep space behind it
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  appearing like a deep surreal blue.
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  Stars visible even through that
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  darkness. His words, "It's a quite a
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  wicked view."
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  And another astronaut, we believe it was
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  Jeremy Hansen, said there are simply no
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  adjectives, that they'd need to invent
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  new ones, just phenomenal.
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  >> But it didn't stop there. As Orion swung
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  back around, the crew witnessed
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  something extraordinarily rare. A total
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  solar eclipse as seen from beyond the
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  moon's far side. The sun disappeared
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  behind the lunar disc for nearly an
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  hour. And they used every second of it
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  scientifically, studying the solar
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  corona glowing around the edge of the
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  moon, watching for meteoroid impacts on
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  the lunar surface, and observing
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  illuminated lunar dust. It was a science
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  feast in the middle of a history-making
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  adventure. President Trump called in
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  afterward to congratulate the crew,
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  calling it one of the proudest moments
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  for America. Commander Wisman said his
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  favorite site was watching Mars align
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  with the other planets during the
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  eclipse and musing about humanity
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  becoming a two planet species.
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  >> So, where is the crew now? Day seven is
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  a rest day. Well-earned, I'd say. Day 8
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  brings a radiation shelter construction
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  demonstration and manual piloting tests.
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  Day 10, April 10th, is splashdown day.
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  The Pacific Ocean off San Diego. Between
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  now and then, the spacecraft will
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  perform three trajectory correction
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  burns to fine-tune its return path. And
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  Orion's toilet, which has had a few
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  headline worthy hiccups, appears to be
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  operating normally now after a frozen
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  wasteline was resolved.
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  >> The space toilet, always a
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  crowd-pleaser, but genuinely, the
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  universal waste management system is
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  being tested as the first deep space
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  bathroom. critical technology for future
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  long duration missions.
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  >> Fun fact time. The Artemis 2 crews wake
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  up songs are curated by mission control
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  and beamed up to start each day. The
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  playlist is on Spotify. Look for it.
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  It's a genuine artifact of this mission.
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  >> Also, the crew's zero gravity indicator,
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  the small toy or object that floats
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  freely in the cabin showing when you've
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  reached weightlessness, is an adorable
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  stuffed animal they called rise. So far,
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  it's living up to the name.
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  >> And in a lovely Easter weekend moment
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  before the flyby, pilot Victor Glover
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  shared a message about how the mission
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  reminds us of our shared humanity. As he
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  said, "We are the same thing and we've
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  got to get through this together."
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  Beautiful sentiment. 250,000 m from
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  home. The crew also attempted to
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  recreate the famous Apollo 8 Earthrise
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  photograph from 1968, one of the most
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  important images in human history. We'll
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  be watching for those photos as they're
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  down.
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  >> Now, even as the world celebrates
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  Artemis 2, there's a storm brewing back
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  on Earth over NASA's finances. The White
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  House Office of Management and Budget
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  released its FY2027 budget for NASA, and
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  it's a repeat of last year's deeply
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  controversial cuts. The headline number,
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  $18.8 billion. That's a 23% reduction
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  from NASA's current 24.4 billion budget.
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  And the hardest hit, the science mission
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  directorate, slashed by 47%
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  from 7.25 billion down to 3.9 billion.
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  >> Casey Dreer of the Planetary Society
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  called it bluntly an extinction level
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  event for science. More than 40 missions
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  would be terminated, although the
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  document only names two specifically,
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  the Mars sample return mission and the
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  severe global climate data program.
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  >> Notably, exploration funding, meaning
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  Artemis, would actually increase by
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  nearly 10% to $8.5 billion. So, the
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  administration's message is clear.
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  Humans to the moon, but science takes
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  the hit.
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  >> Here's the important context, though.
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  Congress rejected almost identical cuts
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  last year. The same $18.8 billion
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  request was made for FY2026,
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  and lawmakers chose to restore science
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  funding across the board. Advocates say
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  there's every reason to believe Congress
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  will push back again.
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  >> But the uncertainty is damaging
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  regardless. Missions like the Nancy
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  Grace Roman Space Telescope, expected to
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  launch later this year, and the
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  Dragonfly Titan rotorcraft are among
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  those potentially in the crosshairs.
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  While all eyes are on the moon, the
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  International Space Station isn't going
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  hungry. Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 8th,
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  a SpaceX Falcon 9 is set to launch from
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  Cape Canaveral carrying Northrop Grumman
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  Signis spacecraft on the NG24 mission.
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  >> This Signis has been named the SS Steven
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  R. Nagel in honor of the former NASA
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  astronaut who flew four space shuttle
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  missions and logged 723
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  hours in space. The XL configuration is
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  carrying more than 11,000 lbs of
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  supplies and science hardware for the
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  Expedition 73 crew. Highlights include
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  an upgrade to NASA's cold atom lab,
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  which uses ultra cold atoms to study
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  quantum behavior and equipment to help
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  produce therapeutic stem cells for blood
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  and cancer treatment research.
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  >> There's also an AI powered climate
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  camera built through a partnership
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  between the Egyptian, Kenyan, and
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  Ugandan space agencies. The climb cam
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  payload designed to provide near
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  realtime weather data for disaster
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  management in East Africa.
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  >> Unlike SpaceX's Dragon, Signis doesn't
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  dock autonomously. Astronauts aboard the
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  station used the Canade Arm 2 robotic
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  arm to capture it. Then ground
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  controllers dock it to the Unity module.
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  A real team effort between humans and
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  ground control. Now, while Artemis 2 is
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  grabbing most of the headlines, there's
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  another remarkable mission launching in
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  less than 48 hours. And this one is a
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  genuine first in the history of space
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  science.
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  >> On Thursday, April 9th, the Smile
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  mission lips off from Europe's spaceport
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  in French Gana on a Vega C rocket. Smile
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  stands for the Solar Wind Magnetosphere
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  ionosphere link explorer. What it
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  promises to deliver is humanity's very
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  first complete simultaneous view of how
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  Earth's magnetic shield responds to the
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  sun. Think of it this way. Earth is
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  constantly bombarded by charged
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  particles streaming from the sun, the
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  solar wind. Our planet is protected by a
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  massive invisible magnetic bubble called
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  the magnetosphere. Without it, life on
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  Earth simply could not exist. We've been
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  studying pieces of this interaction for
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  decades, but we've never been able to
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  image the whole system at once. Smile
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  will change that. It carries four
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  instruments, a soft X-ray imager, an
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  ultraviolet aurora camera, a light ion
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  analyzer, and a magnetometer. All
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  working together in real time to capture
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  the magnetosphere as a complete dynamic
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  system for the first time ever. The
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  orbit is extraordinary. After launch,
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  Smile fires its engines 11 times over 25
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  days to stretch its path into a highly
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  elongated loop, reaching 121,000 km
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  above the North Pole, then sweeping back
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  down to just 5,000 km above the South
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  Pole to beam its data home. Each orbit
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  takes roughly two days. At its high
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  point over the North Pole, Smile will
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  continuously image the entire dayside
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  magnetosphere for up to 40 hours per
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  orbit. That's the longest uninterrupted
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  auroral observation ever planned from
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  space. A capability that's been missing
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  since 2008.
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  >> There's also a remarkable geopolitical
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  dimension here. Smile is a joint mission
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  between ESA and the Chinese Academy of
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  Sciences. the first mission ever jointly
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  designed, built, launched, and operated
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  by both agencies. That partnership has
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  survived a decade of development,
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  technical setbacks, COVID delays, and
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  considerable political headwinds. The
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  fact that it's launching at all is
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  itself a statement
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  >> and the practical stakes are high.
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  Better understanding of space weather
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  and earlier prediction of solar storms
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  protects satellites, power grids,
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  financial systems, and communications
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  networks worldwide. Liftoff is set for
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  0729
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  BST on April 9th with live coverage on
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  ESA web TV. The name smile comes from
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  the mission acronym, but there's a
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  literal smile involved, too. ESA's
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  simulations of what the X-ray camera
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  will see show a smileyfaced shaped
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  pattern of X-ray emission from Earth's
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  magnetosphere, which may be the most
• 12:08
  delightful coincidence in all of space
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  science.
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  >> The spacecraft weighs 2300 kg, but 1,580
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  of those kg are fuel. It burns through
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  90% of its propellant in the first month
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  alone just to reach its science orbit.
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  It's essentially a fuel tank attached to
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  instruments.
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  >> Here's a story that connects directly to
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  Aremis 2 and the dream of long-term
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  human presence on the moon. We know
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  there's water ice locked in the
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  permanently shadowed craters near the
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  lunar south pole, but we don't really
• 12:43
  know how much or exactly where. Blue
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  Origin wants to fix that. Earlier this
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  year at the Lunar and Planetary Science
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  Conference, Blue Origin formally
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  introduced Oasis 1, the first mission in
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  what it's calling Project Oasis, a
• 13:00
  multi-phase initiative to identify,
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  assess, and ultimately use the moon's
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  resources in C2. Oasis 1 is a two
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  spacecraft mission, a pair of small sats
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  to be deployed from Blue Origin's
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  uncrrewed MK1 lander. The two spacecraft
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  will enter a highly elliptical low polar
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  orbit with their lowest point skimming
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  just 10 kilometers above the lunar south
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  pole. Close enough to collect
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  extraordinarily detailed data about
• 13:31
  what's actually in those permanently
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  shadowed regions.
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  >> The instrument suite is purposebuilt for
• 13:38
  prospecting neutron spectroscopy to
• 13:41
  measure subsurface water ice
• 13:43
  concentrations down to 1 meter depth.
• 13:46
  magnetometers for metal detection, a
• 13:49
  multisspectral push broom spectrometer
• 13:52
  for helium 3 and geological mapping.
• 13:55
  It's essentially a mining survey from
• 13:57
  orbit with resolution in some modes down
• 14:00
  to less than 5 m per pixel. And then
• 14:04
  comes the finale. After 90 days of
• 14:06
  global mapping, Oasis 1 conducts a
• 14:09
  controlled slow motion descent, a 10-day
• 14:12
  deorbit phase where the instruments keep
• 14:14
  working at ultra low altitudes right up
• 14:17
  until impact. They'll be mapping water
• 14:19
  deposits at hundreds of meters per pixel
• 14:22
  in those final hours. Science right to
• 14:25
  the end.
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  >> The commercial model is fascinating,
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  too. Blue Origin plans to license the
• 14:30
  resulting resource maps to other
• 14:32
  companies who need that data to design
• 14:35
  lunar mining hardware and attract
• 14:37
  investors. Any data without direct
• 14:40
  commercial use goes public via the
• 14:42
  European Space Resources Innovation
• 14:44
  Center. It's open science built on a
• 14:47
  commercial backbone. The project is a
• 14:49
  partnership with Luxembourg and its
• 14:51
  small space agency, continuing that
• 14:53
  small nation's long tradition of being
• 14:56
  surprisingly central to the space
• 14:58
  resources industry. And it ties directly
• 15:01
  into Blue Origin's Blue Alchemist
• 15:03
  program, which aims to process lunar
• 15:05
  regalith into oxygen, solar cells, and
• 15:08
  power cables. The moon as a
• 15:10
  self-sustaining infrastructure hub. As
• 15:12
  Blue Origins VP of advanced concepts Pat
• 15:15
  Ramy has put it, once we know what's
• 15:18
  really there and how to access it,
• 15:20
  everything changes. With Artemis 2
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  heading home right now, that future is
• 15:25
  feeling closer than ever.
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  >> Before we go, let's look ahead at what's
• 15:30
  happening in the night sky this month
• 15:31
  because April is actually a great time
• 15:33
  to be outside looking up.
• 15:35
  >> Comet C/2025R3
• 15:38
  is your prime target. It's expected to
• 15:41
  peak around April 17th and make its
• 15:43
  closest approach to Earth on April 27th,
• 15:46
  coming within 44 million miles.
• 15:49
  Magnitude estimates put it around 8. So,
• 15:52
  you'll need binoculars or a small
• 15:54
  telescope, but it should be a very
• 15:56
  rewarding site in the eastern pre-dawn
• 15:58
  sky. Then, there's the Lid meteor
• 16:01
  shower, which peaks on the night of
• 16:02
  April 21st into the 22nd. The Lids are
• 16:06
  one of the oldest recorded meteor
• 16:07
  showers. There are observations going
• 16:09
  back to 687 BC. They come from debris
• 16:13
  shed by comet Thatcher, and you'll want
• 16:16
  to look toward the constellation LRA
• 16:18
  from around 10 p.m. local time. The moon
• 16:21
  should be relatively cooperative for the
• 16:22
  larids this year, meaning darker skies
• 16:25
  for the peak. And if you have a clear
• 16:27
  horizon just before sunrise, Mercury is
• 16:30
  putting on its best showing of the year
• 16:32
  as well. Look east just above Mars. And
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  that is your Astronomy Daily for
• 16:38
  Tuesday, April 7th, 2026. What a day to
• 16:42
  be alive and curious about the universe.
• 16:44
  The Aremis 2 crew are heading home.
• 16:47
  They've seen what no human has since
• 16:50
  1972.
• 16:51
  And the science, the photos, the data,
• 16:54
  all of that is just beginning to come
• 16:56
  back to Earth.
• 16:57
  >> If this episode has inspired you, share
• 17:00
  it with someone who needs a little
• 17:02
  cosmic wonder in their day. You'll find
• 17:04
  us wherever great podcasts are heard and
• 17:06
  all the links are in the show notes.
• 17:08
  >> Find us on X, Instagram, Tik Tok, and
• 17:11
  YouTube at astroaily pod and visit
• 17:14
  astronomyaily.io
• 17:16
  for extended show notes and resources.
• 17:19
  >> Until tomorrow, keep looking up.
• 17:21
  Astronomy day.
• 17:24
  Stories be told.
• 17:32
  Stories told.