Artemis II leaves Earth's orbit and heads for Moon
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Artemis II mission has completed a critical engine burn that's propelling the Orion spacecraft and its four astronauts on a journey to the far side of the Moon. It's the first time in over 50 years that humans have left Earth's orbit. Also in this podcast: Iranians describe mounting desperation after a month of war. The military general behind Myanmar's coup five years ago becomes the country's president. President Trump fires US Attorney General Pam Bondi. And the tortoise that the world thought was dead - but it turned out to be fake news.
The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.0 | I'm Celia Hatton, and in the early hours of Friday, the 3rd of April, these are our main stories. |
| 0:18.5 | NASA's Artemis II mission moves into its next phase. A big engine burn |
| 0:23.2 | sends the astronauts beyond the Earth's orbit on a trajectory around the moon. Plus, the military |
| 0:30.1 | general behind Myanmar's coup five years ago becomes the country's president. Also in this podcast, Donald Trump fires his second cabinet member in less than a month. |
| 0:43.3 | There had been speculation for some time that the Trump administration was not particularly happy with her performance at times. |
| 0:50.3 | Pam Bondi is out as U.S. Attorney General. |
| 0:57.9 | Thank you. Pam Bondi is out as U.S. Attorney General. We're starting the program with news from NASA's Artemis II Moon Mission and its trans-luner injection burn. |
| 1:05.7 | This is the message from Houston Mission Control just a few hours ago. |
| 1:10.5 | Confirmation from teams here on the ground to the Artemis II crew aboard Orion. |
| 1:15.6 | We have transluner injection burn cutoff and early reports that it was a very good burn. |
| 1:22.6 | Orion now 520 miles away from Earth. |
| 1:26.6 | Just five minutes ago we were only 115 miles above Earth's surface. |
| 1:31.5 | That distance will continue to increase as we are now on a trajectory to fly around the moon for the first time in over 50 years. |
| 1:38.8 | This critical moment marked the next phase of the space mission that's taking four astronauts on an unprecedented |
| 1:45.5 | trip. The burn, a boost of the engine that lasted just under six minutes, put the spacecraft |
| 1:51.8 | on a path to go out of the Earth's orbit towards the far side of the moon. One of the astronauts, |
| 1:58.3 | the Canadian Jeremy Hansen, spoke to mission control shortly after the burn had taken place. |
| 2:04.1 | We just wanted to share a little bit of the sentiment up here as we came around the planet, |
| 2:08.7 | and we're zooming over just 100 nautical miles above it, if you got a moment. |
| 2:15.4 | Please, Jeremy, we are all yours. |
... |
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