Artemis II: NASA’s plan for the Moon and beyond
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The countdown has begun for the launch of NASA's Artemis II mission around the Moon, the first manned mission there in more than 50 years. Their voyage around our nearest neighbour will pave the way for a lunar landing and, eventually, a Moon base. But why is there suddenly rekindled interest in moon exploration, and could this bring humans toward the ultimate goal of reaching Mars?
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Guest:
- Scott Kelly, retired NASA astronaut.
- Kaya Burgess, science and religious affairs correspondent for The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana
Producer: Julia Webster
We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.com
Read more: Artemis II: mission to the Moon
Further listening: The Epstein Files, AI journalism and the future of truth - The Sunday Story
Clips: NASA, John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, PBS, Space Age Archive, Associated Press, CriticalPast, Cosmosphere.
Photo: Kathia Mestanza, Getty Images.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From the Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. |
| 0:06.0 | I'm Manvian Rana. |
| 0:08.0 | 10, 9, 8, we have a goal for main engine start. |
| 0:15.0 | We have main engine start. |
| 0:17.0 | 4, 3, 2, two, one, zero. |
| 0:21.6 | More than 50 years ago, Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon. |
| 0:32.6 | I'm at the foot of the ladder. The lamb foot beds are only depressed in the surface about one or two inches. |
| 0:42.3 | I'm going to step on the limb now. |
| 0:45.3 | That's one small step for man, one giant leap for man's sky. |
| 0:52.3 | The team aboard NASA's Apollo 11 were on the moon for less than 24 hours, but the impact down here on Earth was unparalleled. |
| 1:03.0 | Why climb the highest mountain? Why 35 years ago fly the Atlantic. Why does Rice play Texas? |
| 1:11.8 | We choose to go to the moon. |
| 1:14.8 | We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other thing. |
| 1:19.6 | Not because they are easy, but because they are hard. |
| 1:23.8 | And now, all these decades later, we're finally going back. |
| 1:28.3 | Five, four-stage engine start. |
| 1:31.3 | Three, two, one, boosters in ignition. |
| 1:36.3 | And lift-off of Artemis I. |
| 1:38.3 | We rise together, back to the Moon and beyond. |
| 1:53.0 | In 2019, NASA announced the launch of the Artemis program with the aim of returning to the moon. The second phase of that mission, Artemis II, is expected to launch today, |
| 1:58.0 | with a planned trajectory that will take humans further than they've ever been |
| 2:03.6 | into space, thousands of miles beyond the moon. |
... |
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