Artemis II: Update: Aiming for April
13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II
BBC
9.5 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Artemis II is “on track” to launch in April. And so are we – with our brand-new season of 13 Minutes, which will start a couple of days before lift off. Astronaut Tim Peake is co-presenting 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II and has the latest news. The mission had been set to begin in early March, but a helium leak was discovered. Nasa says it's confident the problem has been fixed. Now, the earliest possible launch date is 1 April.
The mission is set to see astronauts flying around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Tim spent 186 days at the International Space Station, so what’s it like to be an astronaut waiting for lift off? What final preparations are made? And what determines the launch date?
13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II will take off two days before the launch. Tim will be joined by space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock and US space journalist Kristin Fisher to bring you a space story in real time. Every day of the mission, the team will have the latest news, key details about the rocket and the crew, and they’ll hear from the people who’re making it all happen.
Join us later this month as we travel together towards the far side of the Moon.
Theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | The US Space Agency NASA says its completed repairs to the rocket it will use to send |
| 0:24.9 | four astronauts to the moon, meaning it could launch as soon as the 1st of April. |
| 0:30.4 | The launch was due to happen before engineers discovered a helium leak. |
| 0:36.7 | We all know what it's like to wait, for a bus, in a queue, for a holiday. |
| 0:41.2 | But how would you feel waiting to go into space, further into space than humans have ever been |
| 0:46.9 | before, so far into space that you'll slingshot around the far side of the moon? |
| 0:52.8 | There are four astronauts waiting to do just that as part of the Artemis II mission. |
| 1:00.1 | We are on track for a launch as early as April 1st. |
| 1:08.0 | We were fortunate to have our crew join us virtually. |
| 1:11.6 | Having them joined us in this review really reinforced the importance of having open, honest discussions about our path forward and about the risks that we're asking them to take. |
| 1:26.6 | I'm Tim Peek, and I spent six months living and working |
| 1:30.1 | on board the International Space Station in 2016, |
| 1:34.2 | and I wanted to give you a quick update about the Artemis II journey. |
| 1:38.8 | The astronauts on Artemis II will currently be doing those final preparations |
| 1:43.5 | ahead of their mission whilst they |
| 1:45.5 | wait until the moon is in the right part of its orbit for the launch. Now those astronauts will |
| 1:51.3 | likely be feeling excitement, anticipation and perhaps some apprehension. After all, they are going |
| 1:57.9 | more than 400,000 kilometres away from Earth. |
| 2:02.2 | And like them, Maggie Kristen and me have also been waiting and watching. |
| 2:08.0 | But I wanted to let you know that when the launch finally happens, |
| 2:11.3 | the team at 13 minutes will be ready to bring you all the latest action, news and updates. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.