NASA Returns To The Moon (And Beyond)
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 2 April 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, Nasa has launched its first crewed mission around the Moon for more than 50 years.
The Artemis II mission will last about 10 days and take its astronauts further into space than anyone has been before. The four-person crew will not land on the Moon but will circle it, aiming to set the stage for an eventual human landing for the first time since the 1960s and 70s.
Adam is joined by space scientist, Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock and astronaut Tim Peake - who together host the podcast 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | And here we go. |
| 0:08.0 | 10, 9, 8, 7, R.S. 25 engines. |
| 0:14.0 | Licked. |
| 0:15.0 | 4, 3, 2, 1, booster ignition. |
| 0:20.0 | And lift off. |
| 0:21.6 | The crew of Artemis II now bound for the moon. |
| 0:25.6 | Humanity's next great voyage begins. |
| 0:28.6 | Very good roll pitch. |
| 0:34.6 | Roger, roll pitch. |
| 0:44.0 | Houston now controlling the flight of integrity on the Artemis II mission around the phone. |
| 0:53.7 | Just after 11 p.m. on Wednesday night, that was the sound of NASA's Artemis 2 mission taking off from the Florida coast. |
| 0:56.4 | Four astronauts on a huge rocket heading at great speed to space. Their final destination is the moon. They're not going to land |
| 1:01.3 | there, but they're going to go around the dark side of the moon. And when they make it there, |
| 1:05.1 | these pioneers will be the humans who have travelled furthest from Earth. Sometimes I'm a little bit skeptical of space stories, |
| 1:13.7 | but everyone is united on this one, that it's ambitious, it's awe-inspiring, and also it's very |
| 1:20.5 | accessible because so much of this mission you can tune into in real time. And that's what we |
| 1:26.1 | will be focusing on in this episode of newscast. |
| 1:29.1 | Now, simultaneously, the countdown in Florida, there was the countdown to Donald Trump's big |
| 1:33.9 | address to the American people, which he did at about 2 o'clock on Thursday morning UK time. |
| 1:40.2 | Now, there's a lot of buildup to this speech, but actually, when I then watched it online |
| 1:45.2 | when I woke up this morning, it sort of almost felt like him reading out his own social media |
... |
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