S8 Ep686: PREVIEW FOR LATER. GUESTS: John Batchelor and Bob Zimmerman. SUMMARY: John Batchelor and Bob Zimmerman criticize the Artemis 2 mission design as inefficient and lacking a clear plan. They compare it unfavorably to the Apollo program, noting the SLS rocket
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 2 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | This is John Batchster, conversation with Bob Zimmerman about the Artemis II mission underway. |
| 0:06.5 | The poorer design of Artemis leaves us puzzles as to why we're going through these exercises with SLS and Orion capsule. |
| 0:15.6 | In this instance, Artemis II is doing very little to practice for a lunar landing. |
| 0:22.1 | It's not going into lunar orbit. |
| 0:24.9 | There's no drama here. |
| 0:26.4 | It swings around the moon like a boomerang and comes back. |
| 0:29.4 | Bob explains. |
| 0:31.0 | Here's Bob Zimmerman on what is Artemis 2, and then again, what is Artemis 3, 4, and 5? |
| 0:40.8 | To what end? More tonight. |
| 0:49.0 | Yes. Once again, even though Isaacman has tried to rationalize the program, the program still is a cludge and a mess. There's no doubt in my mind about it. I doubt seriously his 28-2-Lunum landings is going to occur as he promised. |
| 0:57.7 | I very much doubt it because I've got to tell you, |
| 1:00.2 | even though the next mission is supposed to be in Earth orbit to test Rondervu and docking, |
| 1:05.8 | to do a landing on the next mission doesn't really make sense. |
| 1:10.1 | Apollo didn't do that. |
| 1:11.3 | It tested rendezvous and docking of its lunar land in Earth orbit on Apollo 9. |
| 1:16.8 | But Apollo 10 did not land on the moon. |
| 1:19.2 | It went to lunar orbit with the lunar module and tested rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit before landing. |
| 1:27.3 | And then they landed on 11. |
| 1:28.7 | So this whole program continues to be a cludge. |
| 1:32.2 | And it's a cludge once again created by the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule, |
| 1:37.3 | which were not built with a plan in mind. |
| 1:41.2 | They were... |
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