Episode description: Behind NASA’s Artemis II mission and the astronauts who will fly around the Moon, teams on the ground are essential. Explore some of the epic equipment that makes Artemis II possible—the mobile launcher, crawler-transporter, and NASA’s barge Pegasus—and meet a few of the many specialists who act as the shoulders lifting astronauts into space.
For Artemis II news and the latest launch information, visit nasa.gov/artemis-ii
[MUSIC: “Supercluster” by Sergey Azbel]
PADI BOYD: You’re listening to NASA’s Curious Universe. I’m Padi Boyd.
JACOB PINTER: And I’m Jacob Pinter. NASA is leading a golden age of space exploration. The Artemis II mission will send humans around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. It sets the stage for future Artemis missions when astronauts return to the Moon’s surface. And Artemis will build upon the foundation we’ve laid and prepare us for the first human journey to Mars.
PADI: In this limited series, you’re along for the ride of Artemis II. You’ll meet the astronauts flying around the Moon and go behind the scenes with NASA engineers and scientists powering this mission.
JACOB: This is episode five of our Artemis II series. In this episode: the ground support that sends humans to deep space. Artemis missions rely on many people working together, and they depend on specialized equipment that’s just really cool.
PADI: We’re going behind the scenes with a skyscraper that can move, giant machines that carry rockets to the launch pad, and the people at the controls making sure they do their job perfectly so astronauts can have a safe trip around the Moon.
JACOB: Before we get too far, I just want to make sure you know how important this stuff is. And don’t take it from me. Take it from Victor Glover, one of the astronauts about to fly around the Moon. He’s the pilot for Artemis II. When I interviewed Victor, he shouted out the program that is formally called Exploration Ground Systems. There’s the launch pad, the infrastructure that delivers fuel to the rocket, and the procedures that recover the astronauts when they come home or get them to safety if there’s an emergency.
VICTOR GLOVER: It’s a big deal, but it often gets kind of overlooked because of the rocket and the spacecraft. The rocket and the spacecraft get all the attention. The pins and the posters, they always put that in, and nobody wants to ju …