The Backstory: Artemis 2: To the Moon . . . And Beyond

Artemis 2 blasted off this week on NASA’s first manned trip into deep space in over 50 years. How did we get there and where are we going? The answers are both fascinating and inspirational.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, No matter how old you are, you've been
around for some pretty exciting moments in the space race,
even if it was just buzz light ear. But this
week we're witnessing a whole new era. The artem Is
two is flying all the way around the Moon, taking
a peek at its dark side, and then returning, having
traveled farther than any other manned spaceflight ever, and preparing

(00:21):
us for the next big step. I'm Patty Steele. Where
did it all begin? And where's it all headed? That's
next on the backstory. The backstory is back. The artem
Is two blasted off this week, and this mission feels
pretty different because of the passage of time. The last

(00:42):
time humans left Earth's orbit, truly left it and headed
into deep space was December of nineteen seventy two. The
world was wearing bell bottoms and watching Watergate unfold as
Apollo seventeen returned home, and then we just stopped. For
more than fifty years, humanities stayed close to home in

(01:03):
low Earth orbit. The International Space Station became our outpost.
Space shuttles came and went, impressive but kind of routine,
until some terrible tragedies. Rockets launched and satellites filled the skies.
Private companies turned space into business, but deep space, the
Moon and beyond that became a history until now. It's

(01:27):
NASA's first trip beyond low Earth orbit in over fifty years,
as the Space agency readies for a man trip to
the Moon in twenty twenty eight. The trip this week
will be the farthest flight into space ever. In nineteen seventy,
Apollo thirteen traveled two hundred and forty eight thousand, six
hundred and fifty five miles. Artemis will break that record,

(01:49):
traveling two hundred fifty two thousand, seven hundred and ninety
nine miles away from Earth as it passes the back
of the Moon. Our national obsession began sixty five years
ago when a Russian cosmonaut became the first human in space,
and that lit a fire under the US race for
the Moon. With the Apollo missions, our intense fascination with

(02:12):
space travel reached its apex back in nineteen sixty nine,
fifty seven years ago. That's when Apollo eleven landed man
on the Moon for the first time, proving we could
leave earth land on another world and return home. The
pictures it sent back to Earth were spellbinding. Naso Washington
and the public were enthralled with the idea of space exploration.

(02:36):
Nothing seemed impossible in the Race for the Stars, but
stuff happens. Let's go back to April of nineteen seventy.
Apollo thirteen was set to land on the Moon for
man's third trip to the lunar surface, and then fifty
six hours into the flight and oxygen tank in the
service module exploded. It damaged the second tank and caused

(02:59):
a loss of oxen, water and electrical power. Not cool
when you're two hundred thousand miles away from Earth. Command
module pilot Jack Swigger sends an emergency message to mission
control saying, Houston, we've had a problem. Wow, I'd love
to be that cool. Right, It's time to quickly autocorrect.

(03:19):
The crew moves from the damaged module into the lunar module. Now,
the problem is it was only meant to provide two
days of life support for two astronauts once they landed
on the Moon. Now they're skipping the moon landing and
they have three guys trying to survive for four days
until they could get back to Earth. They needed to

(03:39):
use as little fuel and water as possible, and get
back as quickly as possible to save the astronauts' lives.
It was an incredible heat of the moment's series of
off the cuff decisions that saved the crew. They decided
to swing around the Moon and use its gravity to
pull them back to Earth rather than using standard fuel.

(04:01):
Now what's amazing is, after all the incredible technological advancements
over the decades, Artemis two will use the same free
return slingshot trajectory that brought Apollo thirteen astronauts back to
Earth after the oxygen tank explosion, this time, though by plan.
As we lean into exploring more of our Solar System

(04:22):
and the universe, understanding the most efficient ways to use
our resources is essential. Artemis two is propelling us to
a Moon landing in the next couple of years, and
perhaps to another planet in this decade. Both NASA and
SpaceX have Mars on schedule, with SpaceX planning for an
unmanned starship landing in twenty twenty eight and both NASA

(04:43):
and SpaceX planning manned landings in the twenty thirties. A
little longer term, SpaceX is working toward a self sustaining
city on Mars by twenty fifty. The whole idea of
space travel is very much what the major explorers in
history worlds feeling as they set out in ships or
on horseback for unexplored territories. It's kind of chilling and

(05:07):
thrilling all at once and humbling. Artemis isn't about making
space routine. It's about making it historic and inspirational. Again.
Artemis isn't Apollo two point zero. It's something bigger. Apollo
was about getting there first. Artemis is about staying. It's
fascinating scientifically and inspirationally. The Voyager one spacecraft had been

(05:31):
traveling toward the end of the Solar System since it
launched in nineteen seventy seven. In nineteen ninety, it sent
back breathtaking photos of Earth appearing as a tiny speck
of blue highlighted in a sunbeam through cosmic dust. The
late astronomer Carl Sagan wrote, look again at that dot.
That's here, that's home, that's us on it. Everyone you love,

(05:54):
everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, Every human
being whoever was, has lived out their lives. It's the
aggregate of our joy and suffering, every hero and coward,
every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant,
every young couple in love, every mother and father, inventor
and explorer, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader,

(06:19):
every saint and sinner in the history of our species
has lived here on a mote of dust, suspended in
a sunbeam. I mean, think about it, just here. Well,
that may be about to change. For decades we proved
we could live in space. Now it's a different question.
Can we go further and stay there? I hope you're

(06:43):
enjoying The Backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review
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It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm
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(07:08):
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Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The

(07:29):
pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.