At 12:40 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2022, NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5 day mission to the Moon. In this audio clip, commentator Rob Navias observes the splashdown.

At 12:40 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2022, NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5 day mission to the Moon. In this audio clip, commentator Rob Navias observes the splashdown.

Artemis I was the first integrated flight test of NASA’s Deep Space Exploration Systems: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the Exploration Ground Systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Artemis I mission flew the uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon and safely back to Earth over the course of 25 days. In this audio clip from Nov. 16, 2022, commentator Derrol Nail observes liftoff of the Artemis I mission.

Artemis I was the first integrated flight test of NASA’s Deep Space Exploration Systems: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the Exploration Ground Systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Artemis I mission flew the uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon and safely back to Earth over the course of 25 days. In this audio clip from Nov. 16, 2022, Artemis I launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson polls her team to resume the countdown to launch. Artemis I launched roughly ten minutes later.

Artemis I was the first integrated flight test of NASA’s Deep Space Exploration Systems: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the Exploration Ground Systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Artemis I mission flew the uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon and safely back to Earth over the course of 25 days. In this audio clip from Nov. 16, 2022, Artemis I launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson resumes the launch countdown and addresses the "Artemis generation" directly. Artemis I launched roughly ten minutes later.

On episode 408, Artemis II landing and recovery director Lili Villareal discusses how NASA and its partners recover the Orion spacecraft and its four astronauts following splashdown at the end of the mission.

On episode 408, Artemis II landing and recovery director Lili Villareal discusses how NASA and its partners recover the Orion spacecraft and its four astronauts following splashdown at the end of the mission.

This year, four NASA astronauts will fly around the Moon and back for the first time since the Apollo program. Their mission is called Artemis II. It’s a key test flight that will set the stage for Artemis III, when humans land on the lunar South Pole for the first time and set up a long-term presence there. In this episode, meet your intrepid Artemis II crew: commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.

Currently, flying faster than the speed of sound over land is prohibited for commercial flights because it creates disruptive sonic booms. NASA's experimental X-59 plane will research how to turn those booms into "sonic thumps," about as loud as a slamming car door. Lead pilot Nils Larson explains how the X-59 could usher in the next era of commercial supersonic flight.

In 2022, NASA launched Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight of the rocket and spacecraft that will send humans to the Moon. Go inside Firing Room 1—the nerve center for Artemis launches—and hear from the engineers who launched Artemis I, including the intricate procedures they developed just to fuel the rocket correctly. Now NASA is ready to launch Artemis II—and to send humans around the Moon.