It’s been a big day for the Artemis II astronauts. They broke a 56-year record for the furthest distance humans have travelled from Earth, successfully looped around the Moon, and capped off the flyby with a solar eclipse. 

Belinda and Jacinta break down what the crew saw as they gazed upon the Moon’s far side and why they lost contact with mission control for 40 minutes. 

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler about the Artemis II mission to the moon, search ‘Science Friction: Artemis Explained podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch with us: [email protected].

Credits:

• Presenters: Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove

This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Wurundjeri peoples.

We’re at the pointy end of the Artemis II mission now: It’s the eve of the lunar flyby. 

With the four astronauts now looped into the Moon’s gravitational clutches, they’ll have an intense few hours observing the lunar surface, taking photos, and breaking Apollo 13’s record for humans furthest from Earth. 

Artemis Explained is a daily podcast from ABC Radio National.  From lift-off to splashdown, we'll bring you daily Artemis II mission updates and answer your questions about life as an astronaut, the science of spaceflight, and plans to venture beyond the Moon.

If you have a question about the Artemis mission you'd like Belinda and Jacinta to answer in a future episode, email [email protected]

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler about the Artemis II mission to the moon, search ‘Science Friction: Artemis Explained podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch with us: [email protected].

Credits:

• Presenters: Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove

This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Wurundjeri peoples.

Alongside taking snaps of Earth, chatting with mission control and fixing the toilet, the Artemis II astronauts are also taking part in all kinds of scientific research. So what experiments are running on the Orion capsule, and what do Australian lasers have to do with anything? 

Artemis Explained is a daily podcast from ABC Radio National.  From lift-off to splashdown, we'll bring you daily Artemis II mission updates and answer your questions about life as an astronaut, the science of spaceflight, and plans to venture beyond the Moon.

If you have a question about the Artemis mission you'd like Belinda and Jacinta to answer in a future episode, email [email protected]

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler about the Artemis II mission to the moon, search ‘Science Friction: Artemis Explained podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch with us: [email protected]

Credits:

• Presenters: Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove

This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Wurundjeri peoples.

The Artemis II astronauts have passed the halfway point between Earth and the Moon, and still have around another day's travel time before they approach their lunar flyby. 

So what do they get up to while they’re hurtling through space? And how do astronauts go about their daily routine in a cramped Orion capsule?

Artemis Explained is a daily podcast from ABC Radio National.  From lift-off to splashdown, we'll bring you daily Artemis II mission updates and answer your questions about life as an astronaut, the science of spaceflight, and plans to venture beyond the Moon.

If you have a question about the Artemis mission you'd like Belinda and Jacinta to answer in a future episode, email [email protected]

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler about the Artemis II mission to the moon, search ‘Science Friction: Artemis Explained podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch with us: [email protected].

Credits:

• Presenters: Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove

This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Wurundjeri peoples.

Just over a day after blasting off, four astronauts encased in an Orion capsule have veered away from Earth and are now on course to fly around the Moon.

Bel and Jacinta unpack what the "trans-lunar injection" manoeuvre involved, and take a look at some of the highly relatable challenges faced by the astronauts during their first day in space. Because when you're flying towards the Moon, email problems should be the last thing on your mind.

Artemis Explained is a daily podcast from ABC Radio National.  From lift-off to splashdown, we'll bring you daily Artemis II mission updates and answer your questions about life as an astronaut, the science of spaceflight, and plans to venture beyond the Moon.

If you have a question about the Artemis mission you'd like Belinda and Jacinta to answer in a future episode, email [email protected]

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler about the Artemis II mission to the moon, search ‘Science Friction: Artemis Explained podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch with us: [email protected].

Credits:

• Presenters: Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove

This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Wurundjeri peoples.

And we have lift off!

Four astronauts successfully blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center and have started their journey to the Moon.

But it wouldn't be a Moon launch without a couple of hiccups. We walk through what went down (and up!).

Artemis Explained is a daily podcast from ABC Radio National.

From lift-off to splashdown, we'll bring you daily Artemis II mission updates and answer your questions about life as an astronaut, the science of spaceflight, and plans to venture beyond the Moon.

If you have a question about the Artemis mission you'd like Belinda and Jacinta to answer in a future episode, email [email protected]

The new moonshot

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler about the Artemis II mission to the moon, search ‘Science Friction: Artemis Explained podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch with us: [email protected].

Credits:

• Presenters: Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove

This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Wurundjeri peoples.

For the first time in 50 years, humanity is on the cusp of returning to the Moon, with the Artemis II lunar flyby mission set to launch in the coming days.

But if we've already been to the Moon, why bother going back now? And who will be on board when the spacecraft blasts off?

Welcome to the first episode of Artemis Explained. From lift-off to splashdown, we'll bring you daily Artemis II mission updates and answer your questions about life as an astronaut, the science of spaceflight, and plans to venture beyond the Moon.

If you have a question about the Artemis mission you'd like Belinda and Jacinta to answer in a future episode, email [email protected]

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler about the Artemis II mission to the moon, search ‘Science Friction: Artemis Explained podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Credits:

• Presenters: Belinda Smith and Jacinta Bowler
• Senior Producer: Shelby Traynor
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove

This episode was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Wurundjeri peoples. 

Season six of the multi-award winning podcast Expanse: The Nannup Four explores the dark secrets, hard questions and lost chances around one of Australia's most baffling missing persons cases.

In 2007 four people disappeared from an isolated blue farmhouse on the outskirts of the Western Australian town of Nannup. They left behind the scatterings of a life, a letter on the door and bizarre rumours. What emerges is a story of control, hidden identities and a dark online cult as everyone is left asking, what could I have done differently?

Follow Expanse on the ABC listen app or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's the point of space exploration? Would you fly on a space shuttle? How did they fix the joints after the Challenger disaster? 

For this special bonus episode of The Challenger Legacy, hosts Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Fiona Pepper answer your questions.

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Fiona Pepper and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki about the legacy the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster left on culture, space exploration and high-risk decision making, search ‘Science Friction: The Challenger Legacy podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch with us: [email protected].

Guests:

Peter KingCorrespondent for CBS News Radio

Wendy Whitman CobbSpace policy expert at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies

Tony AntonelliRetired NASA astronaut

Credits:

• Presenters: Fiona Pepper and Karl Kruszelnicki
• Reporter: Fiona Pepper
• Senior Producer: James Bullen
• Series Producer: Jonathan Webb
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove
• Sound Engineer: Emrys Cronin

This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Menang Noongar peoples.

NASA is gearing up for the Artemis II mission — where it will send astronauts around the moon for the first time in 50 years. While space exploration is never without risk, a retired astronaut is warning that NASA is "playing Russian roulette" with the lives of the crew. 

So have lessons been learnt from the Challenger and Columbia disasters?

To hear more podcast episodes from hosts Fiona Pepper and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki about the legacy the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster left on culture, space exploration and high-risk decision making, search ‘Science Friction: The Challenger Legacy podcast’ from Radio National (RN) on the ABC Listen App (Australia), or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch with us: [email protected].

Guests:

Peter KingCorrespondent for CBS News Radio

Wendy Whitman CobbSpace policy expert at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies

Charlie CamardaRetired NASA research engineer and astronaut

Howard BerkesFormer investigative reporter, NPR

Leslie EbelingDaughter, Bob Ebeling

Brian RussellFormer engineer, Morton Thiokol

Credits:

• Presenters: Fiona Pepper and Karl Kruszelnicki
• Reporter: Fiona Pepper
• Senior Producer: James Bullen
• Series Producer: Jonathan Webb
• Executive Producer: Petria Ladgrove
• Sound Engineer: Simon Branthwaite
• Archives Research: Lisa Chidlow, Michael Osmond

This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal and Menang Noongar peoples.