Next Stop: The Moon

Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Make STEAM Work For You

An Over Coffee® special-edition podcast (Graphic courtesy of NASA, and used with permission.) As the world applauds Sir Richard Branson's successful flight aboard his own spaceship, NASA continues exciting work on another front. For the NASA Artemis mission, the first step is to return humans to the Moon. Colonizing the Moon comes next. Along with exploring the surface--while looking forward, possibly, to future Mars flights. As NASA Mission Design and Planetary Science specialist Matt Wittal explains, the program will include three major launches. Artemis I and Artemis II will be preparatory work. Then, within the next few years, Artemis III will return humans to the Moon. In April, we had the pleasure of talking with Matt about the Artemis program and NASA's current work. Here is an updated version of our conversation! On this edition of Over Coffee®, we cover: What’s been happening since our 2019 discussion with Matt (Since this was recorded, in April 2021,NASA has announced its choice of SpaceX to build the rocket that will fly astronauts to the Moon. And congratulations to everyone at NASA on Ingenuity’s historic, first successful flight!); A look at what will be happening, with the Artemis project and beyond; Some of the safety and sustainability considerations involved, in creating the missions to the Moon (and ultimately to Mars); How NASA determines the location for a Moon landing; Some of the program’s upcoming milestones; What will be happening as Artemis II returns astronauts to orbiting the Moon; How the design of the mission has evolved, since 2019; How other nations are collaborating on the lunar-exploration program; Some of the science goals of the mission; One of the coolest technologies Matt has seen in spacecraft development within the last year; What the Artemis III crew will be doing, after their arrival at the Moon; Some of the educational opportunities coming up in the future, as the Artemis launches get closer; What Matt considers some of his most exciting moments as he works on the Artemis program. Over Coffee®, and Two Maverix® Multimedia, are not, in any way, shape or form, affiliated with, nor endorsed by, NASA. (We just think this is seriously cool!)