Update: Artemis II Crew Flies Around the Moon

NASA's Curious Universe delivers a special update on the historic Artemis II mission, where astronauts Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen became the first humans to fly around the Moon since 1972. The episode captures the emotional and technical milestones of the mission, from the dramatic launch at Kennedy Space Center—complete with crowd reactions, personal stories, and a child’s mascot named RISE that flew aboard—to the crew’s 40-minute radio silence behind the Moon. The astronauts conducted critical tests on Orion’s life support systems, performed a successful manual flyby of the discarded ICPS stage, and made groundbreaking observations during a total solar eclipse visible from lunar orbit. They named two moon craters—Integrity and Carol—in honor of their spacecraft and Commander Wiseman’s late wife. Throughout the journey, the crew shared profound reflections on Earth’s fragility and unity, echoing the legacy of Apollo 8’s Earthrise photo. The mission marks a pivotal step toward NASA’s long-term goals of establishing a sustainable lunar presence and eventually sending humans to Mars.