NASA ‘Curious Universe’ Podcast Introduces Artemis II Crew Ahead of Historic Moon Mission

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Washington. D.C.: NASA has released a new episode of its Curious Universe podcast offering an in-depth look at the astronauts who will fly around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed lunar mission since the Apollo era.

The episode introduces the four-member Artemis II crew: commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. Scheduled to launch later this year, Artemis II will send astronauts around the Moon and back to Earth, testing NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft ahead of future lunar landings.

Hosted by Padi Boyd and Jacob Pinter, the podcast blends archival audio from the Apollo missions with behind-the-scenes conversations, personal reflections, and interviews with the Artemis II astronauts. The episode explores the crew’s training, motivations, family conversations, and the emotional weight of preparing for a mission that marks a major step in NASA’s return to deep space exploration.

Artemis II follows the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022 and will serve as a critical test flight for Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon’s south pole and establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.

The podcast also highlights the broader goals of the Artemis program, including international collaboration, marked by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen becoming the first non-American to travel to the Moon, and preparations for future human missions to Mars.

NASA said the Curious Universe series will continue to take listeners behind the scenes of Artemis II, offering insight into mission planning, spacecraft testing, and the people powering what the agency calls a new golden age of space exploration.