Artemis II: NASA pilot prepares for a trip around the moon and beyond | 5 Things podcast

On Sunday's episode of the 5 Things podcast: NASA’s 2024 return to the moon will be a milestone in space exploration. The Artemis II lunar mission will take humankind further than we’ve gone before. Who are the brave astronauts who will head out on a ten-day journey around the moon? We sat down with astronaut and pilot Victor Glover to find out what this next mission means. 

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Dana Taylor:

Hello and welcome to 5 Things. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Sunday, September 24th, 2023. Ever since Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, planted the American flag and uttered one of the most famous lines in history, Americans have celebrated all things NASA. Space exploration is about breaking boundaries, expanding our knowledge of the universe. It's about pursuing truly ambitious and cutting edge technologies. And it's also about showing the rest of the world that America's place in the world is, well, at the top. As NASA prepares for its first trip to the moon in 50 years, we sat down with astronaut and pilot Victor Glover to find out what this next mission means. Victor, thank you so much for joining us.

Victor Glover:

Hi Dana. Thank you for having me.

Dana Taylor:

So this is a first of its kind mission. It's been a half century since NASA's last trip to the moon. Why the moon and why now?

Victor Glover:

Why the moon? Why now? So this is NASA's program that's not just going to get humans back to the moon and eventually onto the surface into a space station that orbits around the moon. But this is also our program that is going to get humans on to Mars, our next door neighbor planet. And so the Artemis 2 mission is it's a great thing for us to celebrate. And the why now is the hardware and operations and procedures are getting us close to going back, but this is all a way point on getting to our next door neighbor on Mars.

Dana Taylor:

Well, NASA missions have historically garnered overwhelming public support. Is this any different?

Victor Glover:

The public response has actually been really amazing. It is so encouraging to see. I work for NASA, so I think about this stuff all of the time, and I have a great regard for our team and the technology that we work with. But to see folks so excited about what we're doing and going back to the moon, it is really encouraging.

Dana Taylor:

Well, India is the latest entrant into the moon landing club. What has NASA learned from their achievement?

Victor Glover:

Well, we actually just took some images. We have something called the lunar reconnaissance orbiter, and we image their vehicle on the surface of the moon. And so we've continued to refine how we fly that vehicle. And that same orbiter, that LRO mission is going to help the astronauts that are eventually going to walk on the surface of the moon, know where to go and what science objectives on the surface they're interested in.

Dana Taylor:

Well, India also recently signed the Artemis Accords joining 26 other countries who've agreed to the US led agreement. What's the goal of these accords?

Victor Glover:

I'm really glad that you brought that up. You started off talking about how we went to the moon, the Apollo program, but this is different. And one of the big differences is that this is an international program. It is a partnership, and the Artemis Accords are a really interesting set of non-binding treaties. But the point is that these countries are all agreeing for the peaceful uses of space exploration. And I think that's a really important facet. That's a diplomatic international relations difference between Artemis and Apollo. But also you're seeing it in the terms of the technology and the teams. Our crew has an astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency, and our spacecraft is made up of pieces from NASA and the European Space Agency. Our solar arrays are on what we call the service module, and that's made by a company in Europe and given to us by the European Space Agency. So this partnership between corporate America and the public, but also between countries is a very important, unique facet of the Artemis program.

Dana Taylor:

Well, you and your team recently got to see the new spacecraft at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. What were your first impressions?

Victor Glover:

I could see that a lot of hard work has gone into that vehicle. It was quite impressive. It looked amazing, and it's really neat to see something that goes from looking like just a bunch of pieces of metal and wires to looking like a vehicle that, yeah, I could get in that and live in that for a couple of weeks. The Orion spacecraft is supposed to support a crew for up to 21 days, up to three weeks. And when I saw it this time, I thought, "Yeah, I could live in that for three weeks." And so it was really motivating to know that the folks that are responsible for building and putting that thing together, their work is coming to fruition. And so I'm really happy for them because this program has been in the works for a really long time, much longer than the time since they've announced this crew. People have been working on some of these pieces for decades.

Dana Taylor:

And what new technology excites you most about the Orion?

Victor Glover:

Orion's most unique technology, I think is just the modern nature of the manufacturing processes that create this vehicle. It looks like an Apollo capsule. It's got new software, but the modern manufacturing processes that we use like friction, stir welding and advanced materials allow us to do things that we just couldn't do back then. And obviously computers are more powerful. And so all that's going to come together in a spaceship I can live in for three weeks and then I'm going to get to fly that thing by hand in space. And I'm really excited about that.

Dana Taylor:

Well, Artemis 3 was going to be the next mission to the moon with a targeted liftoff in 2025. That mission is going to include a moon landing with astronauts. They haven't announced the crew for the mission yet, but they have said that it will include the first woman and the first black person. It's hard to imagine a better candidate than you. Do you want to break any news with us today?

Victor Glover:

Okay. I'm not the public affairs folks, so I wouldn't do that, but the point that you bring up is way more important. I know it's really interesting on the who, we want to put the who in it, but I think it's really important just to celebrate the what. This is what we're going to do. We're going to send the first woman and the first person of color to the surface of the moon. This mission is going to send the first non-American, the first woman and the first person of color, the first black astronaut to orbit the moon. And so I think the fact that we are intentional about doing that is something to celebrate. And yes, when we get that who it is going to be something to celebrate as well. But the fact that NASA is intentional, that America is intentional and that our international partners are intentional about making sure that our human space diplomats, our representatives, our ambassadors of space look like the people that they represent.

Dana Taylor:

Well, NASA tapped SpaceX a few years ago to develop the first commercial lander for Artemis III. And while its first flight was successful, there was a setback in April when the Starship exploded four minutes after launch. Are you concerned about the success of Artemis II?

Victor Glover:

I'm not concerned about the success of Artemis II or Artemis III or any of the subsequent missions because I know the people working on these programs and they're very talented, very committed folks. And so we've got the teams that are capable of overcoming whatever challenges we're faced with. And so we're going to fly these missions when the hardware and the software, but most importantly when the teams are ready. And so I really trust in our workforce and I'm looking forward to what they're going to do in the near future.

Dana Taylor:

Well, speaking of teams, tell me briefly about your fellow crew and what you've learned about them since training has started.

Victor Glover:

So we started training a couple of months ago, but I've known all these folks for a decade or more. Some of the folks have been here since 2009. Reid and Jeremy and Christina and I showed up here in 2013. And so we've worked together on lots of different things for a long time. And so the commander, Reid Wiseman is a great commander, is very inclusive, wants to make sure that all of us are engaged and feel ownership for this mission. Christina Koch is a great thinking individual and thought provoker. I mean, she's got a great critical mind, but she also encourages others and helps to provide a framework and the communication for critical thinking, which is great. She creates a really great environment, and Jeremy is a great interpersonal communicator and is very empathetic. And I think the gelling is you can have these great individuals, but you can put them together and get something completely different.

And so right now the team is just gelling and we're trying to really learn each other and learn how we're going to operate in this unique mission. Three of us have gone to space. Reid and Christina flew a Soyuz spacecraft to the space station and lived there for one of them six months and one for almost a year. And I flew a SpaceX Dragon to the space station. Very different training, very different capability that we all used in the space station. And then Jeremy, this will be his first mission. So we also bring different perspectives on this and hopefully that's going to actually add to our mission's capabilities, our cruise capabilities, because we have those varying perspectives that we're going to use to cover the trade space and as we fly this new vehicle.

Dana Taylor:

Well, Victor, as you said, this isn't your first space rodeo. What's different for you with this mission compared with past missions?

Victor Glover:

What's different? Well, my past mission was on a SpaceX Crew Dragon on top of Falcon 9 Rocket. This is just a very different class with the SLS Rocket and the Orion spacecraft. So new systems to learn, but getting into orbit is about a 10-minute ride. And then orbiting the Earth is something you do about every 90 minutes. That part is the same. What's really different is this mission is only going to be 10 days. My mission to the space station lasted for 168 days or five and a half months, and then we're going to go off a much further distance from the Earth. We're going to go to the moon, and that's going to take us a quarter of a million miles away and back.

And the space station stays about 250 miles from the Earth all the time. So you can always look out the window and see the earth even if it's at night. And so there's some differences in how you prepare for that. One is going away to college where you know your parents can send you care packages and you can go home and wash your clothes. And the others like going out on an expedition into the middle of the woods where what you bring with you is all that you have and the people that you're with are going to be who you solve the problems with.

Dana Taylor:

Well, 2021 a big year for commercial space travel with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos both making the trip within a few weeks of each other. What are your thoughts on commercial space travel?

Victor Glover:

I think that the interest the public has in space is really catching on and people are seeing the economic models that can support this industry. And so commercial space travel is actually a facet of what we've enabled. My mission to the space station, I flew serial number 207, the spacecraft serial number 207, when we got back, SpaceX refurbished it and the next people to fly, it was a completely private crew called Inspiration4. And I thought that was amazing. So NASA's work directly enabled commercial space exploration. And listen, you talked about some of the successes, but also some of the challenges that our partners SpaceX has faced. But the truth is when they succeed, we succeed. A rising tide lifts all boats and they are one of our partners, just like we have international partners, Boeing, SpaceX, Blue Origin, they are our corporate partners in our journey to the moon and on to Mars because our sustained presence around the moon, NASA could not do it by ourselves. We need our partners to be successful for us to accomplish the objectives of Artemis.

Dana Taylor:

And then finally, your perspective launch date is just a little over a year away. With the success of this trip, what do you most hope the American public can learn from this mission?

Victor Glover:

I hope the American public learns how hard we work for them, and I hope they continue to invest their trust and time and care in NASA and our objectives, knowing that we're being good stewards of their resources. And I hope the American public and humanity in general understand the power of teamwork and working together, not putting our differences aside, but working through those differences and using them to strengthen our mission. And I hope this mission can continue to be a sign and a beacon of greater cooperation and peace. This international program, this international crew, these international Artemis Accords should hopefully inspire greater togetherness across borders, but also in our home countries.

Dana Taylor:

Victor, thank you so much for joining us today.

Victor Glover:

Thank you for having me.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to our senior producer, Shannon Rae Green for production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to [email protected]. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. Taylor Wilson will back tomorrow morning with another episode of 5 Things.