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Welcome to Astronomy Daily S05E94 — our first ever Weekend Edition! Today we debut the Astronomy Daily Weekend Space and Astronomy News Wrap, featuring two fresh stories plus a roundup of the four biggest and most important space stories from across the past week. Today's Stories • Story 1: Russia's Soyuz 5 rocket completes its first successful suborbital test flight from Baikonur Cosmodrome. After nearly a decade of development, Russia's homegrown answer to the Zenit finally flew — a milestone for Roscosmos, even as questions remain about its competitiveness in a reusability-driven market. • Story 2: May's Flower Moon peaked on May 1st — and May 2026 is a double-micromoon month, with both the Flower Moon and the May 31 Blue Moon occurring near lunar apogee. Southern Hemisphere skies are perfect for viewing this weekend. Weekend Wrap — The Week's Four Biggest Stories • Wrap 1: Artemis II — The Full Picture. 694,481 miles, 252,756 miles from Earth at farthest, 57-minute eclipse from beyond the Moon, heat shield performance significantly better than Artemis I. The numbers of a mission for the history books. • Wrap 2: The Eclipse Only Four Humans Have Ever Seen. During the April 6 lunar flyby, the Artemis II crew experienced a 57-minute total solar eclipse from beyond the Moon — the first time in human history. Victor Glover's descriptions were extraordinary. • Wrap 3: Roman Space Telescope locks in September 2026 launch — 8 months ahead of schedule and under budget. With a field of view 100x larger than Hubble's, Roman is poised to become the most powerful survey telescope in history. • Wrap 4: Artemis III hardware arrives at Kennedy Space Center. The SLS core stage was offloaded from the Pegasus barge on April 27-28 — just as the Artemis II Orion capsule returned for post-flight analysis. The next mission is already assembling. Skywatching This Weekend • The Flower Moon is still at 99% illumination tonight — beautiful in Southern Hemisphere autumn skies. Look for it between Antares (Scorpius) and Spica (Virgo). • Venus and Jupiter are prominent in the western evening sky, slowly closing toward a June 9 conjunction. • Asteroid Vesta is at opposition today, May 2 — best viewed with binoculars or a small telescope from a dark site. • The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks the night of May 5-6 — an excellent show from Southern Hemisphere locations.
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This episode includes AI-generated content.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 your daily guide to the cosmos. I'm Anna.
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 Avery: And I'm Avery. Happy Saturday, everyone.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 And what a Saturday it is. Because today
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 we're launching something brand new here on
00:00:13 --> 00:00:14 Astronomy Daily.
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 Anna: That's right, today marks the debut of our
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 weekend space and Astronomy news wrap.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 Every Saturday, we'll bring you two fresh
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 stories from the past 24 hours, plus a deep
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 dive into the four biggest and most important
00:00:27 --> 00:00:28 stories from across the entire week.
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 Avery: Think of it as the week in Space, condensed,
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 considered, and with some new angles you
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 might not have heard yet. We've been doing
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 six episodes a week all season, and this is
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 our way of making sure Saturday feels a
00:00:41 --> 00:00:42 little different.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 Anna: So here's today's format. We'll start with
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 two fresh stories first, then we'll ring in
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 the very first Astronomy Daily weekend wrap.
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 Four stories, the week's biggest right here.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:54 Avery: Let's get into it.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 Anna: Our first story today is a rocket launch
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 story with some real geopolitical texture to
00:00:59 --> 00:00:59 it.
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 Russia's brand new Soyuz 5 rocket
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 lifted off on Thursday, April 30 from the
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on its very
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 first flight. And it went well.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 Avery: This has been coming for a long time, anna.
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 The Soyuz 5, also known as Sunkar, which
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 means Falcon in Kazakh, has been in
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 development for nearly a decade. There were
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 multiple delays, funding hurdles and
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 geopolitical complications along the way. But
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 On Thursday at 2pm Eastern time, it
00:01:28 --> 00:01:29 finally flew.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 Anna: It was a suborbital test flight, essentially
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 a shakeout cruise for the new vehicle. The
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 rocket carried a mass dimensional mockup as
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 payload. Both stages performed nominally and
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 the payload followed its intended trajectory
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean in
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 a pre designated area. Roscosmos
00:01:47 --> 00:01:48 declared it a, uh, success.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 Avery: Now let's talk about why this rocket exists.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 Russia lost access to Ukrainian rocket
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 expertise after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 And Ukraine had long been a powerhouse in
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 rocket design and manufacturing. The Soyuz
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 5 was designed specifically to replace the
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 Zenit rocket, which was Ukraine built, and to
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 give Russia a fully homegrown medium lift
00:02:11 --> 00:02:11 capability.
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 Anna: In terms of specs, it's a two stage vehicle
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 powered by the RD171 MV M
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 engine, which Roscosmos describes as the
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 world's most powerful liquid fueled engine.
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 It can lift up to 17 metric tons to low
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 Earth orbit, which puts it in the same
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 general class as SpaceX's Falcon 9.
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 Avery: But here's the key difference, and it's a
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 significant one. Falcon 9's first stage
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 lands itself and is reused. Soyuz
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 5 is fully expendable. Every launch
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 burns through a brand new rocket. In a launch
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 market that has increasingly moved towards
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 reusability and reduced costs, that's a
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 genuine competitive disadvantage.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 Anna: It's also unclear if the rocket will attract
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 international customers. Russia has lost most
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 of its commercial launch partnerships since
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 2022, and the Soyuz 5 doesn't appear
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 to represent a big enough leap to reverse
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 that trend. Longer term, the rocket is
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 intended to serve as a building block for a,
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 uh, future super heavy launch system, part of
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 Russia's stated ambitions for deeper space
00:03:13 --> 00:03:13 missions.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 Avery: For now, though, it's a debut, and for
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 Roscosmos, a symbolic one. The next
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 test flights are planned across 2026 and
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 2027, with full operational status
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 anticipated by the end of the decade. A long
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 road ahead, but at least Thursday's first
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 step was a successful one.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 Anna: Brushes Soyuz 5 finally off the pad
00:03:34 --> 00:03:35 and on to the next test.
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 Avery: Now for something a little closer to home, or
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 more precisely, something in our sky right
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 now. Last night, May 1, the full
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 flower moon reached peak illumination.
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 Anna: And May 2026 is a genuinely special
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 month for moon watchers.
00:03:51 --> 00:03:52 Avery: Tell us more, Anna.
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 Anna: So May this year has two full moons. The
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 flower moon peaked on May 1, and a second
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 full Moon, a blue Moon, will arrive on May
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 31. Two full moons in a single calendar
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 month is already a relatively rare
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 occurrence, happening roughly every two to
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 three years. But there's an extra twist this
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 year. Both of them are micromoons.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 Avery: Exactly. A, uh, micromoon is the opposite of
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 a supermoon. It occurs when a full Moon
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 happens near the point in the Moon's
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 elliptical orbit where it's farthest from
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 Earth, what astronomers call apogee.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 At that distance, the moon appears around 14%
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 smaller and about 30% dimmer than it does at
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 its closest approach. Not a huge difference
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 to the naked eye, but it's a genuine physical
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 distinction, though.
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 Anna: Why are both May full moons micro moons?
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 It comes down to orbital timing. The moon's
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 apogee circles around relative to our
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 calendar, and this month they happen to align
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 twice, giving us a double micro moon. May.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 Avery: For listeners in Australia and New Zealand,
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 you've got great autumn skies right now. And
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 the flower moon last night would have been
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 beautiful as it arced across your northern
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 sky. It sat between the red star
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 Antares in Scorpius and blue white Spica
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 in Virgo. Quite a tableau if you missed it.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 Don't worry. At 99% illumination tonight,
00:05:11 --> 00:05:12 it still looks essentially full.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 Anna: And for the blue moon, on May 31st, that's
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 your next event to mark in your calendar. It
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 won't look blue. Of course the name comes
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 from a 16th century idiom for something rare.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 But two full moons in one month is always
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 worth stepping outside for.
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 Avery: The month of May is also great for planets
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 right now. Venus and Jupiter are both
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 prominent in the evening sky. With the two
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 planets slowly closing toward a conjunction
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 on June 9th. Saturn and Mars are re
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 emerging in the pre dawn east. A uh, busy sky
00:05:42 --> 00:05:42 for May.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 Anna: Alright, now it's time for something
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 completely new. Avery, let's do it.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 Avery: And now the Astronomy Daily weekend
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 wrap your guide to the week's biggest stories
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 from across the cosmos. I'm Avery.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 Anna: And I'm Anna. This week in space was
00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 frankly extraordinary. We had history made,
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 hardware delivered, a telescope confirmed,
00:06:03 --> 00:06:06 and a cosmic spectacle that no human had
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 ever witnessed before. Let's do this.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 Avery: Our first wrap story is a step back, a full
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 exhale to appreciate what NASA and its
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 partners pulled off with Artemis 2. Because
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 it's been a few weeks now Since Splashdown on
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 April 10th and we have the full picture
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 and it is genuinely staggering.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:25 Anna: The headline numbers
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 694
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 miles traveled in total, a peak velocity
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 of 24 miles
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 per hour. A farthest distance from Earth of
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 252
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 miles, surpassing the record previously held
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 by Apollo 13 in 1970.
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 And a closest approach to the lunar surface
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 of 4 miles. The
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 crew were farther from Earth than any humans
00:06:53 --> 00:06:54 in history.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 Avery: The mission launched on April 1st. Yes,
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 April Fool's Day. Carrying Commander Reid
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Mission
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 Specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Their
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 spacecraft, which the crew named integrity,
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 flew a 10 day free return trajectory around
00:07:13 --> 00:07:14 the moon and back.
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 Anna: One of the most watched elements of the
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 mission was the heat shield. Artemis I had
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 shown some unexpected erosion of the AVcode
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 ablative material. And there was significant
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 debate before the mission about whether to
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 fly with the uh, existing design. Engineers
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 and NASA administrator Jared Isaacman
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 ultimately decided to proceed. And the data
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 coming back now shows char loss was
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 significantly reduced compared to Artemis I.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 And consistent with ground testing
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 predictions, a uh, huge relief.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 Avery: Orion splashed down just 2.9 miles from
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 its target site. Entry velocity was within
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 1 mph of predictions. Rick
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 Henfling, the entry flight Director put it
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 simply. A quarter of a million miles to the
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 moon and back and they hit a less than 1
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 degree entry angle on the way home. That is
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 not luck. That is a thousand people doing
00:08:03 --> 00:08:04 their jobs.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 Anna: The crew are now in post flight
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 Reconditioning at Johnson Center. And in
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 their own words, they were moved. Commander
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 Reid Wiseman, Victor, Christina and Jeremy,
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 we are bonded forever. And no one down here
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 is ever going to know what the four of us
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 just went through. And it was the most
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 special thing that will ever happen in my
00:08:22 --> 00:08:22 life.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 Avery: Christina Koch described the experience of
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 seeing Earth tiny through Orion's window,
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 surrounded by blackness, as one of the most
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 overwhelming moments of her life. Victor
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 Glover said the gratitude he felt was too big
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 to fit in one body. And Jeremy
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 Hansen, as the crew broke the distance
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 record, spoke directly to the next
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 generation. We challenge this generation
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 and the next to make sure this record is not
00:08:49 --> 00:08:50 long lived.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 Anna: Host flight assessments are well underway at,
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 uh, Kennedy Space center, where the Orion
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 capsule has returned. All
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 186 Avocote heat shield blocks for
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 Artemis III, the upgraded version have
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 already been installed, cured, and inspected.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 The next mission is already in motion. And
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 that leads to our fourth RAP story.
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 Avery: But first, of all, the extraordinary things
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 that happened during Artemis 2, there is one
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 moment that stands alone. On April
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 6, as the crew flew around the far side of
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 the Moon, they witnessed something that no
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 human being had ever experienced in the
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 history of our species. A total solar
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 eclipse observed from beyond
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 Anna: the Moon on Earth. A total solar
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 eclipse, when the Moon completely blocks the
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 sun and reveals its corona, lasts a few
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 minutes at most. For the Artemis 2 crew,
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 totality lasted 57 minutes.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 57 minutes of watching the Sun's outer
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 atmosphere glowing around a, uh, completely
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 black lunar disk from a vantage point
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 4 miles above the surface.
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 Avery: Victor Glover's descriptions from inside the
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 spacecraft were extraordinary. He called
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 the Moon a black orb against the gray that
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 drifted into blackness. He describes seeing
00:10:07 --> 00:10:10 Earth shine. The light reflected from Earth,
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 illuminating the dark lunar surface as very
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 distinct and creating quite an impressive
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 visual illusion. And then as the solar
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 corona began to emerge from the edges of the
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 Moon, he described the streamers as looking
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 like what the Luxor spotlight in Las Vegas
00:10:26 --> 00:10:27 wants to be when it grows up.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 Anna: The crew made genuine scientific observations
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 during those 57 minutes. They searched for
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 lofted lunar dust, a phenomenon some
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 Apollo crews reported and watched for
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 micrometeoroid impacts on the darkened lunar
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 surface. They reported seeing at least five
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 impact flashes. They observed zodiacal light.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 They photographed the corona in unprecedented
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 detail. Christina Koch described the
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 experience simply. I just had an
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 overwhelming sense of being moved by looking
00:10:56 --> 00:10:56 at the Moon.
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 Avery: The images NASA has since released are
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 breathtaking. The glowing halo of the
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 solar corona against the black lunar disk,
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 with Earthshine illuminating the Moon's face.
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 Venus and Saturn visible as pinpoints of
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 light in the frame. Scientists are still
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 analyzing whether the halo effect is pure
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 corona, zodiacal light, or a combination.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 Anna: Victor Glover perhaps said it best. I know
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 this observation won't be of any scientific
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 value, but I'm really glad we launched on
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 April 1, because without that specific launch
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 date, the geometry simply wouldn't have
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 worked. Four people in the right place at the
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 right moment to see something no human had
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 ever seen. That was Artemis 2.
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 Avery: Our third rep story is about the next great
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 space telescope, and it comes with a headline
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 that NASA doesn't get to write very often.
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 Ahead of schedule and under budget,
00:11:50 --> 00:11:50 the
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 Anna: Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, Roman
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 for short, has a confirmed September
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 2026 launch target. NASA
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 Administrator Jared Isaacman announced this
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 at a press conference at Goddard Space flight
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 Center on April 21. Standing in front of the
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 completed telescope eight months ahead of
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 NASA's committed deadline, under budget and
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 fully assembled, let's talk
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 Avery: about what this telescope will actually do
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 because the numbers are mind bending.
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 Roman's primary mirror is the same
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 2.4 meter diameter as Hubble's,
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 but its field of view is 100 times larger.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 What Hubble would take 2000 years to
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 survey Roman can do in a year.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 Isaacman put it this Roman will give the
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 Earth a new atlas of the universe. There is
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 not a screen in existence large enough to
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 display a single Roman image at full
00:12:42 --> 00:12:43 resolution.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 Anna: In its five year primary mission, Roman
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 is expected to discover over 100
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 distant worlds, hundreds of millions of
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 stars and billions of galaxies. It
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 will conduct three core surveys focused on
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 dark energy, dark matter and wide field
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 cosmology. It also carries a
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 coronagraph instrument that can directly
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 image exoplanets by blocking out the glare
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 of their host stars. A technology
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 demonstrator that could change how we search
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 for worlds like our own,
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 Avery: the telescope is now undergoing final tests
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 at Goddard. It will ship to Kennedy Space
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 center in mid June for launch preparations
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 before riding a SpaceX Falcon Heavy to its
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 final destination, the Sun. Earth L2
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 Lagrange point, about a million miles from
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 Earth, same address as James Webb.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 Anna: The Roman telescope is named for Dr.
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 chief of Astronomy and one of the key
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 architects of the Hubble Telescope. Known
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 as the Mother of Hubble, she spent her
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 career making the case for space based
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 astronomy. September 2026
00:13:52 --> 00:13:55 her namesake telescope joins the fleet.
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 We cannot wait.
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 Avery: And our final wrap story brings us back to
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 the Moon because even as Artemis 2 was being
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 celebrated, Kennedy Space center was already
00:14:05 --> 00:14:06 turning the page.
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 Anna: On April 27th and 28th, while the
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 Artemis 2 Orion capsule was being
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 unloaded on one side of Kennedy Space
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 center for post flight analysis. The
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 Artemis II ISLS core
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 stage was arriving on the other side via uh,
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 the Pegasus barge from New Orleans.
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 Two missions, one spaceport, one
00:14:29 --> 00:14:30 extraordinary week.
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 Avery: The core stage is the backbone of the SLS
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 rocket, 212ft tall,
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 containing the liquid hydrogen and liquid
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 oxygen tanks that hold more than
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 733 gallons of propellant.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 It will be joined with its engine section and
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 solid rocket boosters in the vehicle assembly
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 building over the coming months ahead of the
00:14:51 --> 00:14:52 2027 launch.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 Anna: Now Artemis 3 has a revised mission
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 profile compared to what was originally
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 planned under changes announced by
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 Administrator isaacman in February,
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 Artemis 3 is no longer a lunar landing
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 mission. Instead it's been redesigned as a
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 crewed Earth orbit test. Docking the
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 Orion spacecraft with one or both of
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 the commercial human landing system vehicles,
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 Face X's Starship HLS and
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 Blue Origin's Blue Moon Lander.
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 Avery: Think of it as Apollo 9 for the Artemis era,
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 a critical step in validating the docking
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 procedures and systems that will be needed
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 before astronauts can actually descend to the
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 lunar surface. The first crewed landing is
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 now Artemis 4 targeted for 2028.
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 Anna: The Artemis III Orion crew module is
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 already at Kennedy undergoing functional
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 tests. All 186
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 upgraded AVCOT Heat shield locks, the
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 improved version informed by Artemis 2 data,
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 are installed and inspected. The four
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 RS25 engines for the core stage
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 are due to arrive from Stennis Space center
00:16:00 --> 00:16:01 by July.
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 Avery: The Crew for Artemis 3 hasn't been announced
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 yet, but they're out there somewhere knowing
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 that their moment is approaching.
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 Anna: From Artemis 2 splashing down to
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 Artemis 3 hardware through the door. This was
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 a week that showed NASA is not pausing for
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 breath. Onwards to the moon.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 Avery: And that is our first ever Astronomy Daily
00:16:22 --> 00:16:23 weekend wrap.
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 Six stories One extraordinary week.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 Russia launched a new rocket. Maze Moon is
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 doing something rare. Artemis 2 left us
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 speechless. The Roman telescope is almost
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 ready to fly and Artemis 3 is already
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 assembling in the VAB.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 Anna: This is why we do this show. Thanks so much
00:16:41 --> 00:16:44 for spending some of your weekend with us. If
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 you enjoyed today's format, let us know. Find
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 us at astronomydaily IO or on
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 social media astrodailypod.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 Your feedback genuinely shapes the show.
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 Until next time, keep looking up clear skies
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 everyone.
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 Avery: This is Astronomy Daily.