13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II, Artemis II, 2. Rocket man

13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II

Artemis II

2. Rocket man

31 March 2026

27 minutes

Available for over a year

Nasa’s Artemis II mission looks set to launch towards the Moon on April 1st, after months of delays.

Presenters Tim Peake and Maggie Aderin are joined by space journalist Kristin Fisher, who has just touched down in Florida. Kristin fills us in on the latest from the Kennedy Space Center and how the countdown to launch is looking.

And we take a more detailed look at the machine standing ready on launchpad 39B. We’re joined by John Blevins, chief engineer for Nasa’s Space Launch System (SLS) – in other words, the rocket that will blast the four astronauts towards the Moon. John shares how crucial the SLS is to the mission and what we can expect from it on launch day.

Season 4 theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music.

13 Minutes Presents Artemis Two is a BBC Audio Science production for the BBC World Service.

Presenters: Tim Peake and Maggie Aderin

Producers: Alex Mansfield and Sophie Ormiston

Series editor: Martin Smith