Blue Dot: The science behind NASA’s historic return to the Moon with Artemis 2 (4/11/2026)

“Solar Eclipse of The Heart” Orion Spacecraft imaging total eclipse of the Sun by the Moon. (Image by NASA.)

Blue Dot presents a special program produced during the Artemis 2 mission to take an in depth look at the science objectives for the historic lunar mission which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on April 1, 2026 and flew by the Moon on April 6. Host Dave Schlom is joined by NASA scientist Caitlin Ahrens who helped preview the scientific aspects of the flight in an interview recorded just prior to launch. During the show, we’ll also hear from the crew as Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialist Christina Koch along with Canadian Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen shared their observations during the flyby which took them farther from Earth than any humans have ever been before. Finally, Producer Matt Fidler joins Dave (who is a widely respected Apollo historian) to get his reactions to the flight 54 years after the last lunar mission, Apollo 17 in December of 1972.