NASA is practicing moonwalks. When are we going back?

Summary

Short Wave (NPR) – “NASA is practicing moonwalks. When are we going back?”
April 29, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Short Wave dives into the latest developments around NASA’s Artemis program and the journey toward returning humans to the moon. Host Regina Barber is joined by NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfield Boyce and All Things Considered host Scott Detrow for a lively, informative “Spacing Out” segment. Across just under 15 minutes, the team covers new Apollo-era records, technical challenges with lunar landers, how seismic data told the story of this year’s solar eclipse, and the science of a recently spotted interstellar comet.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Artemis Program Progress and Moon Landing Preparations

• Artemis 2 Mission Success
  • Artemis 2 marked the first time humans traveled near the moon in over five decades (03:43).
  • The mission broke the record for the furthest humans have traveled from Earth, though no one landed (04:19, 04:25).
  • “But the important caveat… they never actually landed on the moon.” – Scott Detrow (04:25)
• Challenges: Lunar Lander Development
  • NASA needs a lunar lander to physically get people from orbit to the lunar surface.
  • Two contractors, SpaceX and Blue Origin, are racing to build landers, but face technical and regulatory set-backs:
    • Blue Origin recently experienced a failure with its New Glenn rocket and is under FAA investigation (05:02).
  • NASA plans to test one or both landers in 2027, with a possible moon landing in 2028—though delays are likely (06:01).
    • “NASA says the landing could happen as soon as 2028, but you know, there are almost always delays in the space business.” – Nell Greenfield Boyce (06:01)

2. Simulating Moonwalks – Practicing for the Real Thing

• NASA has been running simulations with recently returned Artemis astronauts (like Christina Koch), prepping them in “surface spacewalk suits” to practice lunar geology right after splashdown (06:01–06:28).
  • “When we got back to Earth, we all within one or two days were in surface spacewalk suits doing surface geology tasks…” – Nell Greenfield Boyce (06:14)
• The excitement of suiting up so close to the actual moon is palpable.
  • “That must have been so cool to like suit up and then pretend to be... studying moon rocks…” – Regina Barber (06:31)

3. Solar Eclipse Seismology – The Quiet of Totality

• April 2024’s total solar eclipse prompted surprising science: urban seismic monitors recorded notable “stillness” as millions paused to witness the phenomenon (07:21–07:43).
• Benjamin Fernando (Los Alamos Nat’l Lab) explains that for the first time, researchers used seismic data to examine changes in human behavior:
  • “That's really the first time that anyone has looked at human behavior through seismics and acoustics … during an event like a solar eclipse.” – Benjamin Fernando (07:43)
• Contrasts were drawn with seismic spikes from major concerts (like Taylor Swift’s, which generated “a 2.3 magnitude earthquake”)—the eclipse generated quiet, not commotion (08:17–08:40).
  • “It's a good reminder these tools can help us understand noise pollution and how it affects our health and our environment.” – Regina Barber (08:40)

4. Interstellar Visitors – Comet 3I/ATLAS

• The team discusses the rare interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, spotted in July 2025, now traveling between Jupiter and Saturn (09:00–09:07).
• Scientists used Chilean radio telescopes to analyze evaporating water and found a unique signature: an abundance of “semi-heavy water” (09:30).
  • This suggests 3I/ATLAS formed in a much colder environment than our solar system—likely a different, distant star system.
  • “It's likely that it comes from a solar system that formed differently than our own.” – Regina Barber (09:45)
• While its precise origin is still uncertain, this data provides context for understanding other such cosmic wanderers and whether the solar system’s chemistry is unique (10:03–10:28).
  • “Are we unique?” – Regina Barber (10:28)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• Regina’s classic space joke (01:53):
  “Why does a shooting star taste better than a comet?... It’s a little meteor.”

• Artemis mission excitement
  “The astronauts really seem to be having a fun time doing it.” – Scott Detrow (04:09)

• Simulating moon geology
  “When we got back to Earth, we all within one or two days were in surface spacewalk suits doing surface geology tasks…” – Nell Greenfield Boyce (06:14)

• Seismic stillness in totality
  “…it was seismically quiet. So seismometers pick up noise from all sorts of things… even music concerts.” – Regina Barber (08:08)

• Musical earthquakes
  “I always enjoy stories like this… a Taylor Swift concert actually has seismic activity… but the total opposite.” – Scott Detrow (08:17)

• On interstellar comets
  “It’s likely that it comes from a solar system that formed differently than our own.” – Regina Barber (09:45)

• Are we unique?
  “Because in recent years scientists have gotten better at detecting these interstellar objects… is the water composition common, this one that we’ve seen in Three Eye Atlas, or is it unique? Are we unique?” – Regina Barber (10:28)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:43 – Artemis 2’s major milestones
• 04:38 – The need for a lunar lander; SpaceX and Blue Origin updates
• 06:01 – Simulated moonwalks and geology practice
• 07:21 – Eclipse stillness observed by seismometers
• 08:17 – Seismic signals: concerts vs. eclipse quiet
• 09:07 – Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS: observations and findings

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Language & Tone

The hosts keep the discussion light, humorous, and accessible, regularly riffing with cosmic puns and playful banter (“spacing out,” “space jam,” jokes about toilets on spaceships). While the mood is relaxed, the science is clear and up-to-date, with technical explanations made audience-friendly.

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Final Thoughts

This Short Wave episode delivers a stellar roundup of today's lunar ambitions, scientific curiosities produced by collective human behavior, and the possibility of cosmic kin with the discovery of new interstellar objects. Whether you’re a space enthusiast or everyday listener, the team’s energy and knack for storytelling make this a must-listen quick trip across the scientific universe.

Transcript

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[Regina Barber]

Hey, shirt waivers. Regina Barber here. And we are back with our space news segment. And I think we still should call the podcast version Spacing out with Gina.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

I mean, it sounds good to me. Fair's fair.

[Regina Barber]

Today we have science correspondent Nell Greenfield Boyce. Hey, Nell.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Hey, Gina.

[Regina Barber]

And we also have our regular contributor, Space Geek and All Things Considered host, Scott Detrow. Welcome back to this part of space, Scott.

[Scott Detrow]

I am so thrilled to be back here. Favorite topic to discuss at all points. We ready to space out again?

[Regina Barber]

Yes. And Nell, our first timer, are you ready for this?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Absolutely. So I know I came here to talk about Artemis because we just had a successful mission from NASA. So I'm gonna tell you what's in store for the next Artemis missions. And do you have any guesses from the two of you, like, before we get into it, about where we're gonna go?

[Regina Barber]

They're gonna go to Jupiter.

[Scott Detrow]

They'll talk about their toilets.

[Regina Barber]

I mean, they should talk about their toilets.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Those are all fine, fine guesses. And if we go to those places, I will definitely want to cover them. But not this time.

[Scott Detrow]

Then we're also going to get into some sort of connection between seismic activity and total solar eclipses, right?

[Regina Barber]

Yes, A real scientific connection. And to round it out, we're going to talk about an interstellar comet. And for a taste of what's to come, I have a joke for you both. So why does a shooting star taste better than a comet?

[Scott Detrow]

I have no idea.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

It's so icy.

[Regina Barber]

It's a little meteor.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Oh, all right.

[Regina Barber]

You're welcome. You're welcome. I looked that up. I didn't write it down. That was stolen. Today on the show. It's a real space jam. We travel all the way from Earth to the origins of an interstellar comet. You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from npr.

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[Regina Barber]

Okay, Nell Scott, I'm very excited to talk to you guys about Artmus. You know I'm obsessed with the moon.

[Scott Detrow]

We are obsessed as well. Enel, you and I spent a lot of time recently talking about Artemis 2. We saw it launch, we saw it splashdown, we covered the whole base. It was the first time people ventured out to the moon in five decades. The mission, by and large, went really

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

well and we were both on live together for the launch and the splashdown.

[Scott Detrow]

I know we're just gonna have to superimpose a rocket blasting off behind you for this because that was such a cool moment last time. Not always, but when it happens, it's great. But I think one key thing that made this such a phenomen of a story is that the astronauts really seem to be having a fun time doing it.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, and they took like gorgeous photos. They broke a record for going the furthest people have ever gone from Earth.

[Scott Detrow]

But the important caveat that we always had to work in when we talked about this was the fact that they never actually landed on the moon.

[Regina Barber]

No, no, no. The crew capsule can't land. In fact, I read that the astronauts need another vehicle to do that. Right, Nell?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Right. So Jared Isaacman, he's the head of NASA who took charge a few months ago. He's this businessman and a private astronaut. Anyway, he has been trying to speed up the two companies that have contracts with NASA to develop a lunar lander. So the hardware they need to land on the moon, those are SpaceX and Blue Origin.

[Scott Detrow]

Are the companies any sense when they think they Might have a lander ready.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

It's hard to know since these commercial companies tend to keep things as private as they can. Although sometimes stuff just happens. So, for example, Blue Origin just had a problem with, with the upper stage of its new Glenn rocket. I mean, they failed to put a satellite into the right orbit, and then the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the rocket while there's an investigation. So there's been a lot of chatter about how all that could slow down Blue Origin's work to support the moon landing effort. But anyway, NASA has said that they plan to test one or maybe even both landers next year. And so the basic idea is that launch the crew capsule with astronauts on board and then launch one or both landers so that they can kind of rendezvous with the lander and try to, you know, try things out in space, but do it all close to Earth. So they would be checking out propulsion, life support, all that kind of stuff.

[Scott Detrow]

And it's the thinking that if that works well, then they can go ahead with a mission after that and try to land on the moon. Walk on the moon.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Yeah, I mean, NASA says the landing could happen as soon as 2028, but you know, there are almost always delays in the space business still. NASA is actively preparing for surface operations on the moon. They've even been doing practice simulations with the Artemis. Two astronauts who just came back, like Christina Koch. When we got back to Earth, we all within one or two days were in surface spacewalk suits doing surface geology

[Regina Barber]

tasks and doing them.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Well.

[Regina Barber]

That must have been so cool to like suit up and then pretend to be like, studying moon rocks on the lunar surface, having just been so close to the actual moon.

[Scott Detrow]

One other thing I want to mention about Artemis was that really cool moment where they got to witness a solar eclipse from space. The moon passing in front of the sun. Yeah, it was so cool to see those pictures. And that, of course, also reminded me about the solar eclipse. Near and dear to our hearts. April 2024, just a few years ago. Such a joyous moment. I really enjoyed it. And Gina, I am happy to hear that we're going to be talking eclipses for the next topic.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, we totally are. And we're going to talk about seismic activity.

[Scott Detrow]

Okay, so.

[Regina Barber]

So, Nell, you saw the solar eclipse too, right?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Of course I saw the total solar eclipse. I'm not gonna miss that.

[Scott Detrow]

I went with my kids school, standing out on the field in front of the school with a bunch of kids staring at it. And it was great. It was a fun day.

[Regina Barber]

I don't Know if this happened to you all, but I saw the total solar eclipse in Buffalo. Everyone was super excited. They were really loud. And then when totality happened, that's when the moon fully covers the sun and when you can see that ghostly corona flickering around it. And everyone got really still, really quiet. And this stillness was recorded by seismometers across North America.

[Scott Detrow]

People were changing their behavior in order to go out and view the eclipse. And that's really the first time that anyone has looked at human behavior through seismics and acoustics that I'm aware of during an event like a solar eclipse.

[Regina Barber]

That's Benjamin Fernando. He's a planetary scientist at Los Alamos National Lab. And what Benjamin found is that in cities that were in the path of totality, that's where you get to see the total solar eclipse.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

It's.

[Regina Barber]

It was seismically quiet. So seismometers pick up noise from all sorts of things, like trucks driving around town, you know, constructions, even music concerts.

[Scott Detrow]

Right. And I always enjoy stories like this because you'll pick up, you know, like, you'll see that a big concert, like a Taylor Swift concert, actually has seismic activity. So this is kind of like that, but. But the total opposite.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Yes.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. Yeah. So I, I remember that Taylor Swift concert too. It was really cool. It was actually around like 2.3 magnitude earthquake, I think, is what they recorded.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Because they were jumping up and down, right?

[Regina Barber]

Well, it's because they were singing too. Like they were just movement and swaying. And Benjamin said that seismometers are able to detect how quiet everything becomes. It's a good reminder that these tools can serve another purpose. Like to help us understand noise pollution and how it affects our health and our environment.

[Scott Detrow]

Last topic. We haven't gone interstellar yet in Spacing Out.

[Regina Barber]

No, not yet.

[Scott Detrow]

We're doing it now. Three Eye Atlas, one of a couple of interstellar objects that came our way recently. There's some news. What's going on?

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. So this is a comet that formed outside of our solar system, and it was just found zooming through ours last July. And currently it's in between Jupiter and Saturn because it's still in our solar system. And after studying it for a while, astronomers think they know a little bit more about where it came from. Where it was somewhere colder than here, than our solar system.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Wait, how do they know that?

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, so they can look at the water evaporating from the surface of the comet using an array of radio telescopes in Chile. So scientists found that compared with comets made in our solar system, theory ATLAS has water that's different. Specifically, it's got more of this so called semi heavy water, and that's water with a slightly altered makeup. And that means it probably formed in a colder environment. So it's likely that it comes from a solar system that formed differently than our own.

[Scott Detrow]

How close does that get scientists to knowing though, which specific star system it came from?

[Regina Barber]

It really doesn't. So they don't know that. But this information really helps scientists study future interstellar comets and to see if they have the same water composition. Because in recent years scientists have gotten better at detecting these interstellar objects and it seems likely that they're going to find more. So along the way they can ask, like, is the water composition common, this one that we've seen in Three Eye Atlas, or is it unique? Are we unique?

[Scott Detrow]

Regina, you're unique.

[Regina Barber]

Oh, don't worry about. Thank you, Nell. Did you have a good time in our space segment?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Of course. I mean, you know, I get to talk about space for work. I mean, what's not a good time there?

[Regina Barber]

Nell, you had a great time. That's all I wanted. You can come back when you have another space story.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Excellent, Excellent. Perhaps soon.

[Regina Barber]

Perhaps. And Scott, you are stuck with us though, and it's your fault for co creating this space segment with me.

[Scott Detrow]

You know what? I can't wait. Let's do it again soon.

[Regina Barber]

Excellent. Excellent. If you like this episode, share it with a friend. It really helps our show. And hey, give us a follow on the NPR app or wherever you're listening from and you'll never miss a new episode. This episode was Produced by Burleigh McCoy and Kai McNamee. It was edited by Christopher Inteliada, Amina Khan, and our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Nell, myself and Tyler Jones checked the facts. Robert Rodriguez and Tiffany Veracastro were the audio engineers. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from npr.

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