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Everything feels more expensive right now. That's why this matters. TikTok shop has a huge selection of products with surprising deals. You don't expect affordable finds for everyday life. Download TikTok now, folks, we are live at the Kennedy Space center at Cape Canaveral for the launch of the Artemis II rocket, which means that this is the first time that we have sent a man to. To the moon in 53 years, or depending on your perspective, ever. As the NASA director speculates on extraterrestrial life and a former member of Congress swears to have been briefed about alien human hybrid breeding programs here on Earth, the Artemis program stands to restore some much needed certainty into our knowledge of the cosmos and our confidence in our nation.
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Michael?
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I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. Welcome back to the show. We are 16 minutes away from the opening of the official launch window when the Artemis II rocket could go up on its journey around the moon. It could happen whenever. It could happen exactly in 15 minutes and 51 seconds. It could happen two hours from now. We don't know. But I am here. I am actually as close as it is physically possible to be and not be a member of the crew of Artemis. So we'll see it, we'll hear it. I'm told we will feel it as the Earth shakes. We will also be joined by Bill Whittle, who host of Apollo 11, what we saw on Daily Wire. Plus, you should all go watch that excellent show. Bill has a scarily encyclopedic knowledge of all things having to do with NASA and Apollo. We also have Matt Walsh, who believes in aliens and might be an alien. We will have him here. He's also very excited. And we have you. So we have a live chat only for the creme de la creme. You have to be a member of Daily Wire. For all of you hoi polloi on YouTube, you know I love you. I love you very much, but you need to join Dailywire in order to chat with us. There's a lot to get to about this mission, about past missions, about the fact that a lot of Americans, especially younger Americans, don't buy that we went to the moon ever. And the skepticism that we went to the moon is increasing and people that I love, people I'm very close to, I'm not gonna say who, but even said to me this morning, said, hey, Matt, can you find out from NASA if we actually went to the moon? I'm not gonna tell you who said that to me, but we'll get into that first, though, I want to tell you about Ave Maria Mutual Funds. Go to ave mariamutualfunds.com Michael M I C H A E L I for one, believe that you should not compromise your values when it comes to investing. Why would you put money into companies that oppose everything you believe in? That's kind of contradictory, isn't it? 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Request prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, fees, charges and expenses, and other information that you should read and consider carefully before investing. The prospectus can be obtained by calling 1-866-283-6274 or it can be viewed at avemariafunds.com Ave Maria mutual funds are distributed by Ultimus Fund Distributors, LLC. This mission is very, very cool. This is the first manned mission to leave low Earth orbit since 1972. That was Apollo 17. This was the 11th crewed mission of the Apollo program. Now we have sent objects outside of low Earth orbit. Artemis 2 follows. Artemis 1. Just a few years ago, it was in 2022 that obviously did not have a crew. And so this is really big. These astronauts will not be landing on the moon. But the whole point of this is to prepare another. Another, I believe. But opinions may vary. Land mission onto the moon because what President Trump has said, what NASA has said, is that we're gonna go back to the moon and we're not gonna leave this time. We're not just going to go and take science experiments, take photos. There were six manned missions to the moon. By the end of it, they were playing golf, they were driving little Dune buggies around the moon, you know, I don't know, they ran out of things to do and then we stopped going. 12 astronauts have landed, have landed on the moon already. This will be a little more politically significant because the United States, just as we were in a space race with the Soviet Union back in the 20th century, now we're in another space race with China. And so we want to claim the territory on the moon because even though the moon is pretty big, the territory that you would actually want to establish a base on is relatively small. And so what NASA wants to do is not just have these launches occur every few years, they want Artemis launches every 10 months. And they want to send people to the moon. They want to have people staying on the moon. Just as people will stay 100 days, 200 days, 300 days on the International Space Station, so too they want to do this on the moon. So what is happening on this mission? The first and most important thing is that NASA brought me this donut. They brought me this delicious Krispy Kreme doughnut to celebrate Artemis. And you know, look, I know that the astronauts on the spaceship have suffered a lot. They've trained, they're going to be very physically uncomfortable. I don't think that compares to my physical suffering because it's still lent and so I'm not allowed to have this delicious looking donut right now. And so, you know, listen, while you're looking at the physical accomplishments and distresses of the astronauts, keep me in your mind because it's very difficult to have that nice tasty NASA donut sitting right off to the side. I will go home after this. The astronauts will not. God willing, all things go well. This will be a 10 day mission to from launch until splashdown once again in the Pacific, off the coast of San Diego. What is the point of this mission? The point of this mission, technically speaking, is to show that the gear works. So one of the points that people make about the Apollo mission is they say it's so crazy that we were able to go to the moon six times in the 1970s, but we weren't able to go. We're not able to go to the moon today. We've lost the technology. The technology is different now. The technology is totally different now. That was largely analog technology. This is obviously radically different. So we have the Space Launch System block one rocket and the Orion spacecraft. We already know that those work and that they can circle the moon. We want to make sure that they can work with people. The mission will head on up. We'll fly around the moon and then we'll use the gravity of the moon to shoot the astronauts back to Earth so they won't have to make all that much of an electrical or a fuel alterations. You can tell I'm not really an astronaut. Physics isn't my thing. The other point of this will be to collect data. There will be scientific experiments that take place and this will be the farthest that any human being has ever been from Earth. So the previous record was Apollo 13. The that was the mission that obviously didn't work out very well though ultimately the crew returned safely. Apollo 13's record was 248,655 miles from Earth. This one's going to beat it by like 3 inches. But I don't know, it's only by a little bit. I think by 0.5% or something. But they're going to be able to beat will also be the fastest re entry ever. So the astronauts will reenter at 25,000 miles per hour and when they're actually around the moon they will get to about 4,000 miles from the moon's surface. So the way to think about that is if you were holding a basketball, not something that I regularly do, but if you were holding a basketball right out at arm's length, that is what the moon will look like to the astronauts. The crew is Commander Reid Wiseman. Reid Wiseman has spent 165 days in space on the International Space Station. So this is I think his second trip up. There is Victor Glover. Victor Glover is the first non white guy to travel beyond low Earth orbit. He's already been up in space for 168 days on the International Space Station. Then we have a Lady Christina Koch I believe Koch or Koch, I'm not sure how it's pronounced. 328 days on the ISS. And then Jeremy Hansen who is a Canadian and what more needs to be said on that? So these are our brave intrepid astronauts who are heading up. I believe they've held the clock. If I'm not mistaken they've held the clock at 10 minutes. That means we are preparing. That means I didn't come down to Cape Canaveral for nothing. So obviously everyone on the edge of their seat. In the meantime this gives us an opportunity to think about what this means. Why are we doing this? The first thing you think about is the technical majesty of the whole thing. Wow, isn't it cool that they can make the rocket ship go up? I was standing next to one of the Engines earlier, one of the engines that they've used on these kinds of missions. And the thing that struck me so much about it is that it just looks like an engine. I don't know, I expected it to look different for a minute, but it just looks like a car engine, but a lot bigger. That's still kind of greasy and weird and complicated and oily and. Anyway, so the technical marvels are really, really amazing. Then the next level is the, I don't know, the political dimension. Why are we spending so much money on this? This thing's going to cost $40 billion or more. Why are we spending money? What's the point of this? And then there's the deeper perspective, which is the religious dimension. What does this mean? Why are we doing? Is it good to do this? Is this going out and exploring God's creation? Is this something God would like? Is this an affront to God? Are we trying to build a tower to babble here? I was joking a little bit off the top about the large and growing number of people who don't think that we went to the moon in the first place. And a lot of people have religious objections. They say among this relatively modest set of people, but growing, they'll say, well, this is a little too much. This is Promethean, this is demonic. This is man trying to expand beyond his natural limits. And my point, regardless of whether or not you've even considered the religious perspective, is that the traditional view from the religious authorities in our civilization is that space exploration is very cool. It's very pro. This goes back not just 50 or 60 years, but this goes back centuries. This goes back 500 years at least. You think of Pope Gregory XIII. Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, coincidental that they had the same name as him. In 1582, in accordance with astronomical observations, the Church has been observing the stars, has had astronomers, has had observatories for hundreds and hundreds of years, going back at least to the 18th century and the Vatican. The church has worked with NASA, in fact. And I think the clearest justification at a very deep level for what this all means. Why are we doing it? Are we doing it to go get minerals off the moon? Are we doing it to stick it to China, just like we stuck it to the Soviet Union? Why are we doing it? I think of Psalm 18, maybe Psalm 19, depending on your edition of the Bible, which is that the heavens show forth the glory of God and the firmament declareth the work of his hands day to Day uttereth speech and night to night showeth knowledge. There are no speeches nor languages where their voices are not heard. Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the earth. It seems to me that the reason to be interested in this is, is because it is deeply Christian. You know, if you believe that faith and reason are not opposed, but that faith and reason go together, then you should be eager to explore. You think about the explorers who brought us to this country, the explorers who brought us to this continent. These were deeply Christian men, going back especially to Christopher Columbus, who was reading the Liturgy of the Hours on his ship. Deeply pious Christian man. What was the name of the ship? The Nina, the Pinta and what? The Santa Maria, the St. Mary. This desire to go out and to understand the world, it can be Promethean, it can be wicked, it can try to take the created world for our own uses. But really, I think what motivates exploration, whether we're talking about scientific discovery, whether we're talking about physical discovery, whether we're talking about sailing around the world or flying up to the stars, what motivates it in the best way is to come to know the glories of God. Because the existence of God can be known with certainty from the created world. And the more we see about the world, the more we see that the heavens show forth the glory of God. So I think it's very exciting. There's nothing to be worried about from a traditional religious perspective, though it does raise major questions. For one, are the astronauts going to go see aliens up there? The NASA administrator is Team Alien, which is why I'm really glad that I'm here and not Matt Walsh. We'll get to that momentarily. First though, speaking of religion, I want to tell you about hallow. Go to hallow.com knowles K-N O W L E S this Easter, do not just remember the resurrection, live it. Join me on Hallow's new Easter Prayer Challenge with Lauren Daigle and Fr. John Burns. As we walk with the risen Jesus and watch the story come alive in our hearts. From Mary's tears turning to awe outside the empty term to the disciples hearts burning on the road to Emmaus to fear melting into peace in the upper room, you will see how the real resurrection story is real even today. Every day we will step into a life changing encounter with the risen Christ through imaginative prayer, letting his victory break into the places that we most need renewal, courage and hope. He's risen soon to be risen and he's Ready to rise in you as well. I love Hallow. It's great. It just dominates all the other apps. That itself might be a miracle, but now that people have used the app, obviously people love it for what it does for their prayer life. Head on over to hallow.com knowlescanna w l e S Download the Hallow app and join for three months free. Let this be the Easter that changes everything. That is hallow.com knowleskana w l e s for three months free the NASA administrator believes in aliens. That is the first statement that gets me to wonder. Maybe we didn't go to the moon the first time. However, I'm looking at the clock. We're still firmly fixed at T minus 10 minutes. It is 6:21pm Eastern Time. The official launch window opens up at 6:24. So we'll either be together for two hours and go home empty handed if they don't launch it, or this rocket could be going up in the sky any minute. The first time in 53 years that we have sent people to the moon. And just yesterday the NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said that he believes in aliens. Do we have the clip?