HWHAP Ep416 Bringing The Mission To You
JSC · 2026-03-20
Ep416_Bringing The Mission To You Joseph Zakrzewski Houston We Have a Podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center. This is episode 416: Artemis II: Bringing the Mission to You. I'm Joseph Zakrzewski, and I'll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, astronauts and sometimes communicators, all to let you know what's going on in the world of human space flight and more. Artemis II isn't just a milestone for NASA, it's a moment the whole world will be watching. The first time in more than 50 years that astronauts will journey to the moon. Millions of people, classrooms, families and space fans everywhere will be tuning in. And behind the scenes, teams across NASA have been working to make sure that when we go you can go with us, from launch day to the crew's return home. We're talking about everything that brings this mission to life for the public: NASA+ and continuous coverage; live commentary; mission blogs; real-time social media updates; and some of the most breathtaking imagery you have ever seen from a human space flight mission. It's a tremendous effort, spanning multiple centers, dozens of teams, countless tools, and more planning than most people realize- all with one goal: making Artemis II accessible to everyone. We brought together all of our hosts, Gary Jordan, Leah Cheshier Mustachio, Kenna Pell, and Nilufar Ramji to discuss. This episode will be your guide on how to engage with this historic mission. Let's get started. <Intro Music> Gary, Leah, Kenna, and Nilufar, we've got the whole gang here. It's been a busy and exciting time here at NASA for everyone at Johnson Space Center. But of course, agency wide, as we prepare for Artemis II, Leah, let's start with you, with the communications we've seen everything all encompassed in Artemis II, and what to really look forward to, especially these last few months. But from a communications perspective, what are some of those unique challenges and opportunities for this team? Leah Cheshier When you think about challenges, I think one of our biggest challenges in communications in general now is something that is not new for this mission, something that we've seen over the last few years, and even that our NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman, mentioned the other day, which I was really happy to hear, is that there are more than three news channels now, or there are more than three TV channels. The information overload that is now on the internet is just extreme. You know, we are one voice of many. We are a leading voice, but it is still a challenge for, I think, people to find us sometimes, or to parse through a lot of information. And some of it's good information! But how do we get the NASA story in front of it? And additionally, how do you make sure the NASA story has staying power in the overall conversation, because there's a lot happening in the world. There's a lot happening in pop culture. How do you make sure that what we're doing at NASA has the staying power that we did back in Apollo? I mean, everybody around the world stopped to watch the moon landing. How do we make sure that people stop and remember where they were when we flew by the moon on Artemis II, or when we land on the moon in future Artemis missions, how do we ensure people stop, remember where they were, pass that story down to their grandkids, inspire the children that are watching live. So I think that's the biggest challenge, is making sure that our mission lasts, or making sure that our message lasts and is loud enough. But I think it's such a unique opportunity, because we haven't done a lunar mission in over 50 years. And that's a challenge too, because, you know, we don't have anybody on this team that worked during Apollo. So how do we communicate Artemis in a way that's different than how we're communicating everything happening at the International Space Station, which we are so expertly skilled in, if I do say so myself. So that's a challenge, but it is also an opportunity. How often in your life do you get to work on a crewed lunar mission? And I think it's something that everyone has really risen to the occasion to meet. Everyone's putting their best foot forward. The most creative ideas in the forefront, it's, it's such an exciting time to be here, right now. Joseph Zakrzewski And there's so many different platforms too these days. You mentioned, you know, Apollo, everybody gathering around the TV set. We've all seen those iconic photos of how families witnessed that moment in history. But now and, Nilufar, going to you with things like NASA+, YouTube, social media, nasa.gov the NASA website, all these platforms kind of working together to create those moments. How do you coordinate something that's on that scale, that's not just the one or two or, I guess, at the time of Apollo, three TV stations that were in existence that really broadcast that information? Nilufar Ramji Well, it's a massive