Why did we go back to the moon?

Why did we go back to the moon?

From Unexplainable by Vox

April 13, 2026 · 32 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the recent return of humans to the moon and the challenges of sustaining human life in space for future missions.

For the first time in over 50 years, humans have gone to the moon and back. And this time, NASA says we're going to stay. NASA's planning for more missions, a permanent moon base, and even a mission to Mars. But there's a pretty big question hanging over all these dreams: Can humans survive in space long enough to make them happen?(A version of this episode originally aired in 2022, with the launch of Artemis I.) Guests: Anne McClain, NASA Astronaut; Scott Kelly, former NASA Astronaut; Rebecca Boyle, science writer, Jonathan Jiang, NASA astrophysicist For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/members⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Guests: Anne McClain, Scott Kelly, Rebecca Boyle, Jonathan Jiang

Topics covered

  • moon exploration
  • NASA missions
  • space survival
  • Artemis program
  • human spaceflight

Keywords

  • moon
  • NASA
  • Artemis
  • space missions
  • human survival
  • moon base
  • Mars

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NASA, Vox

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