Artemis III mission manager Mike Sarafin shares NASA's mission to return to the moon in 2026. July 20 is Space Exploration Day, marking the 55th anniversary of Apollo 11's historic moon landing.
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00:00Saturday July 20th is Space Exploration Day. It marks 55 years since Apollo 11
00:07when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step
00:12foot on the surface of the moon. And joining us from NASA is Mike Serafin. He
00:17is the mission manager for NASA's Artemis 3 program. Thank you so much for
00:22joining us Mike. And you said you're a big fan of the show so we also appreciate
00:25that. Yeah, thank you for having me Ari. I appreciate the just all the
00:31information that you guys provide and it's great to be here with you. Well now
00:35hopefully you can provide us some information because July 20th 1969. Can
00:40you put into perspective the importance of Apollo 11's mission and the
00:44accomplishments? Yeah, Apollo 11 was arguably one of the greatest achievements
00:49in all of humankind where Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon for the
00:55very first time. And we accomplished the goal, the national goal of putting a man
01:01on the moon by the end of the decade. And it inspired an entire generation of
01:06young men, young women to enter the field of science, technology, engineering, and
01:12math. And it was a boost to our nation's posture all across the globe. And it is
01:20an achievement that is going to be hard to beat. As mission manager, you are
01:26leading NASA's Artemis 3, scheduled to return to the moon in 2026. What is your
01:31mission? Yes, we will return to the to the moon, this time going to the region of
01:39the South Pole. And we'll bring the first woman and eventually we'll bring our
01:46international partners and people of color to the surface of the moon. We're
01:50going back this time to stay. We're going back with international partners. We're
01:55going with our industry partners. We're going for science, for inspiration, and
02:02for national posture. And having a coalition of like-minded partners,
02:08whether they're here in the U.S. or our international partners, is going to set
02:13behaviors for human exploration for decades to come. I love that. All right,
02:19looking ahead, what are the team goals for Artemis 3? And how will it help
02:25further space exploration to Mars?
02:30So fundamentally, we're going to take four astronauts out to the moon, two of
02:35them will stay in lunar orbit, two will get into a lander and go down to the
02:39surface of the moon, explore for the better part of a week to help us
02:44understand the history of the moon. The moon doesn't have erosion like we have
02:49here on Earth, and it's our closest neighbor. So by studying the moon, we can
02:53learn more about the history of the earth and changes over time that have
02:58happened that haven't been worn away by wind and rain and water. We will also
03:05grow technologies and again inspire the Artemis generation of young men, young
03:13women, to seek careers in science, technology, engineering, and math, and go
03:19with our partners. And partnering with friendly nations and drawing them
03:25into a peaceful endeavor is all going to encapsulate our goals, and we will go
03:32with them even further eventually on the Mars when we're ready.