NASA’s Artemis II Launches Astronauts on Historic Mission Around the Moon

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0:38We do real, like real adventures to Mars or real journeys into the future to see how imagination can really take us to strange new worlds and real trips into the past where we meet heroes and legends way ahead of their time. Real rockets, real astronauts, real adventure. All at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Discover something real. Welcome to The Beat. I'm Melissa Murray in for Ari Melber. And we have got a huge night ahead. And it starts with what you are seeing on your screen right now. The imminent launch of Artemis II, the first crewed mission around the moon in more than 50 years.

1:16Liftoff is expected this hour, and we will be bringing it to you live. Later in the show, we're going to talk about another historic first, this time on Earth. the President of the United States attending oral arguments at the Supreme Court today as the court considers his attempt to end birthright citizenship. Plus, we're just hours away from the President's live address to the nation on the Iran war. He will deliver that speech amid flagging poll numbers that reflect his handling of both the war and the economy. But tonight, we are going to start with MS Now's Josh Einiger, who is live at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

1:59Josh, what does it look like there for the launch? Is it all systems go? Well, so far, so good, Melissa. I've actually been listening in this year to the mission control updates, and there was just an issue that has come up involving a battery on the Orion or the Artemis, the whole launcher behind me in the distance back there, behind me, the SLS rocket. Right now, they're working on troubleshooting that. We have not yet heard if that's going to impact the actual launch. The launch window opens at 624 Eastern time, so a little bit less than 24 minutes from now. There is a 10-minute hold, meaning they will hold the clock at T minus 10 minutes to make sure that all systems are going.

2:42So that's when we'll know exactly what happens. The window itself is two hours long. So they have two hours when they can launch Artemis 2 and get it on its trajectory to meet up with the moon on this historic lunar mission, a return of humankind to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. So we'll, of course, be watching and I'll be listening, Melissa. I'm feeling a little nostalgic here. I grew up in Florida, so I remember the space shuttle launches and there were always these wide windows so they could troubleshoot anything that came up. But there was also the chance that you could miss the window entirely.

3:17If that is the case, when is the next opportunity for this launch? Tomorrow. They've got several windows over the next few days, Melissa. And then if they miss all of them, there's one more at the end of the month. This, by the way, is the third month that they've tried. There was a series of days in February and then a series of days in early March. And they came up with problems in both of those times. In fact, the second chunk of time they went through this, what they refer to as a wet dress rehearsal. They went through all the tests and they determined that there were issues that had to be worked out.

3:50And they actually rolled the entire vehicle back to the vehicle assembly building, the VAB. It's about a four mile journey moving very, very slowly. So they resolved all those issues. They have new seals that had been the issue. And they believe, they say, that everything looks good for launch. But a couple of things have cropped up. And Melissa, you remember this growing up here in Florida. I, 20 years ago, covered the space shuttle program, several launches. And there are all kinds of issues that come up in this phase of the countdown. So nothing necessarily means that there's going to be a scrub.

4:24When it comes to weather, that's the other thing. All day today, they said weather was 80 % go. They recently upgraded that to 90 % because there was a little cloudy here earlier. the skies over launch complex 39b have now cleared. Of course, the issue also is the weather along the trajectory that the rocket is going to take as it circles the Earth, as it exits the Earth's atmosphere, of course, because if there has to be an abort, they need clear weather all along the route. So it's much more complicated than just, as you see there in that picture, the sun right now shining on the Orion spacecraft as it sits on top of the SLS, that space launch system, which is the replacement for the shuttle, which, of course, was decommissioned years ago.

5:08All right, Josh, we will check back with you later in the hour. Right now, we are going to turn to a special guest here on the beat for a big night in politics. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat from New York, is joining us right now. Leader Jeffries, how are you? Good. Great to be with you. Great to have you. Lots of questions going on here. The president is going to make his big address tonight to the nation on update on the Iran war. What are you hoping to hear from the president about this incredibly unpopular war? All Trump and Republicans have gotten us into a reckless war of choice with no plan, no objectives and no clear exit strategy.

5:49The war clearly has not made us safer, but it has made life more expensive in this country and it needs to end. Now, the American people, as you've pointed out, Melissa, have expressed themselves from the very beginning of this conflict because our view in totality is that billions of dollars are being wasted right now to drop bombs in the Middle East. But the same group of extremists, Donald Trump and Republicans in the House and the Senate, won't even spend a dime to make life more affordable for the American people. In fact, we know what the war is doing. It's increasing costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing through the roof, and it's hurting everyday Americans all across the country.

6:29So tonight, are you hoping to hear a plan for withdrawing from Iran? And if so, what will that mean for the control of the Strait of Hormuz, which still remains in the hands of Iran? That's a challenge that Donald Trump, of course, has created, had no clear strategy or preparation done to deal with this eventuality. And that's part of the problem of how this president and Republicans have conducted themselves from the very beginning, sort of just unleashing chaos and extremism on the American people and on the world. Now, it will be interesting to see if the president has articulated a plan to bring our allies together in order to get the situation in terms of the straight and foremost under control.

7:12But he's not going to be able to accomplish that objective by criticizing and bullying and name calling our NATO allies, which is what this guy has done from the very beginning of his presidency and is completely and totally ineffective. So one of the criticisms of this war is that the president has never really consulted with Congress, as is required under the Constitution. Last month, a War Powers resolution that sought to restrain the president was issued but failed in the House. It was not passed. As this unpopular war continues, do you think the momentum on Capitol Hill is going to shift?

7:48And do you think there will be more members of the Republican Party who are willing to criticize this president and the way this war has been conducted in the absence of congressional approval? Certainly is my hope, but I'm not holding my breath because House Republicans have, from the very beginning of this presidency, conducting themselves not as a holy, I mean, not as a separate and co-equal branch of government, but actually like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump cartel. These people continue to bury their heads in the sand and just serve like a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda.

8:22The war is so deeply unpopular. It's been so ineffective in accomplishing whatever objectives Donald Trump has articulated from day to day. And of course, it's making life more expensive for the American people. It is my hope that upon our return, when we will have the ability to bring another war powers resolution to the floor of the House, that a handful of House Republicans, we just need a few more to join us and we can successfully enact a resolution that would require Donald Trump to end the war immediately. You mentioned one of the dynamics that has made this war so unpopular, just had real constraints on affordability.

9:01Now the White House is reportedly eyeing a$200 billion funding request for the war. And the president has also reportedly suggested that additional cuts to health care may be necessary to fund the war. How is the Democratic caucus going to respond to these measures? Will you be opposing this? Will you seek concessions on other issues? Are you planning to make this an issue as we go into the midterm cycle? Well, it's my expectation that there will be strong opposition amongst House Democrats and Senate Democrats, as has already been expressed by many members across the Capitol. And, by the way, there should be some Republicans who join us.

9:40The notion that Donald Trump entered this country into a reckless war of choice is spending billions of dollars to drop bombs in Iran, but won't spend a dime to actually extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, to reverse the Medicaid cuts, to deal with the damage that has been done to the economy as a result of the Trump tariffs, and then wants to come back to the taxpayers and ask us for as much as potentially$200 billion is out of control. And, you know, I think one of the reasons why Donald Trump is now talking about trying to do this through the budget reconciliation process is because he knows his only hope is to try to jam this down the throats of the American people in an extreme partisan way.

10:25But I think the American people, as they've done with the one big ugly bill, will furiously react to any effort to continue to cut health care or cut nutritional assistance in order to actually fund Donald Trump's reckless war of choice. Well, there was widespread public outrage about the bill that you just mentioned, but it did ultimately pass. Are there steps that you all are taking to oppose this potential funding measure if it comes to the floor of the House? And what might it look like in the Senate? Well, it passed by a single vote, I believe, in both the House and in the Senate. And that was, of course, as a result of the fact that Republicans largely did what Donald Trump told them to do, notwithstanding the fact that many Republicans had previously committed not to cutting Medicaid or not to cutting nutritional assistance.

11:19What we'll need to do is just get a handful of House Republicans to join us. We'll just need one or two more. And I expect there will be complete Democratic opposition in the House and in the Senate, as was the case against the one big ugly bill. And we just have to continue to forcefully lay things out for the American people. The American people want their taxpayer dollars spent to make their life more affordable, not actually to rip away health care, to unleash violent, masked and untrained ICE agents, to brutalize and in some cases kill the American citizens. And in some and now, of course, dealing with this dynamic as it relates to funding a deeply unpopular war.

12:05Speaking of ICE, there is now a measure that is likely that has gone through to continue funding DHS, although there is an exemption for the provisions that would fund ICE and Customs and Border Control enforcement. What was the process like for that? Are you and your caucus happy with this resolution to what has been a standoff with the administration? Well, what we've made clear to Donald Trump and Republicans during this entire Trump-Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is that we should fund TSA, fund FEMA, fund the Coast Guard, fund our cybersecurity professionals, and make sure that there are actually dramatic, bold, meaningful changes to ICE so that ICE is brought back under control because we know they're conducting themselves in a violent and extreme fashion.

12:54immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, just, and humane. We need to get the Department of Homeland Security reopened in terms of every other part of it that doesn't relate to Donald Trump's violent mass deportation machine. And that's a positive outcome from the American people while we continue to fight the battles that need to be fought in terms of the type of reforms that need to be put into place before ICE gets another dime in taxpayer dollars. So, Leader Jeffries, President Trump was at the Supreme Court this morning. What do you think that was about? Why did he choose to attend these oral arguments the first time a president has ever done so?

13:33What was the play here? Well, it's very King-like behavior, it appears, in terms of Donald Trump showing up. I don't know whether he was trying to intimidate the justices that he had previously appointed in some instances, but I think appropriately so. and you certainly are one of the top legal scholars in the country. But the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, the Birthright Citizenship Clause is very clear. And as I think it was Justice Roberts pointed out, while the Trump administration, for whatever reason, is arguing that times have changed, of course that is in fact the case. This was a Reconstruction Amendment, but the Constitution remains the same.

14:17And that has not been changed. And so hopefully Supreme Court justices are going to do the right thing in terms of ruling as has been the case in prior Supreme Court decisions or every other federal court that has considered this matter. And Donald Trump's last ditch desperate effort to show up and try to intimidate the justices will go nowhere. All right. Leader Jeffries, thanks so much for joining us to get us started tonight. Thank you. Just ahead, we are minutes from the launch of Artemis II. This is the first crewed mission around the world, around the moon in more than 50 years. And liftoff is coming up.

14:57We'll cover that when we come right back from this break.

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16:39You're looking at live pictures from Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the Artemis II moon mission is scheduled to launch at any moment. This is the first crewed lunar mission since 1972. The launch window for this mission opens at 6.24 p.m. Eastern, and it will remain open for two hours. Right now, you're seeing here the SLS rocket, It is a massive instrument, measures 322 feet tall, it weighs 5.7 million pounds with fuel, and it generates 9 million pounds of thrust. And all of that is headed to space. Here is the crew of the Artemis mission, and it's comprised of three Americans and one Canadian.

17:24If the mission is successful, these astronauts will set the record for the farthest anyone has ever been from Earth, an incredible 252 ,000 miles away from this planet. The crew will fly to the moon, circle the far side of the moon, and perform what is known as a gravitational slingshot, which will then propel them home. The mission is expected to last 10 days and will be a test of life support systems for a future moon landing. Again, we are just minutes away from the launch window opening. And to make sense of all of this and to give us a sense of what those astronauts are doing right now, we have a great panel to guide us through this historic moment.

18:09MS Now's Josh Einiger is live at Kennedy Space Center. Danny Olivas is a retired astronaut with two NASA missions and five spacewalks under his belt. Also with us is Casey Dreyer, the chief of space policy for the Planetary Society. and we are also joined by Adam Frank, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester. Josh, again, what is the mood on the ground at the Cape? Well, there's sort of a hush right now at the press site at Kennedy Space Center, Michelle, because at the moment, we are listening, I'm listening in this ear right now, and a lot of people are listening to the NASA team right now doing their final poll for launch, all the various modules within the launch control, within the flight testing control.

18:56They've been going from point to point to point asking if they are a go for launch. And the crew just said they are a go for launch. So right now we are waiting for them to resume the count. They are right now in what they call a 10-minute hold, where they hold the countdown at 10 minutes and give the launch team time to really make sure their T's are crossed and their I's are dotted and they are ready for a safe launch. As you said, there is a two-hour window that starts at 624, but it doesn't end, of course, until 824. And so they have a cushion of time. They don't really have to start, actually start the launch sequence and launch at 624.

19:36That said, an interesting bit of information that they said there are 150 individual times within that two-hour window when they can't launch. And that's because there's a lot of other things orbiting the Earth. There are satellites, there's junk, there's debris. And so there are times when they can't apparently launch Artemis because at that point they have to make sure they're basically traffic cops in addition to making sure all the systems on the vehicle are go. So we are waiting. You're looking at it on the pad, Launch Complex 39B. And a message to the crew from the launch director just now, Godspeed, let's go.

20:16So it does sound like they are perhaps moments away from resuming the clock, which still sits at 10 minutes. So it is a pretty exciting time. They've had a number of issues that have popped up in the last hour or so as they've been counting down to this point. They did say for each of them that they had resolved them. The weather is clear. It's a perfectly clear blue sky afternoon here on the space coast of Florida. And we are right now waiting for the clock to resume, the count to resume. and to watch history here on Florida's Space Coast. So, Danny, you have been in space. You have been exactly where this crew is.

20:54What's going through their minds right now as they prepare to get the word that liftoff is a go? Well, I guarantee you that they are focused right now 100 % on their procedures, on everything that they've been training for for all these years, as is everybody on the ground. Everyone is basically laser-focused on their assignments and what the data is supposed to tell them, what it's not supposed to tell them, and they are looking at everything as tightly as they possibly can. This is a very, very delicate time during the launch sequence, right, as you get into the find count. And if something is not right, now's the time to sing out because you just don't have a whole lot of time to work the problem.

21:34So we do build in a 10-minute hold to make sure everybody is ready, everybody can catch their breath. As you head into that final 10-minute count, basically, you're just firing up the bird and getting ready to go explore space. So, Danny, what are the kinds of last-minute quality control checks that the crew is doing right now? They're all strapped in, ostensibly. What are they looking at? What do they need to deal with before this can actually happen? Five minutes to what? Well, as you can imagine, with the complexity of a vehicle such as this, There are so many different subsystems that have to communicate with one another.

22:10So a lot of it is data communication, making sure that the sensors are all reading what they're supposed to, that they're communicating with the computer systems to make sure that the very small valves and very small components are operating properly. I mean, this thing is instrumented to the nth degree. And everything has to be working perfectly before they actually light that candle. Because once you light the solid rocket boosters, you can't shut them down. And so you're getting ready to go on a very long trip. And right now, this is the opportunity to test everything out in the final counts.

22:44They've been testing up until now, and they will continue that testing right up before launch when they basically hand over the control over to the bird. So, Danny, when you were in this position, what did your day look like? The day you were going to light the candle and go off into space, how did you start your day? What do you do? Are there special protocols about what you can eat and how you prepare for the rest of the day? What does it look like? Well, a lot of people think that all they do is simply just drive up to the bird, jump on top of it, and then away you go, right? I guarantee you this crew has already been putting in a full day and a half of work on their end.

23:21They started early this morning with their pre-flight checks. They loaded up around, I guess, around 2 p.m. Eastern time. So they have actually been, you know, in place and actually working with the ground team, the launch control team, to make sure that the bird is healthy and ready to go. By the time they make it into orbit, I mean, it's literally the end of a very, very long day. We're talking in the order of 10, 12 hours, especially if you go near the end of the window. So when Artemis finally launches, the crew is going to be exhausted by the time they get up there. And they still have to take this rocket and convert it into an on-air platform that basically keeps them alive for the next nine and a half days or so.

24:01So there's still a lot of work in front of them. They're focused on it. But that's what they train for. That's what we all train for when we get ready to fly in space. All right. Josh, you have an update from Mission Control. What's going on on the ground? They have now entered what they refer to as terminal count. They have restarted the count at 10 minutes. So we are counting down now to 635 Eastern is the new actual time when Artemis will launch. The Orion spacecraft sitting on top of the new SLS rocket, which replaced the space shuttle that we all grew up watching launch from here at Kennedy Space Center.

24:40Orion, by the way, has been named by the crew as Integrity. So when we listen to their communications from Orion itself, we're going to be hearing the word Integrity a lot. That is what they're calling the vehicle, which is, by the way, the size of about a six-person tent. And that's where they'll be living for the next 10 days. All right, Casey, we are in the middle of a countdown. What does this mission mean for NASA, which has been in somewhat of a lull since the end of the space shuttle program? Well, debatably, I think they landed on Mars multiple times with robots. We've sent missions to Pluto.

25:18There's a lot of science happening. There's a lot of climate and Earth science happening. Human spaceflight has been in a transition period. And I think we're seeing the end of this transition period today. The space shuttle was a 40-year program. This rocket that they're sitting on now is a direct descendant of the space shuttle. It was actually mandated by Congress in 2010. This is the first time it's flying with humans. During that time, we have all this new era of commercial rockets like SpaceX Falcon, which actually carries astronauts too, but only to orbit. But this is our first deep space rocket that the United States has had capable of launching humans since the Saturn V, since the 1960s and early 70s.