13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II - Artemis II: 10. How to train your astronaut

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After all the excitement of the lunar fly-by, the Artemis II crew are taking a breather, and have a long-distance call with the astronauts on board the International Space Station.

Besides the Artemis II and ISS crews, there are other humans up in space too. China’s Tiangong space station is currently home to three taikonauts. Hosts astronaut Tim Peake and space scientist Maggie Aderin are joined by space journalist Kristin Fisher to discuss China’s progress in their lunar program so far.

And Artemis II chief training officer Jacki Mahaffey tells Tim, Maggie and Kristin how the crew were trained to expect the unexpected, how astronaut preparation has changed since the Apollo days, and how she feels about the upcoming splashdown.

You can get in touch with the 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II team by emailing 13minutes@bbc.co.uk.

Season 4 theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg and produced by Russell Emanuel, for Bleeding Fingers Music.

13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II is a BBC Audio Science production for the BBC World Service.

Presenters: Tim Peake and Maggie Aderin
Producers: Alex Mansfield and Sophie Ormiston
Series editor: Martin Smith

Published on Wednesday, 8th April 2026.

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