The Current - Artemis II inspires: the ripple effects of the moon mission

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

As the Artemis II mission wraps up, its impact is still being felt here on Earth. From classrooms to rocket clubs, a new generation is looking up and imagining themselves in space. We hear from Dhyan Soni, a Grade 12 student already building rockets and dreaming big about Canada's future in space. And later, Canadian astrophysicist Sara Seager helps us understand where this renewed excitement for space could lead next

So when you were growing up, how would you have felt about having a famous parent? I mean, maybe your gut reaction is, oh, great. You know, get access, you get money. If you ask Dan Levy, who you might know from Schitt's Creek, he'll tell you that it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. In fact, it was a point of pain between him and his dad, the comedy legend, Eugene Levy. So Dan will tell you why he felt that way and how they worked through it.

Hear that conversation now. Just search for Q with Tom Power wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. It's been one week since the Artemis 2 crew came back to Earth. They traveled farther into space than any humans before them. And then the Orion Space capsule re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. In an interview with the Nationals, Ian Hanamancing,

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen describes what that was like. Reentry is just such a magical experience. As you start to touch the atmosphere, G's just slowly come on. We saw riser, zero G indicator just slowly come down and boop. And then from there it got 40. The Gs built up. You saw the plasma coming.

It was red. But then it was green and bluish and it was bright. And it was like somebody was welding outside the capsule. I put my sun visor down. It was so bright. And then we came out of the blackout period. There was this weird bobble as we kind of got pointed straight down at the earth, which was interesting.

You really hear the thrusters. They're loud. It's like, bang, bang, bang. and the capsule's moving around. And then the violence of the drogue shoots coming out and you're whipping all over the place and you're just kind of like giggling. It's kind of like an amusement park ride.

And then they release and you're falling again and then bang, more parachutes and more sounds. And then the finale, you hit the water and I was all ready for the brace. You know, you call brace and it was just like, so soft. What a description. Well, once the capsule successfully splashed down,

the astronauts had to sit and wait as a support crew came out by boat and finally open that capsule door. Christina Cook describes that moment. It was an absolutely incredible human moment. We knew we were safe. We were in the capsule, completely relaxed. We were sharing some snacks, having some water.

But when the humans opened that hatch and were the first to welcome us back to planet Earth, which we knew we had just come back to a planet because of what we just experienced, and for those faces to be ready to get us, they had trained for this moment, we had trained for this moment. It was a complete emotional release

of joy when they open that door. No surprise. The astronauts say they're still processing what they experienced during their mission, what they saw, what they felt, what it means to go that far and then come back. And so are plenty of people here on Earth who followed along with them, including Dionne Soni. He's a grade 12 student at Turner Fenton Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario. He's also the co-founder of that school's Rocket Building Club, Turner Fenton Rocketry Association, Dianne, hello. Well, good morning.

If you had to sum it up, what does the Artemis II mission mean for you? Honestly, it's hard to take such a profound mission to just like a single sentence. But if I were to say something, it's our generation's massive moonshite. It's like the most inspiring moment that I've been a part of in a long time. This one story I'd like to share for this is, I'm not sure if you've heard of George Mallory. He's like one of the first people to try summiting Everest. A reporter asked him like, hey, like it's dangerous. It's expensive.

It's uncertain. Like, why climate? And he gave a really simple response. he said, why climb the mountain? Because it's there, right? I think that like overall spirit of human exploration and innovation, it's exactly what's led Artemis to. And we sort of use that exploration and that slogan a lot at Turner Fenton Rocketry. And so the extra special thing about this for Canadians is that Jeremy Hansen was part of this mission.

So when you see a fellow Canadian doing this, how does that land for you? You know, I actually couldn't believe it that the fact that when it was first announced that he'd be part of the mission, that was a massive shock, but it was such a moment of national pride for everybody, right? Because first of all, he's a Canadian, and so seeing him and literally thinking that the fact that he's orbiting the moon, it's incredible. But moreover, he's an air cadet, and he used to be, and that sort of opened his path to become a pilot to an astronaut and eventually go to the moon. And being an air cadet myself, it's sort of like a moment of inspiration there as well. Okay, so of course you're inspired because this is your thing, the young. You love this thing.

You're into it. So many people are. I'm wondering what you have noticed with your friends, you know, younger students, how this mission has sparked interest that possibly wasn't there before for a lot of people. Sure, yeah, that's a great question. So I think, like, the first part to answer would be, like, within my team, right? So a few years ago when Space Flight was really picking up for the first time, I think, like, 2021, 2022, there was a much interest amongst, like, my age demographics, like 17, 18 years old or even younger. But for the first time, I think Artemis II has really connected with, like, the younger generation. because, like, for instance, at school, we'll talk about it.

People are actually watching in school. University teams are having, like, for example, watch party sessions. It's like a, there's like an environment. We're really, really excited about this new wave of aerospace. So I think it's, like, profound in that. But also, I had the opportunity to visit Morningstar Public School. So it's middle school in Malton a couple weeks back. And seeing, like, the enthusiasm that a lot of these younger students had, it was incredible as well.

Because, like, I'll tell you what, like initially trying to get those first. questions at them, it was a little bit difficult because they're a little bit nervous. But as soon as that first person spoke, I had literally an hour and a half of questions nonstop. Artemis and Turner Fentor Rocket Tree and Mars in the moon. And it's like, it's seeing that like curiosity spark, you could literally see it. So you were once one of those littler kids. 100%? What was the draw for you into rockets and astronomy? You know what? So it's actually kind of funny how it first started. So you know how every single year at the CNE, there's like an air show, right? at Lakefront. So my dad used to take me there when I was like five or six years old. So seeing

those jets rocket by and like the old warplanes and stuff like that, it was incredible, right? And that passionately dormant for a while. But then it sort of reignited in 2022, I think it was. So back when I was in grade seven. And there was like a mission to the ISS. It was called Crew 2. So that was when they're testing like the SpaceX systems to go to the ISS. And I'm like, you know what? This is kind of cool. So then I started taking the innovation or in the exploration a little bit further. So I started watching, like, my YouTube was filled with, like, all space and stuff like that. And then I started building these, like, little bottle rockets out of, like, two-liter pop cans. And then from there, I just kept going. And that led me to TFRA.

Okay. So you've gone beyond two-liter bottle rockets, those soda bottle rockets. What are some of the rockets you've been building? What goes into building the ones you're building now? Sure, yeah. So honestly, like, we first started with our serious rockets in 2014-24 in, like, November-ish. We started with very little experience. because most of these teams, we competed at a competition called Launch Canada, and it's like a university rocketry competition, right? And it's an order of magnitude more complex than like the lava rockets. They actually deal with like solid fuel, sort of like what the space shuttle has, right?

And basically the way that it worked was we set out a plan. Instead of building one large rocket, let's build three smaller rockets and learn from each one, right? So we built the first one. It's called Vanguard. It launched right here in Canada. And it taught us the very basics. then we built a second one, it's called Stallion, that one had two parachutes. If you recall during Jeremy's, or Jeremy Hanson's session, he was mentioned that, like,

there was a drogue and a main parachute. So those are like the two types of parachutes that are on a lot of rockets. And then the final one, we call it Spector, that's the one that actually launched at the competition. So having those three rockets allowed us to, like, fail and then learn from each iteration, right? I know nothing about rockets. So when you say these were smaller ones, what are we talking about? So, yeah, so in terms of small, it's like, it's still quite large. It's not like your model rocket.

So the first one was like, I think, four and a half feet tall. So it's still pretty large. That thing flew to 1,500 feet. And then the main one, Specter, that one, I think it's taller than me. It's like, I think six and a half feet tall, seven feet tall. And that thing flew like 10,000 feet. How do you launch this thing? That's a good question.

That's a good question. So basically they had these large, solid rocket motors. So they're sort of like a massive firework, we're really, really powerful. And we have to go up to a little mining town called. It's a pretty large city. It's about seven and a half an hour north of Toronto. And they have the end. competition in August and us and like literally I think 31 other teams from all across Canada

come with the rockets and we launched there. There are teams that went to like 60 or 70,000 feet. So it's incredible. Where did you build this thing? Honestly, my auto teacher, his name is Mr. Xing. He's sort of like the backbone of our club. And he has like an auto shop for like tires and stuff and we sort of turned into a rocketry factory. There and then my basement.

My parents have somehow convinced them to make like a little workshop. Your dad is here. laughing behind us, yeah. But yeah, so there, so my basement and then Mr. Singh's shop, that's where all the magic happens. This week on two blocks from the White House, we're talking about the Trump factor and exploring how Trump's touch is backfiring in some places. Trump has loomed large over Canadian politics since his re-election, and this past weekend

the Trump factor was felt in the landmark Hungarian election. Join us every week as we break down U.S. politics from a Canadian perspective. Find and follow two blocks from the White House wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Amazing, amazing. Okay, so you're in grade 12, so you're about to graduate high school. What are you looking ahead to? What's your plans?

Yeah, that's a fantastic question. I've spent a good deal of time thinking about it. And you know what? Honestly, I want to see, like, in the next five to ten years, I want to see that Canada has its own, like, sovereign launch capabilities. What that means is that Canada can launch its own. home-built rocket with our home-built payloads with our home-built people basically, right? I want to see Canadian astronauts launch off of our soil. I think that's important because Canada has so much town.

And I can see it firsthand. Like our university rocketry teams are incredible, right? And it's important that we have our own launch capability. So in the next five, ten years, I see myself dedicating myself fully to that goal. Yep. So you can bet the house that we'll make sure we get into orbit. Because you're going to into engineering. Into engineering, yep, exactly.

Lots of people have responded to this mission from all walks of life. People who, you know, young people who are not going to become engineers but are just so inspired by this. And there are some people like, me, space, you know, what do you see as the bigger message for humanity as we all, you know, still digest Artemis 2 doing what it spectacularly did and hearing from the astronauts? Yeah, that's actually like a very valid question because I hear it a lot. Like why spend billions of dollars into space, right? Because there is a lot of things that we could be using that money for. here on Earth, right? And if we take like the practical approach, I'd say like the spin-off technologies, like for example, if you use GPS, I got, I use GPS to get here, that's all space

technology, right? But the more important and the honestly more honest message would be the fact that, hey, like I said earlier, like George Mallory said it, that, you know what, we can, we go to space because we can, right? It's honestly like a challenge that it's used to unite us all. Think about the fact that there are four people just last week who went around the moon, they went further than anybody else and they reentered the atmosphere at 40,000 kilometers an hour. Isn't that inspiring, right? And I think that honestly, outside of the practical applications and the technology and the jobs and whatever that provides, right, the more important fact is that it's a nearly impossible mission. And the fact that we've done it should be inspiring to everybody to try

for more. I think that's the more important part rather than just the practical. I appreciate you coming in. I know that there are kids listening this morning who hear you and say, oh, I want to be like him. So thanks for your inspiration as well. Appreciate it. The Ansoni is a student at Turner Fenton's Secondary School. He's also the co-founder of that School's Rocket Building Club, Turner Fenton Rocketry Association. It is not just Canadian high schoolers feeling what NASA is calling moon joy. In the halls of MIT's physics department, the excitement has also been very real. Sarah Seeger is a Canadian astrophysicist and professor at MIT. She teaches planetary science there. She's also the director of the Morning Star Missions to

Venus. And good news for Canadian, Sarah is returning here to Canada to be a professor at the University of Toronto starting in the fall. Sarah, good morning to you. Good morning, Pia. Tell me what the atmosphere has been like at MIT these past few weeks. Well, we have enthusiasm, perhaps not quite as high as Dion, but everyone had watch parties. Everyone took some time off to get inspired, and everyone especially watched the re-entry, like, super carefully. And so now that the astronauts are safe back on Earth, the mission went very well, what are you reflecting on as you think about the astronauts going further field than any human has gone before?

Well, I think we're all not reflecting, but anticipating an incredible future. We want to have a human presence on the moon, like literally a moon base with, think of like the movies, like people walking around in their spacesuits and building things and living there. So this is like the start to that incredible future. You know that this mission had some first along with just the amazing thing that was accomplished. It saw big leaps forward when it comes to representation, for example, Christina Cook and Victor Glover becoming the first woman and black astronaut, respectively, to travel around the moon. Pardon me. What difference do you think that makes for the students that you teach

and the kids watching this mission to see that kind of representation? I think it's really important, especially if we don't have to call it out specifically, you know, because you want to see yourself. just like we heard Dion super excited that there was a Canadian astronaut orbiting the moon, you want to be able to see yourself so you can envision your own future. And so when you were younger, where did you see yourself? Were you inspired by women in space science? Like I wasn't, but I was definitely an unusual case. Meaning what?

What was your inspiration? I sort of just lived in my own little world, and my dad was my inspiration because he taught me to think big, how to have huge dreams, and how to execute those dreams. And so I was sort of more focused in my own little universe. And this mission in particular, Sarah, you know, I'm old enough, you're old enough to know that we've done other amazing things in space. But this one seemed to grab people's attention in, I don't know if it's a newfound way or renewed found way. Why do you think that has been?

Because until now, we just saw pictures of people on the moon. You know, you and I didn't live through it. at least I wasn't born yet. And pretty much most adults today, they were just like tiny children. So I think that people got to watch this. I mean, it's scary. You heard them say 40,000 clump. You heard them say the incredible speeds, the G-Forces,

the description from Jeremy of how scary. Well, he didn't say scary, but I think for most of us, we'd be terrified to re-enter and have all those bright emissions coming off the entry probe. So to watch it in real time, that's what the huge difference is. And also I suppose, you know, it is a rough time for humans here on Earth. We seem to be going through a difficult period in our history. How much do you think this is about people wanting to find something just to, I don't know, bring us joy to feel hopeful about?

Yeah, I totally agree with that. We all need something to lift us up that we can all, every single person, unite behind. We, of course, didn't just see the astronauts up in the capsule. But we talk about those four astronauts. They didn't extraordinary things. but we talk about them so much that sometimes we don't talk about the many, many people here on Earth that were involved in a mission like this. We saw images and video of the scientists back on Earth who were helping to make this mission possible. As a planetary scientist yourself, what was it like to see all those people involved?

Well, we've seen people involved before like that, but I guess this time there was like an extra pressure, extra risk involved with humans in space. So I'm so glad it all worked out. At that press conference yesterday, the Artemis crew was asked what advice they'd give young people. They had wonderful things to say. Reed Wiseman, the commander of the mission, emphasized the need to go out and do hard things and move the needle. And here's a bit of what Christina Cook said. Do what scares you? Path of least resistance isn't usually the path that will give the most back to the world

and give you the most sense of courage and confidence. and finally support those around you. The benefits that compound when you support those around you and they support you back are just immeasurable. Sarah Seeger, what do you make of that advice? I agree with all of that, and I think it's time that we all tried to do that. It's so hard, right?

It's hard to step outside your comfort zone. It's hard to execute on your big dreams, but we all need to take that step. And so when your students were saying to Professor Seeger, that was so amazing and inspiring, but I want to be part of something like that. I want to contribute. What advice are you giving them?

Well, there's two separate things. One is, as you already said earlier in the program, we don't expect everyone to become astronauts. But what we do want is all of this to inspire more people who normally wouldn't be paying attention, who might not go into STEM, and to accelerate those who are going into STEM along their way. But honestly, what I do tell them is that most of us,

we have more of a chance to go into space, to saving our money, to making money, and to buy in our own ticket in space tourism. For the large majority of people, they don't make it through the competition to become a government-sponsored astronaut. So I definitely tell all my students that. And you heard Dion talking earlier

about Canada's role and all of this and how happy is about seeing where our programs are going. How can Canada's space program add to all these exciting developments? Well, there's a lot of different ways. I mean, some of it's just financial, but some is the people. And you know, it's our aim in Canada to become more sovereign in defense and technology.

So having this pipeline of people is really, really important, not just government funded, but enabling companies, like to participate in our new space economy by government funding and just by their own investor fundraising. But I do think it's really important to be able to keep people like Dion in Canada and to keep that inspiration there. And we know you're coming home, of course, to help people like Theon and others to keep their inspiration and education going.

Sarah Seeger, very good to talk to you as well. Thank you. Thank you so much. Sarah Seeger is an astrophysicist professor at MIT and director of the Morning Star Missions to Venus. She is returning home to the University of Toronto in the fall. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.