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NASA's Curious Universe
by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
An official NASA podcast bringing you mind-blowing stories you won’t find anywhere else. What does it take to launch a rocket? What happens when we go looking for life beyond Earth? And what can the universe teach us next? With extraordinary access to the people and places behind NASA’s exploration of space, Curious Universe brings you closer to the discoveries shaping what we know about our universe. Don’t forget your curiosity.
Episodes
Encore: A Year In Mars Dune Alpha
20 Oct 2026 · 27 min
To prepare for the day when humans travel to Mars, NASA is conducting a one-year experiment in a Mars simulation environment. So what’s it like to spend a year in CHAPEA, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog? Travel through the airlock with voice recordings made by the four-person…
Encore: Welcome to the Dark Side
22 Sept 2026 · 26 min
Normal matter—the kind that makes up our home planet and everything we can see—adds up to just five percent of the known universe. The other 95 percent is dark matter and dark energy. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will settle essential questions about this dark side, especially dark…
Roman Series: Liftoff!
5 Sept 2026 · 22 min
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is in space, taking its first steps to explore the cosmos. Relive Roman’s launch—and the emotion that goes along with the roar of a rocket—with NASA experts who worked on the telescope for years. Plus, learn what happens next and when to expect Roman’s…
Roman Series: Why NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Make Unexpected Discoveries
27 Aug 2026 · 27 min
Take a deep dive into the science of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope with Julie McEnery, Roman's senior project scientist. Learn why Roman’s survey data will be so detailed that they could cover a 4K screen the size of dozens of city blocks and why Julie says she doesn’t hope Roman…
Roman Series: The Technology Inside NASA’s Newest Space Telescope
25 Aug 2026 · 33 min
What makes NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope a powerful tool with an unprecedented wide view of the cosmos? NASA engineers who designed, built, and tested Roman pop the hood to explain the unique technology inside. Go inside the huge NASA clean room where Roman was built, and get an…
Roman Series: Jupiters Around Other Suns
18 Aug 2026 · 32 min
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is on a quest to discover planets outside our solar system. NASA scientists Bertrand Mennesson and Vanessa Bailey explain how Roman’s wide view will spot as many as 100,000 new exoplanets in a galactic census that will change how we understand planetary…
Roman Series: NASA’s New View of the Dark Universe
11 Aug 2026 · 39 min
Meet NASA’s newest space telescope: Roman. With similar resolution to Hubble but a field of view 100 times larger, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will settle essential questions in astronomy. NASA scientists Josh Schlieder and Alina Kiessling explain how that wide view will help us…
Launching Soon: NASA’s Roman Space Telescope
4 Aug 2026 · 5 min
NASA is about to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will change the way we see the universe and settle essential questions about some of the biggest mysteries out there. In a new limited series, Curious Universe takes you behind the scenes with NASA scientists and engineers who…
There’s More Space in Your Life Than You Think
21 Jul 2026 · 33 min
In its mission to explore the unknown in air and space, NASA ends up inventing a lot of new things. Then, the agency “spins off” those inventions to companies that produce products to make our lives easier and safer here on Earth. From memory foam mattresses and cordless power tools to wireless…
Meet the Artemis III Crew
12 Jun 2026 · 52 min
Meet the astronauts who will fly on Artemis III: Commander Randy Bresnik, Pilot Luca Parmitano, and Mission Specialists Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas. In this special presentation of Houston We Have a Podcast, the Artemis III astronauts discuss their backgrounds and training ahead of them to…
Catching Up With Perseverance on Mars
2 Jun 2026 · 40 min
NASA’s robotic explorers are looking for signs of ancient life on Mars. In its five years and counting on the surface of the Red Planet, the Perseverance rover has collected dozens of rock samples, including tantalizing features that could be signs of past life. Scientists want to keep studying…
Bonus: Behind the Scenes of Artemis II with NASA Experts
2 May 2026 · 31 min
In this bonus episode, go behind the scenes of key moments from Artemis II with NASA experts who made them possible. Engineers who launched the rocket describe the hours-long process that led to a successful liftoff. The leader of the closeout crew recalls his sendoff message as the astronauts…
Update: Artemis II Crew Comes Home
15 Apr 2026 · 16 min
NASA’s Artemis II astronauts are back home. Hear reactions from the Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—as they returned to Earth. For more information about Artemis II, visit nasa.gov/artemis-ii
Update: Artemis II Crew Flies Around the Moon
8 Apr 2026 · 40 min
NASA’s Artemis II mission has flown around the Moon, and its four astronauts traveled farther from Earth than anyone in history. Relive this historic mission through the astronauts’ own words, including their scientific descriptions of the Moon’s surface, as well as the role of “space plumber”…
Artemis II: How NASA’s Moon Mission Returns to Earth
2 Apr 2026 · 26 min
Liftoff! NASA’s Artemis II mission launched on April 1, 2026, carrying four Moonbound astronauts. After an approximately 10-day mission, Artemis II ends with a splash. Lili Villarreal, the recovery and landing director for Artemis II, leads the team that will bring home the astronauts and their…
Artemis II: The Ground Teams Powering NASA's Moon Mission
17 Feb 2026 · 33 min
Behind NASA’s Artemis II mission and the astronauts who will fly around the Moon, teams on the ground are essential. Explore some of the epic equipment that makes Artemis II possible—the mobile launcher, crawler-transporter, and NASA’s barge Pegasus—and meet a few of the many specialists who act…
Artemis II: How NASA Will Study the Moon—And the Astronauts Going There
3 Feb 2026 · 53 min
During Artemis II, four astronauts will see the lunar surface as few humans have—and possibly, parts of the Moon’s far side that no one has seen before. Learn what lunar science questions NASA hopes to answer through the astronauts' eyes with lunar geologist Kelsey Young. And those astronauts will…
Artemis II: Inside NASA’s New Ride to the Moon
27 Jan 2026 · 35 min
During Artemis II, humans will fly Orion—NASA’s next-generation spaceship designed to take us to the Moon and beyond—for the first time. Tour Orion with Branelle Rodriguez, the vehicle manager for Artemis II, to hear about the support systems that keep astronauts alive and how exactly you use the…
Artemis II: What NASA Learned From Launching Artemis I
20 Jan 2026 · 30 min
In 2022, NASA launched Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight of the rocket and spacecraft that will send humans to the Moon. Go inside Firing Room 1—the nerve center for Artemis launches—and hear from the engineers who launched Artemis I, including the intricate procedures they developed just to fuel…
Artemis II: Meet the Moonbound Astronauts
13 Jan 2026 · 52 min
This year, four NASA astronauts will fly around the Moon and back for the first time since the Apollo program. Their mission is called Artemis II. It’s a key test flight that will set the stage for humans to land on the lunar South Pole for the first time and set up a long-term presence there. In…