Artemis II takes humans further from Earth than ever before: BBC Learning English from the News

0:00 From BBC Learning English, this is learning English from the News,

0:04 our podcast about the news headlines.

0:07 In this programme, Artemis II takes humans further from Earth than ever before.

0:16 Hello, I'm Georgie.

0:18 And I'm Pippa.

0:19 In this programme, we look at one big news story

0:22 and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

0:25 You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode,

0:29 as well as a worksheet on our website.

0:32 bbclearningenglish.com.

0:34 OK, Pippa, let's hear more about this story.

0:42 Astronauts on the Nasa spacecraft Artemis II are

0:46 on their way back to Earth after travelling around the Moon.

0:49 The spacecraft broke the record for the furthest

0:52 distance humans have travelled into space,

0:54 reaching over 400,000 km away from the Earth.

0:58 While the crew did not land on the Moon.

1:00 This is the first time humans have travelled to the Moon since 1972.

1:05 OK, let's have our first headline.

1:07 This one is from The Telegraph, a British newspaper.

1:10 Why Artemis II's record-breaking journey marks a new dawn in spaceflight.

1:16 That headline again from The Telegraph,

1:18 Why Artemis II's record-breaking journey marks a new dawn in spaceflight.

1:24 OK, so this headline is about the record-breaking trip by the astronauts.

1:28 They've travelled further from Earth than humans have ever gone before.

1:32 And the headline says the journey marks a new dawn.

1:36 We're interested in this phrase a new dawn.

1:38 Yes, dawn is the word for the beginning of the day,

1:42 when the Sun rises and it becomes light.

1:44 Yes.

1:45 And because the dawn is the start of the day,

1:47 we often use dawn metaphorically to talk about

1:51 beginnings or to refer to progress and change.

1:54 For example, if a company decides to make lots of changes,

1:58 maybe they get a new leader and decide to sell different products,

2:01 this could be described as a new dawn for the company.

2:04 Exactly.

2:04 The company wants to show that things

2:07 have changed and something new is beginning.

2:09 Yes.

2:10 So in the headline, it says the astronaut's

2:12 journey marks a new dawn in spaceflight.

2:15 This means this is an important moment which shows change and progress.

2:19 Remember, humans have never travelled this far into space

2:22 and had not been to the Moon since 1972.

2:29 We've had a new dawn,

2:31 the beginning of a period of time, often meaning progress or change.

2:38 For example, when the musician played for the first time,

2:41 it was a new dawn in pop music.

2:46 This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

2:50 Today we're talking about the Artemis II mission to the Moon.

2:54 Astronauts left Earth on the 1st of April

2:57 and travelled around the planet before travelling to the Moon.

3:00 While the astronauts have been in space,

3:02 they've been able to contact Mission Control in Houston, Texas.

3:06 They've sent images and told people about what they can see from the spacecraft.

3:10 However, when the astronauts travelled around the Moon,

3:13 they were unable to contact scientists on Earth for around 40 minutes.

3:18 Yes, this is because the radio and laser signals

3:21 used for communication were blocked by the Moon itself.

3:24 When the spacecraft was able to contact Earth again,

3:27 Christina Koch, one of the astronauts,

3:29 said, "it is so great to hear from Earth again." OK,

3:33 let's have our next headline.

3:34 This one is from BBC News.

3:37 The 40 minutes when the Artemis crew loses contact with the Earth.

3:41 That headline again from BBC news.

3:44 The 40 minutes when the Artemis crew loses contact with the Earth.

3:49 So this headline is about the 40 minutes

3:51 when astronauts could not communicate with people on Earth.

3:54 We're interested in this phrase loses contact with.

3:58 What can you tell us, Georgie?

4:00 Well, if you lose contact with someone, you are unable to speak to them.

4:04 In this story, astronauts lost contact with Earth because

4:08 the Moon blocked the signals they were using to communicate.

4:11 But we can use the phrase lose

4:13 contact in more ordinary situations, right, Georgie?

4:16 Yes, you can lose contact with someone,

4:18 perhaps because you do not have their phone number or can't find them online.

4:22 That's the literal meaning.

4:23 We can also use lose contact to describe a situation where you no

4:27 longer see or talk with someone that you used to speak to a lot.

4:31 Yes.

4:31 For example, I had a childhood friend,

4:33 but she moved away and now we've lost contact.

4:36 We have a very similar phrase to lose

4:38 touch with someone and it means the same thing.

4:41 And one final thing: if you are communicating with someone,

4:44 you can describe this as being in contact with them.

4:47 For example, I'm still in contact with a few of my school friends.

4:51 We meet up every Christmas.

4:56 We've had lose contact with, be unable to communicate with, or no

5:00 longer speak to someone you used to speak with often.

5:06 For example, I've lost contact with a lot of my cousins.

5:09 I'm not sure where they live now.

5:14 This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English.

5:18 We're talking about the astronauts who have travelled around the Moon.

5:22 Yes, as we've mentioned, humans have not been to the Moon since 1972.

5:27 In recent decades, space missions have focussed

5:30 on getting astronauts to the International Space Station,

5:33 which is much closer to Earth.

5:35 The Artemis II mission will collect data,

5:38 which scientists hope will prepare for even

5:40 more difficult missions in space in the future.

5:42 The astronauts are due to arrive home when they land on the Pacific

5:46 Ocean off the west coast of the US on Friday evening local time.

5:50 Let's have another headline.

5:53 This is from phys.org, a science news website,

5:56 5 reasons why the Artemis II mission is a big deal.

6:00 And that headline again from phys.org, a science news website.

6:04 5 reasons why the Artemis II mission is a big deal.

6:08 This headline says the Artemis II mission is a big deal,

6:11 and we're interested in this phrase, a big deal.

6:15 Yes, if something is a big deal, it means it's important and significant.

6:20 The Artemis II mission is described as a big

6:22 deal because of some of the reasons we've already mentioned.

6:25 It's a long time since humans have been to the Moon,

6:28 and also the astronauts have travelled further away from Earth than ever before.

6:33 We can describe any situation that is important or significant as a big deal.

6:38 For example, my friend is getting married this summer,

6:40 which is a really big deal.

6:42 We also have a similar common expression in English, no big deal.

6:46 We say this to mean that something isn't a problem,

6:49 that it's not important, and we use this a lot in spoken conversation.

6:53 Yeah.

6:53 So for example, Pippa, I'm sorry, I forgot to make you a coffee this morning.

6:57 Ah, no big deal, Georgie.

6:58 I had a cup of tea instead.

7:02 We've had a big deal, important or significant.

7:07 For example, my choir sang at a famous concert hall.

7:11 It was a really big deal.

7:14 That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

7:17 We'll be back next week with another news story.

7:20 If you've enjoyed this programme, try the series Our World in English,

7:24 which brings you the best documentaries

7:26 from the BBC in language you can understand.

7:29 There's a link in the notes below this programme.

7:31 Goodbye for now.

7:33 Bye.