{"id":152858,"date":"2026-02-05T23:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/152858\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T23:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:28:11","slug":"tom-hanks-on-the-artemis-missions-and-why-going-back-to-the-moon-matters-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/152858\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Hanks on the Artemis missions and why going back to the moon matters \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"PhotoTom Hanks on the set for \u201cThe Moonwalkers: A Journey With Tom Hanks.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA has delayed launch<\/a> of the Artemis II mission until at least next month after issues came up Monday during pre-launch testing known as the “wet dress rehearsal.” The next window for launch opens as early as March 6.<\/p>\n

The delay parallels what the U.S. space program routinely experienced during the Apollo program<\/a> more than 50 years ago \u2014 a lot of stops and starts on the path to landing on the moon.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Back in the 1960s, of course, everything was new. Every launch was the first-ever attempt at each stage of getting to the moon and back.<\/p>\n

\"AstronautAstronaut David Scott salutes from the surface of the moon in 1971 during Apollo 15.<\/p>\n

Well, as it turns out, there are parallels there too. When Artemis II sends its four astronauts<\/a> on a ten-day trip around the moon and back, the mission is designed to execute a series of firsts, including traveling farther than anyone has ever ventured into space. The voyage will also feature the first woman and first African American to travel to the moon.<\/p>\n

The mission is also important to Houston. Mission Control, of course, is located at Johnson Space Center<\/a>, and NASA’s astronauts train here.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

NASA<\/p>\n

The astronauts of the Artemis II mission: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.<\/p>\n

Considering that significance, and those parallels, it is understandable why a documentary about the first moon missions and humanity’s return there with Artemis has been showing for almost a year now at Space Center Houston in Clear Lake. The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks<\/a> made its U.S. debut there last March.<\/p>\n

The film is co-written and narrated by Hanks, who has been a longtime space enthusiast. He starred as astronaut Jim Lovell<\/a> in the movie Apollo 13 and produced a miniseries about Apollo called From the Earth to the Moon.<\/p>\n

When The Moonwalkers debuted here, Houston Matters host Craig Cohen spoke with Hanks about it<\/a>. Hanks equated going to the moon the first several times with \u201claying down railroad tracks\u201d with the intent of going back.<\/p>\n

On the day of the film\u2019s premeire, producer Michael Hagerty<\/a> also caught up with Hanks and filmmaker Christopher Riley<\/a> at Space Center Houston.<\/p>\n

In the audio above, they discuss the documentary and what they believe the human race gains from space exploration \u2014 including additional trips now in the Artemis era \u2014 and Hanks reflects on how he became so enamored with space.<\/p>\n

PHOTOS:<\/p>\n

\"Houston<\/a><\/p>\n

Houston Matters producer Michael Hagerty interviews actor Tom Hanks and filmmaker Christopher Riley about their project, “The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks.” (Photo Credit: Janett Avalos\/Houston Public Media)<\/p>\n

\"Filmmaker<\/a><\/p>\n

Filmmaker Christopher Riley, actor Tom Hanks, and Houston Matters producer Michael Hagerty at Space Center Houston in 2025. (Photo Credit: Janett Avalos\/Houston Public Media)<\/p>\n

\"Actor<\/a><\/p>\n

Actor Tom Hanks (second from right) participates in a panel discussion at Space Center Houston in 2025 along with Apollo veteran Charlie Duke (far left) and the crew of Artemis II. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty\/Houston Public Media)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Hanks on the set for \u201cThe Moonwalkers: A Journey With Tom Hanks.\u201d NASA has delayed launch of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[63270,58631,62456,63271,56,58,4978,57,30077,66,5733,1911,223,4979,3951,3952,63272,63273],"class_list":{"0":"post-152858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-apollo-missions","9":"tag-artemis-ii","10":"tag-artemis-missions","11":"tag-christopher-riley","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-headlines","14":"tag-houston-matters","15":"tag-houston-news","16":"tag-johnson-space-center","17":"tag-local","18":"tag-michael-hagerty","19":"tag-nasa","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-shows","22":"tag-space","23":"tag-space-center-houston","24":"tag-the-moonwalkers","25":"tag-tom-hanks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}