Year: 2024

On Friday, China launched it’s Chang’e-6 mission carrying a probe to the far side of the moon to gather samples and bring them back to Earth. If successful, it would be a first, for ANY country.

The race to get astronauts back on the moon is in full swing. The US has serious competition. China wants to put astronauts on the moon by 2030. Other countries are in the race, too.

If the U.S. stays on schedule it will get humans back on the moon before anyone else, as part of NASA’s Artemis program. That’s a big if. But NASA is making progress.

The space agency’s making a bit of a bet, and mostly relying on private companies, mainly Elon Musk’s SpaceX .

With limited resources and facing a more crowded field, it’s unclear if the U.S. will dominate space as it once did.

Host Scott Detrow talks to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson about what he is doing to try to keep the U.S. at the front of the race back to the moon.

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Welcome to Wild Card with Rachel Martin. In this first episode, Rachel talks to Jenny Slate, known for her roles in Obvious Child, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Parks and Recreation. Jenny opens up about whether fate brought her to her husband, what she’s sacrificed for motherhood and what’s so special about margarine and white bread sandwiches.

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Larry Demeritte is the first Black trainer participating in the Kentucky Derby in 35 years. And while the betting-books have his colt West Saratoga running at long odds, Demeritte, who is battling chronic illness and cancer, is feeling confident.

For the 70-something veteran trainer, this is his first time at the Derby, but he is part of a rich history of Black horsemen who helped shape the Kentucky Derby into the iconic race it is today.

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If you go by headlines, the last 12 months have delivered major wins to organized labor.

But despite well publicized victories the rate of U.S. union membership fell to a record low in 2023. Just 10%.

And in southern states, the push to unionize can still be a grinding, uphill battle.

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From New York — to Illinois — to Los Angeles — encampments in support of Palestinians dot campuses across the country.

And over the last couple of days the tension has only increased as police have intervened on several campuses, including Columbia University, UCLA and the University of Texas. Hundreds of protestors have been arrested.

Pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses are growing in scope and intensity, and colleges are calling on law enforcement to help. Is it the right decision, and what happens next?

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Dame Judi Dench has played everyone from the writer Iris Murdoch to M in the James Bond films. But among the roles the actress is most closely associated, are Shakespeare’s heroines and some of his villians.

Amongst those roles are the star-crossed lover Juliet, the comical Titania and the tragic Lady Macbeth. Now she’s reflecting on that work, and Shakespeare’s work in Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent.

The book is comprised of Dench’s conversations with her friend, the actor and director Brendan O’Hea.

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Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza on college campuses have expanded across the country. They’re the biggest student protests, since college students demonstrated against the Vietnam war in the late sixties and early seventies.

What do the campus protests of today have in common with those of the sixties? How might they affect the policies of their universities and the US government?

Thirty years ago, South Africa became an emblem of a multiracial democracy. Decades on, how is that legacy holding up?

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Three decades ago, South Africa held its first democratic election, closing the door on the apartheid era.

And Nelson Mandela was elected its first Black president.

Today, the country is still led by Mandela’s political party – the African National Congress. But polls show that voters are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the party’s leadership, and next month’s national elections could lead to the ANC having to share power with opposition parties.

Thirty years ago, South Africa became an emblem of a multiracial democracy. Decades on, how is that legacy holding up?

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During the early days of the pandemic, former NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins became a familiar voice steering the country through an unprecedented public health crisis.

Now, he is going through his own health crisis, an aggressive form of prostate cancer. By talking about it publicly he hopes to draw attention to routine screening.

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Last year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a strict immigration law making it harder to hire undocumented workers.

But like much of the country, Florida is dealing with a tight labor market and some employers are struggling to find workers.

NPR’s Jasmine Garsd reports on how the law is affecting the state’s economy, from construction sites, to strawberry fields.

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