Recently, Artemis II astronaut – Commander Reid Visman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Coach and Jeremy Hansen –Organized a press conferenceAbout their upcoming circumference mission. Visman, Glover and Coach are veteran of NASA. Hansen is a Canadian astronaut, for which Artemis II is his first space flight.
The press conference had two main takeaets: Artemis II has a name and a date.
After a lot of consideration, the crew has decided to name its Orion spacecraft to the name of integrity.According to Merium Webster,Integrity means “especially following a code of moral or artistic values.”
It may lack the brave meaning of words like “intripid” or “dunless”, but in a world where moral values are often lacking, it will do for the biggest journey so far in the 21st century.
In addition, Artemis II has a date: not soon compared to February 5, 2026. It gives a sense of certainty to an undertaking that has been talked about for decades. For a long time, a trip around the moon is actually going to occur.
The trip to Artemis II, whether in early February or later, becomes one of the seminal events in the early 21st century. This will be an important chapter in a process that has become too long to come, the return of mankind on the moon.
Artemis II will also be set against the backdrop of a very unhappy world. This news is full of wars, political murders, collective firing, civil struggle, political reforms and actually all diseases that humans are capable of provoking each other.
Will a trip around the Moon, will prove to be a balm for the horrors that affect the world, in preparation for a landing on the lunar surface for the first time after Apollo 17 in 1972? Will the people who see Artemis II conclude that still beautiful, fantastic and good possible?
This is one thing for which it should be expected deeply.
In a way, Artemis II’s adjacent journey takes another mission to the moon. In 1968, from the Vietnam War to the killings of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, there was another parade on the streets of American cities.
Then, that Christmas, such as Hope released the last time from Pendora’s box, A trip to Apollo 8 came. Reading from the book of origin, as the earth rises above the lunar surface, broadcasts on every TV on the planet, forgets people, for at least a moment, hell year which was coming in the end. As Someone later wrote in telegram“You saved 1968.”
Can Artemis II re -create a united effect on Apollo 8 57 years ago? A factor is to consider that the media infrastructure is quite different in 2025 compared to 1968. Three major networks and some newspapers broadcast what people knew about the world when Apollo 8 flew. Now, between cable news and social media, media landscape discourages consensus.
Nevertheless, the sheer analyst of the event can immerse the unavoidable condemn and splash efficators who seek click on the price of enlightenment. The Earth’s image emerging from behind the moon and the crew words of Artemis II can be powerful enough for pride and surprise.
And what should those words be? There is no doubt that NASA’s public affairs offices, rememberingtrialIn view of the reading from origin, filed against the space agency, will try to cobble some anodine and ineffective.
But if the crew of Artemis II wanted to say something to complete the moment, then the first 3,000 years ago the word sung by King David andRecorded in Bhajan’s bookCan suit well, even at the risk of triggering highly triggerable.
“When I look at your sky, the work of your fingers, moon and stars, which you have set in place, is the man that you are alert to him, and the man’s son whom you care about? Yet you have reduced him a little compared to the heavenly creatures and crown him with glory and respect.
Confused, will ensure smiles and fist bumps.
And then, next, Artemis III and the first American human landing on the moon in 55 years – more with more arrival.
Mark R. Whitington, who often writes about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration, titled “Why is it so difficult to go back to the moon?” as well as “Moon, Mars and beyond“And, recently,”Why is America going back to the moon?“He blogsKurmdzon Corner.
