I watched the live NASA feed for the entire afternoon and evening today, from approach to re-entry to splashdown to recovery of the crew from the capsule. I can’t stop thinking about this mission.
I have always been fascinated by space exploration. It’s absolutely mind blowing that there are so many people who want to explore space and advance science simply for the sake of exploring space and advancing science. I truly believe NASA is the best of the best when it comes to Americans. Our country is an absolute shitshow and it always has been, but NASA isn’t, not even close. The information we gather with every space mission influences so much of the everyday technology and life on Earth. We ALL benefit from space exploration even if we never make it out there ourselves.
When I watched the ground crew in Houston communicate to the capsule crew as they flew by the moon what I saw was teamwork and professionalism on an extreme level. What I saw was humanity exhibiting it’s greatest trait: curiosity and fascination. What I saw was all kinds of people coming together to make this happen. Artemis II featured the first Black man and the first woman to leave Low Earth Orbit, the first Black man and the first woman to see the moon up close and personal. Apollo could never. Sure Apollo had some white men walk around on the surface and plant a flag that probably fell over, and it did indeed also showcase teamwork… but it didn’t showcase diversity. Ground crew in Houston and capsule crew were diverse and, frankly, less rigid and militaristic feeling than Apollo. And I think that injected some desperately needed humanity into the mission.
The photos of the moon are beyond stunning, they’re existentially the greatest things I have ever seen, and I got to see it all on my TV and my laptop and my phone. The Apollo audience experience was super limited in comparison, and yet watching re-entry and splashdown made me feel so connected to the Apollo missions fifty years ago. I have always longed to experience something like that, and tonight I just did. The overwhelming awe I felt, is that what they felt back then too? Did they feel the same hope and inspiration? Or did they simply celebrate that we beat the Soviets?
The live NASA youtube stream I watched had 730 THOUSAND active watchers. Has any other youtube stream reached those numbers? I can’t imagine so! People from ALL over the world were watching and celebrating. This moment truly brought all kinds of people together in celebration of the courage and hope that Artemis II represented.
Despite everything I’m writing, I’m at a complete loss of words to describe how meaningful and impactful this was to me.
In 2006 I got to watch, in person, the Titan II rocket launch that carried the Pluto New Horizons probe and 9 years later I got to celebrate the results of that mission with an ex when it finally reached Pluto and gave us the first high definition photos of a planet that was previously represented with the blurriest mass of pixels ever. New Horizons will always be deeply special to me for those reasons, but there’s just something about the crewed mission of Artemis II that supersedes that, even if I just watched it on my phone and TV. It is horribly unfortunate that I did not get to be there for the shuttle launch scheduled for a few days after the rocket.
In this time of fascism and terror, NASA is still a beacon of hope and light. Even amongst all the horror and terror that has always been the USA, NASA stands proud and tall as something worth our time, effort, and love.
We learned so much more about the moon this week. We learned so much more about ourselves this week. We learned that humanity is good and curious and fun this week. And we learned that we do NOT have to suffer the horrible shit that the monster billionaires and fascists want us to.
I have to imagine every one of the 730 thousand-ish youtube viewers (and everyone who watched on terrestrial broadcast television) experienced similar feelings. That we all sat there in awe and watched some of the bravest people to ever live do one of the coolest jobs that exists in our little corner of space is just.. They are among humanity’s best, and they have inspired so many people of all ages this week. Kids will grow up knowing their names and will desire to be like them. Adults will have their world views altered. Seniors will reminisce about the Apollo missions.
Did you know that Artemis III will be next year and is an important test of docking procedures? That Artemis IV will be in 2028 will have a 2 person lunar landing? That Artemis V will also be in 2028 and will be the second crewed lunar landing, set to begin construction of a moon base?? This is a return to the original NASA plan of the the 60s and 70s! Did you know the space shuttle was never meant to be an earth-to-space transport? It was originally meant to be a space-to-space transport! We were supposed to have a moon base decades ago which would have led to us having a Mars base, again, decades ago. The Artemis missions are bringing us back in line with that original vision! I took a Space and Politics elective class in college and it was simultaneously the most fascinating and most depressing class I’ve ever taken. We could be so much further along if budget and politics hadn’t fucked up NASA’s detailed plan.
Humanity is at its best when it’s striving to help everyone and expand our knowledge of everything around us. NASA does that. There’s countless pieces of daily technology that has roots in earlier NASA missions. Who knows what new everyday innovations will come from the Artemis missions even for us grounded Earthers?
Also, they launched these folks in little capsule strapped to big rockets, flew them around the moon, and then landed them in the exact spot in the ocean at the exact time they said they would. Think about how bonkers that is. The precision required. The math fucking worked perfectly. Like, my math and physics understanding is pretty basic, just enough to know that math is pretty fucking reliable, and yet it’s still so damn impressive to be like “it’ll land here and it’ll land at this time” and be 100% on the nose after flinging these people ALL THE WAY AROUND THE MOON. So many things could have gone wrong, and instead it all. went. perfectly. FUCK!
I want to leave you with one of the most impactful space related statements I have ever heard:
The cosmos is also within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.
- Carl Sagan
Also:
Were [sic] not meant to toil for the profit of billionaires. Were [sic] meant to take care of each other to advance the species high enough to go meet our star gods at the edge of the observable universe.
- Ash Parrish
I hope this mission drives our people to further demand a better country and a better world. It IS possible. We will MAKE it happen, together.