Humanity is going back to the moon with NASA’s Artemis II. Reid Wessman, Victor Glove, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen lifted off at 6:35 EDT on April 1st, aboard the Orion spacecraft. They flew around the moon and back, testing how the spacecraft operated in deep-space conditions. The mission sets records for human distance from Earth and features the first woman, person of color, and Canadian to be aboard a flight. 50 years after Apollo 17, in 1973, the Artemis II will travel 252,000 miles from Earth, which is 4,000 miles farther than Apollo 17.
Their mission consists of circling the earth twice, and making their way to the moon. Once there, they will circle the moon and come back home. As of April 10, they’ve successfully made it around the moon, and are supposed to be splashing back down on the San Diego coast on the 11th. The three Americans and one Canadian are the first of humanity to return to the moon since Apollo 17. This mission is deeply personal for astronaut Reid Wessman; he dedicates this adventure to his late wife who died of cancer in 2020. He named a small moon crater after her, calling it “Carrol Crater.”
This moon launch represents something that the American people desperately need at this time: hope. With our country at war with Iran and our politicians growing increasingly divided, we seek something to make us feel proud of our country again. Watching this moon launch, I felt the pride for my country for sending a woman, a person of color, and a Canadian on board. To me, it felt like it was representing the diversity of not only our nation, but the entire world. We might feel somewhat hopeless at home on earth, but we can look to the moon and know that there are still people who wish to seek greater lengths. It reminds us to stay positive and follow their examples as we face the struggles of everyday life.
As well as this, it represents that humanity continues to explore the world outside of our own, and this mission indicates that NASA wants to go further. This mission is simply a test to determine what conditions the aircraft can handle, and how much farther it can go. Seeing the people of our country join together to watch something so monumental as the moon launch, reminds me of how divided our country may seem, but how connected we truly are in our humanity.