Sic Itur Ad Astra
“Thus one journeys to the stars.”
We watched the Artemis II launch Wednesday afternoon.
I’m old enough that I caught the tail end of the Apollo program. I have vague memories of watching the Apollo-Soyuz mission. I remember watching a bunch of the Space Shuttle missions, from Enterprise flight tests to Columbia’s first flight, Discovery’s return to spaceflight, and more than a few others.
I was way more emotional about this launch than I expected to be.
Sure, it was exciting. It was the first manned extra-orbital flight in 50+ years. The first manned non-commercial flight since 2011.
But there was something else about this launch that I still can’t quite put a word to.
Several of us watched the Falcon Heavy test flight in 2018 (has it really been eight years?). That was exciting, but not nearly as emotional as Artemis. There was the “cool” and the “wow” of the biggest rocket ever launched, and Musk’s Tesla Roadster as the payload, and the Hitchhiker’s Guide references made millions of geeks very happy, I’m sure.
But Artemis was different.
Is it because of the human element?
Diana and I, having both lived through Challenger and Columbia, both admitted to more than a small case of nerves. Despite the numerous crew launches to the ISS, we were still nervous. That might be because for eleven years, the only way our astronauts could get to the ISS was via Russian Soyuz rockets, and there just wasn’t much coverage of those. Even after SpaceX started making trips in 2020, coverage seemed like an afterthought. “Oh, by the way, we just sent four more people to the Space Station.”
We’d almost become blasé about going to orbit.
Even the drama surrounding the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test problems seemed relatively minor.
I think maybe we’ve become so inured, almost bored, because of the frequency of rocket launches. Unless you deliberately followed the space program, it wasn’t part of your regular news consumption. And maybe that’s something of an indictment of the way we consume news these days, which is probably a topic for a different post.
So there we three sat Wednesday afternoon, watching the feed on YouTube. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was fighting back tears a couple of times.
The engines lit off, and I whispered, “Go, baby. Go!” Sat on the edge of my seat, watching. Waiting. Hoping.
And everything worked. Basically. Eventually.
Assuming everything continues according to plan, the crew returns April 10. I’ll watch that too, if I can.
I wish things would move along faster. At this rate, Artemis 4 isn’t supposed to launch until 2028, and I’m not holding my breath for that timeframe. Apollo flew three test missions in six months, then landed on the moon two months after that. Artemis is expected to accomplish just two flights in two years.
What’s changed?
Because It’s There
And I know there are people wondering why we’re going back.
As George Mallory said of Mount Everest in 1923, “Because it’s there.” There’s more to it, of course. But the other reasons depend on who you’re asking. Are we going to prepare a launch base for Mars expeditions? To prospect for rare minerals? To build a research base?
Just to be first to establish a permanent presence?
All of the above?
I think it’s a little bit of everything, to be honest. There’s that nationalistic pride of wanting to be first. We were the first country there back in 1969. We want to be the first to live there permanently. Plenty of other nations have landed stuff there, but no one else has managed to get people there. Yet. Assuming we can generate rocket fuel up there, I think it makes sense to use the moon to launch missions deeper into the solar system. There’s less gravity to fight, so in theory, rockets can more easily go farther. And I suspect there’s going to be a lot of research done up there that will benefit us down here. Apollo, Skylab, and the space shuttle programs all contributed a bunch of stuff that’s helped our Terran lives. By the way, Tang drink mix is not one of those inventions.
Could we see a moon race as portrayed in “For All Mankind?” I doubt it. That’s a great alt-history series based on the clips I’ve seen on YouTube, but it’s alt-history. The Chinese might make it up there soon, though.
Right now, I’m just going to enjoy what we’ve achieved and try not to think about how long it’s taking for the next step.
Reading
Reason has a number of interesting articles this week.
NASA’s Artemis Program Is a Monument to Government Waste. It Can Only Go Up From Here.
Satanic Temple Wins Legal Fight Over 10 Commandments Monument in Arkansas. This one made me happy. Arkansas installed a monument to the Ten Commandments at the capital, saying it was donated. The Satanic Temple offered to donate a state of Baphomet, but the state said no, so TST joined the ACLU and others in a lawsuit. That was ten years ago. The judge finally ruled against the state.
Colorado Becomes First State To Protect Defendants Against Faulty Roadside Drug Tests. This is another big one. Roadside drug tests are used by cops nationwide to determine if that powder in your car is some sort of illicit drug. They’re notoriously inaccurate, with one report suggesting over 30,000 people are wrongly charged over the results.
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