53 years, 3 months and 15 days ago, three humans fired up an AJ10-137 rocket engine for 143.69 seconds. It would mark the last moments our species were bound by the gravity of a heavenly body not called Earth.
Until now.
It’s finally time.
We’re going back.
This is Apollo 8 remade in the image of the twenty-first century. This is the sequel to a story that was abandoned five decades ago. This is humanity’s return to terra luna.
This is Artemis II.
Say what you will about the architecture. Every flight system ever is the outcome of a million compromises, a collision between politics and engineering, a war between budget and capability. SLS and Orion are no different. Its detractors are myriad, its faults well documented. We can argue about all of it another day. Today, it takes us to the Moon.
In 1968, NASA’s lunar program was one of the only high points in the public consciousness about America. In a year better known for political assassinations and war, Apollo 8 “saved 1968,” according to one anonymous telegram the crew received. Will Artemis II do the same? I don’t know. Frankly, I doubt it. It’s not the same world we live in. But if does no one else a lick of good, it will do plenty for me.
I was a child raised on the exploits of the Apollo generation. I’ve read the ancient texts, studied the records, walked the grounds where men risked their lives in pursuit of a world a quarter-million miles away. It was all history, myth, legend. Not any more. This, here and now, is real life.
Twenty-four humans have left Earth orbit. Only five are still alive, an ugly reminder of the nature of our existence. Just give it a few more hours, though. For the first time in fifty years, that number will increase.
A few billion people will have their eyes on just four names.
Reid Wiseman.
Victor Glover.
Christina Koch.
Jeremy Hansen.
None were alive to see the Apollo missions. It is history to them as much as it is to me. That will all change.
First, four Space Shuttle-heritage engines will ignite. Then two solid rocket boosters will punch the throttle from a suggestion to a cannon. A few hours later, an AJ10-190, a cousin of the engine that took Apollo to the Moon, will continue the family business.
The Moon offers us no reason to visit. No plant life, no animal life, no atmosphere. But this is who we are, and this is who we will always be. We chase the unknown because that is what it means to be alive. I’ve said plenty, and there are plenty before me who have said it better than I ever have. I’ll leave you with the words of David R. Scott as he walked on the lunar surface in 1971: “As I stand out here in the wonders of the unknown at Hadley, I sort of realize there’s a fundamental truth to our nature. Man must explore. And this is exploration at its greatest.”
