“A Hopefully Forgotten Leap” 

By Lex Woodward
Contributing Writer 

For the first time in 53 years, we returned to the moon. NASA’s Artemis II mission launched on April 1 with the aim of reaching the moon then circling back. Four astronauts: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hanson were loaded into the Orion capsule (also known as Integrity) at the Kennedy Space Center approximately three hours before the launch at 5:30 p.m.  

This mission had many goals, but the main one was to ensure Integrity could make it to the moon with the crew intact. This was part two of the multi-segment plan to put humans on the moon once more. What was achieved was a flyby, which provided the scientific community with invaluable information about the capsule, as well as deep space, and pictures of the dark side of the moon.  

This trip marked the first of many things. Christina Koch became the first woman to leave low earth orbit. This was the first time humans made it over 250,000 miles from Earth (Beating Apollo 13’s record by 4,000 miles). Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hanson celebrated his first time in space in Integrity. And lastly, the crew became the first humans to see the dark side of the moon in full view.  

Over the years, it has been difficult to maintain political interest in the space program, making it nearly impossible for this mission to have occurred earlier. NASA’s plans rely almost solely on funding that can only be promised by our legislative and executive branches. This mission is a step into reigniting the passion for space travel, which NASA hopes to use to encourage further plans to reach Mars. 

The crew aboard Integrity were not just veterans and engineers. They were astronauts and dreamers. During an interview before the launch, Reid Wiseman said, “If we are forgotten, then Artemis has been successful.” His hope for the mission was to become a “footnote” in history, meaning we should continue to grow from the information gained by Artemis II. Future missions would put more people into space, and more knowledge would be gained through the courage of other astronauts. This illustrated how the crew of Integrity knew this mission was bigger than them. 

The transparency from NASA about the Artemis mission was remarkable. There has been full live coverage since launch day. This was the first time in history that the public could watch every moment of the trip in close to real time. If you missed the live stream of Artemis II, you still have the opportunity to tune in next year for Artemis III, or 2028 for Artemis IV, where we plan to return to the moon’s surface.