Artemis II takes slow ride around dark side of the moon

 The Artemis II mission that sent four astronauts around the moon is something of an enigma.

On one hand it was a huge success, a historic milestone to be celebrated for generations. On the other hand, it was a prime example of how inefficient a government-run agency can be. As an amateur space junkie, I have been following NASA space missions for decades. Whenever I can, I take advantage of my position as a reporter to cover launches and interview astronauts. I have interviewed three of the 12 men who have walked on the moon.

If it’s space related, I’m there. I will go outside at night to watch the International Space Station fly by or to look at planetary alignments or eclipses.

In 2022 I was working in Wharton when astronaut Victor Glover came to speak at Abell Street Church of Christ. I wanted to meet him, but I had a scheduling conflict. The church sent me a video of his talk and I wrote my story from that.

The next year Glover was named the pilot of the Artemis II mission to fly around the moon. That mission faced more than two years of delays and just ended yesterday (April 10). Glover became the first person of color to fly to the moon. He was joined by Christina Koch, the first woman to fly to the moon; Jeremy Hansen of Canada, the first non-American to fly to the moon; and Reid Wiseman, who has the distinction of being the 25th white American man to fly to the moon.

The flyby around the moon marked the first time in 53 years that humans have made the journey. The last time was in 1972 when Apollo 17 concluded the moon landing missions. Since then we have had Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and the space shuttles.

Since the gung-ho days of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, NASA has been slow to meet objectives in space. It took the agency a decade to go from concept to launch of the first space shuttle, this after going from sub-orbital flight to landing on the moon in eight years. Granted, the space race influenced the rush in the 1960s, but since then NASA has been taking its own sweet time.

The original timeline for the Artemis program called for Artemis I to fly in 2016. The uncrewed mission flew in 2022. Artemis II was supposed to have flown in 2021-2022. It flew in 2026. Artemis III was supposed to land humans on the moon in 2024. It has been reassigned as a lunar orbital mission, going up who knows when. The next moon landing is now scheduled to be with Artemis IV in 2028. I’ll believe it when I see it.

In the time between Artemis I and Artemis II, over 100 humans have flown into space (using a very liberal definition of space). SpaceX sent 26 astronauts to the ISS on behalf of NASA. Russia sent 15 people to the ISS using its Soyuz spacecraft. Blue Origin has flown 24 people above the Karman line on sub-orbital flights. Even Virgin Galactic has flown 30 people on sub-orbital flights in that time, although they were below the Karman line but above the American definition of space.

China has its own space station and has flown 21 people to it in the time between the two Artemis missions. It has taken NASA over 15 years to send humans into space in its own vehicles since the last space shuttle mission.

NASA was once the undisputed leader in space. Now the agency is dragging its feet as a new space race is ramping up with China reportedly working on a moon mission. I really want to get excited about returning to the moon, but all of the delays make it hard to get your hopes up.

After watching the Apollo moon landing missions as a little kid, I’ve always held out hope of seeing humans return to the moon and eventually land on Mars. At my age now I’m hopeful of seeing humans return to the moon, but I have serious doubts about living long enough to see mankind set foot on Mars.

Still, despite all of this frustration, I must admit that it’s an exciting time to be alive to witness these amazing accomplishments and to dream, hope and be inspired by what America is doing in space. Now if we can just light a fire under NASA and get it moving a little faster (without compromising safety), maybe we’ll be able to enjoy that rush of adventure and excitement that we had when Apollo 11 made that giant leap for mankind.