NASA’s Artemis 2 moon mission breaks Apollo 13 distance record

NASA is doing their best, but the Artemis 2 mission isn’t exciting, heroic or impressive.

In 1910, aviation was in it’s infancy.  That pilot, Eugene Ely, made a historic flight that nobody talks about, but he probably has some statues.  In November of 1910, Ely was the first person to successfully take off from a Navy ship.

That is exciting, heroic and impressive.  His wheels got wet before he started to ascend, but nobody ever talks about it.

In 1968, 58 years later, Apollo 8 orbited the Moon for the first time.  They didn’t have shit to work with.  Everyone is aware of the crude level of computing, but material science has also advanced significantly.  They didn’t have time to horse around, so there are few photos from inside the capsule during the mission. 

This photo is during training, and one hopes that tube hanging down isn’t the bathroom. 

NASA astronaut Bill Anders did take a photo like no one had ever seen.  On Christmas Eve, the ‘Earthrise’ photo was taken.

The crew of Apollo 8 radioed Earth with a Christmas Eve message, with each astronaut reading a passage.

Bill Anders

We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Jim Lovell

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.[

Frank Borman

And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.  And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 

And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.

The world was moved.  A communication satellite, Intelsat 3, was put into orbit a week earlier than planned, so the world could follow the Apollo 8 mission.  A billion people, a quarter of the Earth’s population, heard the Christmas Eve message. 

Everyone with a radio was Christian, so they wept with joy, and felt that they were truly blessed by God. 

In 2026, 58 years after that, Artemis 2 orbits the Moon.  The big accomplishment is supposed to be noticed, but not mentioned.  There is a Black guy, a woman and a Canadian.  Three groups that some  consider inadequate or challenged, so good for them.

The members of the crew don’t feel inadequate or challenged, and from all accounts, are very qualified and competent.

Artemis 2 is an engineering mission because they are there to test equipment and aren’t likely to discover anything of scientific importance.

Going into space and orbiting the Moon is dangerous.  The Artemis 2 crew face risks cosmic radiation, meteor strikes or catastrophic system failure.  The difference is that they face known dangers, rather than unknown dangers.

On I-480, I have gotten my Ducati up to a 100 mph.  It was scary.  The Bernoulli Effect kept lifting my helmet, but otherwise, the bike was stable.  The biggest risk was a tire blowout, but tire technology is quite advanced.

In 1912, Lee Humiston, got his 1,000 cc Excelsior up to a 100 mph.  That was the first officially timed motorcycle to break that barrier.

Humiston courageous, and maybe reckless, but it was an epic accomplishment.  Mine was just a thing that a guy did.

In 1960, Col. Joe Kittinger broke a world record for the highest skydive by jumping out of a capsule at 102,800 feet.  That was exciting, heroic and impressive.  Here, you can watch it.

In 2012, Felix Baumgartner broke that record by jumping at 128,000 feet.  Here’s his video.  See if you notice the difference between the two jumps.

Both jumps are historic, but to me, Col. Kittinger is the guy who deserves a statue. 

Artemis 2 is a step that needs to be taken to eventually establish a Moon base.  NASA is a political organization that needs to curry favor and attention from the public.  I get it, publicity and excitement are important, but really, just get on with it.

NASA is part of the problem.  I trust Elon Musk’s judgment on space missions because he really wants to get a base on Mars.

Hand the project over to Musk.  He’s a patriotic, billionaire, space genius.  Let him pick the location for the Moon base, then land three unmanned rockets with a bunch of supplies and equipment.  That provides enough testing and redundancy to send ten astronauts with no fixed plan to get them home.

Their mission would be to use available materials to set up a sustainable base on the Moon.  Process regolith for metal and oxygen, fashion building blocks or excavate, whatever it takes.  That would be exciting, heroic and impressive.