For the first time, in a long time, people are back in space. Yes, there is an international space station and people have gone back and forth there for years, but this is different.
“It is really awesome we are doing something like this again.” said senior and avid space fan Tayden Harrold.
Since 1972, the last of the Apollo missions, nothing except unmanned shuttles has ever left low earth orbit, until now. Artemis II, the second flight in the Artemis program that was announced in 2019 is a follow up to, you guessed it, Artemis I. This first mission sent Artemis I, an unmanned shuttle, into space in 2022 as a test to bring human life back into nothingness.
You may be thinking, why such a long wait? Well, it’s a lot simpler than you may think.
The reason is that there is really no reason to go to space anymore, unless it’s purely for fun. Everywhere from where humans can travel and beyond can be seen by high definition telescopes and cameras that can be used by scientists to discover and figure things out, without ever stepping a foot off our giant rock.
The amount of money that was spent on Artemis II was $93 billion. That’s a whole lot of money for some people, except for me. But seriously, not to be saying that I don’t think it’s worth it, but $93 billion is a freakishly large amount of money. To put that into perspective 93 billion pool tables would cover the entire Earth.
So why did we spend all them taxes on a silly little space mission? Because we are the US of A and we can. But also for science too I guess.
“I hope this helps us learn more about where we are in the universe. I hope we can see more pictures of it too!” said Harrold.
Fun fact about the name Artemis: did you know that the Greek and Roman God Apollo had a twin sister? That twin sister was named, wow, you got it right again, Artemis, as a little play on the missions, seeing them as copies of one another.
But, that really couldn’t be further from the truth, as the Apollo missions took place during the Cold War, literally ending the space race with the Soviet Union, the Artemis missions are happening at a time when, humans are looking to make that next step into deeper, more unknown space like Mars.
“I think one day we will make it to Mars,” said Harrold, “I don’t believe I’ll be alive to witness it but I hope I can.”
Anywhoo, the astronauts from the Artemis II mission made some space history in the big 26. The pilot Victor Glover is the first non-white dude to go to outer space. Speaking of dudes, Christina Koch, a mission specialist, has become the first not-dude, (aka woman) to go around the moon.
Another mission specialist, Jeremy Hansen, became the first Canadian astronaut to go to outer space as well. However, Reid Wiseman the commander is just a plain old American white guy but he was the oldest ever. I wonder how they interacted in the rocket ship.
“If I was in a rocket ship,” said Harrold, “I would bring at least someone else with me, tons of books and my laptop.”
I wish I could be in a rocket ship sometimes, but I’m not. I also wish Aliens would show themselves, then my life would be complete.
The possibility of Aliens existing is not 0. That is enough for people like me to be optimistic and hope they are real.
Imagine your best friend jkrHhawkrhgfal from the planet lherhjWElrfg being an actual thing. That would be, how I like to say, skibidi.
“I believe there is other life out there somewhere. The universe is huge and there is still so much we don’t know about it.” said the man with many names “Tayden (Rick) Harrold. “ Earth being the only planet with life on it is so unlikely in my opinion.”
