Keith’s note: The Artemis II mission got off to a slow start. Then it hit the road at warp speed. The novelty of a Moon mission and swelling media coverage all helped to push some of the bad news aside for a few minutes every hour. Real pictures exceeding the best SciFi splashed out on social media and TV. Many people were pleasantly caught by surprise that this was even happening. But soon the crew will be home. And the hoopla will subside – and then quickly disappear. Humanity just mounted its first mission to another world in half a century and we’re already moving on the latest war or scandal. This happened after the first Apollo missions. Are we doomed to see history repeat itself with Artemis? Or can NASA and the broader world community keep this nascent era of interplanetary exploration alive and at the forefront on people’s daily lives – especially the “Artemis Generation”. Follow-through and building momentum is harder than the hardest rocket science. Just sayin’ More to follow.
Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member... More by Keith Cowing