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Artemis

It Is Now The Artemis Generation’s Turn

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
November 17, 2022
It Is Now The Artemis Generation’s Turn
The Artemis Generation

Keith’s note: Whether or not you are a Artemis SLS fan – it worked – spectacularly. America’s return to the Moon is underway. Boomers, Gen X/Y/Z, millennials – all have their jaundiced views. Please sit down & shut up for a while. It is time for the Artemis Generation to have their say.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

11 responses to “It Is Now The Artemis Generation’s Turn”

  1. TheRadicalModerate says:
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    It is time for the Artemis Generation to have their say.

    You have a picture for this article of someone who is a member of Generation Alpha. Is that the Artemis Generation? And if so, they’re a little young to have a say. Furthermore, by the time they likely can have a say, it’s likely that SLS/Orion will be history. Whether it takes Artemis with it is a pretty important question.

    As for all of the rest of us, we currently provide the engineers and policymakers who will determine whether Artemis (a program whose goal is a sustainable return to the Moon, not necessarily one that uses SLS/Orion) will be successful enough that our Gen Alphas will be excited enough to continue on with either the program or its follow-ons.

    I’m happy to sit down and shut up–for about the duration of the mission. Then we ought to get busy again, trying to figure a way out of this unsustainable budgetary nightmare.

  2. kcowing says:
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    When I was his age in the 1960s I was already devouring space books. And I could talk and write.

    Oh and I always use my actual name. Not everyone does that,

  3. Johnhouboltsmyspiritanimal says:
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    hopefully this new era of exploration does excite a generation to get into science and engineering like apollo did, but then again will the sporadic flight tempo keep their interest? it isn’t like apollo that went to the moon several times a year, this will be once every couple of years before hitting a once a year stride.

  4. kcowing says:
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    Yea. When I was growing up there was a flight every cook of months during Gemini and then Apollo moved fast to the landing.

  5. TheRadicalModerate says:
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    I was wrong: I’m not happy to sit down and shut up.

    I believe, as I’m pretty sure you do, that one of NASA’s jobs is to inspire the next generation and get them thinking about careers in aerospace. But inspiration isn’t a question of putting on a nice sound and light show every 18-24 months. It requires tangible progress, where NASA does what it says it’s going to do. Nobody’s going to look back 30 years from now and say, “Yeah, I was inspired to go into aerospace by seeing an uncrewed rocket launch for a program that ultimately failed.” And that’s what’s going to happen if something doesn’t change.

    On top of that, there won’t be a better time to criticize the SLS/Orion components of the Artemis architecture than right now, when the public is sorta-kinda semi-interested in the program. We space nerds live in a funny kind of echo chamber, where we know much, much more about the ins and outs of the system and the policies that produced it than even well-informed non-space nerds. Striking while the iron is semi-hot is important.

  6. Richard Brezinski says:
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    NT Times offered students the opportunity to comment about the return to the Moon the night/morning of the launch. Very few thought it to be needed or beneficial. They thought Apollo had been done for the right reasons but did not see the necessity of Artemis.

  7. cb450sc says:
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    And with such a slow tempo, there’s the additional problem of the policy changes in each new administration killing any sputtering momentum. Admittedly, that problem has been plaguing NASA for decades now. I suppose I’ve been lucky in that SMD generally has a lower profile so isn’t quite as vulnerable to politically shifting winds.

  8. John_AnotherContractor says:
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    “Artemis Generation”
    I’m not the debbie downer type, but I’ll just throw this out there. I’ve got a 12 year old (and a couple a lot older.) It’s been a while since I posted, but I work at Michoud and brought my son to family day there a couple weeks ago. He toured the place (he’s been a few times before), enjoyed the activities, and is interested in science (his favorite class) and space. Yet not once has he asked me about this mission. I told him about the launch over breakfast the next day, and that’s the last we spoke of it. It really isn’t getting covered much in the mainstream, and probably wont until they stick a human on it. To be honest, though, I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of excitement over it even then.

    PS Yes, I remember watching Apollo and Skylab. Those missions and Willie Coyote got me where I am today. It takes a lot more to get excitement out of this generation.

  9. tutiger87 says:
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    I’m an X’er.

    Just a reminder that there are still a slew of us here making this happen.

  10. ITGrouch says:
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    This old curmudgeon has often been critical of NASA, especially their HQ PAO. However, I was super excited watching the launch on NASA TV. Speaking about HQ PAO. They did a poor job covering the launch. They need to take a page from the JPL and SpaceX playbooks how to effectively engage with the public.

  11. coker says:
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    time for the Artemis Generation to “have their say”? I guess with 18 months between flights there’s plenty of time to say things…

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