Artemis II, lunar exploration and hope – Astronomy Now
ORLANDO, FLORIDA. I’m a space-crazed Canadian who has somehow seen 11 launches across four different rockets since 2009. I’ve witnessed missions with astronauts, interplanetary spacecraft and (inevitably) Starlink, across two continents.
But Artemis II took me by surprise yesterday (April 1). The Space Launch System was so bright it was almost painful to look at. The arc of its plume across the sky made noise and noise and NOISE minutes after launch. And the grizzled photographers surrounding me on the press-site lawn at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida were screaming: “TO THE MOON!” And cheering. And yelling the phrase again.
It’s literally 16 hours after launch as I type this. I’m in Orlando airport trying to look relaxed, as much as one can on three cups of coffee and five hours of sleep. It feels ridiculous thinking about suitcases and flight arrangements. I’ve been asking myself, “What is normal? Can this be normal?” Fellow Canadian Jeremy Hansen is on his way to the Moon, with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch. I’ve been wanting to see any Moon mission with astronauts for 30 years; now there’s someone up there from my own country, and while I’ve known that was going to happen for years, it’s still a shock.
As a result of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)’s participation, I stood with an unusual number of my country’s reporters at crew walkout yesterday. This is a highly rehearsed procedure, and the astronauts always stand in the same spots. So I positioned myself far to the left of the crowds, well away from the van where the astronauts linger with their families to say goodbye, simply to watch Hansen’s position as he stepped out from the quarantine facility.
I had a palm-sized maple leaf flag (acquired from a Canadian party the night before), while a smarter reporter friend brought a larger fabric version. We splayed the bright red against the grey grating separating us from the astronauts. Hansen saw us. He waved, smiled, gave a thumbs-up. We had about 30 seconds with him in front of us, and then he was off to finally become a space-flown astronaut after 17 years of ground service.
Since Hansen was named to his Moon mission almost exactly three years ago, during an event I attended in Houston on 3 April 2023, I’ve felt a mounting sense of responsibility. I’ve been in this business 25 years; I’ve wanted to see a Moon mission for 30. Getting a KSC press pass for this mission was a life milestone in this respect, because nobody can line up a career that perfectly without substantial community support and luck.
I therefore tried to use my experience at KSC to offer support to other reporters facing technical issues or impossible deadlines. For weeks I’ve put in evening and weekend hours for clients who were not Artemis II-focused, to make sure they were taken care of while I was on the road. I told family and friends I would be a “cornflake” (flaky) for an indefinite period around launch, as mission events will continue for about 10 days, and luckily they’ve been awesome. I’ve also done as much public outreach as I can.
I still wonder sometimes if we are doing enough, and for the right audiences. The widespread worry at the KSC press site was that we (the 700 or so reporters there that day) for all our efforts, haven’t been able to break through. We can well understand why; there are tough things happening in our world right now (which I don’t want to get into in a space magazine, but you know what I’m talking about). And we all have everyday worries focused on our communities.
If you need to focus on those other things, I understand. But as readers of Astronomy Now, I’ll add there’s something I’ve been trying to remind myself of lately: hope. Lives are not perfect; speaking only for myself, I can point to things in mine (even since the crew announcement in 2023) that were incredibly hard and disappointing, and which felt unfair. But this mission has given me a positive energy that helps. Moon talk and planning changes the conversation, and at least to me, that matters. Even if I wasn’t in Orlando right now, I’d still be following everything online.
We’ll be covering much more about this historic mission online and in the magazine, but for now I have a flight to catch … and a laptop almost out of battery. I wish our four astronauts well as they go ‘ad lunam’ (to the Moon), and back home again.
Elizabeth Howell
