How come no one is talking about Artemis II mission?
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Anonymous
These missions are planned years in advance -- no one knew we were going to be at war with Iran when artemis ii launched. So it's not intended as a distraction. It's not just about cool pictures. They are collecting data that can be used on future missions and that helps us to understand the moon, the sun, and our own planet better. Scientific exploration is often just about seeking understanding first, and practical applications come later. This has been true since Newton watched an apple fall to the ground and asked "why?" But also it takes an enormous amount of collaboration to do something like this, and that has real value. This mission, in particular, features a North American collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency, and involves a Canadian astronaut, a first in NASA missions. At a time when our leadership is going out if it's way to destroy international collaboration and cooperation, NASA is pursuing it. That has real value. |
Anonymous
| Maybe because the world is on fire right now? |
Anonymous
Yes, we have orbited the moon before, so we have seen all the way around. The first time we did, people had the same questions about what might be back there. |
Anonymous
| Is it cool? Yes. However, a lot closer to home, we might be seeing the start of WWIII. Cool missions to the moon are quite insignificant if we blow up the world in the meantime. |
Anonymous
| We are talking about it, just not on DCUM. |
Anonymous
Yes, a bunch of Apollo missions have seen the back of the moon -- 20+ astronauts from the Apollo missions have seen it from space capsules prior to this mission, plus there have been lots of unmanned missions taking photos of it since the 1950s. It's still significant that this crew was the first people to see it in person in over 50 years, and they can take photos with updated equipment (a lot better than what they had back during Apollo) and with greater control than an unmanned mission. A lot of this mission is just setting up for the next one though -- trying out the artemis rockets on a manned mission before we send up a lander. I think that's why some people are like "so?" But obviously if we are going to send people to the surface to (1) land in a different place than we have before and (2) actually explore some of these craters and caves to look for ice, we are going to do a trial fly by mission. It's an important step. |
Anonymous
Why can't focus on both? Why can't we use this mission to recognize what is *good* about humanity and see what we can accomplish together? Why not look at these astronauts, who are smart, professional, respectful, and collaborative, and thing collectively about the kinds of people we want in positions of authority and leadership? |
Anonymous
My thoughts exactly. Just depends who your particular circle of people you choose to surround yourself with. |
Anonymous
| I watched the launch. I watched the 40 minutes they lost coms on the dark side of the moon and watched them come out the other side. Other than that...it's a snooze fest. We landed on the moon 50 years ago and we are supposed to be excited about going around it today? How is this even news? |
Anonymous
It's escapism. |
Anonymous
Did you turn it off before the orange fecal king ruined the moment? |
Anonymous
| I am obsessed with it. On a first name basis with Christina, Jeremy, Victor and Reid. |
Anonymous
Well, you are right that this is a very dumb question. |
Anonymous
+10000000 The teamwork, the patience, the knowledge, the curiosity, the humanity, even the spirituality of it all. If this is a distraction it is an amazing one. |
Anonymous
| Honestly I’m not really caring about it. With so many problems left on earth this is not a great thing. |