The worldwide reputation of the US has been badly damaged by the current President and in particular his war on Iran.
But the success of the Artemis II mission reminds us there is another America; clever, bold, open to the world, which we rightly admire.
The nation that took mankind to the moon in 1969 is going back there – and in time we will be there to stay.
At 5:07 p.m. PDT on Friday, a charred capsule fell out of a clear Pacific sky under three giant parachutes and slipped fell to the ocean surface off the coast of San Diego.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, call sign Integrity, had just brought commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency mission specialist Jeremy Hansen home from their trip around the Moon.
They were the first humans to make that journey since Apollo 17 in 1972, and they traveled farther from Earth than anyone in history.
The ride home was brutal. Orion hit the atmosphere at nearly 25,000 mph. Its heat shield glowed at almost 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. For about six minutes, mission control heard nothing as plasma wrapped the capsule in the fire of re-entry.
Then commander Wiseman’s voice came back through the speakers.
The crew bobbed around on the ocean for about 90 minutes after splashdown, then emerged one by one through a side hatch onto an inflatable raft. The first medical officer to reach them radioed back to mission control that all four astronauts were “feeling great, happy to be home, and ready to be extracted as soon as possible.”
US Navy MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopters then lifted each astronaut into the air and carried them to the USS John P. Murtha waiting nearby. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman met the crew on the flight deck, handed out hats, and watched all four walk, with barely any help, into the ship’s medical bay.
In the photos NASA released afterward, you can see it on their faces. Christina Koch and Victor Glover laughing together in the back of a helicopter. Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen grinning shoulder to shoulder, still in their bright orange suits, surrounded by Navy rescuers.
Ten days. 695,000 miles. A trip around the Moon and back.
For the first time in more than half a century, mankind has returned from the Moon. And somewhere out there, the next crew is already dreaming about the landing on the lunar surface; perhaps in 2028.
Welcome home, Integrity.