Artemis II

and what means to be human

There is nothing more paradoxical than seeing what we can accomplish as humanity with the Artemis II mission. The things we can do when we put our minds together and strive for a common goal amaze me.

But we still choose to destroy Earth and each other. We use resources as if they were infinite, and watch as billions of dollars are wasted in cruel wars. It is terrifying to see people in power leading countries with no respect for each other, to the point of threatening entire civilizations.

Then, you blink and the Artemis mission is carrying four of us around the Moon.

I asked myself — why was I so obsessed with the Artemis mission? There is the obvious answer, I am a scientist, and the level of science alone to bring four humans around the Moon while communicating with them in real time blows my mind. As a scientist, I know that every discovery, every technological advancement is built from the bottom up. To see the scientific level we achieved with this mission reminds me why I chose this career.

But what made me and so many people obsessed with this mission goes beyond the incredible science that led us there. It was the humanity those four astronauts showed during the days of the mission. It was realizing what we can achieve when we work together for a common goal.

Teamwork at its finest. These astronauts are elite pilots and scientists, but alone they would not be there. In fact 14,000 engineers and specialists were involved in planning and building the spacecraft that brought Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy around the moon and back. But what stood out was not their many degrees and experience (although incredible!) but their sense of unity. These four humans remind us, with their empathy and honesty, that we are all one crew and that Earth is our spacecraft, our only home.

I cannot even start imagining what it is to see the Earth from 406,771 kilometers away ( roughly 252,756 miles). How fragile and minuscule we are in front of the vastness of the universe. The few pictures I’ve seen left me speechless. And how from that distance, all we see is one Earth, with no borders, no artificial separation.

A moment that I know many people saw and that will stay with me, is when the crew named a brilliant crater on the Moon after the late wife of Commander Reid Wiseman. Carroll. They cried and group-hugged. Those are not unrelatable astronauts, they are grieving humans who cried in front of the world. Reid for his late wife. Jeremy, Christina and Victor for their friend.

At the peak of their careers, with the world watching, what they chose to show is what really matters — the relationship we build with each other. That is what make us human.

Following the Artemis II mission gave me something I was not expecting. It gave me hope. And it wasn’t until I experienced it that I realized how starved I was for it.

This mission won’t magically fix all the problems we have, but it reminded me how much more we are capable of.

We are capable of good. Of empathy and respect. Of competency.

We are capable of choosing each other. Of choosing Earth. If only we choose to.

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