Hello guys; it has been some time with no post partly due to health and then to the fact that I was utterly tired of commenting on "you-know-who" and his congenital idiocy. But today, a much brighter (and interesting) topic: Return to the Moon.
Well, it's 3:20 AM where I am and I watched the launch of Artemis II about 3 hours ago going for the moon (no landing, just orbit). It will be the first time since December 1972 that a crew form Earth will go around the Moon. Currently the biggest problem seems top be... toilets (a very important part of the equipment for a flight that will last 10 days, toilets in working order! :D ).
Seriously though, when the first flight around the Moon by Lovell, Anders and Borman on Apollo 8 occurred in December 1968 I was just a few months old, a baby still in his crib. When the last lunar mission occurred in December 1972, I was 4 years old. It seems I've been waiting all my life to see people going back to the moon. And Gosh, I'm feeling old.
But I have a thought for those that like me waited for that moment all of their lives and won't get to see it (unless there's a pretty good reception wherever they are). Among those, Jim Lovell, the CM pilot of Apollo 8 and Commander of Apollo 13, the only man with the sad record to have gone twice to the Moon without setting his foot on it. He passed away last August and I hope that his spirit will be with Integrity's crew because they are doing the mission he performed in 1968 (without the low Moon orbit though) and I know that he pushed for a return to the Moon all of his life. There are just 5 of the 24 astronauts that went to the Moon still alive today, including Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon, and Fred Haise who was on Apollo 13 with Lovell. At least those 5 can watch their hope for a return to the Moon unfold on TV or YT (it's 24/7 on NASA YT; if you really can't sleep). I wonder what would have happened if NASA hadn't been stopped in its track by politicians... well, no, in fact I know what would have happened because NASA had plans for that. There would probably has been a permanent base on the moon for the past 30 years. And the US would have gone bankrupt so it's probably a good thing that didn't happen.
Today, just before launch, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said "we're going for all of Humanity". That's the spirit. Either humanity goes forward together or it won't be going anywhere. As a matter of fact, unlike Apollo in its heydays Artemis is an international effort this time. With heavy cooperation between NASA and a lot of partners across the world, including ESA and CSA. No nation on Earth can alone shoulder the cost of space exploration today (China thinks it can but it can't, not without bankrupting its whole economy in a matter of decades). But as Humanity, we certainly can do it. And no matter what some people think, the way to the future is up. And I'm saying that knowing that I won't be there to see the next Moon landing so just take it as my profound conviction.
So Godspeed Integrity. And fly safe.
PS: And as I'm going to bed, they still have toilet problems (a jammed fan this time apparently, two hours ago it was a missing filter)... one stinky problem per mission, this was normal during Apollo. So let's say that Artemis is continuing the tradition. Maybe it's just Lovell ghosting them. XD