Although the Artemis II mission to the moon wasn’t overtly religious, it brought people around the world the joy of resurrection during Eastertide. The timing couldn’t have been better—as president Trump railed about annihilating a centuries-old civilization and raining down genocide, the astronauts reminded us we’re part of a better, longer story. One NASA administrator called them “humanity’s ambassadors to the stars” and they reminded us that earth is a lifeboat hanging in blackness where we’re all aboard together.
The science of the expedition is way beyond my powers to describe; what I found warm and fascinating was the gamut of deeply human responses to their experience. We could almost imagine riding along in their spacecraft with them as they broadcast, over and over, their wonder and delight. Christina Koch said, “I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the moon,” and Reid Wiseman added, “it’s absolutely unbelievable…incredible.” (Or as Canadian Jeremy Hansen told French-speaking Canadians, “incroyable…magnifique!”) Wiseman jokingly asked NASA for a new list of adjectives because there were “absolutely no words to describe what they were seeing.” After extensive training, meticulous preparation and grueling discipline, their awe was refreshingly child-like. As they described the solar eclipse, Kelsey Young, a lunar expert in Houston rose from her chair to share “moon joy.” How could anyone fail to be stirred, especially young scientists they hope to attract?
At the other end of the emotional spectrum, all four cried and embraced as they proposed naming one of the moon craters no one had ever seen before Carroll, in honor of Wiseman’s wife, the mother of Katie and Ellie, who died of cancer in 2020. Victor Glover, an African-American stressed that theirs was a human endeavor, “an opportunity to remember where we are, who we are and that we’ve got to get through this together.” Hearing his words, they all clasped hands, and even after 10 days in close quarters, their continuing affection for each other was genuine and unrehearsed.
In between the two poles of the emotional spectrum were refreshingly earthy bits—like Hansen providing maple syrup and maple cream cookies for a distinctively Canadian celebration when they went further than any humans had. Or a persistent toilet malfunction. Or Christina Koch remembering how she awoke on April 3 to a whisper, “we’re going for launch,” then her nurse putting her to bed the night of April 10 asking, “Ma’am, can I get a hug?” Around the world, people on the NASA website posted flags of many nations and wished in many languages, “godspeed!” or “Welcome home!”
Humbly, the astronauts acknowledged over 50 years of quiet preparation since Apollo 13: “how well supported and trained we were.” It wasn’t luck that arranged such a meticulous landing, precise research or careful attention to their health. No wonder that hard-working scientists at mission control in Houston dressed for the occasion—some of the men in ties and some of the women in dress blazers—in a room where the exhilaration on landing was palpable.
As the astronauts held their first interview there, they affirmed how hard it was to be away from their families: “we will always choose earth and each other.” Or as poet Robert Frost wrote in “Birches,” “Earth’s the right place for love. I don’t know where it’s likely to go better. “ Wiseman summed up their hope: “for just a moment to have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted.”
The crew so likeable, enthusiastic and thoughtful was right out of central casting—as was the final setting, their splashdown in the Pacific and retrieval by helicopter to a nearby ship during sunset—a golden hour. Rare, irreplaceable, best of being human. How aptly the scripture fit the moment: “Awe came upon everyone” (Acts 2:42).
See Kathy’s review of a book on judging: https://uscatholic.org/articles/202604/do-not-judge-anyone-points-to-mercy-in-an-unforgiving-world/
Kathy Coffey 