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Photograph Source: NASA \u2013 Public Domain<\/p>\n
\nThe Earth is in a fine mess, but human beings sealed in laboratories full of energy and vigour, attached to screens, and running tests about conditions in space, have another reason to cheer.\u00a0\u00a0Between April 1 and April 11, the Artemis II undertook a flyby of the Moon and returned safely.\u00a0\u00a0News bulletins, life stream feeds and podcasts afforded it saturating room and coverage.\u00a0\u00a0This was the first Moon mission with a crew in over five decades.\u00a0\u00a0Cue, then, for the grand claims, the exaggerated hopes, the silliness of it all.<\/p>\n
Absurdly, the effort is being heralded as a collective push by humanity despite its distinct NASA credentials, yet another instance of coarse patriotism yoking itself to scientific endeavour.\u00a0\u00a0This is an American gig, and it will be assessed along with every other expensively patriotic mission launched by any number of States believing that the dark side of the moon is the next big thing in competition and exploitation.\u00a0\u00a0President Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0Executive Order<\/a>\u00a0of December 2025 promises \u201cAmerican space superiority\u201d, with the Artemis Program intended to return \u201cAmericans to the Moon by 2028\u201d, \u201cassert American leadership in space, lay the foundations for lunar development, prepare for the journey to Mars, and inspire the next generation of American explorers\u201d.<\/p>\n It is also worth considering the\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman made in March: \u201cNASA is committed to achieving the near-impossible once again, to return to the Moon before the end of President Trump\u2019s term, build a Moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Nothing about humanity here so much as a bald MAGA admission that, \u201cThe clock is running in this great-power competition, and success and failure will be measured in months, not years.\u201d<\/p>\n Just to complete the trio of examples, Sean Duffy, when he was acting NASA Administrator, did not shy away from the messianic zeal of the American space program.\u00a0\u00a0In an\u00a0internal staff briefing<\/a>\u00a0held last year, he was unambiguous that the US had to get to the Moon before China before venturing on to Mars.\u00a0\u00a0This was only natural, as his country had a \u201cmanifest destiny to the stars\u201d.<\/p>\n Colonial pursuits are often preceded by the spirit of discovery, economic reconnaissance, inquiry.\u00a0\u00a0Then comes the appropriation, the brazen theft, the seizure wrapped in the jolly packaging of blood, civilisation and empire.\u00a0\u00a0Thankfully, in this case, there are no indigenous populations to exterminate, no extant human cultures to extinguish.\u00a0\u00a0That extermination will take the form of great powers vying over rare mineral real estate as an exercise in colonial escapism.<\/p>\n Much of the mission, because the lay audience could have no sense or truck in the finer details of the travel, was reduced to soap opera banalities and focal points of sheer triviality.\u00a0\u00a0In some instances, it was even worse than soap opera, crying out for some definitive, asteroid finish.\u00a0\u00a0Prosaic details were offered about lavatory failures, which only matter because people relate to them with faecal and urinary familiarity.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe Artemis II crew, working closely with mission control in Houston,\u201d NASA\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0on April 2, \u201cwere able to restore the Orion spacecraft\u2019s toilet to normal operations following the proximity operations demonstration.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0That lavatory, at the cost of $23 million, was also\u00a0said to be<\/a>\u00a0the second dearest toilet system ever built.\u00a0\u00a0We were also told with quotidian certainty that all lavatories in space tend to end up having failings of some sort, which will no doubt launch a thousand theses on faeces in due, and easy comfort.\u00a0\u00a0University examination boards can look forward to the excessive discharge.<\/p>\n Moving items in the spacecraft were also the source of various bromide observations.\u00a0\u00a0Nutella, with its hazelnut spread, got what was\u00a0regarded by the press<\/a>\u00a0as the \u201cgreatest free advert in history\u201d, floating about fairly unnoticed by the crew \u2013 though noticed on the live feed.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhen Artemis II broke Apollo 13\u2019s distance record of 248,655 miles from Earth on Monday [April 6],\u201d\u00a0declared<\/a>\u00a0PRWeek, \u201cit was one small step for man \u2026 and a giant leap for Nutella\u2019s marketing team.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0How wonderful to also note that Nutella was founded in 1964, the same year NASA successfully completed its first lunar mission with\u00a0Ranger 7<\/a>.<\/p>\n As for global public interest, NASA and any of those in the business of filming their exploits in space need to be reminded of a rather disturbing truth.\u00a0\u00a0Dark, even slightly sadistic voyeurism is never far away from such missions.\u00a0Impassive spectators are a callous sort, seeking jubilation in shock.\u00a0\u00a0An attempt to inject drama is made in media outlets, fluffed up by pundits, about what might have happened to the crew on losing communications for several hours.\u00a0\u00a0They must surely make it.\u00a0\u00a0Surely.\u00a0\u00a0Yet, sickening voyeurism is heavy in such messages, a thanatotic urge.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAs the astronauts pass the Moon at about 23:47 BST (18:47 EDT) on Monday, the radio and laser signals that allow the back-and-forth communication between the spacecraft and Earth will be blocked by the Moon itself,\u201d came the\u00a0bland observation<\/a>\u00a0from the BBC.\u00a0\u00a0The retching platitude, however, could not be resisted: \u201cFor about 40 minutes, the four astronauts will be alone, each with their own thoughts and feelings, travelling through the darkness of space.\u00a0\u00a0A profound moment of solitude and silence.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0A rather different reading of what being \u201calone\u201d means, let alone solitude.<\/p>\n On their return to Earth, the press conference given by the crew was saccharine, charmless and unspeakable, suggesting that space travel may narrow the mind.\u00a0\u00a0There was the mandatory carpet crawling tribute act for NASA\u2019s management.\u00a0\u00a0There were bucketful inanities on team enterprise, the insufferable jargon of organisation teamwork.\u00a0\u00a0With emetic conviction, Jeremy Hanson went so far as to call the crew a \u201cjoy team\u201d and\u00a0claim<\/a>\u00a0that humans \u201cdon\u2019t always do great things.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019re not always in our integrity, but our default is to be good and to be good to one another.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Another crew member suggested that Earth was a \u201cdream boat\u201d (interestingly enough, China\u2019s own\u00a0spacecraft<\/a>\u00a0destined for lunar exploits is named Mengzhou, or Dream Vessel) while the Artemis team were but a mirror for humanity.\u00a0\u00a0(Some crew, some mirror.)<\/p>\n