{"id":375877,"date":"2026-04-12T12:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375877\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T12:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:25:09","slug":"misty-eyed-about-the-moon-the-tack-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375877\/","title":{"rendered":"Misty-eyed about the moon \u2013 The Tack Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 1, NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission\u00a0launched\u00a0<\/a>from Earth. As I watched the NASA livestream of the launch, I marveled at the fact that, for the first time in\u00a0more than 50 years<\/a>, humankind is on its way back to the moon. I even teared up when astronaut Reid Wiseman told mission control,<\/a> \u201cWe have a beautiful moonrise, we\u2019re headed right at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Orion\u00a0is only the second stage of the multi-step\u00a0Artemis mission<\/a>. Its task was to orbit the moon, collect observations and data, and then return to Earth April 10th. Future projects will advance until NASA is ready to establish a base on the moon, projected to land on the moon\u2019s surface in 2028.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As\u00a0the\u00a0Integrity crew\u00a0orbited\u00a0the moon<\/a> on April\u00a07, their crew set the record for farthest a\u00a0manned\u00a0mission has traveled away from Earth. Shortly after celebrating the accomplishment, they suggested\u00a0names to\u00a0be approved by NASA for two of the previously unnamed craters on the moon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first crater, they named after their personal name for their crew and vessel,\u00a0Integrity. The second, after\u00a0Carroll\u00a0Wiseman<\/a>,\u00a0pediatric\u00a0nurse practitioner and\u00a0wife of astronaut\u00a0Reid Wiseman, who died\u00a0of cancer in 2020, leaving him a widower and single father.\u00a0It was impossible for me not to cry a little bit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy for us to put people like astronauts on a pedestal of accomplishment and wisdom that the ordinary person is incapable of recreating. But these four people remind us of their humanity, and as Christina Koch told us, their humility<\/a>.\u00a0Upon reaching the\u00a0area of eclipse, with no contact with Earth, the crew celebrated by\u00a0sharing maple cream cookies<\/a>\u00a0(provided, of course, by Canadian crew member\u00a0Jeremy Hansen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Multiple times during interviews, they\u00a0thanked\u00a0and provided credit\u00a0<\/a>to the many people still on the ground, acknowledging that there would be nowhere close to the moon without many people working behind the scenes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0important to acknowledge that not everybody gets to be an astronaut, or even a NASA scientist.\u00a0From certain perspectives, it can seem callous to spend so much time and energy\u00a0to go\u00a0somewhere\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0gone before, while\u00a0people still struggle in our own towns and cities.\u00a0Throughout the past year, there have been issues with government\u00a0freezes\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0cuts\u00a0<\/a>to\u00a0welfare funding.\u00a0In 2024, there were still\u00a035.9 million people\u00a0in America\u00a0reported\u00a0<\/a>to be\u00a0living in poverty.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, we are spending\u00a0$4 billion<\/a> for a single spaceship launch, and NASA is projected to spend around $105 billion by the end of the Artemis program. Should we be doing more to improve our own communities before worrying about reaching the depths of space? I think that, to answer that question, we have to ask why we\u2019re going to the moon in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is talk that the\u00a0renewed interest in the moon may be the result of a new\u00a0space race<\/a>, this one competing with China to\u00a0establish\u00a0a lunar base.\u00a0The\u00a0Artemis projec<\/a>t\u00a0itself\u00a0is intended to further scientific knowledge and set the stage for future space endeavors.\u00a0However, I feel that, for the great majority of us, going to the moon is a symbol of hope we hold on to.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some people have\u00a0the hopes\u00a0and dreams of living on another planet.\u00a0For many, this \u201cplanet B\u201d is a backup, a way for\u00a0the human race\u00a0to survive when our own planet might not. Those concerned about\u00a0the\u00a0future climate of Earth<\/a>\u00a0might be interested in starting new somewhere far away. Some people just want the chance to travel, and to see something\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0never seen before. Space\u00a0represents\u00a0opportunity, change, and beginnings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the generation that remembers, the\u00a0Apollo 11\u00a0moon landing was symbolic of a new age of innovation, technology, and human achievement.\u00a0For reference, my dad was two months old at the time\u00a0of the moon landing. He does not remember.\u00a0(I asked.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

For those of us in 2026,\u00a0a new moon mission\u00a0can serve as a reminder that, regardless of time passing or\u00a0tensions rising,\u00a0people\u00a0still\u00a0have the ability to\u00a0come together and do miraculous things,\u00a057\u00a0years later.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We are\u00a0still breaking records, learning new things, and exploring places we\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0been before.\u00a0People work together as a team so\u00a0close it might\u00a0as well be family,\u00a0in order to\u00a0further our understanding of the\u00a0universe. Right now,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0important for us to find hope and\u00a0beauty in our world.\u00a0Perhaps the\u00a0Artemis project can also allow us to find those feelings beyond it.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On April 1, NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission\u00a0launched\u00a0from Earth. As I watched the NASA livestream of the launch, I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-375877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}