The Artemis II crew just got done with a media Q&A session an hour ago or so. What’s interesting is that all the questions to crew members were basically, ‘what do you feel about…’
They were not being asked about what they were doing, but what they were feeling.
We all would ask that question, wouldn’t we? We might not want to go to the moon ourselves, but that doesn’t mean we don’t yearn to know what it would be like. After all, science fiction movies and novels may seem realistic, but they aren’t the same as asking the people who are in space for reals what it’s like.
Christina Koch
During the interview the crew spoke of awe, not only for being where they are now but awe for the incredible beauty of our home planet Earth, which gets smaller and smaller as they approach the moon. Awe for the miracle that is our little island of life in the immenseness of space.
They spoke of gratitude for all the people who contributed to the Artemis II program and gratitude for the opportunity granted to each crew member to be where they are.
They spoke of the connection they felt with all of humanity in spite of how far away they were from other human beings.
Awe. Gratitude. Connection. I wasn’t surprised that those were the feelings they talked about. That’s what I’d expect from people we’ve sent to boldly go where no human has gone before. That’s what all the humans who have been in space have felt when they view the fragile miracle from the outside, an angle that makes it absolutely clear we are in no way the owners of anything – we’ve merely been granted the opportunity to be here.
I think we all could feel that way while we’re right here on this planet. We could feel awe for where we are. Gratitude for being here. And we could let ourselves feel embraced with connection to all of humanity – all living things – that are with us on this little island in the immenseness of space.
PS: NASA has just used the cameras on the solar panels to take pictures of the four crew members in the four capsule windows. Such a human thing to do.
