NASA’s new mission shatters many glass ceilings

Set to return to Earth tomorrow evening after traveling around the moon, NASA’s Artemis II mission gives us many firsts. This mission included the first woman, the first person of color and the first Canadian to travel past the moon. In addition to these big wins for diversity in STEM, it’s also the farthest that humans have ever gone in space. 

An achievement for our species 

It’s important to remember that space missions are a collective effort which wouldn’t be possible without all of humanity working together. The Artemis II mission is a milestone for our entire species, not just the astronauts.

Every time we go to space we build on the research and exploration of generations of human beings. It’s proof that we can achieve infinitely more as a species when we put aside our differences to serve a common goal.

The new era of space travel 

After watching billionaires play around with space travel for decades, I’m happy to see a publicly funded mission go this far. While Elon Musk plans to build a “self-growing city” on the Moon and Richard Branson is still selling several hundred thousand dollar tickets to sub-orbital space, Artemis gives me hope for an era of space travel that is open to everyone, not just billionaires. 

If billionaires like Musk and Branson are creating the Porsche and Lamborghini of space travel, I hope that our efforts toward the collective public good will give us the equivalent of city buses. Even with Trump, who has issued many cuts to public services, as president, America managed to pull enough public funding and support together for this mission. This is encouraging. I hope that going to space stays a bipartisan effort in the future, and that Trump’s proposed cuts to NASA don’t go through. 

Going to space is not only interesting and exciting, it could also help to ensure mankind’s long term survival if anything ever happens to Earth. The science of living in harsh environments that astronauts do in space can also be applied to other extreme climates on the earth Earth, like the desert, the deep ocean, under the Earth’s crust or an area damaged by war or pollution. 

Honoring humanity’s heroes 

Congratulations to Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen on your amazing achievement, and welcome back to Earth!

Space is incredibly scary, and these are the people who were brave and intelligent enough to face it. I salute them. 

May these astronauts be remembered as heroes who bravely risked it all for the common good, and properly honored along with every other person who helped.