Recently, the Artemis II astronauts — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — held a press conference about their upcoming circumlunar mission. Wiseman, Glover and Koch are NASA veterans. Hansen is a Canadian astronaut for whom Artemis II is his first space flight.
The press conference had two main takeaways: Artemis II has a name and a date.
After a great deal of consideration, the crew has decided to name their Orion spacecraft the Integrity. According to Merriam Webster, Integrity means a “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.”
It may lack the heroic meaning of words like “Intrepid” or “Dauntless,” but in a world where moral values are often lacking, it will do for the greatest voyage of exploration so far in the 21st century.
Also, Artemis II has a date: no sooner than Feb. 5, 2026. It provides a sense of certainty to an undertaking that has been talked about for decades. At long last, a voyage around the moon is actually going to happen.
The voyage of Artemis II, whether it takes place in early February or later, should become one of the seminal events of the early 21st century. It will be an important chapter in a process that has been too long in coming, humankind’s return to the moon.
Artemis II will also be set against a backdrop of a very unhappy world. The news has been filled with stories of wars, political assassinations, mass shootings, civil strife, political mendacity and indeed all the ills that humans are capable of inflicting on one another.
Will a voyage around the moon, in preparation for a landing on the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, prove to be a balm to the horrors afflicting the world? Will people witnessing Artemis II conclude that there are still things beautiful, glorious and good possible?
It is a thing to be profoundly hoped for.
In a way, the impending voyage of Artemis II brings to mind another mission to the moon. The year 1968 featured another parade of horribles, from the Vietnam War to the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy to riots in the streets of American cities.
Then, that Christmas, like hope issuing last out of Pandora’s Box, came the voyage of Apollo 8. The reading from the Book of Genesis, as the Earth rose above the lunar surface, broadcast on every TV on the planet, made people forget, at least for a moment, the hell year that was coming to an end. As someone wrote in a telegram later, “You saved 1968.”
Could Artemis II recreate the uniting effect that Apollo 8 wrought 57 years ago? One factor to consider is that the media infrastructure is vastly different in 2025 than it was in 1968. Three major networks and a few newspapers disseminated what people knew about the world when Apollo 8 flew. Now, between cable news and social media, the media landscape discourages consensus.
Still, the sheer awe-inspiring nature of the event may drown out the inevitable cynics and snarky influencers who seek clicks at the expense of enlightenment. The image of the Earth emerging from behind the moon and the words of the crew of Artemis II could be powerful enough to elicit pride and wonder.
And what should those words be? No doubt NASA’s public affairs office, remembering the lawsuit filed against the space agency in the wake of the reading from Genesis, will try to cobble something anodyne and inoffensive.
But if the crew of Artemis II want to say something to meet the moment, words first sung by King David 3,000 years ago and recorded in the Book of Psalms may well suit, even at the risk of triggering the overly triggerable.
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.”
Assuredly, smiles and fist bumps will ensue.
And then, next, Artemis III and the first American human landing on the moon in 55 years — with more to come.
Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration entitled “Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?” as well as “The Moon, Mars and Beyond” and, most recently, “Why is America Going Back to the Moon?” He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.
