Amid rising geopolitical instability, NASA chose to send four astronauts back to the Moon. The Artemis 2 mission, while spectacular, has cost America billions of dollars at a time of mounting unrest both within and beyond the nation’s borders. It’s easy to see why many are asking, What’s the point?
NASA astronaut and Artemis 2 pilot Victor Glover gave a powerful answer to that question during a Q&A with reporters on Thursday. Glover said looking down at Earth from the Orion spacecraft is a reminder that no matter how divided humanity becomes, we are still one species sharing the same home.
“No matter where you’re from or what you look like, we’re all one people,” he said. “One of the things that’s amazing about being an astronaut [and] serving our countries at this time is we get to give ourselves a mission that we can hold on to and say, ‘Hey, look what we did,’ for the rest of our lives. We call amazing things that humans do ‘moonshots’ for a reason.”
Glover said Artemis 2 is a testament to what people can accomplish when they don’t just set their differences aside but bring those differences together and use their diverse strengths to achieve something great.
A testament to the power of unity
Glover himself is a testament to the power of embracing our differences. When Orion executed the translunar injection burn Thursday evening and set course toward the Moon, he became the first person of color to ever venture beyond low-Earth orbit.
Glover’s crewmates Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen also became the first woman and first non-American to accomplish this feat. The Artemis 2 crew is far more diverse than its Apollo predecessors, signaling the dawn of a new era in human spaceflight.
While there can be no question that hatred and divisiveness are currently at the center of America’s sociopolitical climate, seeing the Artemis 2 astronauts come together and make great sacrifices for the good of the nation inspires hope for a better future.
The mission also serves as a much-needed reminder that humanity is capable of more than violence and destruction when it unites around a common goal. Artemis 2 isn’t just America’s mission—it also belongs to the international partners who worked tirelessly to make NASA’s dream of returning astronauts to the Moon a reality.
International cooperation is central to the Artemis program. The U.S. cannot accomplish these objectives alone. As armed conflicts rage across the Middle East, the Ukraine, and sub-Saharan Africa, Artemis 2 reminds us of the greatness we can achieve when we come together.
