To The Moon! And Back!

[MineralMan]

I watched the splashdown and recovery of Artemis II yesterday evening. As always, I was a bit anxious until I saw the parachutes deploy. It has been a long time since I watched a Moon shot. Over 50 years. Sobering!

During the endless talking during the coverage, some news person said something that really got to me:

"For three quarters of the population of the US, this was their first Moon mission."

So, there is just one quarter of the population left who remember all of the Moon shots and more. That made me feel old, but many things make me feel old these days.

Not only do I remember all of the Moon shots, my memory of our exploration of space goes all the way back to the first Sputnik launch by the Soviet Union. I was just a junior high kid when that happened. I was also a reader of science fiction novels, and a newby to listening to shortwave radio stations from around the world. My parent, at my enthusiastic pleading, got me a Knight Kit one tube, regenerative radio kit.

My Dad felt certain that I, at the age of 12, would not succeed at assembling that kit. I was just as certain that I would. I did. It worked the first time I turned it on, and I learned how to solder connections and how to follow instructions precisely. So, when the Sputnik was launched, I noticed that one of the stories in the LA Times provided the frequency that the Sputnik used to send back its telemetry. There was also a chart of the days and times of day when Sputnik would pass over California.

So, at my first opportunity, I tuned my little 1-tube radio closely to that frequency and waited. When the time came, I tuned around carefully until I heard the revolutionary "beep...beep" of the signal from Sputnik. Of course, I called my parents in to hear it. A couple of days later, I helped some family friends tune it in on their big 1940s Zenith console radio when we were visiting their house.

Suddenly, I was the Whiz Kid in the neighborhood. In demand. For the first time in my young life, I felt competent at something. It was great!

Now, though, I'm the only one left alive from the people I introduced to listening to the Sputnik's "beep." That inspires a different set of emotions.
For three quarters of the US population, Artemis II is the first Moon shot they have witnessed! Think about that and what it means.

[underpants]

1. That's a great story. 🌕

I was alive during the first moon landing and my Mom tells me I watched it on TV but I’d have been about 2.

I remember many of the launches after that. I clearly remember getting a commemorative plate when we filled up with gas. The guy handed it to my Mom through her car window.

😃

[MineralMan]

2. Those were memorable times, for sure.

There are new ones now, though. And there are kids watching their first moon landing now, too.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. 53 years. One ending... and one beginning. 🌊🚀

Link to tweet

In 1972, Apollo 17 touched down in the Pacific — marking the final chapter of humanity’s first journey to the Moon.

For decades, the silence that followed left one question hanging:
Will we ever go back?

Now, more than half a century later, Artemis II is writing the next chapter.
Not as an ending…
but as the start of something bigger.

This time, it’s not just about reaching the Moon.
It’s about staying, exploring deeper, and preparing for what comes next.

Same ocean.
Same splashdown.
Different era.

History didn’t repeat itself —
it evolved. 🌑✨

[MineralMan]

4. Good points, for sure.

People ask why we bother to return to the moon.

Well, we go because it is there, and there are things to learn. If we stop learning, we make no progress. If we make no progress, we die off.