Artemis II

I don’t remember when I first heard that NASA was launching a manned spaceflight around the moon for the first time since 1972, but it wasn’t that long ago. A couple of weeks, tops.

It didn’t really sink in at first. I just thought it was another billionaire playing with toy rockets, something I have no interest in.

NASA’s Back?

But then I realized it was a NASA mission, the folks who have been mostly out of the space picture since the Columbia disaster. At least it seemed that way.

Artemis II is apparently only the second crewed launch from U.S. soil since the shuttle program. The first was some Dragon capsule mission to the ISS, where the crew wore the most unflattering spacesuits in human history.

So I turned on the NASA YouTube live stream on the morning of Wednesday, April 1, 2026, and listened to all the preparations before flight, and then the launch in the evening.

It was pretty cool. It was like watching a documentary on the Apollo missions, except it played out a whole lot slower.

Media Notes

I have some notes on NASA’s media presentation though.

For one thing, it seems that most of the cameras they sent up into space aren’t working very well, because every live shot from the outside looks terrible.

[I’ve since learned that the realtime cameras intentionally broadcast using very low bandwidth. The really good high-resolution photos and video are downloaded later while the crew sleeps.]

There was one brief time window at the start of the second day where they had a really good shot of Earth as they reached apogee. Not much before or since. It’s either distorted and blocky or the exposure is all wrong and it’s just a black screen with a washed out white blob where the ship is. It feels like technology in 2026 should be better than that.

They also had a lot of audio doubling problems around launch time. It was like a jackhammer in my ears, but maybe nobody else noticed it.

Apolitical

One of the most galling things about Artemis though is that Trump is the one who made it happen. Proving that even the most historically inept presidents can still have one redeeming quality. The “even a broken clock is right twice a day” theory.

(Then the other day he proposed slashing 47% of NASA’s science budget again. Sigh.)

Otherwise it’s the most apolitical government project I’ve seen in like 15 years. Imagine a world where every media interaction doesn’t involve hopelessly delusional ranting about imaginary political foes. Where news conferences have competent professionals addressing the world like they know what they’re doing. That’s what watching NASA go about their work is like.

Anyway, I’ve had the NASA live stream up on my living room television pretty much constantly since launch day.

Press Coverage

As predicted, though, the mission barely even gets a mention in the news I’m seeing. The president himself almost preempted the first NASA news conference with his … let’s just call it “impromptu address.” He did, at least, blandly mention the successful Artemis launch, almost grudgingly, before he “did his thing.”

Saturday Night Live only mentioned it in a cold open where it was called a “waste of money.”

NASA news conferences, by the way, seem to only have a dozen reporters in the audience. And many of them are like, “Hi, I’m Joe from Space Blog Dot Net.” They are, at least, asking pertinent questions.

Except one CNN reporter who asked about NASA budget cuts and how it’s affecting morale. A relevant question, but the moderator politely shut it down immediately (23:42) and reminded them that they were there to talk about the Artemis mission only. Which I thought was pretty classy and representative of NASA culture, keeping the focus on the mission instead of dragging things down to the sub-basement level of political food-fighting.

Remote Control

One thing that surprises me is just how much remote control that Houston has over the Orion. When you listen to the communications, there’s so many times when it sounds like the four astronauts are just passive passengers while Houston does all the flying remotely or by computer.

I’m sure it’s safer that way but it changes the image of the modern astronaut from the “daring test pilots” of yore to “just regular folks.”

Greek Heroes

Well, “regular folks who are still super obviously smarter and better than anyone else.” The four Artemis astronauts (Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy–I’m on a first name basis with them you see) seem like a really good representative sample of the lofty aspirations of the best of humanity.

Greek heroes, in a way. Smarter, stronger, happier, more articulate, more personable, and better-looking than any of us in our wildest dreams. The kind of people you’d feel incredibly lucky to be in the same room with.

It sucks that these four astronauts aren’t world renowned influencers like the early NASA astronauts were. Instead, we’re stuck with the likes of frickin’ MrBeast.

As I’m typing this, nearing the beginning of mission day 5, the NASA official live stream on YouTube has less than 40 thousand viewers. A Greek tragedy.

(It turns out that Reid and Victor actually are test pilots.)

Humanity Isn’t Doomed?

I don’t know. I’m just really struck by the mystique and mythology of the whole thing, in a way I wasn’t expecting.

It’s cheesy as hell, but it makes me feel like there’s some hope for humanity after all, following 20 years of constant negativity and watching the world get dumber and dumber.

I feel really lucky to get to watch along with this mission moment-by-moment, and I hope I get to see Artemis III and IV, too. Go Artemis!

Photo: Astronaut Christina Cook looking back on Earth from the window of Integrity, surely a photo worthy of some kind of award.

Updates

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that one of NASA’s public affairs officers on the live stream has one of the greatest names I’ve ever heard: Leah Cheshier Mustachio. I feel like that would make a fantastic player character name in a TTRPG.

UPDATE 2: I also forgot to mention how fascinating it is to watch the stream when they have live video up from inside the Orion. The astronauts are constantly scurrying around like squirrels in a cabin that seems to be full to bursting with Hoarders quantities of gear strapped to the walls and wires floating in every corner, but somehow they manage to avoid slamming into each other or yanking out any critical air hoses or whatever.