{"id":10012,"date":"2026-04-01T00:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=10012"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:53:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:53:17","slug":"another-step-in-a-long-long-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/another-step-in-a-long-long-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Step in a Long, Long Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"NASA<\/a>
“The Milky Way pictured from the International Space Station in a long-duration photograph”
(NASA (November 25, 2024))<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today’s Artemis II launch is a big deal, even if it’s not particularly “newsworthy”. As usual, my news feed has been packed with the usual direly dreadful distressful disasters: and that’s another topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m actually writing this Tuesday evening, but what I have to say matters: even if the launch is rescheduled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Back to the Moon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Sam<\/a>
“A full Moon is seen shining over NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft in the early hours of Feb. 1, 2026, at Launch Complex 39B at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.”
(NASA photo by Sam Lott (February 1, 2026))<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We’re going back to Earth’s moon. Not going for the first time, not landing, not sure to discover some totally cool new thing. But we ARE<\/strong> going back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this time the astronauts will be going farther out than anyone’s been before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether that’s an important part of this test flight, something that’ll matter when landings resume, or is being done as a sort of bonus achievement: that, I don’t know. Either way, I think it’s a cool detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Looking Ahead, Thinking Back<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"NASA<\/a>
“Trajectory for Artemis II, NASA’s first flight with crew aboard SLS, Orion to pave the way for long-term return to the Moon, missions to Mars” (NASA infographic (January 27, 2023))<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don’t feel about the Artemis program the way I did about the Apollo flights. That’s no surprise: I was a teenager then, now I’m an old man. But I still think humanity is headed for the stars. Eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Tracy<\/a>
Tracy Caldwell Dyson in cupola of the ISS. (2010)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Going back to the Moon is just one step in a journey: one we started a very long time ago, when someone wondered what’s over the next hill \u2014 and decided to go and see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n