In a world that often feels as though it’s spinning out of control, Nasa’s Artemis moon mission offers a rare moment of reassurance and more personally, dreams that we are greater than the horrors inflicted onto us by the likes of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, the regime in
Nikolaj Nielsen
EUobserver voice is a daily opinion piece by EUobserver staff writers, published every weekday morning
I can still recall, as a child, watching the US space shuttle lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For a moment, it blazed across the blue sky like a shooting star.
That flight over Florida partly sparked my decision to study materials science engineering at a university in North Carolina.
In a world that often feels as though it’s spinning out of control, Nasa’s Artemis moon mission offers a rare moment of reassurance and more personally, dreams that we are greater than the horrors inflicted onto us by the likes of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, the regime in Iran and the utter chaos and violence across Sudan.
Last week I was in Dnipro, a sprawling Ukrainian city straddling the volatile Donbas frontline. Fleeting moments of peace pierced the tension even as air raid sirens warned of incoming Russian fire, most likely drones.
Children laughed and played in Taras Shevchenko Park, their games unfolding against an observation platform on the Dnieper river banks.
At the time, the Artemis II was half way towards the moon on a 10-day mission to test the Orion spacecraft and space launch systems for future lunar surface landings.
“Trust us you look amazing, you look beautiful, and from up here you also look like one thing…you’re all one people,” said pilot Victor Glover.
The Orion crew is returning to Earth after reaching the moon’s far side, shattering records for the farthest human spaceflight.
Nasa is now eyeing a follow-up launch around 2027 and one I hope to witness as well.
