For the first time since 1972, a crew of astronauts has orbited the Moon and returned to Earth alive. NASA's Artemis 2 capsule touched down in the Pacific Ocean on schedule, completing the mission that a generation of engineers spent their careers building toward. The four-person crew — including the first woman and the first Canadian to fly a lunar trajectory — emerged to cheers, tears, and thunderous applause from mission control in Houston.
The splashdown marked the end of a ten-day mission that tested every system needed for Artemis 3 to actually land on the lunar surface. Heat shields, life support, navigation. All performed. The data collected in those ten days will shape the architecture of the Moon Base the agency wants to establish by 2030. This wasn't a stunt. This was engineering.
In an era of relentless bad news, watching four humans splash into the Pacific after circling the Moon felt different. Hopeful. Like proof that when humanity decides to do something extraordinary, we still can.
