The Artemis II mission began three days ago, on April 1st, no less. It's the first time in a long time that humans will return to the moon. You've probably heard that over and over again if you've been staying up to date on the mission, but it is a fact. It's so incredible to me that humans are able to achieve these sorts of things; the fact that NASA is able to give us, normal people, so much insight into how the program operates.
Space truly is for everybody. It is a collective effort by multiple nations, not just the United States, to coordinate this kind of endeavor; however, it's not all just purely for the fun of sending people to space. We're sending people to space for science. Many modern advancements in technology have happened because we were able perform experiments in space; the only reason we know that the moon was once a part of Earth is because we found Earth rocks on the moon during the Apollo missions.
The Artemis crew is even doing an experiment called AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response) that will help with assessing the impact of space travel on the human body, but it may also provide insight into cancer research. Some people say that it is a waste of money to send people to space, but the science that we get out of it is the reason why we do it. The research that space exploration pushes forward eventually benefits everyone back on Earth.
The unfortunate reality of the United States' political situation tends to cast a shadow on this. Because of our nationalist culture, I don't think those in power right now really care about that. The only reason NASA is accelerating Artemis is because China plans on landing on the moon in 2030. Donald Trump wants to make sure he can assert dominance on the national stage and get back to the moon before then.
The CCP, however, doesn't care. They want to send people to the moon for science. They don't even believe that they are in a race. That is the mindset the United States needs to get back to. Space is an opportunity to build something new, to learn from the past and make it about collective human understanding instead of nations in a race. China announced that they intend to build a base on the moon, and shortly after, the United States also decided to build a base on the moon. Coincidence?
If I remember correctly, the original plan of Artemis was to build a base that orbits the moon, allowing astronauts to study it long-term from above instead of having to land. What changed? It's simple; those in power in our government can't handle another nation accomplishing something before them. This tribalism is so unconventional. If things could be better, the CCP and the US would collaborate on this moon base, accelerating development and enabling humanity to make more impactful scientific discoveries sooner. On the flip side, the CCP is also the same nation that massacres Uighurs.
I don't believe that space exploration should be led by a nation that has been allowed to persecute people for over a decade. Again, space is for everybody. It should be an international human endeavor to discover and identify, through science, what our place in the universe is. It should be a collaboration to uniformly improve the lives of everyone on Earth. Unfortunately, our lizard brains tend to hold us back from manifesting that reality. Maybe in a few more centuries we will all be able to finally acknowledge our differences and pursue goodness for the sake of humanity.