Moonshot

Watching the Artemis II launch last night was a blast from the past.

NASA launches were a big part of my youth. I remember the big TV being wheeled into the classroom for the first Space Shuttle mission, the shock of watching the Challenger disaster, actually standing on Cocoa Beach at sunrise watching Columbia launch on STS-109 with my own eyes, then seeing the awful news when she never made it home. 

I love that NASA move slowly, more cautiously and more expensively, with far less glam, than SpaceX. Flying to the moon is an incredible technological feat even in 2026, yet the Artemis program feels old fashioned somehow. NASA do things as they’ve always been done. Tried and trusted. I mean, Artemis II for all its grandeur is made of Space Shuttle spares! Some people may shake their head in disbelief but I think that’s just wonderful. 

Nostalgia is at play here, I know, but it’s also genuinely refreshing to step away from the relentless push of private space companies (and private tech companies in general, I guess), even just for a short while. 

You don’t always need to move fast and break things blow things up. Breathing room is undervalued.