Many of us were glued to our TVs earlier this month for the Artemis II mission. Four astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — traveled around the moon on the first crewed deep space mission since Apollo.The launch didn’t just ignite the SLS rocket, NASA’s most powerful ever built; it reignited a sense of wonder many of us hadn’t felt since the Apollo era.And this was just the beginning. Artemis II was a test flight. Artemis III is expected to land humans back on the moon for the first time since 1972, including the first woman. Long-term, NASA plans a sustained presence, with the Lunar Gateway Space Station and missions that will help prepare for Mars. And that journey runs right through our state. WAPT has reported extensively on Nasa’s Stennis Space Center. From Apollo to the space shuttle, and now Artemis, the engines powering SLS were tested there. And engineers at Stennis have been helping develop systems for Gateway, the next step in human spaceflight. So, what does this mean for us? It means we’re not just watching history; we’re helping write it. And the next generation of explorers, some right here at home, may be the ones who take us even farther.
JACKSON, Miss. —
Many of us were glued to our TVs earlier this month for the Artemis II mission. Four astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — traveled around the moon on the first crewed deep space mission since Apollo.
The launch didn’t just ignite the SLS rocket, NASA’s most powerful ever built; it reignited a sense of wonder many of us hadn’t felt since the Apollo era.
And this was just the beginning. Artemis II was a test flight. Artemis III is expected to land humans back on the moon for the first time since 1972, including the first woman.
Long-term, NASA plans a sustained presence, with the Lunar Gateway Space Station and missions that will help prepare for Mars.
And that journey runs right through our state. WAPT has reported extensively on Nasa’s Stennis Space Center. From Apollo to the space shuttle, and now Artemis, the engines powering SLS were tested there. And engineers at Stennis have been helping develop systems for Gateway, the next step in human spaceflight.
So, what does this mean for us? It means we’re not just watching history; we’re helping write it. And the next generation of explorers, some right here at home, may be the ones who take us even farther.