2026-04-10 22:15:
Artemis II loose thoughts.
I have been checking this mission since the very beginning. I am glad humanity is making progress towards space exploration. I know that there have been many missions, but to me it really felt quite stagnant since the last manned mission to the Moon and the Cold War era. Yes, I know you will say there have been Mars missions, many new satellites having been deployed etc. Sure thing. But nothing quite even close to a manned mission. We surely had seen the history unveil before our eyes in the last few days and few more until the mission ends. This is a big step towards final goal which is independence from Earth I think. Artemis III and most important Artemis IV will create an opportunity to resume Solar system exploration and possibly colonization of new worlds. Artemis IV will be manned mission to the Moon including landing. I hope this will enable us humans to start thinking on a large scale. We really need to set up bases out there. Moon base for production and launch options for future Mars colonization. Sure, I am not stupid. I know these missions will surely be one-way tickets for the crews. Living for prolonged periods in space or on worlds with different (Moon, Mars having way less) gravity force than Earth will lead to an irreversible changes in human bodies. Most likely those who will go there to set foot first and lay the bases will never be able to return to the Earth even if the technical possibility will be there. Their bones would probably break and their hearts could have issues pumping blood back on Earth after few years on Mars. I think there was some serious study about this being conducted and concluded that these missions would be one way. I bet it would be hard to leave Earth behind, but there are explorer souls out there and I am sure many people would go there. Hell I would if only I was more educated. They won't need average dudes like me there for sure. Probably the brightest minds only. At least for the first missions. Still, we humans need to leave Earth the sooner the better, because resources are limited here and due to over-exploitation Earth is becoming less and less sustainable. Also Earth works like a backup. What good is a backup if the only place it was stored burned to the ground? We need off-site backups of humankind. Like Moon, Mars, maybe Titan. Will them become Mooners (is this even a word?), Martians, Titans? Sure, most likely due to biology and effects of living in different environments. But is it bad? I bet no! This may be the only way for humans to survive in the long term and in case of Extinction Event (which is not "if" but "when" will happen) we differentiate the risks. If some shit hits Earth there is a very high chance we go extint. If we spread across Sol system - you can do the math.