We're going to the moon!

[on the rocks]

Artemis II lifted off today for the first crewed mission to moon-adjacent space in like 50 years. They're gonna head toward the moon, whip a u-turn around the "dark" side and return to Earth. A sort of dry run for the big enchilada; Artemis III, tentatively planned to actually land on the moon in 2027.

This is objectively cool. One can complain about the cost of stuff and whatever, but c'mon; it's a moon trip, baby!  Just the thing to slap the jaded, cynical pricks like me out of their humbugs for a minute.  These astronauts are going to be further from Earth than anyone in history by Monday
(heh, "Monday" = "moon day" like literally, that's why we call it Monday. Days of the week are all named for celestial bodies. )

Finally, some world news that isn't depressing AF!

[Lillab]

Finally, some world news that isn't depressing AF!

I want to support your desire to have a positive outlook on the world. It really is important for your mental health to cheer the little victories. But seriously, saying that we are almost to the point of being able to accomplish what we already could do 50 years ago, that sounds depressing to me. Have we really slid back that far? We haven't progressed to the point where we can just schedule a trip straight to the moon, we still need to partial missions to work out the kinks? Whatever happened to trying to set new records and breaching new frontiers? Ugh, sorry, I really should be more supportive. If someone says they lost 50 pounds, you should celebrate with them, not ask them why they put that 50 pounds on in the first place.

[on the rocks]

What you say is true, but this time, you can follow the astronauts on Instagram.

[LikelyHuman]

What you say is true, but this time, you can follow the astronauts on Instagram.

Ha that got me

I think one thing people hardly consider is that at the time of the Apollo missions, we were just barely pulling that shit off. I think managing it with some more finesse might be nice to see.

[on the rocks]

What sunk in today was the first images of Earth taken by actual humans from a perspective where the ENTIRE planet is visible. We've been dicking around in low Earth orbit for 50 years where one is so close to the planet, still, that you never see ALL of it.  Don't get me wrong, it's still amazing with the detail one can see in like desert sand dunes and tropical storms and river deltas from low Earth orbit, but there's something about the longer view that is more existential.  Images from just the right distance with the Earth backlit by the sun and the thin halo that is our atmosphere is discernible. 
It's humbling.
Mote of dust shit, you dig?

And the timing.  Smack in the middle of a questionable war for America; to be reminded of this perspective is 1000% needed; just like it was 50 years ago.

Also glad they fixed the commode up there.  Nothing worse then shitting in a bag, amirite?

[LikelyHuman]

Mote of dust shit, you dig?

I was gonna say, technically the entire planet was visible in the Pale Blue Dot pic snapped from Voyager 

[MattTurner]

Mote of dust shit, you dig?

I was gonna say, technically the entire planet was visible in the Pale Blue Dot pic snapped from Voyager 

It is visible in one of the "family photos", it's just that the resolution is 7,926 miles (12,756 kilometers) per pixel or so 🤓

[on the rocks]

They set their distance record today.
Hopefully, this one will stand for way less than 50 years.

[Frogblossom]

Artemis II was very cool indeed. However . . . I don't want to downplay the achievements or the heroics of the space programs — America's, Europe's, or Russia's — but one thing has always bothered me. I don't know how many trillions of dollars have been spent on America's space program since the 1960s, but I wish that just a few billion could have been used for undersea research, instead. 2/3rds of our planet is underwater, and we have very little idea what's down there, where it's really deep. The technological and scientific knowledge we'd get from undersea exploration would certainly be equal to what we've gathered in space . . .  and who knows? The might be an enormous colony of children down there, waiting for their adult rescuers!