After 50 years, Human Beings Have Gone Beyond Earth's Orbit And Are Safely Back On Earth - Artemis II

After a gap of 50 years, human beings have gone beyond the earth's orbit, orbited the moon and are safely back on earth - Artemis II.

Astounding feat! Congratulations to the NASA led Artemis II mission. The crew are: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen.

That is a first in my adult lifetime as I was around 10 years old in December 1972 when Apollo 17 mission happened which was the last previous 'crewed' mission that went beyond low Earth orbit. I don't recall being aware of it at the time, though surely I would have read about it, seen it on TV, or been told about it then. It just did not leave a strong enough mark on my brain for me to recall it now over 50 years later.

"During their lunar flyby, the (Artemis II) crew set the record for human distance from Earth, 252,756 miles (406,771 km), breaking Apollo 13's record of 248,655 miles (400,171 km).", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_II.

Saw these two videos about these four astronauts coming back to earth, recovered from their vehicle and then hoisted into helicopters.

Artemis II reentry, splashdown & recovery 9 min. 10 secs, by CNN.

Artemis II astronauts get hoisted up by Navy helicopters after exiting Orion capsule 7 min 31 secs, by ABC News.

What a great achievement by NASA and other organizations associated with the mission!

Note that the International Space Station (ISS) orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of approximately 420 km (260 miles). It essentially "hugs" the planet's atmosphere. So astronauts who have regularly gone to ISS and come back to earth, including in recent years, did not go out of earth's orbit.

Artemis II crew went almost a 1000 times away from earth than ISS! Is Artemis II going to be a heralder of human beings setting up 'permanent' space stations on the moon and beyond? I wonder!

Note: I put this post on my spiritual blog as I think it is a monumental feat of humanity after a gap of over half a century. Somehow I feel such an event would have spiritual overtones though I have not examined that aspect. BTW one of the astronauts - Victor Glover - while on the mission, gave this nice spiritual response to a question about Easter Sunday: Artemis II astronaut has Easter message to Earth: "You are special in all of this emptiness", 1 min. 35 secs by CBS News.