Bring 'Em Back Alive
Apr. 11th, 2026 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerHydrogen leaks meant the Artemis II crew didn’t spend much time in pre-launch quarantine leading into February and helium flow issues meant they didn’t spend much time in quarantine leading into March, but as the April block of launch windows on a “Mission Availability” document I’d happened on approached my hope for the upcoming moon flight did spring eternal. That hope did have to stand in contrast to certain thoughts of the grim moods in the world back in 1968 and the awareness I’m not making as many “space”-tagged posts here as I once did. Then, mere days before the launch attempt, I ran into a link to dire warnings about the capsule heat shield with some gloomy follow-ups added. I’d known the heat shield of the unmanned Artemis I test flight I’d posted about multiple times had been found to have been more damaged than expected, I’d seen a report the way the new capsule would re-enter the atmosphere had been adjusted even if I’d wondered this amounted to a tradeoff, and I am aware that for all that there are plenty of complaints about the denial of inconvenient truths there are also sometimes people ready to work themselves into extra-pessimistic interpretations. However, the “what if deviance has been normalized?” question did prey on me. I thought “if it all works out, I can say something,” and thought “and if it all goes wrong at the last moment, what might I say?”
Fuelling did look to work out all right this time, and the televisions at work were tuned to a news channel even if the sound stayed tuned down such that I saw the astronauts being driven to the launch pad. There was, of course, some home team pride this time with the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen in the crew, although I did find myself contrasting the reasonable certainty of being able to name everyone on the Apollo missions to being fuzzy on the names of the other three astronauts this time. With this particular launch window I’d at least not be staying up past my now early turn-in time, and the thought “the first time in my life” had me tune into the news channel that had been on at work. It turned out the feed it was using didn’t include the familiar announcer making some sort of little speech as the rocket cleared the tower, which made for a different sort of experience.
With the thought the final rocket burn that would send the capsule towards the moon was another significant moment, I managed to watch an official video stream the next day via an independent tracker I’d been pointed to. Shots of mission control got my attention when I recognized a stuffed cat on a table as “Artemis,” the second magical mascot animal from Sailor Moon. Once again, I have to admit spotting “anime in the wider world!” surprised me before I could remind myself things have changed since I started. Certain thoughts about “is this a difference between then and an entertainment-saturated now?” were answered with recollections of a photo of Charlie Brown and Snoopy figures in mission control during Apollo 10.
I also managed to watch a good bit of the video stream on the day of the lunar approach. Although conscious before launch that this mission wasn’t even entering lunar orbit, which made it more like the Zond test flights than Apollo 8, I had taken slight interest in the “service module” rocket being used to finish heading for the moon rather than the rocket upper stage. I’d wondered about the mission launching near the full moon, but the part of the far side that had come into the sunlight in the days needed to get there had illuminated a lunar “sea” on the side of the moon that had always been in the dark during the Apollo missions, which had always had their landing sites just past lunar dawn for the sake of shadows picking out the terrain.
Some pictures started coming back ahead of the capsule, but I did remain conscious of what might happen. Noticing former Canadian astronauts would be commenting on the re-entry coverage on the news channel I’d watched before had me deciding to watch it. After glimpses of module separation from the familiar “capsule in the picture” cameras, the communications blackout started after the first bits of re-entry glow. I dashed to the basement to move laundry from the washer to the dryer, and after I’d made it back up the capsule checked in. They’d made it too. The capsule getting on camera before its parachutes began opening made for one last chance for not quite as uncertain thoughts, but after splashdown I did stick with the coverage for a while, if not long enough to see the astronauts climb out. The feeling of having seen this accomplishment “in my life” does have to balance against thoughts there’s no moon lander ready yet, but former astronaut Chris Hadfield did mention one option is in a vacuum chamber.
Fuelling did look to work out all right this time, and the televisions at work were tuned to a news channel even if the sound stayed tuned down such that I saw the astronauts being driven to the launch pad. There was, of course, some home team pride this time with the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen in the crew, although I did find myself contrasting the reasonable certainty of being able to name everyone on the Apollo missions to being fuzzy on the names of the other three astronauts this time. With this particular launch window I’d at least not be staying up past my now early turn-in time, and the thought “the first time in my life” had me tune into the news channel that had been on at work. It turned out the feed it was using didn’t include the familiar announcer making some sort of little speech as the rocket cleared the tower, which made for a different sort of experience.
With the thought the final rocket burn that would send the capsule towards the moon was another significant moment, I managed to watch an official video stream the next day via an independent tracker I’d been pointed to. Shots of mission control got my attention when I recognized a stuffed cat on a table as “Artemis,” the second magical mascot animal from Sailor Moon. Once again, I have to admit spotting “anime in the wider world!” surprised me before I could remind myself things have changed since I started. Certain thoughts about “is this a difference between then and an entertainment-saturated now?” were answered with recollections of a photo of Charlie Brown and Snoopy figures in mission control during Apollo 10.
I also managed to watch a good bit of the video stream on the day of the lunar approach. Although conscious before launch that this mission wasn’t even entering lunar orbit, which made it more like the Zond test flights than Apollo 8, I had taken slight interest in the “service module” rocket being used to finish heading for the moon rather than the rocket upper stage. I’d wondered about the mission launching near the full moon, but the part of the far side that had come into the sunlight in the days needed to get there had illuminated a lunar “sea” on the side of the moon that had always been in the dark during the Apollo missions, which had always had their landing sites just past lunar dawn for the sake of shadows picking out the terrain.
Some pictures started coming back ahead of the capsule, but I did remain conscious of what might happen. Noticing former Canadian astronauts would be commenting on the re-entry coverage on the news channel I’d watched before had me deciding to watch it. After glimpses of module separation from the familiar “capsule in the picture” cameras, the communications blackout started after the first bits of re-entry glow. I dashed to the basement to move laundry from the washer to the dryer, and after I’d made it back up the capsule checked in. They’d made it too. The capsule getting on camera before its parachutes began opening made for one last chance for not quite as uncertain thoughts, but after splashdown I did stick with the coverage for a while, if not long enough to see the astronauts climb out. The feeling of having seen this accomplishment “in my life” does have to balance against thoughts there’s no moon lander ready yet, but former astronaut Chris Hadfield did mention one option is in a vacuum chamber.