Last Friday, April 10, NASA’s Artemis II landed in the Pacific Ocean at 8:07 p.m. ET. The mission was a record for the furthest distance away that humans have ever been from the Earth, at a whopping 252,756 miles during a visit to the far side of the moon. 

The mission marked a major achievement in American space exploration; a topic that many have differing views of. History professor and Honors Program Advisor Gwen Kay, who holds a doctorate of history of medicine and science, said that the mission was an amazing feat and could serve as an inspiration for future endeavors. 

“The Artemis launch and return to Earth was an amazing feat of engineering, it was amazing technology, it will get people interested in science funding and going to the moon and exploring outer space again. To have such a diverse group of people totally taxpayer funded was awe-inspiring, from the liftoff to the splashdown. They were off by half of a second on their splashdown, which was glorious,” Kay said.

Indeed, the Artemis II mission was the first time that humans had done a flyby of the moon in over 50 years, since the Apollo 17 mission of 1972. Crewed by four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, the Artemis II mission served as a test for the Orion spacecraft line. Students, such as Madison Guinta and Savannah Finn, expressed the same admiration for the mission as Kay. 

“I just think it’s really inspirational that they were able to do that, like I can’t believe that technology has come this far and it’s amazing that everybody got back safely. It’s just so cool,” Guinta said. 

“I think it was really inspirational and it was great for American exploration, and what they did was pretty fire.” Finn said.

With any mission of this magnitude, the awe of the concept of sending humans so far away in a safe and calculated manner is a notion shared by many people.  

“In history class hearing about the flights to the moon, it is amazing to have humans fly to the moon again. It is an incredible feeling to be able to be looking up at night and know there were people up there circling the moon. I’m excited for where NASA decides to voyage to next,” a SUNY Oswego student who will be interning for NASA this summer and wished to remain anonymous said.

The $4.1 billion launch – a figure standard for space missions – is one that caused some to disapprove of the launch. 

Debate over space exploration has been rampant for decades, with vocal opposition claiming that space exploration is a waste of money and that funds could be used in better places. 

“I personally don’t really care about the Artemis mission. I think it’s cool, but at the end of the day, they already did it and it is kind of a waste of money. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with it, I just think that we could put our money to better use personally,” Owen Kirchenheither, a SUNY Oswego student, said. 

Staff and students at SUNY Oswego share varying opinions on this matter, which is reflective of the perspective of the general public. Regardless, the Artemis II mission set a solid base for future lunar missions that NASA is planning to capitalize on.