Artemis 2: next level humanity?
The Artemis 2 crew has returned safely to Earth after ten days in space. People, politicians and scientists all over the world have described the mission as spectacular and historic. Commentators ponder whether the net effect of the flight around the Moon will be positive or negative.
Earth's inhabitants must work together
This mission should be the first step towards space cooperation between the major powers, writes Diário de Notícias:
“Both the US and China are keen to establish a base at the Moon's south pole from which they can extract resources such as frozen water, hydrogen and helium. Both want to build nuclear reactors to supply their bases with energy, and both want to launch missions from the Moon and venture further into space. … If humanity truly wants to reach Mars and perhaps beyond, it will certainly be easier if they work together. And history has already shown that even the fiercest rivals can cooperate in space.”
Science outshines the dark side
El País rejoices over the successful Artemis 2 mission:
“This mission to the Moon has brought old paradoxes – and some new ones – back to Earth. Above all, the stark contrast between luminous science and the painful reality of war, destruction and stupidity that has accompanied our species for more than 100,000 years. ... This is the value that Artemis and its successors will have for today's generations: they place us within the grander scheme of things and remind us of the power of science over ignorance and superstition. ... The girls of today will be the astronauts, engineers and scientists of tomorrow. For that reason alone, Artemis 2 was worth all the effort.”
Flying by reality
Astronauts love to harp on about the importance of the Earth and human solidarity, but as the taz points out:
“Ironically we seem unable to abide by this costly wisdom. ... Perhaps it's because you can see the Golden Gate Bridge from space, but not all the starving children in Sudan or the bombed schools in Gaza. Like many other industrial nations, Germany has just failed once again to invest the promised sum in development work. At the same time, climate budgets are being ripped up and wars and humanitarian crises ignored. According to Oxfam, we only need 30 billion dollars a year to end world hunger. But we prefer to shoot the money into space in the hope that the view from up there will make us smarter.”