Yesterday, the Artemis 2 crew, spoke to the public for the first time since returning to earth. I found Christina Koch’s remarks so moving. She wove the meaningfulness of their months of training together with their ceaseless spirit of collaboration. The scientific success of their mission and their very lives were both at stake. She stressed how all that solidified into a crew that cared for one another. The 4 hugged acknowledging this truth.
What we have in America, under Trump’s malign leadership, is the opposite of the astronauts’ lesson for humanity. Trump personifies a life of dominating others; not caring about our common humanity; always grasping and conniving for a ‘win’.
The question remains: Will the message of collaborating and caring penetrate and stick? So many millions of us are mostly interested in ourselves and “getting ahead.” We’d do far better on every measure if we broadened our vision - like astronauts, appreciating anew what we have in common. They see earth as a welcoming home for every one of us, as far as we know the only one in the vast nothingness of space
I have been so "down" over our president's overall idiocy, together with his latest debacle with Iran. However, your article directed my attention and imagination to larger and greater things. Thank you so much for this beautifully thought-out and eloquently-written piece.
Last night Secretary of State Rubio and President Donald Trump were watching an Ultimate Fighting match while VP Vance was flying home from his failed mission in Pakistan. Shades of emperors in the Roman Coliseum watching lions eat Christians or gladiators fight each other to the death. That miserable analogy should be enough to make any realist upchuck ! I would like to hold onto any shred of hope that these dolts could even negotiate with Iran or actually Israel to end this travesty but they are too busy lying to each other. And where is the totally incompetent Hegseth in all this ? Firing him in the middle of war would be the perfect next step in this farce which could end civilization as we know and mourn now.
Thanks, Elliot, for this edition of TTF. Your perspective helped me see the great value of the trip the Artemis II astronauts took. I’d been somewhat cynical about it - worried that if successful, this mission would lead to huge expenditures for an eventual attempt to create a permanent base on the moon. All that money that could go to improving Earth’s environment.
Then I read this essay. You emphasized the qualities and experiences that underpin the accomplishment, and Christina Koch’s comments amplify just how important those qualities are, how they represent the best of which we humans are capable.
The contrast you draw between the Artemis II and the Iran War is one that would do a great job to educate those among us who don’t realize how we’ve been tricked yet again by the grifter in the (now) White-and-Gold House. I wish this could be published in every newspaper (print and digital) in the country.
Thank you for this piece. It truly was a week of opposites, President Smash and Grab versus the dormant greatness and inclusivity we possess to make this world livable for all creatures.
A wonderful piece! Despite my feelings about spending so much money exploring space while we have so much need here on Earth; wishing we could devote the same energy, and cooperation, to solving Earth's problems--well, yes, I watched the return to Earth with the same kind of wonder I felt when Armstrong walked on the moon. And gratitude too that, for this particular mission, technology had been painstaking. Still, at the end of the NASA broadcast there was an interview with a NASA head where there was a good deal of breast beating and saying that it's now been proven that establishing a human presence on the moon was within reach. Ugh, somehow I felt uncomfortable with his glee. Do to the moon what we have done to our beautiful planet? I thought, too, that the plumbing problems the space capsule experienced in the early days of the mission was a thought-provoking symbol: dumping our detritus into space. Of course, we've been doing that for decades. I remember a futurist I listened to years ago at a conference in Snowmass Colorado who boasted that we shouldn't worry about our garbage problem here on earth: "Within a few years we'll be blasting our garbage into space" he said. Indeed. I hasten to say that I do NOT believe that this group of astronauts represent the worst of us; they very much appear to be a very uplifting group indeed.
Your essay then mentions the Feynman quote about not being able to fool nature. I was reminded of the margarine commercial decades ago that had a beautiful Mother Nature being outraged that what she thought was butter was margarine: "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" she roars as thunder and lightning ensue. As we face another few months wondering if the monsoons will relieve our drought situation in the Southwest US, after a dry winter, I hope and pray Nature will be kind.
Elliot, you close with “truth” and “nature.” That pairing suggests a simple framework: one overarching truth—change—and four recurring expressions of it—the seasons.
Change is neither optional nor abstract. It accumulates across events, from the dramatic to the incremental, much like seasonal shifts: some abrupt, others barely perceptible, all consequential over time. By your own account—from the early moonshots to the present moment—your country has been moving along that continuum. A recalibration was inevitable.
Change also carries a harder implication: impermanence. It unsettles, but it is the condition for renewal.
I won’t belabour what you’ve already articulated well. The difficulty is that some still treat politics as a blunt instrument—resisting forms of change that enable growth while ignoring the deeper truth that change, and its impermanence, cannot be deferred.
Thanks very much! I am both flattered and deeply honored by your response to my expressions. To be honest, I have never received such feedback before. Cheers!
Our country is at a cross roads and like Robert Frost said "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Now we must wisely choose an America 4 All People.
Thank you Elliot for this piece juxtaposing these two events.
The Artemis mission had four crew members: the Commander (Reid Weissman), Pilot (Victor Glover) -the first black person to go to the moon, Mission Specialist (Christina Koch) - the first woman to fly to the moon and Mission Specialist (Jeremy Hansen) - Canadian Space Agency astronaut.
I had just shared two posts—the MeidasTouch report about the Trump/Rubio UFC appearance while the Vance/Witkoff/Kushner team handled negotiations, and Rick Wilson’s piece on “competency porn.” Then this Substack piece landed in my inbox.
Wow. Your lyrical writing was the perfect finishing touch—it brought it all home. Thank you for putting into such eloquent words the mix of emotions I’ve been trying to sort through.
You brought me back decades ago, Elliot, both the triumph of our first experiments in reaching the Lunar Landing, but subsequently how the slightest change in time, equipment in flight, and dozens of other conditions led to unpredictable failures.
The irony of this wonderful experiment at the same time of insane loss of lives in an unnecessary war, which my best friend came back from broken bitter, and suffering from Agent Orange exposure. Decades later, knowing he had little time, he asked me to take him back to Vietnam to revisit (while there we visited places where the toxic chemicals are still causing child deformities.
Like that period, we are again responsible for countless deaths & deformities, this time for poisonous fuels that are destroying the earth’s climate and all living things. When will it end!!
Poignant piece. Thank you for summing up so eloquently what I (and I suspect, many Americans) have been feeling this week.
What you write is profoundly true and beautifully written.
Yesterday, the Artemis 2 crew, spoke to the public for the first time since returning to earth. I found Christina Koch’s remarks so moving. She wove the meaningfulness of their months of training together with their ceaseless spirit of collaboration. The scientific success of their mission and their very lives were both at stake. She stressed how all that solidified into a crew that cared for one another. The 4 hugged acknowledging this truth.
What we have in America, under Trump’s malign leadership, is the opposite of the astronauts’ lesson for humanity. Trump personifies a life of dominating others; not caring about our common humanity; always grasping and conniving for a ‘win’.
The question remains: Will the message of collaborating and caring penetrate and stick? So many millions of us are mostly interested in ourselves and “getting ahead.” We’d do far better on every measure if we broadened our vision - like astronauts, appreciating anew what we have in common. They see earth as a welcoming home for every one of us, as far as we know the only one in the vast nothingness of space
Thanks Raphael🙏🏻
I was reminded this morning that the Artemis II Mission was planned during President Joe Biden’s administration;
thank you, President Biden.
And thank you Elliot for another lovely essay.
Truly the heart of the matter…Thank you Elliott
I have been so "down" over our president's overall idiocy, together with his latest debacle with Iran. However, your article directed my attention and imagination to larger and greater things. Thank you so much for this beautifully thought-out and eloquently-written piece.
Last night Secretary of State Rubio and President Donald Trump were watching an Ultimate Fighting match while VP Vance was flying home from his failed mission in Pakistan. Shades of emperors in the Roman Coliseum watching lions eat Christians or gladiators fight each other to the death. That miserable analogy should be enough to make any realist upchuck ! I would like to hold onto any shred of hope that these dolts could even negotiate with Iran or actually Israel to end this travesty but they are too busy lying to each other. And where is the totally incompetent Hegseth in all this ? Firing him in the middle of war would be the perfect next step in this farce which could end civilization as we know and mourn now.
What would Nero do?
Fiddle
Thanks, Elliot, for this edition of TTF. Your perspective helped me see the great value of the trip the Artemis II astronauts took. I’d been somewhat cynical about it - worried that if successful, this mission would lead to huge expenditures for an eventual attempt to create a permanent base on the moon. All that money that could go to improving Earth’s environment.
Then I read this essay. You emphasized the qualities and experiences that underpin the accomplishment, and Christina Koch’s comments amplify just how important those qualities are, how they represent the best of which we humans are capable.
The contrast you draw between the Artemis II and the Iran War is one that would do a great job to educate those among us who don’t realize how we’ve been tricked yet again by the grifter in the (now) White-and-Gold House. I wish this could be published in every newspaper (print and digital) in the country.
Thank you for this piece. It truly was a week of opposites, President Smash and Grab versus the dormant greatness and inclusivity we possess to make this world livable for all creatures.
Everyone should read this powerful message.
A wonderful piece! Despite my feelings about spending so much money exploring space while we have so much need here on Earth; wishing we could devote the same energy, and cooperation, to solving Earth's problems--well, yes, I watched the return to Earth with the same kind of wonder I felt when Armstrong walked on the moon. And gratitude too that, for this particular mission, technology had been painstaking. Still, at the end of the NASA broadcast there was an interview with a NASA head where there was a good deal of breast beating and saying that it's now been proven that establishing a human presence on the moon was within reach. Ugh, somehow I felt uncomfortable with his glee. Do to the moon what we have done to our beautiful planet? I thought, too, that the plumbing problems the space capsule experienced in the early days of the mission was a thought-provoking symbol: dumping our detritus into space. Of course, we've been doing that for decades. I remember a futurist I listened to years ago at a conference in Snowmass Colorado who boasted that we shouldn't worry about our garbage problem here on earth: "Within a few years we'll be blasting our garbage into space" he said. Indeed. I hasten to say that I do NOT believe that this group of astronauts represent the worst of us; they very much appear to be a very uplifting group indeed.
Your essay then mentions the Feynman quote about not being able to fool nature. I was reminded of the margarine commercial decades ago that had a beautiful Mother Nature being outraged that what she thought was butter was margarine: "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" she roars as thunder and lightning ensue. As we face another few months wondering if the monsoons will relieve our drought situation in the Southwest US, after a dry winter, I hope and pray Nature will be kind.
Elliot, you close with “truth” and “nature.” That pairing suggests a simple framework: one overarching truth—change—and four recurring expressions of it—the seasons.
Change is neither optional nor abstract. It accumulates across events, from the dramatic to the incremental, much like seasonal shifts: some abrupt, others barely perceptible, all consequential over time. By your own account—from the early moonshots to the present moment—your country has been moving along that continuum. A recalibration was inevitable.
Change also carries a harder implication: impermanence. It unsettles, but it is the condition for renewal.
I won’t belabour what you’ve already articulated well. The difficulty is that some still treat politics as a blunt instrument—resisting forms of change that enable growth while ignoring the deeper truth that change, and its impermanence, cannot be deferred.
Artemis II Mission versus Donald Trump = The Best of Humanity versus the Worst of Humanity.
Inspiration versus Disillusionment.
Scientific exploration versus A psychiatric case study in gravely detrimental narcissism.
Hastening a better future versus Decreasing the likelihood of there even being one.
The "Scientific Method" versus Religious zealotry.
Hopefulness versus Inevitable decline.
Rationality versus Disinformation and discombobulation spewing out of Trump's mouth.
Compassion, equality, and kindness versus Hate, racism, bigotry, sexism, and nonsense.
Wonder and awe versus Enveloping Darkness.
Stability versus Chaos.
A new Beginning versus The beginning of the end.
So well described, a beautiful companion piece to Elliot’s Substack essay.
Thanks very much! I am both flattered and deeply honored by your response to my expressions. To be honest, I have never received such feedback before. Cheers!
Our country is at a cross roads and like Robert Frost said "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Now we must wisely choose an America 4 All People.
Thank you Elliot for this piece juxtaposing these two events.
The Artemis mission had four crew members: the Commander (Reid Weissman), Pilot (Victor Glover) -the first black person to go to the moon, Mission Specialist (Christina Koch) - the first woman to fly to the moon and Mission Specialist (Jeremy Hansen) - Canadian Space Agency astronaut.
I had just shared two posts—the MeidasTouch report about the Trump/Rubio UFC appearance while the Vance/Witkoff/Kushner team handled negotiations, and Rick Wilson’s piece on “competency porn.” Then this Substack piece landed in my inbox.
Wow. Your lyrical writing was the perfect finishing touch—it brought it all home. Thank you for putting into such eloquent words the mix of emotions I’ve been trying to sort through.
You brought me back decades ago, Elliot, both the triumph of our first experiments in reaching the Lunar Landing, but subsequently how the slightest change in time, equipment in flight, and dozens of other conditions led to unpredictable failures.
The irony of this wonderful experiment at the same time of insane loss of lives in an unnecessary war, which my best friend came back from broken bitter, and suffering from Agent Orange exposure. Decades later, knowing he had little time, he asked me to take him back to Vietnam to revisit (while there we visited places where the toxic chemicals are still causing child deformities.
Like that period, we are again responsible for countless deaths & deformities, this time for poisonous fuels that are destroying the earth’s climate and all living things. When will it end!!
Thank you Bert for the eloquent and personal note.