This week NASA launched its Artemis rocket. Its largest rocket ever. This flight is unmanned, but NASA’s intention is to have a manned flight next year and to return to the Moon in 2025. The idea is to establish a base on the Moon and to use it as a launchpad for manned flights to Mars. The Artemis programme is a multi-billion-dollar undertaking. You may be tempted to ask yourself, why humanity is spending so much on getting back to the Moon, and going to Mars, when there is so much that needs fixing on Earth. It’s a fair question. But I do think that it is important for humans to explore the solar system. Setting ourselves the objective of getting back to the Moon and going to Mars means that we will need to face scientific and engineering challenges and overcome them. By doing so our knowledge base will grow, as it did during the 1960’s Apollo programme.
Having goals that are a stretch is important for anyone. Living within your comfort zone is, well comfortable, but growth comes when we place ourselves in situations which challenge our skills. Necessity is the mother of invention. I encourage people to have goals that are a stretch, even if that makes them feel uncomfortable at times. Now that will mean different things for different people. A stretch for someone might be going to the shops alone, and for someone else it could be running an ultra-marathon. It doesn’t matter. But by shooting for your star, you might still hit the moon, and if you did, that would be an achievement. The most important thing about a goal is not that you achieve it anyway. Rather it is that it motivates you to take action on the journey towards the achievement of it. Also, letting go of the need to have your goal exactly the way you imagined it, makes the achievement of it more likely too.
And there is a bigger thing that returning to the Moon and going to Mars represents too. Going back into space could help to bring humanity together. It might not seem like that now, especially when there is still a serious conflict raging in Ukraine, which threatens global peace and security. And when going into space seems to be such a competitive activity. China and India both have active space programmes, and several billionaires are competing with each other, and the US government to get to Mars. Nevertheless, if humanity is able to change its perspective to one that is more expansive, and less Earth based it would give us an opportunity to see our own territorial disputes differently. I cannot guarantee that it will, but there is a chance that it will. After all the first ‘Blue Marble’ image of Earth, as seen from space, still carries some poignancy to this day.
NASA’s rocket is named after a Greek god, in the same way its original Apollo space programme was. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, nature, and childbirth, and was associated with the Moon. It is interesting that ancient mythological names are used for space exploration. There is mystery and intrigue in the symbolism that they represent. There is still fascination with a past we don’t fully understand, which we project into a future we do not yet know. In mythology the Moon represents the feminine, the unconscious, wisdom, intuition, and spiritual connection. Maybe our drive to return to the Moon will bring us practical technological advances. And maybe at the same time it represents an unconscious yearning for a deeper connection as well. Watch this space.
“I always look up at the Moon and see it as the single most romantic place in the cosmos.” Tom Hanks
