Next week, for the first time in more than a half century, the United States could send a crewed mission around the moon.
The giant 322-foot Space Launch System, with its Orion crew capsule, was rolled out to the pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in January and, if all goes well, the mission, dubbed Artemis II, could take to the skies as early as this week.
Of late, much has been written about the nation鈥檚 divisions, but the return of American astronauts to lunar space should unite us, even if the path to get there was both a triumph and an embarrassment.
It鈥檚 the former because such journeys are hard and expensive. They require so much planning, equipment and training because in space, the smallest malfunction can be deadly. Leaving low-Earth orbit is a significant feat. It should not be taken lightly.
It鈥檚 also the latter, because these rockets and missions are far behind schedule and way over budget. In many ways, they embody the frustrating nature of major government projects, akin to major new roads or infrastructure. Those problems alone are almost enough to surface the cynicism and rancor that is attached to seemingly every national endeavor these days.
Almost.
Even with all of that, I am unapologetically thrilled about this upcoming journey and will watch it with childlike delight.
Perhaps that鈥檚 partially due to my generation. I was raised on 鈥淪tar Wars,鈥� 鈥淪tar Trek,鈥� 鈥淏attlestar Galactica鈥� (original iteration, though the early 2000s reboot is fantastic) and innumerable other operatic space adventures. Layer on the scores of science fiction stories I read, and I am not just space positive, but space enthusiastic.
Alas, for this astronomy-loving kid, space was not the final frontier of my childhood; it was the unexplored one. The last manned mission to the moon, Apollo 17, flew in December 1972, a few months before I was born.
Growing up in the '70s and '80s, I assumed that our Apollo successes presaged further explorations into even deeper space. But it was not to be. NASA and the United States opted to focus on low-Earth orbit programs, like the space shuttle and the International Space Station. The former just circled the Earth; the latter can be seen from the ground. Those were not the space programs I was looking for.
This upcoming mission won鈥檛 replicate all the triumphs of Apollo. None of this Artemis crew will take small steps to the lunar surface, for instance. That鈥檚 saved for the next mission.
But that doesn鈥檛 mean there won鈥檛 be giant leaps.
The four crew members will be gone for 10 days, and they will get further from the Earth than any manned spaceflight in history, approximately 4,000 miles past the far side of the moon.
Those of us back on this planet in 抖阴h can take some special pride in watching Artemis fly, too.
The biggest piece of the giant rocket, called the core stage, was assembled in New Orleans at the Michoud Assembly Facility. The 212-foot-tall rocket, when full, will hold approximately 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and another 196,000 gallons of liquid oxygen.
It will be fitted with RS-25 engines, tested at Stennis Space Center just over the state line in Mississippi.
NASA officials have said there are several potential launch days in the first half of February, with the earliest being Feb. 8. Of course, weather will be a factor. More important, however, will be the series of tests planned for this weekend called a wet dress rehearsal, during which the supercold liquid fuels will be pumped into the tanks to make sure everything works as it should.
If all goes well, the launch will get the green light. If they don鈥檛, there are days in March that may work as well.
I know I鈥檒l be watching. Humans, and especially Americans, have accomplished much in the last 50 years (internet, anyone?) and now the machines we carry in our pockets rival the computers used during the Apollo missions.
It鈥檚 high time we return to space. With luck, these missions will kick-start what, I hope, is an inexorable march throughout the solar system and, one day, even beyond.
鈥淲e really are ready to go,鈥� said Reid Wiseman, the astronaut who will command the Artemis II mission.
So am I, Reid. So am I.