Artemis II launch is a rare moment for social media
The Artemis II launch, in case you need a TL;DR on all the coverage, was a big deal. A really big deal. I mean, you might think it's a big deal when SpaceX executes a perfect retro-rocket landing, but that's just peanuts compared to all the things that have to go right when you're hurling a massive nitrogen and hydrogen-filled missile, tipped with actual human beings, at the moon.
And somehow, social media sensed it. For one moment, those hellscapes of doomscrolling had nothing but admiration and applause for a tremendous scientific achievement — the likes of which nobody under 54 has seen in their lifetimes. (That includes most of that supremely cynical generation, Gen X.)
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It wasn't hard to be overwhelmed by awe. We've never seen a crewed moon rocket launch on social media before, and we've certainly never seen one with modern camera technology.
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There was another reason for the celebratory mood — that at a time of war, inflation, and environmental and political catastrophe, we can have a hard time remembering what it looks like when a major world event is about something not going wrong.
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And somehow, even the critics of the cost felt Artemis II was worth it.
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Topics NASA
Chris is a veteran tech, entertainment and culture journalist, author of 'How Star Wars Conquered the Universe,' and co-host of the Doctor Who podcast 'Pull to Open.' Hailing from the U.K., Chris got his start as a sub editor on national newspapers. He moved to the U.S. in 1996, and became senior news writer for Time.com a year later. In 2000, he was named San Francisco bureau chief for Time magazine. He has served as senior editor for Business 2.0, and West Coast editor for Fortune Small Business and Fast Company. Chris is a graduate of Merton College, Oxford and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is also a long-time volunteer at 826 Valencia, the nationwide after-school program co-founded by author Dave Eggers. His book on the history of Star Wars is an international bestseller and has been translated into 11 languages.
