12/04/2026
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๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ | Artemis the Goddess Guiding the Journey to the Moon and Back
The siblings from the past and future meet halfway across the stars. Apollo and Artemis, mirrors humanityโs journey to the cosmos.
Artemis II is a space mission by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to orbit the Moon and test the waters for the subsequent missionsโland to the moon.
Like the bow and arrow of Artemis, the mission carries a sense of precision and purpose, propelling humanity further than it has gone in decades.
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Inside the Orion Space Capsule are four astronauts who embarked on the challenge to circle back to the moon.
First on the list is astronaut Reid Wiseman, the Commander of the mission. Before Artemis II, he first felt the gravity off his body in 2014 as one of the astronauts to fly to the International Space Station.
Another crew member is the space stirrer, Victor Glover. He served as the pilot of the mission, making sure that the mission would reach its destination.
Another person who felt the lunar embrace was Christina Koch, the Mission Specialist. Koch made history as the first woman to ever see the Moon up close. Before this groundbreaking history, Koch had the longest single spaceflight by a woman, lasting for about 328 days in space.
Lastly, we have Jeremy Hansen, another Mission Specialist from Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Hansen made history as the first non-American to reach the vicinity of the moon.
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Artemis II is a 10-day mission that flew four astronauts to circle around the Moon and back, a crewed test flight to see how spacecraft operate miles away from our planet. It was the closest man has ever been to the Moon after the Apollo mission over 50 years ago. 5 Decades later, the stars aligned for Apolloโs twin sister to carry humans among the stars.
On the first day, the Orion Space Capsule blasted off the Earth. It stayed within the earth's orbit for system checks.
The mission continued on the second day as the capsule performed a translunar injection, a move that accelerated the ship towards the moon.
The crew travelled through space for about 240,000 miles for the next three days.
On April 5, the gravity of the moon started to take over and started the flyby mission, exploring even the dark side of the moon. The crew took photos that will be useful for future missions and studies. Upon exploration, there was a 40-minute communication blackout.
The rest of the mission was their journey back to Earth. This historical moment sent the first woman and the first person of color on the moon.
The mission broke the record as the farthest travel from the Earth, reaching 252,756 miles, surpassing the record of Apollo 13 in the 1970s.
This historical mission will be one for the books. Through this, future studies will be guided and carefully crafted. This success is a step forward for the next landing on the moon. This mission, aside from its importance, ignited the fire of the young minds to continue the dream of reaching beyond the Earth. And now, the twins, Apollo and Artemis, have become a foundation to the advancement of humans to journey further than the moon and back.
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Feature by Dominick Dela Cruz
Graphics by Hanna Valenton
