For those of us who were among the 600 million people who watched Neil Armstrong descend the ladder from the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle and set foot on the moon’s Sea of Tranquility on the evening (in the Eastern Time Zone) of July 20, 1969, and utter the immortal words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” this past week’s mission of the Artemis II astronauts, who have traveled further from Earth (252,228 miles) than any other human as they circled the moon, has been exhilarating.

Armstrong was soon followed on the moon by his crewmate, Buzz Aldrin, and together they strolled across the lunar surface for more than two hours. They planted an American flag, spoke with President Richard M. Nixon, deployed scientific instruments, and collected lunar rocks before returning to the Apollo 11, where crewmate Michael Collins was awaiting their return in a lunar orbit.

Just a few months before Apollo 11’s flight, in December of 1968 the Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders were the first humans to see and photograph the far side of the moon and an earthrise. That trio, who famously read from the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve, were named Time Magazine’s Men of the Year upon their return.

Armstrong’s moonwalk fulfilled a pledge made by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 during the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union when he declared that the U.S. would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade.

NASA sent five more missions to the moon through 1972, and by that time, lunar walks were taken for granted by the American public. “Been there, done that,” was the general view of most Americans.

Nixon slashed NASA’s budget shortly after the first lunar landing, which not only cut short future moon flights (nine more had been scheduled), but also prevented NASA from expanding its space program.

In addition to the triumphs of that era, we also vividly remember the subsequent tragedies of the space shuttles Challenger in January, 1986, and Columbia in February, 2003 — those were events where we recall exactly where we were when we heard the news — that claimed the lives of 14 astronauts. Both serve as a reminder that, despite our technological prowess, space travel is a dangerous venture.

In addition to circling the moon, the present mission of the Artemis II essentially is serving as a flying laboratory. The crew is conducting health experiments to study how deep-space radiation affects human tissue. They also are testing the spacecraft’s life-support systems in an environment far more hostile than low-earth orbit.  

Astronauts presently are scheduled to set foot again on the moon in 2028 on the Artemis IV mission, to be followed by the Artemis V later that year, when the astronauts will try to establish a base station on the moon.

Fans of the original Star Trek from the 1960s will recall the words in our headline that were uttered by Captain James T. Kirk in his iconic opening monologue at the start of each show. For those of us who were around for the first moon landing, we are thrilled that once again we are fulfilling Capt. Kirk’s call for mankind to reach for the stars.