NASA chose the right crew to launch a new era of human space exploration

The four astronauts were reunited with their families moments before the homecoming ceremony Saturday. They splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California on Friday evening, spent the night on a Navy ship, then flew to San Diego by helicopter to catch a NASA business jet for the trip back to Houston. They had traveled more than 252,000 miles into space, more than 4,000 miles beyond the Moon, farther than any human has ventured from Earth in history. Their experience was still fresh when they took the stage in Houston. This job has the perk of letting me meet some extraordinary people and witnessing history. I was there when NASA announced the Artemis II crew three years ago, interviewed the astronauts and numerous members of their support team, and watched the explorers leave port on April 1 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Artemis II struck the same vein, revealing things unseen by human eyes before. Like those missions far out in the Solar System, this was exploration in action. But seeing and hearing what the Artemis II astronauts saw added another dimension. It scratched an itch that a robot can’t reach. Here were human beings, people I’ve met and people you might someday meet, going through an entirely new experience. This is not to say that NASA should withdraw from robotic exploration. Without these machines, we would have had to wait generations to see the things we’ve seen on Mars and untold lifetimes to know what’s lurking deeper into the Solar System. NASA is preparing to launch a robotic rotorcraft to Saturn’s moon Titan in 2028. If you’re a fan of exploration, the prospect of flying a drone through Titan’s hazy, methane-rich atmosphere nearly a billion miles from Earth should amp you up. “Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special, but we’re the same distance from you, and I’m trying to tell you—just trust me—you are special. In all of this emptiness—this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the Universe—you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together. “As we go into Easter Sunday, thinking about all the cultures all around the world, whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing, and that we’ve got to get through this together.”