# Back to the Moon! Artemis program follow along (it's finally happening!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 27, 2022, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432 "2022-08-27T12:25:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 30
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/581 "2026-04-01T23:37:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m old enough to remember Gemini as it was happening, but not Mercury. Same here. Though I’ve been told that I did watch Mercury launches on TV, with my Mom. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/582 "2026-04-01T23:37:52Z")
Pretty cool. I got to see it from about 15 seconds after launch until just before booster separation. Not all that well - I mean just a while plume of smoke off in the distance - but the rocket’s red glare was vivid. Neato. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/583 "2026-04-01T23:38:11Z")
I watched Alan Shepard fly. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/584 "2026-04-01T23:39:37Z")
Around that time my dad was working for Bell. He was a tech or a consultant or a lackey (I’m really not sure which) on that flying rocket suit thing they were testing at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/585 "2026-04-01T23:52:28Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The first Moon landing was Apollo 11 in July 1969 & the final Moon landing (and mission) was Apollo 17 in Dec 72. I was 25 days old when Apollo 17 landed on the moon. I don’t remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/586 "2026-04-02T00:13:23Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I was 25 days old when Apollo 17 landed on the moon. I don’t remember it. My now wife and I drove to Florida to watch Apollo 17 lift off. It was awesome. As we were watching Artemis she said that that experience was one of the best of her life, which was exactly what I was thinking also. I vaguely remember Sputnik, and I definitely remember when Yuri Gagarin flew. My mother told me when she woke me up for school, and I was pissed that the US lost. I had a party in my basement for the moon landing, where we drank champagne. And I saw some of the first exhibited moon rocks at MIT in September. BTW, I was watching CNN and they had Mark Kelly and Scott Kelly on. Scott Kelly said that the earth from orbit was fantastic - and it was round. I laughed. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/587 "2026-04-02T00:16:55Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > BTW, I was watching CNN and they had Mark Kelly and Scott Kelly on. Scott Kelly said that the earth from orbit was fantastic - and it was round. I laughed. I’ve seen these shirts recently 😃 [![](https://i.etsystatic.com/30086420/r/il/1d82ff/4227890794/il_fullxfull.4227890794_kxv6.jpg) ](https://i.etsystatic.com/30086420/r/il/1d82ff/4227890794/il_fullxfull.4227890794_kxv6.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/588 "2026-04-02T00:42:19Z")
I live just about exactly 150 miles straight line distance from Canaveral. And very near the coast with an unobstructed view in Canaveral’s direction and out to sea. As clear as it was at Canaveral at Artemis launch time, there was some cirrostratus and also some cumulus between here and there. At the launch time I saw nothing of the ascent and no sign of the high altitude exhaust trail. Once darkness set in I also did not see any sign of the high altitude trail. Bummer. I have seen the high altitude trails from Falcon launches from here before, so I know the geometry works. Kind of a neat coincidence(?) they got to launch towards a full Moon. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/589 "2026-04-02T00:52:28Z")
The nighttime launches are amazing when they take place just before or after the last/first traces of sunlight since it otherwise looks like a completely normal night sky but then the cloud trail catches the sun before the rest of the globe and is brightly illuminated. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/590 "2026-04-02T01:43:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Which channel were you watching? NASA official feed. To be fair, she did stumble, like she wasn’t changing her words in mid sentence. but still, she did say it! > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > (though I don’t remember watching the first step onto the moon). The live feed was 10pm in WIsconsin. Too late for this 7 year old! I watched as much as I could, I was really fascinated. I feel bad that I’m barely paying attention. I can give fact about Apollo and Gemini that would bore an astronaut, but I know nothing about the Artemis. I need to read more! ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/591 "2026-04-02T01:47:23Z")
Lunar Gateway Station won’t exactly be in lunar orbit; it will be (if it actually gets built) in a “halo” orbit that will keep it in the general vicinity of the moon; specifically a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit. (nrho). Why do this? Well the bald truth is that SLS simply doesn’t have enough capacity to brake the Artemis spacecraft into lunar orbit and back out again. SLS as currently planned simply can’t do an Apollo-style mission. Hence the need for a second spacecraft to ferry astronauts between the station and the lunar surface. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/592 "2026-04-02T02:16:45Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’d be curious about the demographic split of Dopers who saw Apollo and those who didn’t. Pretty much anyone born after 1968 or so would have no recollection. Anyhow, I’m fully excited. I was born in 1978, almost ten years after Apollo 11, I’m fucking stoked. I always said to my father that I envied him having seen the moon landing as it happened. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/593 "2026-04-02T02:57:40Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > I’m old enough to remember Gemini as it was happening, but not Mercury. > > Same here. Though I’ve been told that I did watch Mercury launches on TV, with my Mom. Although I was quite little, I remember a time when no human had been in space. I had a book about the US space program that was just being established – IIRC it was a softcover book with glossy pages and lots of colour pictures, and featured the original seven astronauts, also known as the “Mercury Seven”, none of whom had yet been in space. So yeah, although my memory of it is fuzzy, I did follow the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, and built a model of the Saturn V and of the Gemini capsule. And I distinctly remember Apollo 11, and Walter Cronkite’s coverage of it. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/594 "2026-04-02T08:34:02Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’d be curious about the demographic split of Dopers who saw Apollo and those who didn’t. Born end 1964 I remember being very interested in the moon landing, but I don’t remember the event itself. But it sparked a lot of interest in space, science, and nature, most of which still stands. But not for this mission anymore. I watched Artemis’ launch and the first 10 minutes of the flight like I sometimes used to watch the start of Formula1 races when they were shown on free TV. > [@stopnonstop](#): > > This will have my attention for the next ten days - not politics or any other negative. 100 billion well spent then. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > I also find naming the capsule “Integrity” to be real incongruous in the current era. The word _integrity_ has more than one meaning. I see it as wishing the thing to come back in one piece. Nothing to do with ethics or morals. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Good luck to them all. Yeah, of course, sure, that too. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I feel bad that I’m barely paying attention. Same here, but I am not blaming _ **myself** _. My meh is their fault. > [@Frodo](#): > > I always said to my father that I envied him having seen the moon landing as it happened. And what did he reply? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/595 "2026-04-02T09:26:11Z")
It feels good partly because there’s been so little in the world/America to feel good about lately. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/596 "2026-04-02T09:38:05Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I always said to my father that I envied him having seen the moon landing as it happened. > [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > And what did he reply? You might ask those of us who saw the first moon landing also. Such answers could be offered here, or might make for an interesting thread on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/597 "2026-04-02T11:03:05Z")
Born June 1961 here, so I was 8. We grew up with space fever, with the toys and building plastic scale models. I remember watching the moon landing and it was a major deal. Although as a child of 8 I didn’t really _feel_ or _know_ that it was a major deal, but was aware that all the adults in my life said and imparted to me that it was. It’s great that we are going back. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/598 "2026-04-02T11:13:21Z")
I was fairly young – I don’t remember watching any landings, but I do remember watching launches, and general excitement (ex: posters in school) Brian ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/599 "2026-04-02T11:29:17Z")
Apollo 11 landed on my first birthday, so I don’t remember it firsthand but I do know that I watched it because my mother loved telling the story of how she made me stay awake to watch it. Growing up, there were often anniversary remembrances of Apollo 11 on my birthday, so I’ve rewatched it many times as well. I do have a memory of watching Apollo 17 when I was about 4, and I was a total space nut growing up. We were in Washington for the ribbon cutting of the Air and Space Museum. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2026, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432/600 "2026-04-02T11:58:19Z")
In addition to watching the Apollo 11 broadcast (I was a bit miffed as they landed a mere day after my 7th birthday), I saw Apollo 14 being launched while I was flying in an airliner. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/back-to-the-moon-artemis-program-follow-along-its-finally-happening/970432.md?page=31)