From the moon to misplaced mail, travel still amazes

Watching the Artemis II space mission from home was the most exciting thing I’ve witnessed via video since July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11’s crew members Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.

Astronaut Michael Collins remained in orbit on the Command Module Columbia around the moon during the 21 hours, 36 minutes and 21 seconds his colleagues were on the moon. During that time Armstrong and Aldrin spent nearly two and a half hours walking outside their Lunar Module Eagle July 21, 1969.

Shortly before the Eagle landed, I remember running upstairs to look out the window at the moon for my last glimpse of what the moon looked like before humans were there.

From here it still looks pretty much the same, but that’s not the point.

When you put people into space there’s much more at stake. If an unmanned computerized spacecraft is lost, we can build another. If there are one-of-a-kind actual living and breathing people on board, I’m praying for their well-being throughout the mission – it’s all I can do. I didn’t worry or think about the “what-ifs” back in 1969.

NASA’s use of mythical names for their spacecrafts to the moon is meaningful. Artemis was named after the mythological Greek goddess of the same name while the Apollo missions were named after Apollo, the mythical god of the sun, music, poetry, prophecy, and archery. Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, and she is the goddess of the moon.

The Artemis II mission, from lift off on April 1, 2026, to splash down on April 10, 2026, highlighted what we all learned by watching “The Wizard of Oz” – there’s no place like home.

In case you missed it, here is what Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, said after returning to Earth. He highlighted the stress the mission put on the astronauts and their families.

“This was not easy, being 200,000 miles plus away from home, like before you launch it feels like it’s the greatest dream on Earth and when you’re out there you just want to get back to your families and your friends,” Wiseman said. “It’s a special thing to be a human, and it’s a special thing to be on planet Earth.”

Congratulations to NASA, the crew of Artemis II, everyone who helped with the mission and all of us following along with their success. It’s a great time to be alive. I can’t wait for the next Artemis mission in 2027.

Back on Earth and closer to home, Joe and I witnessed how hard it is to travel from place to place. Joe placed an online order for a special sprayer nozzle he wanted to use to clean out our spouting. Good thing it wasn’t an extremely essential item.

Joe ordered the nozzle March 6 at 10:11 p.m. and it quickly shipped out of Carlisle, Pennsylvania March 7 at 2:20 a.m. You can find all this information when you track your package.

On March 9, the package arrives at Canton, Ohio. This is good. The package should be making its way to our house in Tuscarawas County soon. That spouting isn’t going to clean itself.

Hold the phone! On March 10, the package checks in at Akron, Ohio. Hmmm, that is going in the wrong direction. Then two days later on March 12, the package is checked in at Middlesex-Essex, Maryland. What is happening?

Then our package really goes rogue. Over a week later, the package checks in at Chicago, Illinois March 21. Then on March 27 our package is checked in at Kansas City, Missouri. This package is now more well-traveled than we are, but that package has a mind to outdo us even more.

On March 31, the package checks in at Saint Paul, Minnesota. There are a few more mysterious check-ins at unknown locations, but the package finally surfaces April 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

On April 1, Artemis II lifts off to travel a record distance of around 252,760 miles away.

After another mysterious check-in March 8, our package finally arrives at our house March 9. I did the math; our package traveled about 3,215 miles. Ideally, it should have only traveled 315 miles.

The next day, March 10, the Artemis II splashed down after having traveled a total of about 695,081 miles in much less time than it took our rogue package to get here.

Whether it’s a cross-country trip or to the moon and back, the mysteries of travel continue to amaze. We hope our package had a fun trip.