On Friday night, April 10th, 2026, I was glued to the TV screen watching the Artemis II astronauts return to earth. I was nervous for them and didn’t want to watch anything else until I saw all four astronauts emerge from the Orion unit.
After reentry to earth’s atmosphere and splashdown into the ocean, Reid Wiseman communicated, “What journey. We are stable. Four green crewmembers.” In this context, ‘green’ means everyone is feeling ok after the violent forces of reentry. It was joyful to watch them emerge and to know the incredible journey and history they made. Mankind can be incredibly capable, intelligent, and able to work with others to accomplish wonderful things.
Their photos and videos, press conferences they gave throughout their days in space were incredible too. How amazing the technology, we on earth had to communicate with them in space and to hear them so loud and clear. It’s also amazing to think that most people’s cell phones today have more computing power than what was used to guide Apollo 11 which landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon.
What a journey. It was truly remarkable to watch – mankind has nobility about him. A lot of behind-the-scenes work focused on one goal made this possible. The astronauts experienced joy in space and I experienced joy watching their journey. And I especially enjoyed watching them splashdown safely.
The capability of mankind to make a space mission like this happen reflects something of God’s character. God is noble and mankind is made to be like Him in some respects. While I used to think it strange that some were so interested in space etc., now it makes sense. Space journeys and the resultant images from space give us a better glimpse of how God created the universe. And who alone gets to enjoy the shape of the universe with all its planets? God, because God created space. We got to see mankind reflecting a bit of God and astronauts in wonder at creation.
Is it strange to feel this emotional and happy over a space program? Garret Graff made remarks on the joy of Artemis II in his newsletter entitled “The Pure Joy of Joy”. We got to experience some of wonder too and watch scientists in Houston get excited about the reports and glimpses of what they have been working toward so long. In the article Graff quotes Liz Plank1, “If you have spent the last week inexplicably emotional about a space mission, you are not alone and you are not being dramatic…the feeling of watching some go right and realizing, somewhere deep in your body, you had forgotten things could go right. Because when something actually goes right, when people in charge do their jobs well, speak in full sentences, make decisions that protect people instead of endangering them, the reaction can feel strangely emotional.” I needed Artemis II and what a journey indeed!
Stay tuned for the next blog post where I will write on a different journey that has also been quite a journey!
- Plank, L. (2026, April 8). Artemis II Is Competency Porn and We Are Starving For It. Substack.com; Airplane Mode with Liz Plank. https://lizplank.substack.com/p/artemis-ii-is-competency-porn-and
Accessed on 2026, April 11. ↩︎
Hopeful Depths 
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