Special to WorldTribune.com

By John J. Metzler, April 16, 2026

Splashdown! After a successful nine-day mission around the Moon, including the planet’s rarely seen Far Side aka the Dark Side, the Artemis II astronauts returned to earth with a textbook landing in the Pacific Ocean just off San Diego, California.

Manned Lunar spaceflight has returned!

For those of us who grew up in the shadow of the Space Race and the extraordinary early missions of Alan Shepherd, the New Hampshire native who in May 1961 was the first American in space, then John Glenn in February 1962 who circled the earth three times in his Mercury Friendship 7 spacecraft, and those who soon followed, Space has always held a curious gravitational charm and pull on my generation.

When President John F. Kennedy declared to America, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade” he was challenging the U.S. scientific community as well as the rival Soviet Union, that the United States was in the game as a serious and long-term player. Seven years later, the spectacular Moon Landing on July 20, 1969, became the fulfillment of that extraordinary epoch and era.

Yet the last mortals walked on the Moon in 1972. The point is really brought home when you see TV interviews with people from the Apollo missions and realize that of the three still-living Moonwalkers, Buzz Aldrin, (96), David Scott (93) and Harrison Schmitt (90) are explorers from another era. Neil Armstrong, the first Astronaut to walk on the Moon, passed away at 82.

So, it’s been a long time ago. Artemis II has revived the Lunar Missions dormant since 1972. NASA plans a crewed landing via an Artemis IV Mission in early 2028!

Though NASA has been active with the former Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, when we think of space exploration, it’s the bold Lunar Missions with human boot steps in the soft dust of the Moon that grabs the attention of all but the most tuned-out earthlings.

Back in the day NASA was always a class act of the government agencies and, through its scientific accomplishments and probably its PR team, was viewed as the best of the best even during the turbulent 1960’s. NASA delivered. The iconic Apollo Lunar program landed the first astronauts on the Moon in 1969 with Apollo 11 and then followed up with five subsequent missions ending with Apollo 17 in December 1972. In total 12 American astronauts walked on the Moon.

The Moon Mission program has faced funding turbulence and many political hurdles too; President Barack Obama cancelled NASA’s Constellation program, an initiative from the George W. Bush Administration which was aimed at returning humans to the Moon by 2020.

As a point of comparison during NASA’s heyday in the 1960’s, the Agency consumed 4.4 percent of the U.S. budget; today in 2026, NASA is allocated 0.3 percent of the federal budget.

President Donald Trump revived NASA’s Lunar Mission focus in 2017.

The Artemis II Mission restarted the quest for the heavens and scientific knowledge.

The four Astronauts, three Americans and a Canadian, flew the 694,491-mile journey and made the scientific challenges seemingly simple. According to NASA, “Their lunar flyby took them farther than any humans have ever traveled before, surpassing the previous distance record set by Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970.”

NASA adds that while an earlier Artemis I mission flew closer to the Moon at 80 miles above the surface, the current Mission executed a fly past on the so-called Far side; “At this distance the Moon will appear to the crew to be about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length.”

Jim Bridenstein, a former NASA Director stated that, “Artemis II was the first Lunar Mission since 1972.” Recalling the old space race generations ago, and the current technological challenge from communist China he stressed, “We can beat China to the moon.”

Artemis media coverage was wall to wall on re-entry to Earth, but the larger story is based on generational divides. People over 50 years old still regard NASA as near flawless. Many under 50’s wonder what it is?

The day following the amazing landing in the Pacific, the New York Post proudly splashed a picture on Page 1. In New York City, at the NY Mets baseball park, the Citi Field scoreboard showed the Artemis II astronauts returning safely to Earth during a night game.

Jared Isaacman, NASA Director summed up the mission and the Astronauts safe return; “After a brief 53-year intermission, the show goes on.”

John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of Divided Dynamism the Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China (2014). [See pre-2011 Archives]

  NASA: After a ’53-year intermission, the show goes on’