Tag: Artemis II

Joy Train

Like so much of the rest of the world, I’m in total awe of our amazing Artemis II astronauts. They are everything you like to see in human beings. I adored watching footage of Victor Glover’s hero’s welcome to his neighborhood. I so admire his unapologetic professions of his Christian faith. I loved seeing the excitement Christina Koch’s pup showed when being reunited with her. And today, I watched the speeches that the Artemis II crew made in Houston. I soaked up everything which they had to say, so full of gratitude and love for their families, for each other, and for everyone at NASA who supported their mission. The words that struck me the most though came from Jeremy Hansen and I had to transcribe them and add them to this thought lab which we have going on here at Adulting – Second Half. Here is some of what astronaut, Jeremy Hansen said:

“Joy . . . . I think you saw a lot of joy up there and there was a lot of joy up there . . .We have a term in our crew that we coined a long time ago, “the joy train.” We’re not always on the joy train, this crew, but we are committed to getting back on the joy train as soon as we can and that is a useful life skill for any team trying to get something done.”

And this:

“Love . . . what you saw was group of people who loved contributing, having meaningful contribution and extracting joy out of that . . . And what we’ve been hearing is that this was something special for you to witness. . . .I would suggest to you, we are a mirror reflecting you and if you like what you see, just look a little deeper. This is you.”

The reason why anything resonates in our deepest selves is because we intuitively know that it is a part of us. These astronauts showed bravery, resiliency, sacrifice, contribution, joy, teamwork, gratitude, awe, faith, hope and love and we all reverberated with it. And this is because, as Jeremy Hansen said, the astronauts mirrored the best parts of our own shared humanity. These astronauts mirrored the best parts of ourselves. They’re not in space anymore, but I imagine the Artemis II crew is definitely on the joy train. Let’s join them and let’s stay there as long as we possibly can.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Integrity

I did a deep-dive on the Artemis II mission this morning. I needed to bathe in some uplifting news. One of our sons drove to the other side of our state to see the rocket launch occur last week. He said that it was one of the most inspiring, hopeful, patriotic experiences of his life and being a “science geek” that wasn’t his first intention nor expectation of his adventure. Our son said that there were people from all over the United States (and all over the world, for that matter) there to experience the ground-shaking, anticipatory, excited, energy-filled moments surrounding the launch.

Today, I read more about the astronauts on the moon mission. The most moving story of the week has been the astronauts decisions to name two newly found craters on the moon. The first one they named “Integrity”, which is the name the astronauts have given the ship which they are travelling around the moon in, and the second crater, one that the astronauts claimed to be incredibly “light-filled”, is named “Carroll” for the beautiful wife of Commander Reid Wiseman, who passed away in 2020, after a five-year battle with cancer. Carroll was the mother of two lovely daughters, a neonatal nurse and as it turns out, a fellow alumnus of my beloved college, James Madison University. Commander Reid Wiseman has been lovingly raising their daughters on his own, for the last six years.

I pray that the Integrity and its leader, Wiseman, and its brave crew members arrive safely back to Earth at of this end of this week. We need Integrity back to Earth more than ever, don’t we? We need our holes filled with light. We need the quiet dignity of true visionaries and selfless leaders who know that we humans are most powerful when we work together for the mission of valuing and keeping sacred, the sanctity of our incredible planet, for all of its inhabitants. In a world full of loud and bombastic “look at me, what’s in it for me?!” energy, there is also, not too far out there, a place which our astronauts have shown that we can physically go to and explore. This place is the quietness and the vastness of space, surrounding and holding and embracing our precious planet, no matter what shenanigans we get carried away with, down here on the ground. May we put our direction away from the loud distractions and more towards the awe of the quiet dignity that holds us and guides us and supports us, no matter what is going on with us. May Integrity come back safely and soundly to Earth at the end of this week. And may we embrace her, as space continually embraces us.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.