Artemis

To start with, I am pro-space, so anything that advances space research in any way shape, or form, I’m for it. But, like the Paris Environmental Accord, the Artemis project is maybe aiming a bit too low. It’s a NASA project (I wish it was international) and they’re going to send up a crew to the moon (wish they were aiming for Mars) to ‘learn more about what is needed to establish a permanent presence.’ I’d be way more impressed if they were just establishing a permanent presence.
Another goal of the program is to put a female astronaut on the moon. I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, it strikes me as a PC gesture, a nod to identity politics, a publicity stunt, and tokenism. Of course women should be in space, they should be 50% of the people in space because if we are ever to travel to other stars like in Star Trek, we will need crews capable of reproducing because the journey (it’s 2020, and we have no Zephraim Cochran. There is still no certainty that faster than light travel is even possible) will take thousands of years. Also, of all the captains in the Star Trek universe, Janeway was arguably the best.
I wish Project Artemis all the success in the world. Which is what I also wish for Elon Musk and Mars One, and anything the Chinese, the Russians, the EU or anybody else does in space. It truly is the final frontier and the deeper we go into it, the better off we all will be.