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Artemis II is an important step toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface.
Three enormous parachutes will open over the Pacific Ocean on April 10 and, God willing, bring the Artemis II mission’s Orion capsule to a gentle but historic splashdown. No vehicle has ever carried humans so far from home. When the hatch opens, the mission’s four crew members will emerge as celebrities, the kind of celebrities the world needs today.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, NASA astronaut Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be feted as heroes. And for good reason. Their mission required real skill, years of training, and, let’s face it, enormous courage. Artemis II was essentially a test flight, the first crewed mission flying the massive Space Launch System rocket and Orion space vehicle. Both rocket and capsule have faced serious safety issues on the long road to this flight. A safe return wasn’t guaranteed. Indeed, the spacecraft must still endure the blistering re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, when the capsule’s heat shield will reach temperatures of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
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James B. Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a City Journal contributing editor.