Writing this column, I rarely stray far from the political path in my commentary. Today, I make an exception. Watching the Artemis II make its historic nine-day journey farther into space than any human before reminded me that great exploits, achieved with courage and vision, often inspire but, perhaps more important, can also unify us as a country and as a shared planet. It brought back memories of this country’s remarkable entry into space and then to the moon in the '60s and early '70s. I watched Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon and can still recall every detail of that moment — where I was, the people around me glued to the television and then celebrating the astronauts, NASA and America. Everyone remembers where they were that extraordinary night. More than 125 million Americans and another 500 million more around the world cheered the moon landing and successful splashdown. The Apollo 11 mission inspired and unified us as a country, something in short supply today. Given the nation’s current political and ideological division (RCP average right track/wrong track is at 34 percent/59 percent), it’s been hard to imagine what might bring us together, but the Artemis II mission did, at least for nine days. It was a welcome reminder that people once appreciated and celebrated the achievements of fellow Americans without partisan rancor and polarization. They can do so again, with the right inspiration. We saw a national sense of pride and accomplishment overtake the usually viral negative posts that dominate social media. Nothing captured the moment better than the post of a young boy watching the liftoff at the launch site who was asked by a CNN reporter why he was there. Eleven-year-old Hilt Boling of Little Rock, Ark., sounded incredulous when he responded, “We’re going back to the freakin’ moon, that’s why.” For many of us old enough to have seen Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon in real time, his enthusiasm brought back our own memories of another mission that today has become an iconic shared experience. But what also struck me was realizing just how long it has been since we have attempted to return to the moon. The last mission was Apollo 17 in December 1972. It all began, of course, with President John F. Kennedy’s Rice University speech 10 years earlier, in 1962, when he announced to the nation that reaching the moon was now a national priority. He told America, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone…” It took a lot of innovation and scientific breakthroughs to put Neil Armstrong on the moon. Those new technologies later would dramatically improve Americans’ quality of life, from medical imaging to cell phone cameras. It’s a long list. As I watched the red parachutes break open and Artemis II come safely down into the Pacific, it struck me that Apollo 13, another dramatic mission 56 years before, had also produced a unifying effect across the country. The world held its breath for four days after a major explosion crippled the spacecraft, putting it in serious jeopardy. Forty million Americans and millions more globally watched with relief as the astronauts made it safely back to Earth. Commander Jim Lovell labeled the mission a “successful failure” as the crew made it home. Every spaceflight mission makes history. Artemis II is no different. It set the record for reaching the farthest distance from Earth, surpassing Apollo 13’s unintentional distance record. The paths both missions took were similar, using “free-return” trajectories. In the course of the Artemis II flight, NASA played an audio message for the crew from Commander Lovell as the spacecraft approached the moon. It was a recording Lovell made for his fellow astronauts before he passed away last August. In it, he jokingly told them, “Welcome to my old neighborhood. …I’m proud to pass that torch on to you as you swing around the moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars… for the benefit of all.” A hero to the end. It was a moment that connected the past to the future and two crews separated by 56 years but headed toward the same horizon with the same courage and vision. One of the Artemis II astronauts, Christina Koch, defined a crew as “…willing to sacrifice silently for each other. That gives grace. That holds accountable. A crew has the same cares and the same needs. And a crew is inescapably linked, beautifully, dutifully linked.” She went on to describe looking at Earth and the blackness surrounding it as a “lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe” and concluded, “…There’s one new thing I know, and that is, planet Earth, you are a crew.” The country cheered both the truth of her words and the unifying optimism that made them so powerful. Most of all, she and her fellow astronauts gave us renewed hope for humanity, for a future limited only by our own imagination and willingness to live and thrive together in peace. Some argue that the country that applauded the daring of the Apollo missions and took pride in American triumph no longer exists. Artemis II went to the moon and returned safely to Earth, as Kennedy once promised, but returned to a harsh political climate. Given all the polarization we see today, the divisive rhetoric, the negative political discourse and a media highlighting all of it, the idea that we can still accomplish something truly remarkable as a country and celebrate that achievement together is no small miracle. For many, I fear, they had forgotten that it was even possible. NASA and the crew of Artemis II can claim mission accomplished… and then some. They took us literally “back to the future” — back to the moon and back to the unifying spirit of Apollo 11. It’s a gift, a rare moment of good feeling the country shouldn’t waste. David Winston is the president of The Winston Group and a longtime adviser to congressional Republicans. He previously served as the director of planning for Speaker Newt Gingrich. He advises Fortune 100 companies, foundations and nonprofit organizations on strategic planning and public policy issues, as well as serving as an election analyst for CBS News.
