72. Orion Capsule
- Rainey Knudson
- Apr 13
- 2 min read
The Artemis II mission gave us all a shared moment of awe, a respite from the wreckage of the news. The astronauts trained together for three years in preparation, part of which involved huddling in a cramped simulator of the Orion capsule, directing cameras at a giant inflatable moon. They trained in photography and practiced their responses. What does it mean that their message of wonder and shared humanity was not purely spontaneous? That their spectacular photographs, and indeed the entire story of their mission, were carefully crafted? Does that matter?
Then again, stories have always been shaped before they're told. The bards who sang the great ancient myths repeated and refined them for generations before anyone wrote them down. A myth is not diminished by repetition. On the contrary.
Our space agency—arguably the most technologically advanced arm of the government—understood that image-making and storytelling are essential to its work and built those things into the mission. Myth-making is central to our species’ very survival because it feeds our desire to continue to exist. What followed the moon images was the culmination of the hero’s journey: a cone of metal returning through fire, back to water, back up in the air. There and back again.
And the moon itself still inspires wonder because the fragrance of its past importance still clings to it.[1] We don't fully know why we still look up at the night sky, but we do. At our beautiful, changeless, and ever-changing moon.
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This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.
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[1] This idea comes from Albert B. Lord's The Singer of Tales (1960), via Gregory Nagy's "A Personal Checklist of Memorable Wordings in Albert B. Lord's The Singer of Tales," Classical Inquiries, Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies.
