By William Coffman, Local & National News Editor

The world over the last two weeks witnessed humanity travel further than ever before, as the Artemis II mission took astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen around the moon and back.

The purpose of the mission was to test the Orion spacecraft to confirm it was capable of carrying astronauts to the moon and back, paving the way for future Artemis missions and a return to the moon. The mission launched April 1 from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida and returned April 11, where the astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and were recovered by the U.S. Navy.

The Artemis program was first established in 2017 after President Donald Trump in his first term signed Space Policy Directive 1, which sought to initiate efforts for a U.S. return to the moon. The program was given the name Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo, which was the name given to the moon landing program of the 1960s. President Joe Biden’s administration continued with the Artemis program, and now in 2026, a return to the moon seems closer than ever. NASA is eyeing Artemis IV as the mission for a lunar landing in 2028, meaning humanity will once again step foot on the moon in only a couple years.

Spaceflight has always had a special link to Ohio. Astronaut John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth and hailed from Cambridge, Ohio. He went to Muskingum University before serving as a Marine pilot in World War II and the Korean War. Glenn was later a U.S. Senator, representing Ohio for four terms. 

Neil Armstrong, the first human to step on the moon, was born in Ohio. Following the Apollo 11 flight, Armstrong went into teaching, spending eight years as a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Armstrong received an honorary doctorate of science from Xavier in 1999. 

Fellow Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell, known for his role as commander of the Apollo 13 mission, was also from Ohio, having been born in Cleveland. Lovell was portrayed in Ron Howard’s 1995 film, “Apollo 13” by Tom Hanks. Lovell, who passed away August 7 of last year at the age of 97, left a recording for the Artemis II crew wishing them well and encouraging them on their mission. 

With humanity once again reaching for the stars, Ohio has a history of producing astronauts that have undergone some of humanity’s most daring adventures. Perhaps even more important, they have helped show humanity what is possible when we unite, when we care, when we muster some courage and brave the unknown.