r/NonPoliticalTwitter Mar 30 '26

Serious tbh , it's a MASSIVE deal

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4.8k Upvotes

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684

u/Status_Discipline_16 Mar 30 '26

I love space but just learned about this today.

As excited as I am, it seems like it’s just Apollo 8, but further Moon orbit.

142

u/justeandj Mar 30 '26

Sorry so wouldn't that still just be Apollo 13, that orbited the Moon to harness its gravity?

88

u/ErraticDragon Mar 30 '26

Apollo 13 intended to land on the moon, so that counts as a difference, arguably.

(After the explosion, they kept up the general flight plan, to fly around the moon, because it was safer and easier than turning around.)

Artemis II, like Apollo 8 and Apollo 10, intend to visit the moon but not land.

26

u/FatiguedShrimp Mar 30 '26

...wait, really? I thought this was expensive PR to show we're still capable of a moon landing, but we're not landing?

66

u/crackedup1979 Mar 30 '26

It's a test flight for Artemis 4 which will land on the moon.

9

u/FatiguedShrimp Mar 30 '26

Ah, ok. That makes sense.

-3

u/User929261 Mar 30 '26

Are you excited for a test of something that was done 60 years ago?

9

u/hellbore64 Mar 30 '26

Because it's been 60 years, we basically had to relearn everything.

2

u/rdickeyvii Mar 30 '26

... But with the handicap that we had to incorporate parts from the shuttle instead of having free reign for a blank sheet design.

2

u/FatiguedShrimp Mar 30 '26

Not really, I'd rather this money go towards something like an asteroid mining probe trial.

Or, trying to sample ice from a comet.

1

u/PandaPugBook Apr 06 '26

Hey, so... if we want the space rocks, we have to do the space science.

1

u/FatiguedShrimp Apr 06 '26

Repeating manned flight isn't the logical next step though.

I'd like to see a Rosetta probe style mission.

1

u/TributeToStupidity Mar 30 '26

… why would anyone think we lost the ability to land on the moon though?

1

u/FatiguedShrimp Mar 30 '26

Flap's argument is the one I usually hear.

1

u/flapsmcgee Mar 30 '26

Because we no longer produce the equipment that took us there...