A Reminder of God's Vast Creation: The Artemis II Moon Mission
A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a YouTube video by Professor Anu Ojha and The Royal Institution showing the true scale of the distance between the Earth and moon. Check it out below for both the short and longer version.
Longer Video:
Needless to say, this video blew my mind as I truly never appreciated. Just scale and size of the Earth and moon, let alone the entire solar system. As mentioned in the video, the boundary of space is about 100 km and the International Space Station sits at 400 km. The moon is 1000x times that distance. Wow!
Recently, a team of four astronauts went on a 10 day mission from 1st to 11th Apirl 2026 to orbit the moon, reaching the before return back to earth. Their 10 day misison was NASA’s first crewed test flight in the Artemis program, sending astronauts around the Moon and back to Earth to check the Orion spacecraft and deep-space mission systems. It was a major step toward later Moon landings and future Mars missions.
For 40 minuets, they were unreachable with communication blacked out as they passed behind the far-side of the moon. Not only were they most unreachable at humans at this time, they also set the record the furthest anyone has ever gone from earth in human history, ever! Artemis II set a new record for the farthest humans have traveled from Earth, reaching about 252,760 miles away and beating Apollo 13’s record by around 4,105 miles.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1)
Naturally, when I think of the scale of the solar system and universe, I can't help but think of the beauty and the size of God's creation. And it turns out that I'm not the only one to think like this. The wonders of space have moved many people, including the Christians who have been into space.
According to Christianity Today, Victor Glover, one of the pilots on Artemis II, is a Christian. In the article, he reminds us that even the most accomplished and those bold enough to enter space need faith. "My career is fed by my faith, and you know, anytime I do something that's pretty risky, I pray," he says.
This isn't anything new. Before Artemis, the crew on Apollo 8, Christmas Eve 1968, read from Genesis as part of a televised broadcast, reciting from verses 1 through 10. Buzz Aldrin (second person to walk on the Moon) also privately took communion on the Moon!
All of this speaks of something far more important. These brave men and women who have had the amazing privilege to do something many (including myself) would find incredibly scary set out on a mission to explore God's vast creation need God. It's another reminder that no matter how powerful or confident you may be, we need God! In the words of Glover himself, "We need Jesus—whether here on Earth or orbiting the Moon."
