Either today, or sometime in the next seven days, the Artemis rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, do a couple of loops around the moon, and come back to Earth.
Not a big deal, you say? It is a big deal. This is the largest, most powerful rocket ever built, and its launch marks the rebirth of human space flight. The plans for a lunar base are overwhelmingly amazing and the opportunities to learn and innovate are endless.
Another remarkable recent achievement in space exploration is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The images it has captured are challenging our understanding of the early universe, which is what JWST was built to do.
I know you know about both of these missions, but this morning I was listening to reports and reading accounts of both science projects focused, to my dismay, on the negative aspects of new discoveries: “JWST debunks Big Bang Theory” and “No Need for Artemis.” (I won’t link these because they do not deserve to be read.)
The goal of the scientific method is to seek the truth. Einstein expressed this idea perfectly when he was asked about his theories: “No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.”
We (human beings) do not have complete knowledge of our universe, or even answers to some of the most fundamental questions about who and what we are. Hopefully, you – who are amongst the smartest people I know – will help others understand that refining our understanding of the Big Bang by replacing or modifying the current theory is not failure, but instead the very definition of success.
Godspeed, Artemis.
Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it.