Artemis II return to Earth was inspiring. Iran war negotiations not so much.

Today was a yin and yang news day for me.

I was deeply moved watching the Artemis II crew splash down in the Pacific after becoming the humans who have traveled furthest from Earth in the course of their journey around the dark side of the moon.

I continued to be disgusted and disturbed by the state of the supposed cease fire in the Iran war, which is mired in confusion, mixed messages, and general incoherence.

So I saw the best of what science and technology can achieve in the United States’ inspiring return to the moon — or at least around the moon — after a 54 year absence.

Physics and mathematics did their thing exquisitely, as the Orion capsule with four astronauts on board came back to Earth exactly where it was predicted to splash down. I got nervous during the six minute period when all communication with the capsule was lost during reentry — just as I used to feel prior to splashdowns in the Apollo program.

When the capsule was sighted after surviving 5,000 degree temperatures on its heat shield, I got emotional when the parachutes opened and it was clear that the Artemis II mission was going to end successfully.

It was beautiful to see the photographs of Earth from space, which naturally showed no dividing lines between nations. Astronaut Victor Glover said during the voyage to the moon:

“Trust us, you look amazing, you look beautiful. And from up here, you also look like one thing. Homo sapiens, all of us, no matter where you’re from or what you look like, we’re all one people.”

I sure wish the leaders of the United States, Iran, and Israel could take that to heart. Because the Iran war is bringing out the worst of humanity — our cruelty, our lies, our lack of compassion for people who don’t belong to our “tribe.” All three nations are behaving badly.

They can’t even agree on the simplest things, like what was agreed to after a cease fire was announced a few days ago. Scientists can carry out a trip around the moon with almost no mishaps, basically just a malfunctioning toilet in the capsule and a communication problem after splashdown. The leaders of the United States, Iran, and Israel are unable to say what the terms of the Iran war cease fire are that they signed off on.

Well, more accurately they would have signed off on the cease fire agreement if it had been put in writing. Astoundingly, apparently it was just a verbal agreement. So Iran, along with Pakistan which brokered the agreement, says that Israel’s war with Lebanon was included in the cease fire, and the United States knew this.

But now Israel and the United States are claiming that Lebanon wasn’t part of the cease fire, and Israel is killing hundreds of people in Lebanon along with destroying high rise buildings in Beirut.

So, yeah, yin and yang. The best of humanity and the worst of humanity.

Except… I heard commentators on the Artemis II mission speak in disturbing ways about the goal of the United States to establish a permanent base at the moon’s south pole. They spoke of how important it was for our country to have the strategic high ground, the moon being really high ground. So the United States wants to use the moon for military and commercial purposes, not just to advance the progress of science and space exploration.

Nonetheless, I came away uplifted by the successful completion of Artemis II. The Iran war continues to bring me down. So thank you NASA and the four astronauts. I needed to be reminded of what humanity can accomplish when we work together in the spirit of science with minimal political interference. .