COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Space exploration is far from over. Nearly 55 years after the Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon, a Columbus space-enthusiast discussed the importance of today’s space missions.
Space Exploration Day occurs annually on June 20, the date Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped on the moon in 1969. It was declared a holiday in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan.
“I just feel like it’s very interesting. It captures the imagination. It gives people something positive to strive for, you know?” said Scott Norman, educational director at Columbus State University’s Coca-Cola Space Science Center.
Norman reported he has been enthralled with space exploration since he was a child. Born in 1965, Norman remembered watching as Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon. He explained he never lost his fascination with space, jumping at the chance to work at the Space Science Center when it opened in 1996.
While he started as a volunteer, Norman soon became a full-time employee and by 2003 attained his current position as educational director. In 2011, Norman was able to watch the Atlantis space shuttle launch, the final one of its kind, in-person at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Norman was especially passionate about NASA’s current Artemis program, which aims to get astronauts to the moon for the first time since December 1972. The Artemis II mission is set to launch in November of next year and will take four astronauts around the moon on a 10-day mission.
A test mission, Artemis I, launched in November 2022. Astronauts set to man the upcoming mission include Reid Weissman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hanson.
“The plan is to put them on the Orion capsule, launch them around the moon and then if that goes okay, then hopefully in 2025 or 2026 the next crew after that will actually land on the moon,” Norman said.
Norman also explained the program’s name. He said during the ‘60s and ‘70s space program names were often tied to mythology. There were the Apollo missions, the Gemini spacecraft and capsules, like the Mercury.
While the Apollo missions were named for the sun god of Greek and Roman mythology, today’s Artemis missions are aptly named after his sister, goddess of the moon.
One concept Norman finds interesting are recent capsule reentries. He explained capsules were widely used with initial space missions, but later faded out of the limelight as space shuttle missions took over. With the space shuttle no longer in use, capsule landings have come back into popularity.
“One of the reasons for that, though, is they think it’s safer for the astronauts,” Norman said.
As of now, Norman reported he could not share specific details about how the museum will celebrate the Artemis II mission when it launches. He expects the Space Science Center will do something special.
On the 50th anniversary of the 1969 moon landing, Fred Haise, lunar module pilot of the Apollo 13 mission, made an in-person appearance at the museum.
Norman was steadfast space exploration should continue. He said, “I would argue that it’s an investment, but it’s money well-spent.”
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