The Artemis II mission: Reflections on an ever-evolving relationship with space exploration
Penn Today spoke with three Penn experts about the Artemis II crew’s use of social media during the mission, how space images are more than just pretty pictures, and why space continues to fascinate.
3 min. read
A portion of the Moon along the terminator, the boundary between lunar day and night, during a lunar flyby by the crew of Artemis II on April 6, 2026.
(Image: NASA via AP Images)
For the first time since 1972, NASA sent humans back to lunar orbit, launching four crew members on a 10-day journey around the moon—at times passing beyond Earth’s view (the “far side”). The goal of the Artemis II mission was to determine human capabilities in deep space to pave the way for long-term exploration and science on the lunar surface.
For those on Earth who followed the astronauts through posts and images, the mission represents something beyond engineering and technical achievement—it reflects the long-standing human fascination with what lies beyond Earth.
To understand this continued fascination and what this mission has revealed about the future of space exploration, Penn Today spoke with Gary Hatfield, the Adam Seybert Professor in Moral and Intellectual Philosophy at the School of Arts & Sciences (SAS); Sandra González Bailón, the Carolyn Marvin Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication; and Sophie Silver, a Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Doug Jerolmack, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Endowed Term Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at SAS.
Gary Hatfield: How human perception and consciousness makes space feel profound
Since there have been humans, there has been fascination and response to the night sky, with its many stars and a few planets. Early recorded speculations suggest that the night sky was viewed as a dome or as a sphere studded with stars with the Earth at its center.
The Artemis moon mission affects human consciousness by directly confirming through the sense of sight that the universe is very large and perhaps even infinite, while the Earth and moon are comparatively small spherical objects.
By all accounts, actually experiencing the Earth and moon as spherical bodies in space allows one to feel the unity and oneness of our small planet Earth together with the vastness of interstellar space. This direct experience is reported by the astronauts to be profound, and it is not attainable through measurement with instruments or through intricate theoretical calculations. In this case, seeing and experiencing transcend theoretical knowledge.
Sandra González‑Bailón: How social media facilitates organic, real-time engagement
The Artemis II mission couldn’t be more different from Apollo 11. The moon landing in 1969 was a global media event that froze audiences before their TVs, mouths agape, eyes fixed in the glow. The 2026 Orion’s trip around the moon is, instead, a continuous, multiplatform digital story being told in real time. The coverage is as dynamic as the lives of the millions of people following every step of the adventure. We keep up with the crew the way we keep up with loved ones: checking our phones, seeing where they are, tapping “like” on the latest update.
Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch in the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II lunar flyby.
(Image: NASA via Getty Images)
There are so many layers in this story. Instagram reels from the crew, YouTube livestreams from the spacecraft, the astronauts’ selfies and clips are all met by engaged audiences who respond back, all of it feeding into a narrative written by many hands. Audiences are helping tell the story with their questions, their posts, and the remixing of clips that make awe-inspiring moments relatable and viral, as when the jar of Nutella was spotted spinning through the spacecraft. Turns out that small indulgences are also a thing in deep space!
At a time when social media fuels so much division and animosity, it is genuinely stirring to see the Artemis mission use those same channels to remind us of what brings us together: that beautiful blue planet suspended in the dark, rising like a promise behind so many unbelievable selfies.
Sophie Silver: What images reveal and future missions beyond the moon
When mud dries down, it contracts, creating cracks that intersect to form rectangular shapes. When re-wetted, the mud expands and pushes the cracks back into contact with one another. This causes the fractures to rearrange over time, drying down in a different configuration. The shapes gradually become more hexagonal with each wetting and drying event.
Surface cracks on Mars, which offer geologists clues about the forces shaping planetary surfaces.
(Image: NASA)
Images from the Mawrth Vallis and Utopia Planitia regions of Mars display this hexagonal pattern. This tells us that these areas may have been wet not once, but many times, in the past. Any indication of the presence of water on Mars, be it current or historic, can provide insights on Mars’ habitability, making these honeycomb patterns an important feature to keep an eye out for.
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