The world sucks right now for a list of reasons so long and horrible that including it here would take an hour of my time, and nobody would want to read it all. Suffice to say, people on the internet desperately need some feel-good, wholesome content to enjoy. So thank the stars for the Artemis NASA crew, currently flying out around the moon, for providing us Earthlings with some damn good content.
Launched on April 1, the Artemis II mission is taking astronauts further into space than ever before, including a close-up pass of the moon. It is scheduled to return to Earth on April 11. But until then, the crew and the mission have been producing the kind of wholesome internet content that used to be far more common on the web, on platforms like Twitch, before algorithms and enshittification turned 90 percent of the internet into a rat race for content creators willing to exploit anger and outrage to make some cash. Turns out the secret to creating good content again on the internet was to send people into space!
Artemis II crew cry and hug after naming a lunar crater after commander’s late wife
Perhaps the most touching moment so far during Artemis’s voyage out into space happened on April 6. The crew radioed NASA to announce new names for two recently discovered craters on the moon. The first one was named Integrity after the crew’s space capsule. However, the second name was a lot more special.
“And the second one is especially meaningful for this crew,” announced Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. “A number of years ago, we started this journey in our close-knit astronaut family, and we lost a loved one. And there is a feature in a really neat place on the moon, it is on the nearside-far side boundary…At certain times of the moon’s transit around the Earth, we will be able to see this from Earth. And so we lost a loved one, her name was Carroll. The spouse of Reid [Weisman], the mother of Katie and Ellie….It’s a bright spot on the moon, and we would like to call it Carroll.”
At this point, the crew began to visibly cry, and eventually the group gathered for a big zero-g hug.
Nutella escapes containment, becomes internet star
A far more fun and less somber moment also happened on April 6. As the crew was approaching the point in their trip where they’d exceed how far Apollo 13 had gone in the ’70s, and in the process set the new record for the farthest that humans had ever traveled from Earth, a lone jar of Nutella escaped from storage during a live stream. People watching the live stream online quickly spotted the loose jar of Nutella and began posting about it online. I imagine the folks at Nutella’s marketing department are *ahem* over the moon about this moment.
Artemis II crew shows off the rest of their food
Speaking of food, during a different livestream, astronaut Christina Koch took some time out of her day to explain what kind of food the crew eats on their journey around the moon. Turns out, it’s a lot of dehydrated stuff in plastic bags. That Nutella probably tastes incredible in comparison.
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Sitcom intro created in space
Never let people tell you that scientists and engineers are boring people. That’s just false. Good evidence for this can be seen in the fact that the Artemis crew recreated a cheesy ’80s sitcom intro in space that is funny, delightful, and cozy. I imagine putting this together helped the crew relax and have some fun for a few moments amid the demands of living in a tiny spacecraft for an extended period of time.
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First spaceflight ceremony
A NASA tradition lives on. On April 5, before a daily meeting, the Artemis crew took a moment to award Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen with a gold pin to celebrate his first spaceflight. Astronauts are given a silver pin when completing space training, but must wait until they reach space to get the gold upgrade.
A deceased space legend commends the crew on their mission
On April 6, the crew heard an unexpected voice. Jim Lovell, the pilot of Apollo 8 and commander of the Apollo 13 mission, spoke to the crew via a message he recorded before his death in 2025.
“Hello, Artemis II! This is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood,” said Lovell. “When Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and I orbited the moon on Apollo 8, we got humanity’s first up-close look at the moon and got a view of the home planet that inspired and united people around the world. I’m proud to pass that torch on to you — as you swing around the moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars, for the benefit of all. It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be. But don’t forget to enjoy the view. So, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, and all the great teams supporting you — good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on the good Earth.”
