Unfortunately, national trust is in short supply these days. In this season of spring renewal, Americans would do well to look up, literally. Artemis II, NASA's first significant manned space mission in more than half a century, has taken the nation by storm this month. In doing so, it has provided a timely reminder of what a great nation, acting with confidence and clarity of purpose, can still achieve.
Public polls confirm that Americans are largely pessimistic batch. Our politics are fractured, our institutions are distrusted, and our birth and marriage rates have plummeted. Hope once stood eternal, but the recent zeitgeist has been characterized more by deep malaise. The daring Artemis II mission offers a rebuttal to this debilitating defeatism. Artemis II is a powerful symbol that America still possesses the will and ability to do great things. It presents an excellent opportunity to rekindle an inspiring national spirit that has been lost: one that encourages greatness, rewards courage, and embraces the frontier spirit.
Simply put, a great country is not content with controlled decline. A great country thinks bravely and acts bravely.
In this sense, Artemis II is deeply in keeping with (indeed, it is an embodiment of) the political ethos of President Trump and the MAGA movement at large. Stripped of caricatures and distortions, “Make America Great Again” is, at its core, a call for national renewal: to reject complacency and reaffirm American leadership and excellence. Whether in trade, foreign policy or space exploration, the premise is the same: America must lead, not follow.
Space exploration has long been one of the clearest areas of American leadership. At the height of the Cold War, NASA's Apollo program had a loftier mission than simply beating the Soviets to the moon; the goal was to demonstrate to the world the superiority of American freedom and the American way of life. Now, Artemis II carries forward that legacy in a new geopolitical context, one in which rivals like China compete to assert dominance on land, sea, air and beyond. If the 21st century is to be an American century and not a Chinese century, missions like Artemis II will be crucial.
However, Artemis II is not just a story about national power. It is also about individual character. Consider Victor Glover, the mission's pilot. In an era obsessed with identity politics and the division of individuals into racial, ethnic, and sexual categories, Glover has offered a refreshing perspective. When asked recently about becoming the first black astronaut sent by NASA on a lunar mission, Glover fundamentally rejected the premise: “It's about human history. It's the history of humanity, not black history or women's history, but it becomes human history.” This is a tremendous and inspiring rebuke to today's stifling woke awakening.
Equally significant, if not more so, is Glover's statement. openness about his Christian faith. He has spoken openly about the imperatives of studying God's creation from orbit and took a personal copy of the Bible with him on the trip. Glover is a throwback to a bygone era, one in which the most renowned scientists, such as Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon, understood their efforts as a means of employing human reason to better understand God's creation. This is a much more compelling understanding of the scientific enterprise than the false tension between science and religion that is often touted today.
Taken together, the Artemis II mission and the people who carried it out offer a powerful counternarrative to the dour pessimism, censorious wokeness, and rampant atheism of our time. This is a mission that embodies the best of America: technological prowess, individual excellence, and a willingness to venture into the unknown to do big, bold, and beautiful things. It is a story that has united Americans of all political, religious, racial and ethnic stripes.
In short, Artemis II is a feel-good story. And frankly, we could use more of those.
America has always been at its best when it chooses hope open to inner cynicism. Artemis II is a reminder that that option is still available to us. The question is whether we will choose correctly and, in turn, help make the 21st century a distinctly American century.
Josh Hammer's latest book is “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Fate of the West.”.” This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. UNKNOWN: @josh_hammer
Perspectives
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Perspectives
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Ideas expressed in the piece.
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The article argues that Artemis II represents a powerful symbol of American national confidence and capability, offering a counternarrative to contemporary pessimism and demonstrating that the United States still possesses the will to achieve great things.[1].
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The article argues that space exploration has long been an arena for manifesting American leadership, and that in the current geopolitical context – particularly with China asserting its global dominance – missions like Artemis II are crucial to ensuring that the 21st century remains an American century and not a Chinese one.
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The column emphasizes that astronaut Victor Glover's rejection of identity politics, particularly his claim that the mission represents “human history” rather than racial history, offers a refreshing perspective against what the article characterizes as divisive identity-centered discourse.
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The article suggests that Glover's openness about his Christian faith and his approach to space exploration as a means of studying God's creation represents a return to a historical understanding of science as compatible with religious faith, in contrast to what he calls the false tension between science and religion in contemporary discourse.
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The piece presents Artemis II as fundamentally unifying, stating that it embodies American technological prowess, individual excellence, and the willingness to venture into the unknown, and that it has united Americans across political, religious, racial, and ethnic lines.
Different points of view on the topic.
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Religious perspectives on Artemis II emphasize universal human connection and shared dignity over national superiority, with astronaut Victor Glover's messages from deep space focusing on the imperative of unity, love and prayer that transcends national or political borders.[2][3].
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Commentary from religious sources frames the importance of mission around expanding scientific understanding that deepens wonder and brings humanity closer to God, rather than emphasizing national competition or geopolitical dominance.[1].
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These perspectives highlight Glover's Easter message that emphasizes that “whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same,” centering shared humanity above national identity.[2][3].
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Religious analysts note that the mission represents humanity working together with a unified goal in a world fractured by conflict, positioning international cooperation in space exploration as a symbol of the unity God desires for all people, rather than American exceptionalism.[1].
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These sources characterize Glover's view of Earth from space as revealing our planet as “this oasis, this beautiful place” where “we can exist together,” emphasizing common human vulnerability and responsibility rather than national prowess or ideological superiority.[2][3].
