Artemis is blasting off to the moon, we wish Artemis and the crew Bon Voyage. What a wonderfully uplifting adventure to be witnessing, the zoo is enthralled. I am indebted to Creation Ministries for this article which also points out why the moon has not “evolved” but is Created by an Almighty Creator. What a wonderful Easter present for the world as they lift their eyes, with the crew of Artemis, to the heavens. Happy Easter to all my readers!

Don’t forget to subscribe to Creation Magazine:

https://creation.com/en/creation-magazine

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

CFEATION MINISTRIES WRITE:

Flying to the moon and returning safely to the earth in the 1960s and 70s was one of mankind’s greatest technical achievements. Before that time, going to the moon was considered impossible. But we did it! That incredible accomplishment should cause us to glorify God who made us in his image as creative, thinking beings, able to imagine, then design, then build the machines needed to reach the moon.

Humans have travelled to the moon nine times between December 1968 and December 1972 in NASA’s Apollo program. (Apollo 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17). Artemis II will be the tenth, and Artemis IV will land humans the moon again. Artemis is the name of the current program to return humans to the moon; it is named after the Greek Moon goddess, the twin sister of the god Apollo.

Why did we stop going to the moon?

Among today’s rocket engineers and space enthusiasts, the phrase “space is hard” is common because of the complex engineering and significant risks needed to get a spacecraft to orbit. To achieve orbit around the earth, a spacecraft must reach a speed of about 17,800 miles per hour (28,500 kph). This high speed is necessary to counteract Earth’s gravity. Given Earth’s gravity and radius, physics enables us to launch a mass to orbit, but it is not easy. Using the rocket equation, the energy required to accelerate 1 kg of mass to the current orbital speed of the International Space Station is about 32,000,000 joules (32 Megajoules). Reaching the moon requires about 60 Megajoules. (For comparison: accelerating 1 kg to 100 mph requires about 500 joules.) The main triumph of the Apollo era was the rapid development of the advanced engineering and technology needed to build a machine (the mighty Saturn V rocket) to sufficiently accelerate the mass of the lunar lander and the astronauts to reach the moon. This was the result of the concentrated focus of the American government and the willingness of taxpayers to coordinate and fund that incredible adventure. However, once the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth was met, public interest in funding lunar missions waned, ending future missions.

Why are we going back now?

The factors driving going to the moon have changed. High levels of public interest and massive government spending are no longer necessary. At its peak, the Apollo program consumed 3–4% of the US federal budget. Artemis is expected to be around 0.5%. So, why are we going back? Today, commercial (i.e., non-government) industries, including mining and tourism, are interested in returning to the moon. These companies see the possibility for profitable business ventures because the high cost of going to space is shrinking rapidly. The cost per pound to get to space at the time of Apollo was over $8,000 (adjusted for inflation) and ballooned to around $27,000 for the Space Shuttle. SpaceX, a commercial rocket company, is planning to have the cost per pound at less than $100 by the end of 2027.¹ Future Artemis missions will likely use commercial rockets not funded by taxpayers, rather than the current, and very expensive, taxpayer-funded SLS (Space Launch System) developed by NASA.

The data and experience collected on the Artemis II mission (and III and IV) will pave the way for future moon missions by commercial rocket companies. The NASA website states, “…the Artemis II crew will work with scientists on Earth to facilitate science investigations to inform future human spaceflight missions.” Artemis II will send four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon and back. It will validate systems and procedures, testing life support, navigation, communication, and more under real conditions.

It is on a ‘free-return’ trajectory, which means that even if the engines fail, the moon’s gravity will automatically slingshot them home. This mission, and the Artemis III mission which will stay in earth orbit, are important ‘rehearsals’ to prepare for Artemis IV which will land humans on the moon.

First ‘person of colour’ to go to the moon

NASA and many news agencies have frequently highlighted that this crew includes the first black man to go to the moon, Mission Pilot Victor Glover. His skin shade is often mentioned before his very impressive skills and accomplishments. In some circles, the shade of a person’s skin is the primary factor that determines their identity and how they should be treated.

Over decades, CMI has written extensively on skin shade and racism. We are saddened to see racism persist and even increase in recent years, partly because of a relentless focus on a person’s skin shade. As is usual with human conflicts, the Bible has the answer: There is only one race and people of all skin shades come from Noah’s family. What about variations in skin shade? We are all ‘people of colour’! Everyone (except people with albinism) has various amounts of a pigment called melanin in their skin. The amount you have determines how light or dark your skin is. All people are shades of brown.

How can different ‘races’ today be reconciled? This is done by the reconciling Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel not only reconciles sinful people to a Holy God, but it also reconciles sinful people to other sinful people. An example of the power of the Gospel to bring reconciliation where there once was ethnic hostility (in this case between Jew and Gentile) is recorded in Ephesians 2:13–17:

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”

The moon: created or evolved?

Indeed, where we came from is a big question and has been conclusively answered by Scripture.

The origins issue is a big focus of NASA scientists. Beginning in the Apollo days, astronauts returned moon rocks that were hoped to unlock secrets of the moon’s naturalistic origin (i.e., over billions of years without God). Since that time, NASA has sent many probes to other planets to look for life and try to find support for theories of planetary evolution. However, much of the data collected points to a young, created solar system. Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch said, “The moon is like a witness plate for everything that’s actually happened to Earth, but has been erased by our weathering processes and our tectonic processes and our other geologic processes. We can actually learn more about solar system formation, more about how planets form maybe around other stars, more about the likelihood of life out there starting with studying the moon.”² She considers this “one of the biggest philosophical questions of our time.”³

Indeed, where we came from is a big question and has been conclusively answered by Scripture. The sun, moon, and stars were made on Day 4 of creation week. Humans were made in God’s image on Day 6. The meaning of life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.⁴ The Bible also informs us that people have a sin-nature that causes them to suppress the truth that God exists (Romans 1:19–23). This drives the desire to find naturalistic explanations for the moon’s origin. However, all current moon origin theories have big scientific problems. The moon landings did not bring evolutionary insights about its origin.

The ‘Space Age’ is about to begin!

The Apollo era is often labelled ‘The Space Age’. The twentieth century was a time of rapid technological advancements.

• 1903 – first powered, controlled flight
• 1947 – broke the ‘sound barrier’
• 1969 – humans walked on the moon

If these lofty visions of the future materialize, we should give God the glory for endowing his creatures with the curiosity, creativity, analytical ability, design ability, manufacturing ability, and the guts needed to ride rockets beyond the confines of our atmosphere.

Given this trajectory, it was not unreasonable to expect that we would have flying cars by the year 2000! However, the Apollo ‘Space Age’ turned out to be an anomaly. With today’s reasons for returning to the moon, as mentioned above, I believe that a real Space Age is about to begin. With the commercial interest in going to space and the cost of going to space dropping rapidly, in 30 years could our grandchildren consider vacationing or working on the moon? Or spending the weekend on a space station? Possibly. Artemis II is an important step to unlock these opportunities.

If these lofty visions of the future materialize, we should give God the glory for endowing his creatures with the curiosity, creativity, analytical ability, design ability, manufacturing ability, and the guts needed to ride rockets beyond the confines of our atmosphere. For those who continue to doubt that the earth, moon, and universe are the result of creation by a loving God, pray that God would use you to share the evidence with them that, “by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16).

References and Notes

1. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX speaking at the World Economic Forum, 22 Jan 2026.
2. Christina Koch, during a press conference, 17 Jan 2026, youtu.be/s6NyK61CmXY?t=8041.
3. Koch, ref. 2, youtu.be/s6NyK61CmXY?t=8064.
4. This phrase comes from The Westminster Shorter Catechism and is the answer to the question “What is the chief end of man?”