First, splashdown: Last Friday the Artemis II astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific. From launch to "extraction" there have been so many amazing human moments in the now legendary journey of Koch, Glover, Wiseman and Hansen (going in order of total time spent in space and Christina Koch has far more than her crewmates, having done 328 days on the International Space Station). 
I'm going through crew recordings, interviews, space-to-ground, and space-to-space communications as a type of fieldwork (a combination of archival work and digital ethnography). I'm currently working on an article about what it means that this 21st century "moon shot" was carried out primarily by astronauts with extensive experience in space (not the days or weeks of the Apollo astronauts but literally months and months) and how the existing culture of the ISS is transmitted to Artemis missions. The Apollo astronauts never had a space station to train on. And now I'll stop myself, because this is just a note, not an article. 
Now, countdown: Today (April 12th) marks one month until The Ultraview Effect is released on May 12th! So the countdown has begun. And I have news! I just heard last week from UC Press that they have licensed the audio version of my book to Tantor Media. I am very excited about this because I know plenty of people who find it hard to sit down with a book but love to listen to an audiobook as they do other things (including me!). 
Finally, the pace of these emails is likely to slow down - the Artemis II mission gave me a lot to talk about. Thanks and feel free to reach out!
Best,
Deana

Short note today to share that Monday evening might have been the most significant experience of cosmic awe humans have experienced since 1972. The New York Times has reported on “Moon Joy,” explaining that while “science can seem colorless and plain, NASA’s lunar crew members have brought expressiveness and emotion about their journey to mission control and the public.”
Having studied astronauts’ experiences of awe and wonder, I wanted to share some of my impressions with you. First, the crew had an unprecedented moment of awe-in-space that caught my attention. The April 1stlaunch date allowed the Integrity to get into the perfect position on the far side of the Moon to see our satellite eclipse the Sun. Unlike the weirdly precise sizes of the Sun and Moon (as we see them from the Earth) that causes the Moon’s disc to exactly overlap the Sun’s disc, the Moon seemed bigger than the Sun to the Artemis II astronauts, creating a different sort of corona effect. The Moon was backlit by the sun and bathed in reflected earthshine, creating an amazingly beautiful sight. Unlike a total solar eclipse on Earth, which can last several minutes (the longest totality I’ve seen lasted about four and a half minutes), this eclipse lasted nearly an hour.
The pictures from the eclipse are incredible and it was clear that the astronauts struggled to both comprehend and express the significance of what they were seeing. Mission pilot Victor Glover said, “Humans probably have not evolved to see what we’re seeing,” while commander Reid Wisemen added, “Our brains are not processing this image in front of us.”
Even seeing the Moon from close up was amazing. Christina Koch talked about how she was moved by her observations and said she had been struck by the realization that “A moon is really its own body in the universe.” Interestingly, her sense of really understanding this seemed to come and go. She explained, “It lasted just a second or two, and I actually couldn’t even make it happen again.” This seems to be something like a lunar version of the overview effect, where the reality of what astronauts see overcomes existing expectations or understandings. It will be interesting to see how these sorts of observations grow and develop when the Artemis IV astronauts travel back to the Moon to enter orbit it and hopefully walk on its surface (Artemis III is now planned to be an Earth orbit mission testing the equipment and spacecraft to be used for Artemis IV).
While the ultraview effect was probably not possible during the flyby (one of the astronauts mentioned a “starfield” but given the amount of earthshine that was also mentioned I’m guessing true dark-adaptation was unlikely), true awe, cosmic awe, was clearly evident, feeding into the “Moon joy” of Integrity’s team.

As I write this, the Artemis II crew has just launched into space, beginning their mission to the Moon. They'll fly by the Moon as part of their free-return trajectory on April 5th or 6th, but along the way, the views are going to be amazing! I am so excited that a Moon mission is something being experienced by such a diverse crew, bringing this experience to people with unique life experiences and perspectives. 

As Grand Valley State University's resident "space expert," I've had a busy week! Several calls and Zooms with media, and, coincidentally a couple of public facing articles that I'm happy to send your way. 

I'm not ashamed to jump on a bandwagon and as a big fan of Andy Weir and his heartwarming, thrilling book (and now movie) Project Hail Mary , I wanted to share how reluctant astronaut Ryland Grace exemplifies a quality I've seen in many astronauts and space professionals I've interviewed, intellectual humility. My article at The Conversation explores this connection. 

Some of you know that I'm one of the co-founders and co-organizers of Grand Rapids' annual Roger That! event, named for hometown astronaut Roger B. Chaffee. In addition to our event, there are many local places and things named for Chaffee, who died tragically in the Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967. Roger's dream was to go to the Moon, a dream he never fulfilled. But Christina Koch, born in Grand Rapids herself, is currently, as I type , ON THE WAY TO THE MOON! I wanted to make sure people here were paying attention, so I wrote this article for Bridge Michigan to celebrate the fact that the first woman to fly to the Moon (and fly by the Moon) is, like Roger Chaffee, a Grand Rapids native. 

I'm so excited for this mission and so eager to see all the photos the crew sends back, especially as the Earth shrinks behind them and the Moon becomes ever-larger. What are you most looking forward to during this amazing lunar journey?

Ad lunam and Godspeed,

Deana

​Hello everyone!

With Artemis II scheduled for this week, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means for humans to return to deep space after more than fifty years. A couple of years ago, I wrote an article anticipating this moment, focusing on the cultural and human dimensions of lunar missions and thinking about how astronauts might experience distance, awe, and unfamiliar environments in ways that differ significantly from more recent low Earth orbit missions. At the time, Artemis II still felt somewhat abstract. Now that it’s about to happen, it feels much more immediate. If you’re interested, you can read it here:
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4596/1

The article looks at things like how differently astronauts will experience distance from Earth compared to ISS crews, and how moments of awe (like seeing Earth "shrink" in size with distance or encountering the Moon up close) may shape their perceptions in ways we don’t fully understand yet. I’ve also been speaking with a few reporters about the mission this week, and I have a short piece set to appear on Monday on the website The Conversation that looks at intellectual humility in current hit movie (you can probably guess which one).  I’ll be watching Wednesday’s launch, but can't wait to hear more about the experiences of the amazing Moon-bound crew. Deana P.S. As a Grand Rapidian, I'm especially excited that the first woman to travel to the Moon, Christina Koch, was born right here. This is an exciting moment for our city.