Artemis II: Space lovers throughout Chicago space eagerly watch splashdown, witness NASA’s historic mission across the moon

CHICAGO (WLS) — Artemis II’s astronauts splashed down within the pacific ocean off Southern California Friday night.

Space lovers throughout the Chicago space eagerly counted all the way down to splashdown as they witnessed the historic moon mission.

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It was an almost 700,000 mile journey for the astronauts, and one which had all Americans on the sting of their seat as they made it again house.

Joe Guzman is the Chicago Park District’s resident astronomer, and he is been following all of those house exploration initiatives for many years now.

“This is fantastic we are all on pins and needles from launch… even pre launch until splashdown,” Guzman mentioned.

He says Artemis II has now laid the groundwork for the long run.

“This is all leading to moon base that’s reserved for Artemis 5, maybe 6,” Guzman mentioned. “Let’s see how things go and we want to moon base so we can from there go to Mars eventually. That’s the ultimate goal.”

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“It just means bigger and better things for all of us hopefully one day maybe we can all travel there freely at anytime,” NASA fanatic Eddie Portillo mentioned.

For one University of Illinois professor, this has been a full circle second.

University of Illinois Aerospace Engineer Professor Dr. Joseph Gonzalez, a Chicago native, labored on the Artemis program for nearly 10 years. This mission is now inspiring his college students and different younger scientists within the making.

“I believe in the mission,” Dr. Gonzalez mentioned. “I believe in what we’re trying to do in terms of going back to the moon, establishing a habitat, establishing our astronauts on there to stay and not just visit.”

For Dr. Gonzalez, watching Artemis II’s journey has been unimaginable.

Gonzalez grew up in Little Village. He labored on the Artemis program for almost a decade.

Last week, he took his college students to see the Artemis II launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

“This orange section of the rocket all the way down to engine that’s called the core stage. That’s what powers up the rocket, in addition to the outside ones the solid rocket boosters. So I was part of the team and the systems engineering person for this part of it,” Dr. Gonzalez mentioned. “I’ve done materials engineering. I’ve done fluids testing. I’ve done production support system engineering, and then also served on the chief engineering board for the program.”

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He and plenty of others had been anxiously ready for Artemis II to splashdown within the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego Friday night.

That pleasure was felt on the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry and Adler Planetarium in Chicago.

“Maybe the most interesting is the descriptions the astronauts had of what they were seeing out the window,” mentioned Andrew Johnston, Adler Planetarium Vice President of Museum Experience and Collections. “These people went around the far side of the moon and back and they saw the view that no human has ever seen before.”

Dr. Voula Saridakis, Head Curator and NASA Solar System Ambassador on the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, joined ABC7 to debate the Artemis II splashdown.

“The fact that they were able to capture this data, capture these images that they’ll eventually share with the world is going to be absolutely stunning,” Dr. Saridakis mentioned.

The mission is inspiring future engineers, like Adler Planetarium customer Nevan Mcilwee.

“I’ve been interested in space since I was a child,” Mcilwee mentioned. “But seeing the return, seeing us return to the moon its definitely been inspiring me to look into opportunities that are available for me to get involved.”

The range of the crew on the mission has additionally been inspiring for the elementary college college students of Heidi West, who was additionally visiting the Adler Planetarium.

“They’re really loving seeing that representation of cultures, different cultures, different nationalities, coming together and just exploring the beauty of the universe,” West mentioned.

As for what’s subsequent for Dr. Gonzalez, he says he enjoys instructing however is just not ruling out turning into an astronaut at some point. He welcomes the chance to go to house.

SEE ALSO | Chicago-area firm made gear used on Artemis II mission to the moon

The Adler Planetarium issued the next assertion on Friday’s Artemis II splashdown:
“Today, the Artemis II crew safely splashed down in the Pacific after their historic test flight around the Moon. We look forward to sharing the latest discoveries, moments, and milestones from lunar science and exploration with our guests in real time. Congratulations to NASA, the crew of Artemis II, NASA’s international and commercial partners, and to everyone on the ground whose years-long work made the mission possible!”