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Just one day into the Artemis II mission, NASA's Lori Glaze, who helms the space exploration program, had her eyes on the future.
"I really feel like the exploration we do is inspirational for everyone here on Earth, hopefully inspiring our young people around the world, the Artemis Generation, that's growing up now to want to grow and achieve and to learn," she said.
The entirety of the mission maintained an air of fleeting successes, in the name of future pioneers. Speaking in February on 60 Minutes, mission specialist Christina Koch said she hopes the history books "forget all about Artemis II." Minutes after breaking the record for farthest distance ever traveled from Earth, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said the crew "most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long lived."
Now, days after completing the mission, the Artemis II crew and its administrators are placing their bets on the Artemis Generation.
From Apollo to Artemis
In the earliest days of American spaceflight and NASA, space exploration provoked a childlike sense of wonder about the universe. The Apollo program began an "Apollo Generation" of students and children who came of age in the first space age.
It also sparked a cottage industry of space coming-of-age entertainment. Homer Hickam Jr.'s memoir "Rocket Boys" (later adapted as the 1999 film "October Sky") encapsulated the spirit of the era. Houston-raised Richard Linklater's "Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood" fantasizes about the Apollo Generation. Even Stinky Pete the Prospector, the antagonist of “Toy Story 2,” makes a jab at the industry: "Once the astronauts went up,” he says, “children only wanted to play with space toys."
Nearly 60 years on, the Artemis II mission became as much about the future generation of space explorers as it did the historic lunar mission itself.
Throughout the mission, the astronauts carried a stuffed plushie named "Rise," a zero gravity indicator for the crew designed by California third grader Lucas Ye. NASA said that it's in the process of developing Rise plushies for vendors to sell, given public demand for the toy.
After the Artemis II astronauts were extracted from the Orion spacecraft, mission commander Reid Wiseman brought the Rise plushie with him aboard the USS John P. Murtha.
"I was supposed to leave Rise in [the spacecraft]," Wiseman said in a post on X, "but that was not something I was going to do. I stuffed that little guy in a dry bag we had in our survival kit and hooked the bag onto my pressure suit."
Another young space-watcher went viral for his response to a CNN reporter asking why he was excited to watch the launch of Artemis II on April 1.
"We're going back to the frickin' moon, that's why," Hilt Boling said, in a video shared by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and the White House's official X account. Isaacman eventually met him.
But NASA is hoping the youth interest in space exploration transcends into fresh workforce.
The next generation
In March, dozens of high school students visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Their mission: to create a functioning community in space.
They were competing in the Space Settlement Design Competition, which tasks students to imagine living 50 years into the future with the goal of designing a community in space. Students in the program, which has been going on for more than 40 years, form mock aerospace companies and create a proposal to build a community.
"Since I was really little, I had a fascination with the stars and the possibility of, like, that there's so much out there that we don't know and how the universe is infinite," said Carla Perez Gomez, one of the students in the competition.
Gomez, a senior at Clear Horizons Early College High School in Clear Creek ISD, moved to Houston from Madrid when she was younger. Watching movies like "Interstellar" and "Oppenheimer" made her think about science, physics and the cosmos. So did living near the Johnson Space Center.
"It's really, really exciting to think that these are ordinary people who are walking besides us," she said, "that are probably next to our H-E-B."
Her classmate, junior Aidan Sunny, agreed. Living so close to the astronauts, flight directors and other NASA officials gave them a singular exposure to space exploration.
"I'm really fortunate enough to get the opportunities that a lot of people aren't able to get, being close to NASA, being in Houston," he said. "We have a lot of different [opportunities], specifically like the space settlement competition. It really is amazing opportunities that really help foster this sense of curiosity for space. It really helped foster that sense for me.”
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Many of the young students studying space told Houston Public Media they prioritize diverse access to the space industry, including for women and people of color, as Artemis II did. Koch was the first female astronaut to fly on a lunar mission, and pilot Victor Glover was the first African American.
"I want to be part of that, too, to help out the next generation of people," Pasadena ISD junior Abraham Guillen said. "You don't have to be, like, this super smart, rich or be born into this type of family to make it into the industry. I want to get people more access to it."
That includes access that goes beyond just Houston and the United States. Part of the Artemis program is NASA's Artemis Accords, an international initiative signed by dozens of countries promoting peaceful space exploration. The Artemis program also includes new international collaborations as countries across the globe expand their spaceflight programs.
"Definitely growing up, the idea was you have to come to America," said Margot Moy, a graduate student at Rice University. "As I graduated, Australia launched its own space agency and started to get things together. And we're working on projects with NASA, so you won't necessarily have to go to the States."
Moy is part of a cohort of graduate students in Rice University's space studies program. Rice describes the program as being tailored to collaborate with NASA and the Johnson Space Center, training the next generation of scientists and engineers.
"I mean, we are the Artemis Generation, right?" said Mauricio Trevino, another student in the cohort. "Looking at the Apollo mission, and the way that entire program influenced where we are today, and thinking about how Artemis is that for my generation is incredible."
As for the classic get-to-know-you question — given the opportunity, would you go to space? — the answer depends on who you ask. William Rogers said it was his dream job.
"Every time someone asks me what I want to do, and I say I want to be an astronaut," he said, "in the back of my head there’s little-kid-me screaming at the top of his lungs that, ‘Hey, I might actually do this,' which is amazing."
Mckenzie Golden, by contrast, would rather stay on Earth.
"The answer used to be yes, and now it's no," she said. "I know way too much."
Her vision, she said, is to do any type of work supporting human spaceflight. Today, much of that work is done by NASA and other public entities; but she hypothesized a potential shift toward more commercial spaceflight in the coming years.
"I can’t believe that I’m getting into it at this time, and that I’m going to have a chance maybe to put my mark on it, or to meet with people and help people achieve these goals," she said. "I think, in history, this is a turning point we’ll always recognize as when we start to treat space differently."
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